The call to be global is starting to be stronger. Companies need to expand profits to different markets and not depend on their existing strong markets due to increased risk of volatility in markets. Even countries with strong cultural and language traditions are going to change. Can they? Yes! Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten Japan is one of them. The mandate is clear. Employees not proficient in English in 2 years will be fired.
This trend will certainly be followed by other courageous and ambitious CEOs, as well as forward looking world leaders. First, the need to master English, then Chinese, then a third language if not more. Rakuten CEO's reason is simple. In 10 years, the market will be very different and we need to be prepared.
The CEO walks the talk. In a press conference to Japanese reporters, instead of using Japanese, he used English even when its unnecessary. It takes a leader to courageously own up to his shortcomings and be ridiculed for falling short of perfection, so that those under his care will be willing to follow. Same goes for daddies. Are we walking the talk?
I am starting to see the need to learn as many languages as possible. One does not require to be proficient in all languages, but to be brave to utter the first few words confidently and clearly. Only fear need to be conquered. Imperfect pronounciation and poor vocabulary can be corrected through practice and love of the culture and language.
Parents often discuss about whether to send their children to study in a schools that use another language as its medium of instruction. For instance, for Malaysian parents, should they send their children to a Chinese school when the parents themselves are not proficient in the language.
By walking the talk, parents need to make efforts to learn languages together with their children. It can be fun when we show interest in a new language and tackle the difficulties together. It does not matter if our kids are much smarter than us in learning the new language. It is fine if they could master the vocabulary faster. What matters is that we maintain the global outlook like Hiroshi Mikitani and hopefully set tough goals for ourselves to improve. It is fine to falter and look silly in our newly acquired accent, but we should try and work hard at improving ourselves as global citizens of this world.
(Photos show Haruka at her first Christmas stage show singing a few Christmas carols in Japanese and English at the International Japanese Church of Singapore IJCS. The day before she sang at Orchard Road, Singapore in front of the Mandarin Gallery for 30 minutes from 7pm).
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