In order to reach the top of the business world, or in order to stay at the top, you have to be able to adjust to the ever-changing business culture. One of the big ways businesses can adjust is by becoming bilingual or even multilingual. While a lot of companies in other countries have adjusted in this way already – with most of those in non-English-speaking countries adding English to their plate of languages in order to compete in America – a lot of American businesses have fallen behind. You can benefit from following the lead of these companies and becoming bilingual yourself if you are a business executive, a small business owner, or even a small-time employee in a big corporation.

For business executives, it is easy to understand the need for linguistic expansion. For a business executive, the expectation is for them to be the best at what they do. Someone else is continuing to improve, even if you are not; this means that your spot at the top is not guaranteed! By adding an extra language to your arsenal, you are able to broaden the scope of your communicative powers, and are therefore able to broaden your powers overall. Furthermore, this expansion of your linguistic prowess will help you to communicate with customers and employees, and will allow you better footing in encouraging your employees to do the same.

Four years after a small business is birthed, there is only a 40% chance it will still be alive; ten years after a small business is birthed, the chances of it still existing are only 10%. Any edge you can give yourself over your competition is an advantage, and making your small business multilingual is a big edge!

If you are just a regular old employee in a big corporation, you might think you don’t have any real need to add a new language. But actually, you would be wrong! As businesses progress to become multilingual, there will be greater opportunities for advancement among those employees who can work with more than one language than for those who cannot. The hard work might not pay off right away, but it will certainly pay off down the road!

The first step for learning a new language is motivation; you should find that you now have that! As for the remaining steps of dedication and time, it will be up to you to supply both of these.

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