When it comes to foreign languages, the questions that come up time and time again are:
Is it worth it?
Shall I bother spending the time, money and effort?
What will I get out of it?
Well, please allow me to spend a couple of minutes showing you the actual benefits of learning a language!
1. In monetary terms
What if I told you in years to come (when you retire) you would be sitting on an extra £84k (economist.com) just for taking those German lessons? Or, how about if I told you that bilingual staff earn an average of £7,000 more annually than their monolingual counterparts (iseek.org)? Are you itching to pick up the phone yet to arrange that language training you’ve been considering?
2. The opportunities
We all know learning a second language brings new opportunities. I just want to demonstrate the sheer volume of professional opportunities. A survey from a US-based recruiter, found that nearly 9/10 headhunters in Europe, Latin America, and Asia state being at least bilingual is a critical factor for getting on in today’s business world. And 66% agree that the importance of this will grow in the next 10 years (iseek.org). We are operating in a business environment where you cannot assume people will speak English. Fact.
3. The Economy
“English is okay to buy things, but not for selling”, and it’s leaving its mark on the UK economy. Professor James Foreman-Peck’s research for the department of Business, Innovation and Skills, research has concluded that the deficit in language skills from the English workforce is costing the UK economy around £48bn a year (theguardian.com). It’s a barrier to exports, everyone knows that, but very few do anything about it. The ROI on language training is likely to be greater than any marketing campaign, yet when it comes to languages there seems to be reluctance. Why?
4. Personal Benefits
Personal benefits of language learning are also important, and we picked our favourites from the Psychology blog by Psychologist Jeremy Dean a researcher at University College London (spring.org.uk):
- Growth of the brain
- Keeping dementia at bay
- Improved listening skill
- Become more language sensitive
- Boost memory power
- Improved multi-tasking skills
- Improved attention span
- Improved knowledge of own native language
I do get it. Being a marketing degree student, I could never be bothered to learn a language. But now that I am working, I think to myself ‘What was I doing with those hours of free time I had outside of uni?’ To be honest, being a student, not a lot. What a waste! It took me joining a language company to see the light. Now I cannot stress enough the importance of learning a second language. Being in the sales department I can actively see the influence it has on companies. The ROI can be colossal.
And to finally conclude: “one optimistic estimate is that half the world’s people might speak English by 2050. That leaves billions who will not, and billions of others who remain happier (and more willing) to spend money in their own language” (economist.com).
So if you think it’s time to take that language training, get in touch with us now:
+44 (0)1793 513321