The article "Zimbabwe Proposes Compulsory Chinese Lessons, Stirring Controversy," discusses how the government in power is going to make it mandatory to learn the Chinese language at every level of education including elementary in state-run schools. Although there are many people who think that this may be a great idea because it would create more job opportunities for future graduates, especially because Zimbabwe has had so many ties to the Chinese when it comes to doing business; there are still some who disagree with this new idea. The big issue comes down to whether the country has enough people to teach this new language especially when they are having a hard time finding teachers to teach in their own native language.
The article goes on to describe that there is another issue that the people of Zimbabwe aren't excited about. That is the Chinese influence in their country; there have been locals who work for Chinese companies that have complained about the disturbingly low wages they are paid compared to the Chinese coworkers and as well as some cases of abuse. "Sergeant Chevo, registrar at the University of Zimbabwe, told IBTimes in an email that Chinese, like English, was just another "evil language used to colonise us and brainwash us." (Caulderwood, 2015). Clearly by reading his statement we can conclude that culture and identity as a nation is very important to him and many others, and that by bringing another language into a country that already has so many languages may increase the employment rate for Chinese foreigners and decrease it for the natives of Zimbabwe. Therefore this analysis will examine why culture is an important component of any International Business venture. .
According to our textbook, there are six determinants that make up a culture and among those are language and education. In countries where the "mother tongue" isn't English, it is very difficult to find individuals who are competent enough to perform certain international business transactions when they only know their native language and their education level isn't as high as other people in their field.
