Chinese is the new English in the Southeast Asia’s PM market

The product manager job market in Southeast Asia is booming, but there is a caveat: many positions require Chinese proficiency.

How did we get here?

For fast-growing internet businesses in the region, it is the norm to have product teams split among different parts of Asia, with China being many companies’ go-to destination for product development centers. Meanwhile, the product managers (PM) hub is often in Southeast Asia in order to maintain close proximity to the users.

There are many reasons why having development teams in China makes sense. For Chinese product companies expanding overseas, the core product team is naturally based in China.

For others, it is strategic to set up tech centers in at least one location where development expertise for large-scale products is in abundance in order to support future exponential growth. Mega-successful internet businesses like Alibaba and Tencent have nurtured a very large technically skilled talent pool in China, which makes the country one of the ideal locations.

Therefore, the cross-country product team arrangement can create a communication barrier where the teams in Southeast Asia are more comfortable conducting work in English while their counterparts in China are more comfortable conducting work in Chinese.

Many organizations have recognized this language barrier. This prompts them to create internal language training programs that aim to enable the entire organization to communicate effectively in one language (often English). But language proficiency takes time to build up; so for now, this challenge is here to stay.

As a result, there is an increasing demand for product managers based outside of China who can speak both Chinese and English. The former is to allow for collaboration with the development teams in China. The latter is to allow for collaboration with the rest of the region.

What does this mean for product managers who do not speak Chinese?

I will be honest. For product managers who do not speak Chinese, but whose product scope requires close collaboration with engineering teams in China, you will be in for an uphill battle.

From a product management career perspective, being able to work with tech teams who have successfully built internet businesses before means that you can learn from the best, provided that you can overcome the language barrier.

I understand your challenge. And here are my survival tips for you.

Survival tip 1: Have a realistic expectation about how your day-to-day work might be

Below is an illustration of a workday you might potentially experience.

1. You might be attending meetings where requirements and technical design are mainly discussed in Chinese.
2. You might need to do lots of pre-reading, and follow-ups after meetings to fill in the gaps in your understanding.
3. Google Translate might be your best friend in comprehending emails, group chats, and documents written in Chinese.
4. If you speak English, you might not be understood.

If you are considering a role that requires collaboration with tech teams in China, this is a likely scenario you will encounter. Understanding this will help you make an informed decision on whether this is a challenge you would like to take on.

Survival tip 2: Have a clear career goal in mind

This challenge is no small feat, so what are your motivations for sticking it out?

1. What experience, skillsets, and benefits can you gain from this position?
2. What values do you bring to the table?

If, after thinking about the answers to these questions, you are still interested in doing well on the job, and would like to know how you can manage the situation, read on.

Survival tip 3: Have a professional network of support

Firstly, get the alignment that English is the official language of communication, and seek your team’s help to encourage an English-speaking culture.

Ask for support from your teammates who can speak both languages. In daily communication, they will be the bridge helping you fill in the gaps, if necessary.

I had really supportive colleagues who made a conscious effort to speak English despite it being challenging for them, which meant a lot to me.

However, if the organization does not fundamentally accept English as the official language of communication, one should ask oneself if this is the right environment.

Secondly, reach out to other PMs who are facing the same challenge inside and outside of your organization. Believe it or not, there are others who are also in the same boat as you. Connecting and sharing experiences with one another helps us draw on our collective strength and wisdom.

Survival tip 4: Learn Chinese

This trend is here to stay. Though there are still English-speaking product manager roles in this region, Chinese proficiency will open doors to a wider range of opportunities.

From my observations, in the field of internet product development, Chinese is becoming as important as English. Since it is a long shot, one should start as soon as possible.

If your companies provide internal Chinese classes, make full use of them. Otherwise, I recommend Preply if you want to look for a Chinese language tutor. The classes are conducted live over video calls so that you can learn anywhere. And the rates are quite competitive.

Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by Preply, but if you sign up using my referral link, I will get some discount for my Chinese lessons there 🙂

In addition, if possible, try to make passing a certification exam one of your learning goals. A widely recognized certification system for the Chinese language is 汉语水平考试(Hanyu Shuiping Khaoshi — HSK). It helps give your language learning journey more structure. And the certification will be a valuable addition to your resume.

Survival tip 5: Use flashcards to accumulate vocabulary relevant to your job

When possible, pay close attention to the kind of vocabulary that is used. The same words will appear time and again. After a while, with the right method, you will learn to recognize them with ease.

I pick out words and sentences in group chats, documents, and emails, and add them as flashcards to Anki, an amazing flashcard application that utilizes the principle of spaced repetition.

TL;DR: Spaced repetition method introduces time intervals in between your study sessions so that every time you attempt to recall, the information is embedded deeper into your long-term memory. Anki already takes care of the interval calculation. When you open the app to revise new words, the system automatically displays the appropriate flashcards to you. The web and the Android version are free. For iOS, you need to pay about S$20; but trust me, it is a well-spent investment.

Fret not if you start off not recognizing any Chinese characters at all. The spaced repetition system works like magic. If you are willing to spend 10–15 minutes a day reviewing the cards on the way to-and-fro work, your brain will slowly, but surely absorb them all. Imagine learning 10 new words a day, after a year, one can have a vocabulary of more than 3600 words.

Using this method, I went from barely recognizing 我 (I) and 你 (you) to typing full-blown work messages in Chinese in a year.

Final thoughts

A challenge can also be an opportunity, depending on how you make of the situation. The product world is changing in unprecedented ways, which can catch us off-guard sometimes. But it is our choice whether we choose to react or to adapt.

Before you go, check out my post on how a language barrier made a product team more agile, or get some inspiration on how product managers can navigate their career roadmap.

If you are considering a career switch to product management, or if you are a PM searching for the next adventure and would like to have someone partner you in the preparation process, do check out my PM interview preparation service here.