Let's face it, we live in a global society where you'd be hard-pressed to not to come across someone from another country, region, race, religion, and culture on any ordinary day.
Whether you are trying to get your start-up off the ground, you're trying to climb the corporate ladder, or fulfilling some wanderlust for travel, the ability to communicate across languages is an invaluable asset.
Stand out from the crowd in a competitive job market.
Most job markets these days are oversaturated and highly competitive. Being multilingual will help your resume stand out from the crowd and attract employers looking for a strong asset to their team and to their company. The ability to communicate with clients across borders and languages is a strong asset to have.
Got to get that money, honey.
According to salary.com, candidates that are bilingual can earn between 5 and 15 percent more per hour than their monolingual colleagues. No joke: It pays to be multilingual!
Pack your bags and grab your passport!
Have you ever wanted a career that required you to live abroad or travel for your job? Do you dream of taking lunch meetings al fresco in Paris or holding high-powered executive meetings overlooking the Tokyo skyline? Multilingualism will you give you that cutting edge that will afford you more opportunities to travel and communicate with clients and customers from all over the globe, from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
Brain fuel
Multilingualism not only benefits your career and your wanderlust, but it also feeds your brain. Many studies have found that learning more than one language at an early age aids in problem-solving and critical-thinking skills and benefits creativity and focus. Researchers at Northwestern University found that the brain of a multilingual individual is constantly choosing which language to process information and how it will respond. This constant exercise has been found to improve cognitive function as the brain becomes used to transitioning smoothly between to language structures.
In their shoes: Learning and speaking another language will give you different perspectives.
Learning and speaking another language requires you to interact with different people, cultures and traditions other than your native language. Exposure provides insight into how other people operate, which gives you valuable insight that may help you understand others. In addition to this valuable insight, studies have found that some people find their personality shifting as they switch back and forth between two or more languages. In a study published in the University of Chicago Press Journals, researchers found that some people found themselves to be more assertive or more extroverted when they spoke a certain language, while others found they were perceived differently by others because of the way they sounded when they spoke different languages. It could be surmised that if you want to learn more about yourself, learning another language is a great way to do so.
You’ll be the belle of the ball at cocktail parties!
When you’re at a party, pulling out your multilingualism is sure to be a favorite. Impress your monolingual friends and assert your multicultural clout. It’s a sure-fire way to break the ice!
Today's Woman to Watch is the founder of the language tutoring service Chatterbox, Mursal Hedayat! To learn more about Mursal and the amazing work she is doing, check her out by clicking here! [insert link here]