A poll of partners in Legal Week has found that nearly 50 per cent of them see Chinese as 'language of the future'. English is confirmed as being the language of business. However, the partners see a growing importance being placed on Chinese as a legal language. More firms are opening offices and staff in China. A difficulty, however, for the spread of Chinese as a legal language is that there are numerous dialects. Mandarin Chinese is not the predominant language in many parts of the People's Republic. Just over half (53 per cent) of the Chinese speak Mandarin, according to the Ministry of Education there.