Do Small Businesses Need to be Multilingual?

  • July 19, 2013
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  • Blog

Photo courtesy of Industry Market Trends

As the pace of globalization continues to increase, and more American businesses embrace international expansion in order to remain competitive and relevant, we are seeing a demand for a U.S. workforce that possesses knowledge of other countries and cultures, and speaks languages other than English.  According to Hans Fenstermacher, CEO of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), “Multilingual personnel can interact more nimbly with all parts of the business and have a better sense of when and how to use professional language capabilities to meet the business’s goals.”

Bilingual people possess one of the most important skills required of today’s global workforce – cross-cultural aptitude, the ability to appreciate different cultures while operating in an environment different from what the employee is used to.  In today’s increasingly competitive global marketplace, the ability to work effectively with people from different cultures and backgrounds, and to communicate in languages other than English, is becoming an essential skill set.

Interested in learning more about the benefits of hiring multilingual employees? Please click here to read the complete article online.

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