Executive Summary

Although the standard of English proficiency is rising in China, using English in con-versations with Chinese host nationals may be difficult. Therefore, proficiency in the Chinese language may promote the adjustment of foreign business expatriates in China. To test this proposition, a mail survey was directed to Western business expa-triates assigned to China. Controlling for the time expatriates had spent in China, results showed that their language ability had a positive association with their socio-cultural adjustment. Not surprisingly, this positive relationship was strongest for interaction adjustment and weakest for work adjustment. The straightforward impli-cations of these clear findings are discussed in detail. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Communication is crucial to management. But communication depends on a common language, a condition seldom existing in many international business settings. That could be the origin of many problems (Feely & Harzing, 2002). While language communicates, it also “ex-communicates”—that is, it only includes those who share the same tongue; everyone else is excluded (Fantini, 1995). This is especially so when mutually incomprehensible languages meet to create a formidable language barrier, such as the one encountered by many West-ern business expatriates in China. Although the standard of English proficiency is rising in China, using English in conversations with Chinese host nationals may be very difficult due to a lack of much common vocabulary. But even between relatively fluent speakers, the interaction could be very deceptive, as it may obscure cultural differences. Although a business conversation may be conducted in a second language, English, participants certainly think in their own language according to their own cultural norms, which may not be fully comprehended. Instead of being an efficient vehicle of communication, the “common ” language of English becomes an obstacle for true understanding (cf. Liu, 1995; Scheu-Jan Selmer is Professor and Head of the Department of Management at Aarhus School of Busi-ness, Denmark. His research interest lies in expatriate management with a special focus on Asia and especially China. He has published nine books and numerous journal articles in refer