Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One: Online Version
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CHAPTER 6
LANGUAGES AND THE BUSINESS WORLD
"BUT A LANGUAGE ISN’T A BUSINESS SKILL."
I recall from my undergraduate days a subtle sense of competition that existed between the liberal arts colleges and the business/technical schools. My friends who were liberal arts majors regarded subjects like accounting as hopelessly dry and uninspiring. Business and technical students, meanwhile, dismissed liberal arts courses as impractical annoyances--useful only for fulfilling general studies requirements.
American managers who resist learning languages often assert that “a foreign language isn’t really a business skill.” The irony is that they are right--and profoundly wrong--at the same time. A foreign language isn’t a technical business skill---like calculating present value or deciphering an income statement. A foreign language is a basic competence---more akin to literacy or arithmetic skills than to advanced financial analysis.
Here is another way to look at it: If your work involves the Mexican market and you don’t speak Spanish, then your inability to speak the language prevents you from performing basic tasks. Spanish proficiency, as a skill, is arguably distinct from the skills acquired in an MBA program. But this distinction is irrelevant in the real world. A person working at a professional level in the Mexican market should be able to speak Spanish. This is especially true if the job involves extensive communication and cooperation with others.
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
