Factor Number Four

From what I’ve seen, one very popular resolution for the New Year is to study a foreign language.

Well, happy timing, that. It’s a good mesh with “Factor No. 4,” an observation I wanted to make last week. But I ran out of ink back then, having soaked up all my space yakking about three other factors I see as defining the CNMI’s situation for 2012. Anyway, Factor No. 4, which applies to the mainland as well as Saipan, is the parade of people aiming for Asia to seek greener pastures. I get a lot of e-mail about this.

Meanwhile, one of my young nephews has decided that he wants to complete engineering college in the Philippines and then work in Japan. So he’s got Japanese studies on the menu.

And, also meanwhile, I know an investment pro who’s contemplating a move to Asia to pursue some financial projects, so he’s studying Chinese now.

And I just got a phone call from an old friend in the mainland who has a small business. Actually, he’s not moving to Asia. He doesn’t have to. That’s because Asia has moved to him. Most of his customers speak Chinese, and we’re talking an upper-echelon enclave, where parking lots look like BMW show rooms, where if you water the curb an S-class Mercedes will sprout up, and where every other storefront is an SAT preparation center. So my friend told me his project for the New Year: He’s enrolling in the nearby community college to belly up for a Chinese course. No, he doesn’t have to do that, but he figures it will help him build his rapport with customers.

Digging back into Saipan’s case, it still offers some inroads into Asia’s business circles. Still, it’s not a golden perch like it was in the 1990s, back when anyone remotely coherent could live the island life, earn a decent living, and then steer for Asia once they fell into the right sort of professional circles. If someone couldn’t make friends here, it’s safe to say they couldn’t make them anywhere.

Anyway, for those steering for Asian pastures, there’s a lot of buzz about “older” folks trying to come to terms with learning an Asian language. These discussions seem to center on the Chinese language these days.

So, what of it? Can mid-career professionals, and various and sundry other “mature” types, make any progress in Chinese or some-such other exotic tongue? From what I’ve seen, we fare no better or worse than anyone else does.

It’s a fitting theme for this year to mention why I started studying Chinese in the first place. Two situations fired up my inspiration. In the first case, I was working in Taiwan, and as a newbie I went to a small, “hole in the wall” noodle shop for lunch. I couldn’t read a doggone thing on the menu, which was a series of boards on the wall. It was one of those long days where nothing was going right, and I realized that being utterly illiterate in the language of the realm was just going to make my long days even longer.

As for the second case, it found me doing business in mainland China. I was pretty much squandering a good chunk of my savings as I pursued a manufacturing and importing project. And in China I was, of course, also illiterate, and I felt cut off from the flow of normal life. Sure, I could, and I did, impose on people to help me out, but I started to feel pretty bad about constantly imposing, and possibly feeling worse because my cash was bleeding away.

So, after all that, I started studying Chinese. Not because I really had to. I didn’t have to. Not because anyone told me to. There’s nobody to tell me such things. Not because there is an immediate benefit for me. There is no such benefit.

Well, lo these years later, including a few semesters peppered within, what do I have to show for it? I don’t really know. I just dabble in my studies now, pretty much just adrift, not making much progress, but any progress is better than none. So my only goal is to keep engaged with it. My reading and writing are better than my speaking, but that’s a comparative gig and I’m not impressive on any count. If I feel energized enough for another semester, I might go that route. Or maybe I won’t. I don’t know.

Well, I’m in good company. Many folks on Saipan, if not on the same boat, are at least going to be boarding it this year. So, welcome aboard, mate. I think this is one realm where we might as well enjoy the journey, since the destination can seem so very far away.

Visit Ed Stephens Jr. at TropicalEd.com. Ed is a pilot, economist, and writer. He holds a degree in economics from UCLA and is a former U.S. naval officer. His column runs every Friday.