In 2007 I was still living in Costa Rica. While in Costa Rica I had some friends that worked in Call Centers and they were being forced by their boss to start learning Chinese. The thought behind it was if they were able to speak Spanish, English, and Chinese, they would be able to communicate with almost anyone in the world. This got me thinking about China and how it was starting to influence more and more people. After doing some research on China’s growth I decided to move to China and learn the language to help my future.
Once there, I realized that the language was not the most important thing to know to work or do business with the Chinese, it was understanding the Chinese culture. The odd part was, in March of 2012 I returned to the states for two months to see my parents and sisters. Once home, I was asked to do some consulting about China and what I realized startled me. The information out there about China I was mostly incorrect. That, in my opinion, the “experts” had never actually lived in China. Yes, they may have studied books about China or lived in Hong Kong, but that is not the same as living in Mainland China, and doing business with Chinese. There is a huge difference!For the time I was in China I purposely only had Chinese roommates and lived in Chinese apartment complexes. I also told everyone I was from Costa Rica and could only speak Spanish, so people they could only speak to me in Chinese and did not treat me like a “big American” but a person from, to them, an unheard of country. (I will go into great detail of this later). Because of this I was able to get an education into China that I have not known any other American to have received, and I would like to teach everyone what I have learned. Continue reading this post…
