<p>I’m afraid you are missing the point. Yes, it is nice if your associates can translate and perhaps even negotiate in Mandarin or Japanese, but look at most of the partners in those offices. We definitely have native speakers in our Asian offices and even any European offices we have, but that doesn’t change the translation of the controlling documents in international financing transactions. (Since you brought up Japan, I worked on a deal with a major Japanese consortium as one of the project sponsors. The financing documents were all in English, as were the negotiations.) Having said that, language skills in growing markets are an asset these days, and if the dollar keeps tanking and becomes no longer the reserve currency, things may indeed change. Let me know after you’ve practiced a couple of decades.</p>