The job market in India has changed a lot over the past 20 years. International companies have set up their businesses and have started many developments, such as off-shoring and shared services centers. These companies are oretail/e-commerce diverse domains, which include IT services, high-tech engineering, software products, captives, banking, and consulting. This is the result of globalization and has created the opportunity for individuals to not only cater to the domestic market but also cater to any market around the globe.
Here are some of the effects of learning a new language.
Note: I found these traits when I googled the benefits of learning a foreign language and thought I would add them too.
- Improves brain power:
Learning a new language trains your brain to cope with complexity as it makes sense of and absorbs new patterns. As our brains work out the meaning, endeavoring to communicate, we develop key learning skills such as cognitive thinking and problem-solving. Highly developed critical thinking skills are a significant benefit both personally and professionally.
- Improves creativity:
Researchers have concluded that multilingual speakers are more creative than monolingual speakers. Learning a foreign language improves not only your ability to solve problems and to think more logically but also makes you experiment with new words and phrases.
Levelling up your second language skills forces you to reach for alternate words when you can’t quite remember the original one you wanted to use. It improves your skills in divergent thinking, which is the ability to identify multiple solutions to a single problem.
- Improves the ability to Multi-task:
Multi-tasking is very stressful for those who are not used to it or don’t do it well. According to a study from Pennsylvania State University, people who are multilingual and proficient at slipping from one language system to another are practicing this very demanding work for the brain. People who have developed the ability to think in different languages and move from one to the other become much better multi-taskers, reducing stress levels.
- Helps in decision-making:
According to a study from the University of Chicago, decision-making ability becomes easier for multilingual people. Aside from the rules and vocabulary that go with learning a foreign language, there are nuances and regional expressions that a student of language frequently judges for appropriateness and hidden meanings. Multi-linguals are more confident in their decision-making choices as a result of practice, practice, practice!
- Improves Memory:
Use it or lose it. How many times have you heard that phrase? It is a simple fact – the more the brain is used, the better its functions work. A new language requires not only familiarity with vocabulary and rules but also the ability to recall and apply this knowledge. Learning a language gives your memory a good workout in the brain gym. This means that multilingual people have brains that are quick to recall names, directions, facts, and figures.
The various bi-lingual jobs available in India are:
Bi-lingual IT Professionals
This would include business analysts, project managers, and support engineers. Techno-functional engineers who deal with clients whose national language is not English. There is no specific foreign language that is used here as IT is universal and hence any foreign language would be useful. To list a few languages – German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Mandarin.
Financial/Banking Analysts:
The most common languages used for these jobs are French and Spanish.
Manufacturing/Aeronautical/Mechanical/Automobile Engineering:
German and French would help with these jobs. Germany and France are known for their engineering, cars, and planes.
Operations/Processes/Outsourcing jobs:
Languages used in the west would be used here.
Sales/Business Development:
Successful sales professionals often speak many languages, which include both regional and foreign languages. The more languages you know, the easier it is to expand your sales territory and build relationships with your customers.
Last but not least, recruitment, talent acquisition, and HR jobs:
Recruiting is also a form of sales and you deal with a lot of diverse people (you are selling an opportunity to work with your company to an individual), hence the same rule as sales can be applied. Foreign languages for global recruiters to learn are French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
HR Shared Services have generated Bi-Lingual HR Operations roles.
