Learning a new language is not only beneficial to improve your cognitive ability and broaden your cultural sensitivity, yet it is also helpful to boost your professional performance. There are some languages that are considered vital in sustaining today’s economic growth which means that they are crucial in the business world. We have tried to compile a list of languages that are the most important for enhancing your career.
Considering which languages you need to learn today
There currently are more than 7000 languages in the world which make it a challenge to consider which language/s will be useful in improving your career. Among those languages, you can pick one or two based on the following factors.
- The number of speakers worldwide – This first factor is very important and also the easiest criterion to find out. Most businesses prefer to run in a location where people are gathering. This is related to the probability of selling in the area/country where the target customers live. Learning their language will be beneficial for you or your business as you will also learn your customers’ culture and behaviors. This kind of cultural and social knowledge plays an important role in marketing that will give you more advantages and privileges in the future.
- Country and Location – The second factor is related to the area that uses your target language. While your company or organization plans an expansion in a certain area or country in the future, it is better for you to immediately set a schedule for taking their language course. Using English is cool, but you will win their respect when communicating using their language. If you are currently unemployed, you can consider the languages used in the country that you know have more job opportunities regarding your skill and experience.
- Language use – Considering how you will use the language in the future is another important aspect before you decide on a new language course. Some countries like India are using more than one language for different communication contexts or regions. It will not be necessary to learn all languages in India, but you can decide to choose one language that is relevant to your business that you will use the most.
Valuable languages to learn for international business and opportunities
When English has already been an international language for business, you can rely on it and learn English for business just to enrich your language registers in this context. However, you might need to learn another language to increase your opportunities in your career or business.
According to research, the customer journey is mainly associated with their trust and respect toward a certain brand or product. In this case, another study proved more than 75% of customers are willing to spend their money on products or services that use their own language. Therefore, communication in the similar language used by your clients or business partners will help you to avoid awkward moments since you will be more aware of their culture and behavior.
Considering the opportunity that you will have by learning a new language, here is below the list of the most valuable languages you need to learn according to the factors we have discussed above.
- Mandarin
China is growing their presence in the world economy with its 1 billion Mandarin speakers in mainland China and other regions around the world. This country is now leading in global purchasing and it is also the home of the largest manufacturers that supply global needs or goods.
Currently, China has become a big target of many entrepreneurs from around the world with its expansive business opportunities. The cultural background that restricts the people of China from using another language like English makes learning Mandarin important so that you can explore more than you can when only using English.
As China’s economic power is consistently increasing time by time, learning Chinese Mandarin will be an excellent choice.
- Spanish
Spanish is not only used in Spain, but it also becomes the official language of the other 18 countries mainly in South America. In the US alone, there are about 40 to 45 million Spanish native and non-native speakers. In some states in the United States, the local governments seem aware of their Spanish-speaking citizens as they often issue bilingual documents, signs, or notices in both English and Spanish.
When you are eying South America as your next business target of expansion or having business partners who speak Spanish, starting the course will help you reach further. For English speakers, Spanish is considered the easiest language to learn due to the similarity of language roots. Spanish also uses the same alphabet and similar sentence structure. Therefore, learning it is not only easy but also important for growing business.
- Arabic
As countries in the Arab World, particularly the Middle East, are using Arabic as the official language, learning this language will be a great investment you can try to improve your career or business. With approximately 430 million speakers, Arab people are a great market opportunity for certain products and services.
In the last decades, Middle East countries are only known as prominent gas and oil producers. Nowadays, the Arab World is opening their doors to foreign investors so that many types of business including fashion, tourism, and construction are in increasing demand. Making a connection with these people by first learning their language will help you gain more respect from the Arab industry.
- Hindi
India is the 6th economic power according to their GDP in 2022. With 1.4 billion people, this country should never be overlooked as a substantial economic opportunity. In recent times, India has become the powerhouse of technology development. It is also known as an ideal ecosystem to grow for the manufacturing industry. Therefore, learning their language could be a golden ticket to enter India’s business world.
There are actually no national languages as every region can decide its official language according to the cultural background of each. For business communication, India still relies on using English.
However, Hindi is one of many languages spoken in India. Although Hindi is not an official language and spoken by all people in India, this language is worth learning since its speakers cover 40% of the India population. When you are able to speak English and do business or work in India, you will see greater opportunities with Hindi.
- French
France is one of the European giants in business and industry as they are in 7th place in global economic power. They are also a profitable export partner that supports other countries like Germany, Spain, United States, UK, and Italy. Moreover, France is the main player of global fashion and luxury goods that fuel their tourism sector.
Talking about French, this language is not only spoken in its home country as a result of its journey in the past. France has 13 territories called Overseas France located outside Europe. In addition, there are 29 countries around the world that use French as their official language.
Considering these tremendous facts about French, taking a quick course will be very helpful to improve your career and broaden your career opportunities. Besides the opportunity, French also belongs to one of the easiest languages to learn by English speakers.
- Japanese
Japan is the third global economic power in the world after China. Its science and technology sectors have been very successful in bringing innovation to global industry and are important for the global economy. Although Japanese is only familiar to those who live in Japan, Japanese is still worth learning. This country is very proud of their culture and language which makes very few Japanese people fluent in English. Consequently, you will need a Japanese interpreter or learn Japanese by yourself when considering a business trip to Japan.
