Make it Mandarin

Why you should be learning the Chinese language.

Mandarin Chinese business language
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China is home to more than 1.4 billion people, a sixth of the world’s population, and has the world’s second largest economy, with a GDP of US$17.9 trillion. (The United States is still first, with a GDP of US$25.44 trillion.) It has become such an economic superpower that, if your business has international clients or makes, sells, designs or purchases goods, at some point you are likely to be dealing with China.

So it’s not surprising that more and more people are studying Mandarin Chinese, the official language of mainland China. 

It is, for one thing, the world’s second most spoken language (after English), with over 1.1 billion Mandarin speakers worldwide. And, as many Mandarin speakers don’t speak English, being able to communicate with your overseas connections is a benefit for any business. 

3 ways to 
get started

Victoria Mandarin School: Owner and instructor Ariel Chiu teaches Mandarin as a second language to children and adults through classes or private lessons. 


University of Victoria Continuing Studies: UVic offers four levels of study for adults looking to learn basic communication skills in Mandarin. 


Pandanese: This app is designed to help build vocabulary and learn Chinese characters known as hanzi through a combination of mnemonics and SRS.