Whisper Talez (Tales)

The conventional wisdom says that English is the language of business. But to what extent is business - and economic growth, for that matter - contingent on fluency in the language? An examination of the rise of India and China in the global economy offers insight into the relevance of language as a driver for growth, and reveals that the conventional wisdom may be right, but needn’t be applied universally.

It is worth considering first the growth story unfolding in India. After years of a cool Asian economic climate, in the late 1990s India emerged as a force to be reckoned with, as high value currencies such as the dollar, pound, and marc were leveraged by the cheap Indian rupee and a large supply of great labor. But what facilitated the transfer of wealth from richer countries to a developing country like India was - in a large part - an English-speaking lower class that could replace English speakers in many English-speaking ‘back offices’ located in rich countries, where costs of living demanded that high wages were paid to workers. The result was a massive shift not only in service jobs that led to the now ubiquitous Indian call centers, but also a shift in technology jobs, as a skilled, English-speaking engineering class emerged that was willing to work for a fraction of their American counterparts. Of course, all things do come to an end, and with the creation of a broad-based middle class, so came with it the seeds for tougher times: the rupee appreciated on world markets and prices rose, leading to a much more expensive Indian workforce that made many foreign companies reconsider their investments there. Nevertheless, a newfound middle class ensured that there would be domestic demand for Indian goods and services allowing India to ‘fish for itself’ in the pursuit of economic growth. Had India not had such a large English-speaking population, it is fair to say that it would have remained off the radar of many foreign companies that sought to cut costs, and thus would have remained without the middle class necessary to grow the economy from within.

China, however, offers an interesting counterexample to the utility of English. Whereas in India about 50% of the population speaks English fluently or marginally as a second language, in China that percentage is somewhere in the low single digits. Nevertheless, China’s economy has managed outgrow India’s at a rate of almost 2 to 1. The Chinese growth story, however, is a different one from India’s. Where India’s growth was in a large part the result of job creation in the services sector, which led to a growth in jobs elsewhere in the economy to support a new middle class, China’s growth was driven by the cheapness of labor and thus the cheapness with which goods could be manufactured and sold on the world market, in no small part also due to the country’s manipulation of currency. While the country has made great strides towards teaching English, China never required English on the same scale because growth was fueled by Chinese-speaking factory workers and not English-speaking administrative staff and engineers. Nevertheless, the Chinese growth story would have never unfolded without the demand for Chinese goods from America and Europe, which, to be sure, was facilitated by the existence of Chinese businessmen who spoke English and - to a lesser extent - Chinese expatriate businessmen living in the west who were able to get deals done.

The time has come; I must move back to the US. I knew this day would arrive, I just didn’t think it would be so soon. Had it really been ten years since I’d left my life in Pasadena and moved here to Paris, France? It seems like just yesterday that I had arrived here, wet behind the ears and scared to death. The marketing company I worked for had decided to open up in France and had shipped me over.

It had been hard at first. I missed my family and friends and that comfortable feeling of belonging when you’re born into a culture and stay within it. I hadn’t been able to speak much French in those days either. But I’d persevered, studied the language until I was fluent and made a life for myself here. I had made life-long friends that I hated to leave, but leave I must.

And so it was that I instructed my secretary to contact international moving companies, check their licensing and reputations on the Internet, and ultimately pick the best one. She did and a date was set in one month for the international moving company’s people to come and pack up my French life. I was USA bound.

I was moving back to Pasadena as CEO of the company – a big step up for me. I felt fulfilled that my career was going so well but still…France was where a big chunk of my heart would stay. My secretary seemed to forge quite a friendship with the international moving company’s agent, which was great for me. She even got a real estate agent to call with houses for sale in Pasadena. I let my secretary handle all that; she knew my taste. She showed me the final two choices she’d made for my residence and I made my choice. It was perfect…really.

I just couldn’t get excited about it though. There’s something about Paris, the City of Light that gets under your skin. The Louvre, the Champs Elysees, the Eiffel Tower, nearby Versailles, Notre Dame Cathedral, not to mention the close proximity to everything the surrounding countries has to offer. My international moving company agent and I got into a long discussion about skiing in the Alps of Switzerland in the morning and skiing down into France for lunch. There’s nothing like it!

That’s not to take anything away from Pasadena, surrounded as it is by the San Rafael Hills and the San Gabriel Mountains – it’s considered the premiere city of the San Gabriel Valley. It’s beautiful and all but…I guess one of the main differences is that in Paris, you feel surrounded by ancient culture and history. Something that just can’t be duplicated anywhere in the relatively young USA.

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