Doing business in Asia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Russia.

The U.S. Department of Education has some interesting facts/articles. I stumbled upon one this morning that articulates the need for foreign language education.

Consider these three facts -

1. More than 200 million children in China are studying English, a compulsory subject for all Chinese primary school students.

2. Only about 24,000 of approximately 54 million elementary and secondary school children in the United States are studying Chinese.

3. Less than 1% of American high school students combined study Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Russian or Urdu.

The Chinese will meet us on our terms - in English, but when push comes to shove, they will indeed talk to one another in their own language while they listen in the English speakers talking in English.

Think that doesn't make a difference in business negotiations?

Think again.