I have heard people on here comment that they would NEVER learn another language. And, others say they specifically will never learn Spanish. This is a great article that explains what business fields search for which languages, and, explains the obvious reasons for employers to seek bilingual employees. Truthfully, I was surprised that Spanish wasn't the most sought after language professionally. Will this affect your learning a second language- or at least not see it as "unpatriotic" to speak another language?
Personally, I am also bilingual (Spanish) and use it daily on a professional basis. I see huge benefits in it, also.
♥♥The Queen Has Spoken♥♥2007-10-08T07:10:23Z
Favorite Answer
Do you know that most Europeans speak several languages? Sometimes as many as 8 or 10 fluently. And it has hardly destroyed their society.
With todays ability to connect world wide I think it is time that American's get off their nose in the air high horses and learn second even third languages.
It is not unpatriotic to learn a second or even third language. It broadens your horizons and gives you more stability as a hireable commodity.
The problem with bilingualism is it is often used to promote Spanish at the expense of English. I know that bilingualism is any two languages, but the debate in the USA is whether Spanish should be treated as a equal to English. I live in Miami and I have watched over the last fifty years how we have been gone from a English speaking city to a city that Spanish is the language of most, and if English is spoken at all, it is broken at best. So I can speak to the issue of what happens when some claim they want bilingualism
Being bilingual and bi/cultural has been a great help to me in my employment, Social worker, Drug counselor, Veteran benefits counselor etc, .Spanish used in business will always be helpful for employment in America, but also Chinese, Japanese and other markets that opens as a result of globalization. America is one of the few countries in the world, that dose not embrace bilingualism. I am retired and live in Thailand 4 months each year, I have tried to learn Thai ,But it is a tonal Language, a word can have 5 different meanings depending on the tone that is used, I am hearing impaired and can not hear the different tones, So my hopes of being Tri lingual will not be realized.
I started learning languages in Mexico when I was about 5 years old. It was just part of the curriculum in my school. I always liked them and then later on I went on to learn German and French, just for fun. It enriched my life in so many ways. Traveling and being able to speak to people in their own language gave me a unique window into these people's lives, their countries and their culture. I've lived in Germany and Canada and traveled other countries around Europe. I really don't know what learning another language may have to do with being unpatriotic. It's mainly for your own personal benefit that you do that! I'm bringing up my kids bilingual English-Spanish (already wondering when it will be o.k. to bring in a third language, they are only 3 years old an 8 months old). If I had the time and the brains I would learn another 20 languages! I just love it so much.
Bilingualism is destructive to a society??? Please explain how Luxembourg (3 languages) , Belgium (3), Finland (2) Switzerland (4) Canada (2) aren't crumbling apart. Not to mention all different dialects that are spoken in many countries as well.
I'm not sure if I am supposed to answer this question? But the benefits of knowing more than 1 language are very obvious.
We use language to communicate so clearly if we are good at knowing the language and how to use it to understand other people and for them to understand us than we can communicate better.
If this is true for knowing any language than it is true for knowing more languages if you want to communicate better. You can get very good at knowing your native language but why stop there?
Of course you can communicate with more people if you know more than one language. If you learn a 2nd language you can communicate better with people who speak that language even if they also speak your native language because you have more ways to say things. And even if you are not perfect in the 2nd language you usually can still communicate well in it even if you are discussing complex concepts.
And I can say that learning other languages really helps you understand your 1st language better.
Knowing another language of course does not hurt you for getting a good job. But to be practical here knowing another language helps you for building a professional career or being in business.
If you don't have the time for it or feel that the time is better spent on something else I can't argue with you..but just be sure that you thought it through for what your time is worth and what you are getting and missing.