Management consulting career: learn French or Japanese as third language?

Question

As a french MBA graduate, I currently work at a consulting house in China and I speak fluent Chinese and English. I would like to know whether management consultant could be a "global career" (i.e. working in different locations). I am thinking of learning French or Japanese to open up more career options, and would be interested working in Paris or Tokyo one day. I would like to seek advice on which language to learn. Here's the comparison:

French: I prefer learning French as I graduated from a French school and I like French culture. However, as an Asian who's not proficient in French I feel it would be relatively hard to work in Paris as a mangement consultant . Also, I feel that most Europeans speak fluent English, so knowing French doesn't add too much benefit given that most conversations with the clients will still be in English.

Japanese: Tokyo would be my second choice if I have a opportunity to work overseas. There are many Japanese companies operating in China and I feel that working in Tokyo would be slightly easier compared to working in France. However I'm a bit hesitant to learn Japanese given my personal interest in French culture and the language itself.

Thanks for your suggestion!

Answer 1

Hey there,

I would say learn the language of your choice because it brings you happiness and joy. Learn it because you really want to do so for the right reasons. You will then do your best and the consulting/career part will fit in automatically. Don't learn a new language for the wrong reasons or because your friends are doing it. You wont keep up with it over time and lose the skills.

If you end up working for any global consulting firm, there will be plenty of global assignments, secondment and even full-time transfer options. Success will depend a lot on your performance- which needs to be top notch without doubt. Language skills are added advantage specially in countries which prefer doing business in their local language. So, in short, if your heart genuinly sways towards France then learn French :).

Adi

Answer 2

Hi Anonymous!

I have learned another foreign language as an adult and can tell you it will be very difficult to get to a business professional level. Although I speak conversationally fluent Mandarin and certainly enough for a business development context, but i'll never be able to speak sufficiently to work with clients in a strategy consulting context (e.g. give a presentation about a topic that I struggle to understand in my native language ;).

MBB would never put somebody infront of a client that does not speak the working language absolutely fluently so I would only consider a language as a benefit in a cosulting context if you're abolutely certain you can get to this level. Otherwise it might be nice to have for you to get used to a new environment, but not in a business context.

As far as I know for both markets (Japan & France) local language is required for most firms, so if you're starting from scratch in both, I'd assume it's going to be a long road to actually reach a level that is required for MBB.

Answer 3

Hi Anonymous,

Honestly I doubt that the additional languagues will open up so many more career opportunities. I'd rather see it as a required prerequisite to speak them fluently in a business setting in another office, but at MBB the language alone won't bring you there (unless your current employer has special offers in that direction). Especially considering the difficulty of learning a new language to a level which is close to mother-tongue (how else could you take about highly complex business topics with c-level clients in their local language?).

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Answer 4

Hi there,

If I were you, I would think of a third language as a tool that can enrich me personally & professionally, rather than a way to secure a job in a highly competitive industry in highly competitive offices for native speakers (this applies to both France and Japan).

You are already speaking the most spoken language in the world (Mandarin) and the most international language (English), so both French and Japanese would not create extra opportunities for you, given that with your current languages you can work pretty much anywhere around the world.

If you are interested in studying one of the two languages other than for professional purposes, I would recommend that you study French for two reasons:

You are a graduate of a French school and you already lived there, so this would definitely "complete" the French experience you have been through so far!
French would open doors for doing business in many emerging markets, such as Africa, so from a business perspective, this would make sense!

I will be happy to further discuss this with you if neeed.

All the best,

Mehdi

Answer 5

Hi there,

Honestly, I don't think there's a "better" choice here.

You need to pick that language for the country in which you actually see yourself long-term. Where do you actually want to work/live in the future? Aim for this!

And, remember, business-level fluency is very very hard to achieve. I have been speaking french for 10 years now, consider myself highly fluent (understand rap, talk slang, can have any conversation with anyone), BUT I would never pretend that I could cut it at MBB Paris.

Answer 6

My first point, which I want to draw your attention is that I would recommend you to first to look at your long term career perspective and ask yourself a question, "where do you want to see yourself in the upcoming future?" if answers are numerous and different, then simply priorities for yourself.

Secondly, for me, it looks like you are trying to mix your real interest in learning some language as a hobby with your potential professional curves.

Thirdly, if you want to apply to another country with the local language, then your language needs to be really good, and for that, you have to put into it a lot of time, effort.

Does it make any sense to you?

GB

Answer 7

Given your situation, learn French! As an adult, and as a busy consultant, I don't believe you'll have the time to reach a fully bilingual level, so it probably won't be very useful for work. It would only be useful if you were fully bilingual. Who knows, it *could* give you a slight edge in the future, but it's so uncertain that you might as well learn a language you love.