Emerging Linguistic Capital:

The Role of Chinese Language in Pakistan’s Business Sector under CPEC

Abstract

This research describes the role of Chinese language in the business sector of Pakistan. It aims to investigate the future of Chinese language in business, the attitude of professionals towards the language and the language barrier issue that affects trade. Using François Grin’s Language Economics Theory, the study looks at language as human capital and how Chinese is becoming more valuable for its economic usefulness in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It also uses Bernard Spolsky’s Language Planning and Policy framework to look at how government actions and policy changes affect language learning trends. Also, Gardner and Lambert’s Attitude Theory is used to look at why professionals are interested in and think about the Chinese language. The research follows a quasi-quantitative approach and was conducted through survey using questionnaires which had questions ranging from whether there is an increase in the Chinese language usage to better employment opportunities. A total of 75 professionals working in the biggest joint venture between Pakistan and China i.e. CPEC participated in this survey. The results revealed that Chinese language usage has increased in the past years in Pakistan. The business professionals support the idea of learning Chinese for better employment opportunities however, they do not think of it as a necessary skill in business. This does not deny the paramount status of Chinese in the current era of globalization.