The world is fast becoming a global village united by business, technology, and other factors. Learning languages of any kind is going to be beneficial to you as this will help you bridge a barrier between you and others, that being said, some languages are going to be more beneficial for your life and personal career. The determinant of the importance of a language globally is:
- Number of potential speakers
- Growth of native speakers
- Economic power of countries that speak the language
- And more…
Here are 5 languages to learn that will give you the edge:
Mandarin
Over a billion people become more accessible to you once you learn how to speak Manadarin. The number of multinational companies that are looking for executives who speak Mandarin has risen a considerable amount from previous years. Most importantly, China is set to be the world’s #1 economic powerhouse by 2020, not to mention, the ever-growing number of Chinese companies in Africa. Beyond the career benefits, learning Mandarin could provide for your professional life, it’s likely that wherever you go, there will be native Mandarin speakers you can build relationships with.
Arabic
Over 300 million people throughout 57 countries around the world speak Arabic. What makes Arabic especially important is the economic wealth that Arabic countries hold, with over $600 billion in GDP.
Knowing how to speak Arabic is the golden key to entering the Middle Eastern economy which has increased by over 120% in the past five years, an enormous growth rate, point in note, while visiting Dubai earlier this year, about 85 percent of the jobs I saw posted on job sites requested required a knowledge of Arabic. Fair warning though, Arabic is known to be one of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
Portugese
Portuguese is not only spoken in Portugal but also in Brazil which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It’s also spoken in ten countries across Africa and South America, need any more evidence on the relevance of this language?
Portuguese is the 5th most spoken language in the world, so there won’t be shortage of people you can practice with once you get going. We should note that Portuguese skills aren’t in demand as much as Spanish skills are, but the demand is definitely growing. Depending on where you plan to travel or the reason for learning it, you should make note of the difference between Portuguese from Portugal versus Portuguese from Brazil.
Spanish
More than 400 million in the world people speak Spanish. In two years, this number will easily rise to 600 million or more. Imagine reaching that amount of people through a language they understand.
It’s the second most spoken language in the US, one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the official language of Equatorial Guinea and 19 other countries. Definitely worth learning.
German
Germany has the highest GDP in Europe, and many are flocking to the country seeking new careers. According to The Economist, knowing how to speak German will offer the highest reward in bonuses compared to learning spanish or French.
- Spanish — 1.5 percent bonus
- French — 2.3 percent bonus
- German — 3.8 percent bonus
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