WHY SPEAKING ENGLISH WILL IMPROVE YOUR CAREER PROSPECTS
Having another language can aid your brain. Not having one can hurt your promotion chances. (‘Rise of the multilingual boss creates a monoglot* ceiling’ The Financial Times)
English is the international language of business. A wide variety of industries including tourism, banking, marketing, transportation and law, often require its employees to possess a good command of English. For these reasons, English language skills are likely to:
- put you ahead of many other candidates when applying for a job
- provide opportunities both in your career and your personal life
- give you the opportunity to travel to, and work in, different countries
- Improve your prospects of working in an international company, and,
- Make you a better businessman/woman.
This last concept is supported by Antonella Sorace, professor of developmental linguistics at Edinburgh University, who maintains that, “The multilingual brain might actually be better at doing business than the monolingual brain.”
Not speaking English may hold you back
Non-English speakers are at a disadvantage when competing for jobs against English language speakers, especially in the case of international companies.
In an article published recently in the Financial Times, Richard Hardie, the Chair at UBS, London, maintains that there is a glass ceiling developing in global business for people who speak only one language. Hardie argues that monoglots are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve senior positions in companies and organisations unless they’ve had (a) overseas experience and (b) possess clearly demonstrated cultural awareness.
Multilinguals make better decision-makers
The ability to speak more than one language tends to mean that multilinguals are better decision-makers. This is because they have a better understanding of other cultures, and this knowledge improves the decision-making process.
Research conducted at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University, for example, found that people seem to make more rational decisions when thinking in a second language.
According to the researchers, there are probably two reasons for this. Firstly, the decision-taker is more ‘distanced’ from the decision – in other words, is less influenced by emotion - and, secondly, because, by understanding a foreign language, they are able to see others’ perspectives more easily.
The Pompeu Fabra research also suggests that multilinguals possess a greater ability to switch between tasks, can focus better and are better able to set priorities.
Multilinguals are better negotiators
The ability to speak more than one language helps to acquire what is sometimes called ‘soft power’.
‘Soft power’ was a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University in the late 1980s and means the ability to attract and persuade rather than to coerce. Although traditionally associated with international diplomacy, multilinguals very often possess ‘soft power’ which provides them with useful advantages, especially when it comes to negotiation, both internally and externally.
- Monoglot – someone who speaks only one language.
- Having another language can aid your brain. Not having one can hurt your promotion. From the Financial Times article: 'Rise of the multilingual boss creates a monoglot ceiling'.
Photograph: My wife, Janette, in a business meeting with Oprah Winfrey
