This is why the MIWs is pushing us to speak more Mandarin. Not only to welcome the Ah tiongs but also to prepare us for eventual control by the PRCs.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/07/why-every-maker-should-learn-chinese.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/07/why-every-maker-should-learn-chinese.html
Why Every Maker Should Learn Chinese
Pictured above: MAKE Chinese edition
Nǐ hǎo 你好! Permanently on my desk, and everywhere I go is an iPad/iPhone app called Pleco, which has my custom flash cards that I use to quiz myself about 300 Chinese (Mandarin) characters. I’m getting pretty good with the help of a weekly instructor found via Craigslist, daily walks through Chinatown in NYC, and a website called Memrise. In less than a month I’ve been able to specifically translate (a lot of) the data sheets for products I’m sampling/purchasing for my job at Adafruit Industries, and for fun/downtime I’m translating some of the Chinese graffiti in Blade Runner (I always wanted to know what they said).
At this point, you might be asking, “Why are you wasting your time learning such a hard language? Computers can do it — why don’t you hire a translator?” Or “the USA will make electronic components again, really!” Well, I’m going to tell you why and how I’ve decided to devote the next 2+ years or so of my free time to learning (Mandarin) Chinese with my own deadline to be fluent by 2016.
In this week’s article I’ll talk about why I think it’s a good idea for any maker to consider picking up some new language skills and specifically what I’m doing. A lot of my articles tend to be about the future (I can’t wait to look back on these 5 years from now). So, yes, I think a lot of us are going to find speaking, reading, and writing the language of the soon-to-be biggest economy in the world and, who makes almost everything, is a good idea. It’s something to consider learning, starting now, particularly for makers, especially the ones who run maker businesses.
World Stage Is Set, the Numbers Are In
Why? To begin, we’re not going to be “first” any more.
According to the International Monetary fund folks (IMF), by 2016 China’s economy will be the biggest in the world, surpassing the USA. We’re currently in the #1 spot, China is #2, and Japan just fell to 3rd place last year.
China’s economy is expected to grow from $11.2 trillion (2011) to $19 trillion in 2016, and the U.S. is expected to go from $15.2 trillion (2011) to $18.8 trillion in 2016, which would make China about 18% of the world economy.
For econo-geeks, depending on how you look at the numbers, you could argue it will be 2016 based on purchasing power parity (comparing how people spend and earn, the actual purchasing power households have) or you could look at an economy measured in U.S. dollars. If you do that, it will take a little longer, but not much, maybe 2020-ish. Per-capita income will take a longer too, but not many world economy experts are arguing “if” it will happen, only “when.” OK, those are boring stats, but I think they matter.
Either way, it’s become clear to me from working in the electronics world in some way for 20+ years, traveling the world in the context of how people “make” things, and when I worked with larger companies and spent a long time in China that it’s a great time to learn (Mandarin) Chinese, and I think it’s never been easier. Previously, I tried and did OK, but lost it later.
Almost a Decade Ago – Use It or Lose It
Chart: Which languages are the hardest to learn?
A few years ago I was spending a lot of time in Japan and China working with Sony on the “gallery” they planned to build in Shanghai. At the time, Sony could not sell their products in China, so they wanted to create a gallery of their high-end goods as a sort of introduction. I was trying to memorize both Japanese and (Mandarin) Chinese phrases to do my job helping Sony, and I did OK but I really didn’t have a grasp of the language.
The business-style learning technique at the time was using audio CDs. I would rip them and listen to them on my Sony CLIÉ; 8+ hour flights were perfect for this.
Pictured above: Me, at Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center in Shanghai, Thanksgiving 2003, with a scale model of the city’s growth.
Within a year I could actually see the city grow enormously, and I was able to meet a lot of people. Many of the people working on the Sony gallery spoke English, and I had access to translators, but it was always better and more enjoyable to talk with others directly. However, once I returned to the USA I didn’t have any daily practice. I was living in Minnesota at the time, and (unlike now) I couldn’t visit a section of town that was in Chinese to either practice speaking or some rudimentary character recognition. For a few months I would try to Skype with a few people who I could practice with but it wasn’t a daily thing so eventually I forgot most of it. I also think memorizing phrases wasn’t that good for the long term, more on that later.
The Present – Daily Exposure, One Source for All
Fast forward almost a decade, and I’m living in NYC and talking, reading, or emailing with someone in China. If you make anything, eventually you’ll find that there isn’t a supply chain that beats what China has; while a lot of people will claim goods are made in China only because of lower costs, that’s not 100% true. The supply chain of components to assembly are almost impossible to find elsewhere. If you look at once-booming industrial cities in the USA, you’ll see a lot of the work, from parts to assembly, happened in big chunks of locations — this is efficient and allows manufacturing to flourish.
For makers, specifically makers who are starting electronics businesses, most/all components are sourced from China. Millions of dollars of components come in, and they’re assembled; sometimes products are “Designed in the USA” but “Made in China”. Look under your Mac or iPhone — this is how it’s done.
In the maker spectrum of companies, SparkFun is one of, if not the biggest, company at the moment. Here are the latest public stats (source: SparkFun’s blog):
In 2010, SparkFun had revenues of about $18.4MM. As of April of 2011… 120 employees, up from 87 a year ago.
It’s safe to say millions of dollars are already being spent from just one company in the maker arena you’re familiar with, add up all the maker businesses generating over $1M and you’ll likely hit tens of millions quickly if not over $100M+.
I think it’s also becoming important for maker companies to actually visit the places and people they’re doing business with. It might not matter to some businesses or markets, but I think it matters to us, as makers.
Three quick examples: “The Return to Shenzhen – SparkFun, Bunnie Huang’s visits to the Chumby assembly line, and Mitch Altman’s visits to the TV-B-Gone factory. Pictured above is Bunnie on the Chumby assembly line. Be sure to read his entire “Made in China” series.
You’re going to see and hear about more and more open source hardware and maker businesses visiting China, and we’ll likely even see and hear some familiar faces in the maker community spending extended time living/working in China. Makers are smart, nimble, and efficient. Being on-site and on the assembly line is usually how we think; we don’t mind getting our hands dirty and participating in all parts of the process. It’s only going to make sense that more and more of the most prolific makers will consider learning a new language the more time they spend in China.
Here’s a great post from Evil Mad Scientist about their visit to the electronics markets of Shenzhen.
For me, each day for the last 5+ years, my exposure to Chinese has increased exponentially. Daily emails to suppliers, phone calls late at night (time zone differences), and looking at data sheets to figure out what’s what. One of the things that you’ll notice when you get components, or let’s say something like LCD screens, directly from China is that the data sheet and code examples are written in Chinese. This is because it’s not meant to be used by anyone else besides other Chinese manufacturers for their products/assembly.
Many of the people I work with around the world have made an obvious effort to learn English, so I think it’s only fair at this point I try to learn their language too. So far, as I’ve practiced with suppliers, partners, and friends in China they’re extremely happy that I’m making this effort. It’s helped with negotiations and just general good vibes between companies. A lot of companies I know go through middlemen, brokers, and companies that will do a lot for you, and that’s fine but you’re losing margins. And besides, it adds complexity. I want to get as close to the source as possible if I can.
