By Grace Ng

WHEN fund manager Jerry Chan started rushing out of the office at 6.40pm sharp every Monday and shutting off his mobile phone for three solid hours, his drinking buddies started to get suspicious.

'They thought I was gambling or having a rendezvous with some hot girl,' he chuckled. 'The truth is, I was in business Mandarin class - and I need 100 per cent concentration, because I almost flunked O-level Chinese.'

Mr Chan, 29, is like many other young, up-and-coming financial sector executives in Singapore: He has been swept up by the Mandarin tuition mania.

Armed with their tomes of Mandarin financial terms, powersuit-clad devotees pour out of Shenton Way and head off on their weekly pilgrimage to founts of knowledge like the Singapore Chinese Chamber Institute of Business (SCCIOB) in Hill Street.

Their mission is to master enough business Mandarin and cultural sensitivity within a few months to do business successfully in mainland China.

In the past few years, about 15 educational organisations have started offering 10 to 15 courses each to tap the red-hot demand by Singaporean professionals for so-called 'Chinese hot-housing'.

They include the National University of Singapore, SCCIOB, Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and little- known centres like Tian Long International Education Centre in Tanjong Pagar.

Demand has surged for these courses. SCCIOB, for instance, trains over 1,000 students a year and has seen enrolment rocket 62 per cent from 2004 to last year.

The Management Development Institute of Singapore's (MDIS) corporate training arm has seen a 50 per cent jump in the number of working adults taking up Mandarin each year over the past three years. This year alone, enrolment has trebled, especially for customised in-house training for companies.

Most of the students at these schools are Singaporean Chinese, although there is a small but growing group from western and South Asian countries like India. Other students, like Ms Liang Hui Xin, are Chinese who grew up overseas.

Ms Liang said: 'I didn't speak Mandarin growing up, so it's a huge challenge learning it now as an adult.'

Proficiency levels vary greatly. Tutors observe that some of their students use Mandarin as their first language or speak it at home.

Others speak it haltingly. And while they have no problems ordering food or engaging in small talk, they falter in formal conversations about politics or economics as they lack a wide vocabulary.

Mr Chan, for example, admits to a habit of 'thinking of a response in English before speaking aloud in Mandarin'.

And then there are the embarrassing gaffes like the one that got Mr James Koh 'clobbered by the boss'.

A Chinese official welcomed him as yuan qing, which means 'distant relative'. Having no idea that this is a diplomatic way to describe relations between China and the Chinese diaspora in Singapore, Mr Koh corrected the official: 'No, you're wrong, I don't have any far-away relatives in China.'

For executives like Mr Y.C. Chu, 39, who was sent by his investment holding company to open offices in China late last year, such mistakes could be costly.

'The first time I tried to make a joke in my broken Mandarin, I almost lost the deal because I insulted the other party instead of amusing them,' he said.

Other common mistakes made by Singaporeans include introducing themselves before their bosses - a huge blunder for hierarchy-conscious Chinese.

They may also insist on using their English names, which makes them seem haughty to their Chinese counterparts.

To cater to students with such varied needs, schools have rolled out a big range of courses - you name it and they have it. These include conversational Mandarin, basic business Mandarin and specialised Mandarin for accounting and finance.

There are even business courses based on ancient military strategy classics like The Art Of War.

For those needing more technical skills, SIM offers a BA in Translation and Interpretation in English and Mandarin. It has attracted 140 students since its inception in March last year.

Personal tuition is offered by more than 100 business Mandarin teachers found on sites such as www.language- school-teachers.com. MDIS' unit also provides one-to-one courses for general managers and directors.

Mr Chu hired Chinese tutor Duan Bo to help him to get rid of his thick Hokkien-accented Chinese and 'speak the way officials in Beijing speak'. He even went to Shanghai Jiaotong University for a two-month intensive programme.

He reckons he spent 'well over $6,000', on his Mandarin lessons - but it 'was worth every penny'.

'Being confident speaking in Mandarin helped me to negotiate deals better and to forge closer business ties.'

Another bank executive told ST that she got along much better with her Chinese colleagues after taking an in-house business Mandarin course.

'The Chinese deliberately did not speak English to me, even though their standard is quite good. They were testing my Mandarin. When I accurately translated English documents into Chinese, I gained their respect and they became much warmer to me,' she said.

'They sometimes scoff behind the backs of Singaporeans who are huaren (Chinese people) and yet cannot even speak Mandarin.'

Others, like bank executive Grace Yeo and senior systems specialist Julie Chong said it is worth forking out cash for courses that help them 'to appreciate the beauty of the Chinese language and culture'.

These lessons do not come cheap - even an eight-week course can cost $650 - but more companies are now willing to bear the costs to help staff brush up on their business Mandarin.

About half of the students attending SCCIOB's business Mandarin courses are funded by companies.

And banks such as OCBC, Barclays Wealth, Swiss private bank Julius Baer and companies like Nuance-Watson are even opting to conduct their own in-house courses together with SCCIOB.

Staff seem keen, too. For instance, over 200 OCBC executives have attended classes since they began in 2000.

Mr Kenny Ho, Julius Baer's regional head of products, noted that by putting the staff in the same room to struggle and learn Mandarin together, they can spur each other on. So they can master the language faster than learning individually.

Is it all worth it? Course graduates told The Straits Times that the pay-offs come in everyday victories that once seemed so remote.

'Last month, I was so proud of myself when I made a joke during a powerpoint presentation - which I did myself in Mandarin,' said Mr Chu.

'The government officials actually laughed! It was music to my ears.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 2, 2008.