Multilingual Job Seekers Have an Advantage

​Did you know that learning a foreign language can actually help your career? It's true that foreign language skills aren't required for a large amount of jobs. Many people go through their careers only knowing English. However, knowing a foreign language can give you an advantage over other job seekers.

Why it Matters

Foreign language skills aren't limited to jobs in other countries, or positions like international law or finance. In fact, tens of thousands of job ads in the U.S. alone list a foreign language as a required skill¹. Learning a language may open you up to jobs like:

• English as a Second Language (ESL) and related fields.
• Translation.
• Government work.
• Travel industry.
• Journalism.
• Medicine.

However, meeting job requirements isn't the only benefit of learning a new language. In fact, according to the Telegraph, speaking a second language is actually good for your brain. The benefits include better memory, better decision-making skills, and being generally smarter². In other words, language learning helps you build soft skills that employers want.

Ways to Learn a New Language

If you don't have a language degree, don't worry! There are other ways you can learn a new language for your career.

Here a few examples to get you started:

1.   Duolingo

Duolingo is a platform for learning a new language for free. It used to be an invite only service but was later opened up to the public. It's by far the most popular option for language learning and has a decent collection to choose from.

2.   BBC Languages

It isn't being updated anymore but it's still a good collection of resources for language learners. Also, it also gives you some additional resources to help immerse yourself in the language, such as news and videos. After all, when learning a language, you want to know what speaking and writing natively actually sounds like.

3.   Online Courses

You can also check out online course providers like edX and ALISON. These websites have large libraries of courses for you to choose from. Chances are you'll find what you're looking for!

If you're looking for a few courses to get started, check out this article from The Muse. It gives a few examples for popular languages near the bottom of the list.

Sources

¹https://www.kiplinger.com/article/business/t012-c000-s001-best-languages-for-your-career.html

^{2 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/10126883/Why-learn-a-foreign-language-Benefits-of-bilingualism.html}