<p>I don’t know what these classifications are, but I took two years of Chinese and then did a year of language study in China. By the end, I could say and understand pretty much anything. My reading was not as good. I think what makes Chinese so hard is not to be able to speak fluently but to be able to read and write fluently–especially write.</p>
<p>My H runs a Chinese language program in China. He gets plenty of business types who want to improve their Chinese. However, they tend to work for regional or China specific companies, not the big multinationals. For better or for worse, they don’t care much about language ability.</p>