BEING MULTILINGUAL: HOW THIS CAN HELP BOOST YOUR CAREER.

Balogun Owomide

The past few years have witnessed an increase in people’s desire to learn a new language. Companies and many other corporate bodies now place a high premium on multilingual individuals because of the numerous roles they can play in an ever increasing community. This makes a lot of (un)employed people pick up interest in learning a new language. It is true that learning a new language especially as a lazy adult is a painful and slow process. It’s more excruciating as you age even more.

HOW BEING MULTILINGUAL CAN BOOST YOUR CAREER

A NEW LEVEL OF INCREASED BRAIN ACTIVITY

The first advantage you derive from learning a new language is that it improves the functionality of your mind through training. Your mind then learns to identify and react to foreign environments at a better and faster process.  It also helps you boost your ability to deal with other problems of life in the same manner. Researchers have proved that those who learn more than one or more languages are far better and creative at solving real life and complex problems than those who do not.

Being multilingual also helps your brain become healthier. York University recently conducted a research on the effects of dementia and Alzheimer’s; the test of these patients revealed quite a good number of surprising facts. The research showed that, bilingual patients had a significant delay in the onset of the disease when compared to patients with monolingual abilities.”

MAKES YOU LANGUAGE SMART

Do you know that when you live with bilingual families, you develop an astonishing ability to differentiate between languages that you’ve never heard or understand before? This is because the human brain gets exposed to different sounds from a variety of languages. As you learn various languages, your attention gets drawn to the fundamentals of the target language such as sentence structure, conjugations and grammar. Through this, you become more aware of the language and the proper way to structure it. Although these skills are often overlooked, they will help you become more language smart and a better communicator.

INCREASES YOUR CHANCES OF EMPLOYED

Being multilingual increases your chances of employability. If you plan to work for a multinational company, where relocation or expansion to other markets is unavoidable, learning a new language gives you an advantage over the rest. For instance, in very critical economic cases in the past, a lot of companies relocated or reduced their employees.  When this happens, candidates who have knowledge of bilingual language will earn certain immunity towards more pay checks that can help them in their work process.  The demand for workers who are bilingual (speakers of languages other than English and native dialects) is constantly on the rise in Nigeria.

INCREASED EARNINGS

It will be shocking to some by the huge number of employers who will be eager to offer you a higher amount for your certified skills in a foreign language. If you do not speak two languages, not to worry, just show some interest and some organisations will pay you to learn a second language.

There are tales of many companies in France, Spain and the Middle East doing this. They are more than willing to compensate people who work with them with higher remuneration in exchange for their rare language skills.

WHEN AND HOW TO START?

The best period to pick up a new language different from your mother tongue is when you are still a child. During that time, your LAD (Language Acquisition Device) is at its best. The older you become, the harder it is for you to learn a new language. Alternatively, you can enrol in a language course while still in secondary school or the university. Although learning a foreign language can be quite tasking on your brain, learning languages like Norwegian, Japanese or German which are among some of the toughest languages to learn is not advisable for beginners. However, every language can be learned, you just need to be determined and persevere.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Balogun Owomide has a huge passion for spreading motivation, business and personal finance. I often write on the blog: How to make money. A finance blog on topics ranging from motivation, startup ideas, to small business financing and loans, business plans, marketing and franchise opportunities. You can reach me on Facebook at Balogun Owomide.

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