Learn a Foreign Language for International Business and Travel

In today’s increasingly globalized business environment, it’s becoming more important than ever for business school graduates to have at least a rudimentary grasp of a foreign language. While it’s true that a large  number of foreign companies have the capability to conduct business in English, many American companies still actively seek candidates who understand foreign language and culture. Even those companies who do not do business abroad value employees who speak a second language, as it allows for better communication with any employees who may not speak English as their first language.

Why Study a Foreign Language?

Imagine you’ve landed your dream job and you’re sent overseas to attend an important meeting with a client only to discover he or she speaks little to no English. Because of the language barrier, you are sure that you’ve misunderstood some of what your client has shared — not to mention the embarrassing cultural faux pas you made when you arrived at your client’s office.

Foreign Language for International Business and Travelslworking2 / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

The value of speaking the language and understanding the culture goes well beyond not making a fool of yourself in important business meetings. When you study language and gain insights into another culture, you’re better equipped to interpret and understand your foreign counterparts’ actions and motivations. You’ll have a better understanding of how companies within a certain sphere do business, and you’ll be able to strategically and effectively match your plans and actions to clients’ and companies’ needs.

Finally, knowing another language is a sign of respect. Even if your accent is a little off and you’re not quite fluent, showing that you have made an effort to learn another language and being able to conduct a simple conversation helps build relationships, giving you and your overseas colleagues common ground.

Which Language to Study?

Making the decision about which language to study would be much easier if there was one single language — other than English — that dominated the global business landscape. Alas, choosing a language to study depends largely on your own personal goals and where you plan to work.

Speaking strictly in numbers, Mandarin is spoken by more people in the world, as it is the most common language in China. Hindi is another widely spoken language, again due in large part to population. If your goals include working with businesses in China or India, learning one of those languages may be your best bet.

However, Romance languages, including Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian are still widely spoken and useful to business school graduates. Spanish is spoken in most of the emerging world markets in Central and Latin America; the only exception is Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language. If you plan to work within Europe, speaking French is useful, as much European business is conducted in French.

In addition to being spoken in a number of countries and organizations, the benefit to Romance languages is that they have many similarities, meaning that it’s generally easy to learn a second Romance language once you’ve learned the first. It’s also very likely that you studied one of the languages in high school or college, so you already have a background, and the words and structure will come back to you easily.

Where to Study a Language

Once you’ve determined that you want to study a language and chosen one to learn, finding a means to learn it is generally not difficult.

Some MBA programs require students who are not already at least somewhat competent in a foreign language to study a language using electives or include foreign language study as part of the online international business degree curriculum.

Other schools enroll students in immersive foreign language instruction either through self-guided study or workshop-style programs. Even if your school does not require the study of a language or offer language instruction, consider working independently to develop at least a basic competency in one or more languages. Doing so will allow you to effectively compete with other MBA grads who have those skills, and you will be a more valuable asset to future employers.

Learning a foreign language requires a significant investment of time, and in some cases, money. However, if you are taking the time to earn an international business degree, it’s time and money well spent to help ensure your success after graduation.

[box]About the Author: Ellie Towson is a marketing manager for a large travel site. She holds a master’s degree in international business and travels to Paris and Barcelona regularly to meet with French and Spanish partners. She is fluent in French, Spanish and Catalán and near-fluent in Romanian. She studies Arabic whenever she gets a chance.[/box]