Do I need to be able to speak Japanese to work in GS Tokyo Office?
Hey guys, I'm applying to Goldman Sachs Tokyo office as part of my 3 location preferences, and I would love to know if not being able to speak Japanese is an automatic ding. When I interned in GS this spring, I was told it wouldnt be an issue, but I would love to get confirmation from other people as well.
Yes, Japan is a huge market and therefore the local business language is essential especially for key roles in services like IB or MC. Had it been a smaller economy e.g. Denmark, the local language would be advantageous but not essential - in this case it is.
How did this get MS? The GS career website clearly states fluency in Japanese is needed for ANY position in Tokyo.
I had an internship there this spring, and I asked this question. I was told that it wouldnt be a problem, as all business communication is in English, so I didnt check the website. But idk.
I just asked my father and he said that it is not absolutely necessary but helps a lot.
His reasoning: Most of the hard work is done within the firm and you have locals and salespeople to communicate that to the client. If you want to rise through the ranks, however, you either need to speak the language or be sent over as a high-level expat.
Not sure if this totally applies, as he was in Tokyo a decade ago (doesn't speak Japanese), and was at a different BB.
We have family friends in the same boat - they were fine with decent english in Asia 20 years ago but I think times change.
Do you speak any other Asian languages? It's not uncommon to see American expats with little to no Japanese language ability in that office. However, I don't think it would be advantageous or even possible for you to spend the entirety of your analyst/associate years there and do well without a broad understanding of Japan culturally and some language ability. I would start at of a more local office to yourself and then try and do an expat/STA in Tokyo if that interests you.
I cant, but I am willing to learn! During the internship, they made it clear that not understanding the language wouldnt be an issue, since all business is carried out in English, and everything is written in English. I just want to know if they'll uphold that during the recruitment process.
If you have a really strong resume and GS has shown a lot of interest in you, you could take a dice roll. But generally speaking, it would be really tough to do the entirety of your analyst/associate years in Japan as the above said. Even if they say they do business in English, Japanese offices (especially when it comes to IB) are primarily servicing Japanese clients (large companies and conglomerates), and many of those businesses are very much focused on the domestic market. Just like how when you’re a banker in China or Korea, the companies you’ll deal with have a heavy domestic market focus, and therefore will prefer to conduct business in their home language. The only place I’ve seen where business is done in English is Singapore (and occasional rare cases in HK, with now a greater focus on China, requiring more mandarin), because bankers there cover SE Asian firms, which can conduct business in English.
Japanese is also a tough language to pick up quickly. I think there’s also a more formal way of speaking in the business vs personal, so you would need to learn that. At the end of the day, you’re adding an additional handicap to yourself, and will render yourself useless in some cases (e.g. how do you take notes in a client meeting of local clients decide to break into Japanese... if I were your VP/MD and I couldn’t rely on you for some of these things, or have to fix your mistakes in the language, I’d get annoyed and think “why don’t I just work with someone who understands my language”.)
GS I hear anecdotally has a good mobility program. Maybe you can look at the option of secondment to the Tokyo office after getting the job first?
Awhile back I met someone from my Markets training class who was stationed with the Tokyo office. He was white and didn’t speak Japanese, but I think he had interned there before, and was also in trading, not IB.
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