Ni hao, new hire: Africa’s growing Mandarin job boom

While Chinese firms have long brought their own translators to the continent, they are now often hiring local linguists

The change is partially being driven by the expanding footprint of smaller Chinese companies, which would rather hire locally than bring their own staff from China, and by the increasing role played by African firms in trade.

Few of the thousands of Chinese executives, managers and workers who pour into Africa every year are proficient in the languages of their host countries, according to recruiters and analysts.

This is true for the most widely spoken official languages like English or French, and is especially the case with indigenous African languages.

“There is now a greater need for Chinese language skills than before,” said Heidi Haugen, a professor of China studies at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Recent job posts on the networking site LinkedIn reveal continent-wide demand for Mandarin skills in sectors including real estate, mining, hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing.