Even if our livelihood were not dependent on it, we would still need to improve our putonghua. Falling behind the Americans and Britons in our national language is embarrassing, to say the least.

In fact, our livelihood does depend on our knowledge of not only the language, but also the Chinese culture and philosophy that apparently affect the way people on the mainland think and do business.

To be sure, after 25 years of economic integration with the mainland in general, and Guangdong in particular, Hong Kong business people have fully accepted and skilfully adapted to the way business is done there. But still, they are frequently baffled by the logic behind the thinking of their mainland business associates.

At the factory level where cost, as expressed in dollars and cents, is king, the lack of insight into each other's culture matters little in the fostering of a close and profitable business partnership. But as this relationship evolves in complexity that requires a higher level of value-added input, a greater understanding of each other's frame of mind is essential to smoothing out the inevitable differences in business strategy and philosophy. Hong Kong business people have been saying that cultural clashes occurred most frequently in discussions involving relatively more abstract ideas such as design, branding and marketing.

Learning to speak the language helps. But that's the easy part. For a Cantonese speaker, picking up Mandarin is less daunting than learning to drive. It should come naturally after spending a few months in a Mandarin-speaking environment. Watching a lot of Mandarin television programmes can be a big help.

To be sure, you are never going to speak perfect Mandarin without formal training. But that should not be a problem as long as people can understand most of what you say. Some friends complimented me on my heavily accented Mandarin. They thought it was quite charming, although they could catch, at most, about 70 per cent of what I said.

The hard part is to learn the culture so that you can understand and appreciate the way your mainland business partners behave although you may not necessarily agree with them. What Hong Kong people should worry about is not so much falling behind in language skill but rather in cultural understanding.