Need A Job? Learn A Foreign Language; Become Bilingual

Bonjour! (French)

Buenos dias! (Spanish)

Ni hao! (Chinese Mandarin)

Salam alaikum! (Arabic)

Namaste! (Hindi)

The world has become one big melting pot! We are so diverse and multicultural; it can be a little overwhelming. There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world. Yes, it’s true. Six thousand languages!

Luckily we don’t need to know 6,000 languages to speak to each other; however, it is becoming increasingly necessary to know more than just English. There’s literally thousands of language learning material out there to buy (Maybe millions). You just need to know your learning style.

There are so many jobs open and unfilled because people are skilled to do the job, but not bilingual…or they are bilingual, but not skilled to do the job. Do you know how many secretarial jobs I lost out on because I didn’t know French or Spanish or Japanese? Yes, it’s true, not only can you sound really cool by speaking another language, but you can get paid more money doing what you already do. Wanna see more?

According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics you can make lots and lots of moolah in these fields if you are bilingual:

Interpreters/Translators - $22,170 - $79,865

Teachers (K-12) - $30,970 - $80,970

Teachers (Special Education) - $33,770 - $82,000

Also, the FBI is always looking for bilingual people. They train people to learn second languages with the Pimsleur Method. The Pimsleur Method is basically a way to learn a new language in 10 days by listening to some audio tapes. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Can you imagine me going to Mexico and speaking Spanish after 10 days? How cool it that?

Another good one is RosettaStone. Although it is a little more expensive than the Pimsleur Method, it offers audio and visual that you can download directly to your computer or have the cd mailed to you. It’s actually pretty good. I was using it to learn Arabic a few years ago and it’s amazing how you can read an Arabic word after just a few lessons.

There are some free websites online where you can translate words or sentences, but they don’t really help you learn the tone or dialect of the foreign language. LiveMocha is free and will hook you up with people who actually speak the language you are trying to learn so you can practice.

Bottom line is this.…we all should know at least 2 languages. When I was younger, my dream was to become a doctor. I told my mom that I was gonna learn French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and sign language (I was pretty aspiring,huh?) so I could communicate with my patients. Well, the doctor thing didn’t pan out, but I did take French for two years, used RosettaStone to learn some Arabic and am starting Spanish with the Pimsleur method. Hey, you gotta look at all avenues in these economic times. Not just here in the U.S. but everywhere worldwide! Now go out there and learn a second language!