“At the pace with which businesses are expanding the world over, this is not the time for you to remain a monolinguist.” So writes Brian Rashid, contributing writer to Forbes Magazine. In addition to opening doors to a diverse set of employers, clients and employees, Rashid argues that learning more than one language makes you an all-around better business professional because it allows you to expand your network, and it improves decision-making skills as well as perception and memory.
In fact, knowing more than one language can benefit your professional career even if you only use English in the workplace. For example, the World Economic Forum has reported on academic studies that show that bilingual men and women earn more money than their monolingual peers even when they do not use multiple languages in their jobs. This might be because multilingualism is seen as a “sign of cognitive power, perseverance, and a good education,” making multilingual employees more desirable, regardless of whether they use more than one language in their jobs or not.
Students can choose to study a modern language at Bentley because they want to expand their career prospects to include working with international clients and/or employees. They may choose to study a foreign language to make themselves standout to future employers. Or they may choose language study to improve their professional network, decision-making skills, memory, and perception, all of which will help them in any career they choose to pursue.
Career options for multilingual individuals are infinite, but some possibilities include:
- International accounts manager
- International auditor
- Global information technology management
- Attorney
- Foreign Service officer
- Hospitality management
- Property development
- Financial sales
- Health care administration