How can learning a second language benefit your career? Here’s our real-life sharing…
Eric Nebe was born to a traditional German family in Heidelberg. Growing up in a small German town, he spoke mostly in German and didn’t have many chances to practice other languages. But before he kick-started his career, he did a 4-month internship in Singapore that hugely improved his English skills. Ever since, he has fallen in love with Asian culture and developed an interest in language learning. This led him to a different, more interesting life.
Currently, he is working as a senior financial controller at BASF, the world’s top chemical maker. With the ability to speak English fluently and confidently, he gained certain advantages in his career. In addition, he is picking up Chinese and spent a month in Taiwan to improve the language. The language learning experience has been fruitful for him. He believes that language and cultural skills are important to his career. With the plan of relocating to Asia in the future, Eric is continuing language learning journey to fluency in Chinese, and is happy to share his story and experience with FluentUp’s community.
Besides German, what languages do you speak and what languages are you learning?
Besides German, I speak English and have basic language skills in Mandarin and Spanish. Currently, I’m studying Mandarin.
Concerning your job, do you think the ability to speak a language other than German brings you advantage?
It is certainly an advantage to be able to speak additional languages to my mother tongue. Although, I’d say that speaking English is more or less a must if you work for a global company these day. Most people would simply expect you to speak decent English. Being able to talk very confidently and giving presentations fluently in English is an appreciated asset that gives me certain advantages over more senior colleagues.
I am confident that learning Mandarin will give me some additional advantages. However, I see it more as a cultural and social benefit that supports my target to go overseas. In most countries, business language will still be English either way, nevertheless I know there are certain exceptions in South America and Asia.
You did an internship in Singapore. Can you tell us a little bit more?
Part of my training with my employer (BASF) was an internship in any of our overseas offices. I chose Singapore and luckily got it. I was there for only 4.5 months working in the marketing department. The time there was unforgettable and helped me a great deal to improve myself, especially my English and cross-cultural skills. It had such a positive impact that, although comparably it was a short time I spent in Singapore, it also shaped my strong motivation to work longer-term in Asia, in the future.
Why are you picking up Chinese?
Well, people often ask me this question and I think it comes down to three major reasons. First, after traveling to Taiwan for the first time, I found it embarrassing to visit a Chinese speaking country and without any basic speaking skills. So I started picking up some standard phrases and words. Second, after finishing my MBA I had more capacity and knew I’d still like to keep studying something — Chinese seemed to be one of the most interesting, challenging, but also useful languages to study. Lastly, when checking out job opportunities I figured out that China is one of the countries with the best odds to work in Asia. In case of a relocation and in order to get there, basic Mandarin skills would be a plus without a doubt.
What are your career aspirations and do you think the ability to speak Chinese can help?
My next career goal is to go overseas to a Southeast Asian or East Asian country and live there for some time. This might include working there, if I get the opportunity, but could also be a mix of studying Mandarin, traveling ,and building up network to do my own business ideas. As of today, working seems to be the most realistic path in the first place. And as I said, yes, I think the ability to speak Chinese helps me. I would like to stress the importance of , actually caring and being interested in the language and culture of the country. I think that is appreciated a lot more than being able to have simple basic conversations in the native language. This is what I took with me from two short and informal interviews that I had recently with a manager from Shanghai and Singapore.
You travel a lot. Do you think knowing the local language can help you enjoy more during travelling? Can you share some of your funny experiences?
When I came to Taiwan for the first time other than saying “Ni Hao”, I could not speak a single word of Chinese. In comparison to Southeast Asian countries, there are not so many people who can speak English. Later on I came back to Taiwan twice and found it way more pleasant when I had at least some basic skills. Also, reading characters is extremely helpful as food menus and instructions are mostly in Chinese only. On my first trip, I took a shuttle bus line to explore Taiwan’s beautiful north coast. I got kind of lost and got off at wrong stations several times. Having incredible helpful and friendly people in Taiwan, I had some support from locals to find my way back, otherwise I might still be wandering around this area — who knows ;) !!! Anyway, I’m glad that most likely, this wouldn’t happen again today.
You did join a language school in Taiwan. Can you share a little bit more? How did you find the language school and how was it? Did you enjoy your time in Taiwan learning Chinese?
In 2016, I decided that I should go a bit beyond just teaching myself Mandarin with a book and basically took most of my annual leave for a 4-week language trip. After some research, Taiwan turned out to be the easiest and most affordable spot. The language school was in the city center of Taiwan’s capital Taipei. I took 16h of class a week. The class group was quite small and the teachers there were really good. It allowed me to improve my Mandarin significantly despite the short time period. Overall, the school was not cheap, but to my mind, worth every buck I spent there. They also offered a bunch of social activities after school and the other fellow students were generally very nice (mostly from Europe, U.S., Australia).
Since I traveled to Taiwan twice before I was already a bit familiar with the country, which doesn’t mean I enjoyed my stay there less than the other times. Taiwan will certainly remain as one of my absolute favorite destinations on this planet ;) !!!
What are your future language learning plans?
My short-term goal is to pass the HSK 3 test, which equals international B1 level. Currently, I am taking 2h of online lessons a week and study by myself in Germany, which I will keep doing until I’m moving to Asia. In Asia, I have no doubt that I can considerably push my Mandarin further, of course depending whether I’d work there or solely study. In the long-term (5-year) I’d like to speak fluent Mandarin, yet the way how to get there depends on a lot of factors and coincidence I suppose.
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