| Today’s economic globalization is accelerating,constantly strengthening the impact of cultural factors on the success or failure of investment and the benefits.With the rapid development of information technology and transportation industry,the importance of linguistic culture and other hidden elements in international economic cooperation has become increasingly prominent compared to explicit trade barriers such as transportation costs and geographic distance.The language industry has become an important part of social and economic development,and the position and role of language strategies in national development strategies have become increasingly prominent.Since China’s implementation of the "Going Global" strategy,the amount of foreign investment by Chinese companies has increased day by day.Under the current adverse situation of severe overcapacity and the increasingly difficult business activities brought about by the Sino-US trade war,measuring the international language distance of Chinese and analyzing its impact on China’s outward foreign direct investment(OFDI),which will deepen the language culture of Chinese enterprises Understanding,thinking about how to reduce the cost caused by language distance,so as to carry out international investment activities more conveniently and efficiently,and also can provide a reference for the construction of China’s language industry strategy.This research first excavates the connotations of "language" and "language distance",on the basis of combing the relevant literature,combining the dual attributes of transaction cost,cultural identity theory and language,theoretically deduces the mechanism of language distance affecting foreign investment and make research assumptions;at the same time,construct a language distance indicator system from 8 aspects such as phonology,form,and noun category,and use the improved WALS index method to measure the language distance between Chinese and 153 trading partners;afterwards,from the scale of investment and intercontinental distribution analyze the current characteristics of China’s OFDI,and preliminary analyze its relationship with the Chinese international language distance;furthermore,based on the extended gravitational model,using mixed GLS,LSDV and other methods to intercontinental explore the impact of Chinese international language distance on Chinese OFDI;on this basis,we Introduce a trust variable to test the mechanism of the influence of language distance on OFDI,and further explore the moderating role of language culture promotion and international universal language in it.The study found that:(1)The linguistic distance between Chinese and trading partners has a negative effect on China ’s OFDI flows,and there are obvious intercontinental differences,manifested as a stronger hindrance to African and European countries,but it has a weak influence on Asian countries with geographically adjacent cultures.(2)The influence of language distance on foreign investment is determined by language tools and cultural attributes,language distance affects OFDI by affecting bilateral trust levels and transaction costs,and the greater the language distance between the two parties,the lower the bilateral trust level and the greater the obstacle to OFDI.(3)The current language and culture promotion has a limited spillover effect on reducing Chinese international language distance and indirectly affecting China’s OFDI,there are time lag effects and intercontinental spatial differences.(4)International lingua franca can effectively adjust and mitigate the negative impact of the Chinese international language distance on OFDI in China,the longer the language distance,the better the English is for the enterprise.Based on the above conclusions,this study proposes policy recommendations on how to tap the potential of language economy,build a mutual trust mechanism for investment,and improve business English communication skills. |
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