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How being bilingual can boost your career

Whether you’re fresh out of college or a seasoned executive, insiders agree that fluency in a second language can not only help you stand out among prospective employers, it can also open doors to opportunities that those without foreign language skills might miss. 

In today’s global economy, the ability to communicate in another language has become a significant advantage in the workforce. Research has found that people who speak at least one foreign language have an average annual household income that’s $10,000 higher than the household income of those who only speak English. And about 17 percent of those who speak at least one foreign language earn more than $100,000 a year. 

A recent survey found that nearly 9 out of 10 headhunters in Europe, Latin America, and Asia say that being at least bilingual is critical for success in today’s business environment. And 66 percent of North American recruiters agreed that being bilingual will be increasingly important in the next 10 years. 

“In today’s global economy you really have to understand the way business is done overseas to maximize your potential. A second language equips you for that,” says Alister Wellesley, managing partner of a Connecticut-based recruiting firm. “If you’re doing business overseas, or with someone from overseas, you obtain a certain degree of respect if you’re able to talk in their native language.” 

Language skills can also be key for service industries. At the Willard InterContinental Washington, a luxury hotel a few blocks from the White House, a staff of about 570 represents 42 nations, speaking 19 languages. The Willard’s front-of-house employees such as the concierge speak at least two languages. Bilingualism is not an absolute requirement, but it is desirable, according to Wendi Colby, director of human resources. 

Workers with skills in a second language may have an edge when it comes to climbing Willard’s professional ladder. “The individual that spoke more languages would have a better chance for a managerial role, whatever the next level would be,” Colby says. “They are able to deal with a wide array of clients, employees.” 

So which languages can give you a leg up on the job market? Insiders agree the most popular – and marketable – languages are Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian and Japanese, with a growing emphasis on Mandarin, given China’s booming economy. So let’s learn Mandarin!

“We see demand from a full range of industries,” says Wellesley. “Actually it depends on which company you’re working for and the country in which they’re located.” 

Adapted from: LATHAM-KOENIG, Christina & OXENDEN, Clive. American English File 5. 2nd edition. Oxford: OUP, 2018. 

Instructions: answer the question based on the following text. 

1 The Swansea-based scientist spent years piecing together ____ ancient DNA 2 puzzle that suggests hunting by humans caused this giant seabird's demise.

3 Dr Thomas studied bone and tissue samples from 41 museum specimens

4 during a PhD at both Bangor and Copenhagen University.

5 The findings paint a picture ____ how vulnerable even the most common 

6 species are to human exploitation.

7 Storybook seabird

8 About 80cm (2ft 7in) tall, the stubby-winged and bulbous-billed great auks

9 used to be found all across the north Atlantic - from North America through

10 Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and the UK.

11 "Being flightless, they were always targeted ____ local people for food and for 12 their feathers," says Dr Thomas.

13 "But around 1500, when European seamen discovered the rich fishing

14 grounds off Newfoundland, hunting intensified."

15 By about 1850, the great auk was extinct; the last two known specimens were 16 hunted down by fishermen on Eldey Island, off the coast of Iceland.

17 The songbird obsession that became an extinction crisis

18 A third of tropical plants face extinction

19 Five ways to climate proof the world

20 One of these signatures might be a lack of genetic diversity, suggesting

21 individuals were inbreeding and the species, as a whole, was becoming

22 vulnerable to disease or environmental change.

23 "But their genetic diversity was very high - all but two sequences we found 

24 were very different," Dr Thomas said.

25 In fact, the genetic timeline Dr Thomas and her colleagues were able to create 26 - published in the journal eLife - showed that, at the time the intensive great 27 auk hunting began, the species was doing "really well".

28 "They weren't at risk of extinction at all," said Dr Thomas.

29 "It emphasizes how vulnerable even the widespread and abundant species

30 are to this intensive, localized pressure."

Source (adapted): https://www.bbc.com/news/scienceenvironment-50563953.

For the question 2 to 10, fill in the blanks with the correct alternative.

Read the text and choose the option according to it:

To live the longest and healthiest life possible, get smarter. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) data show that past a certain threshold, health and wealth are just weakly correlated. However, overall health is closely tied to how many years people spend in school. Mexico, for instance, has a fifth the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States, but, for women, more than 50 percent of the latter’s schooling.

In line with the trend, Mexico’s female adult mortality rate is only narrowly higher. Vietnam and Yemen have roughly equivalent per capita GDP. Yet Vietnamese women average 6.3 more years in school and are half as likely to die between the ages of 15 and 60. “Economic growth is also significantly associated with child mortality reductions, but the magnitude of the association is much smaller than that of increased education,” comments EmmanuelaGakidou, IHME’s director of education and training. “One year of schooling gives you about 10 percent lower mortality rates, whereas with a 10 percent increase in GDP, your mortality rate would go down only by 1 to 2 percent.”

Discover, May 31, 2013. Adaptado.