by Debbie N

Created on: March 15, 2009

Not only are there a multitude of benefits to learning a foreign language, but, to be honest, I can't think of a single negative. Being bilingual opens so many doors in the job market, and in today's floundering economy, who wouldn't want to do everything possible to insure they had the best opportunities available to them?

For many years, I worked as a manager for a large hotel chain, and the majority of my housekeeping staff were Spanish speaking. For one reason or another, many of them did not speak English and had no desire to learn.

For some, I think it was a fear of not being able to master the language, and for some I truly believe they just didn't want to bother. It was easier to get away with not doing their jobs if they could not understand what they were being told.

Not being able to communicate with such a large number of my staff was frustrating, and for a long time, I was constantly irritated that they would not learn our language. Let's face it. If I found myself living in Mexico, could I get away with not learning how to speak Spanish? Probably not!
Unfortunately my frustration didn't lead me anywhere productive, and I soon realized that if I wanted to be able to effectively communicate with my staff, I was going to have to learn to speak Spanish.

I enlisted the help of my housekeeping supervisor, who was fluent in both English and Spanish, to help me with the basics. She brought me a work book with several different scenarios that I could find myself in, and I studied the work book to learn different words and phrases in an effort to help me communicate. I also bought an English/Spanish translation dictionary and kept it in my office for whenever I needed to decipher a word I was not familiar with.

I never became fluent in Spanish and still am not, although I have tried to keep up with the basics.
However, I did learn enough so that I was able to communicate more effectively with my housekeepers. I learned enough words to form basic sentences when speaking and was able to understand at least half of what was being spoken, either to me or others. I hope someday to be able to take a conversational Spanish course to help me fill in the blanks of things I didn't learn the first time. I have a CD at home that has proven helpful but I do think I would benefit more from a class with a live instructor.

Learning a foreign language can mean getting a job versus losing it to someone who is bilingual.
During a stint as a recruiter for a staffing agency, I had quite a few call center positions that called for someone who could speak English and French. Filling these positions was not an easy task, as French is not a language typically spoken in the southeast United States. We eventually lost the opportunity to fill the positions because we could not find anyone with the skill necessary. Had we been able to find French/English speaking candidates, we would have filled the jobs and not lost out on the business. Not t o mention the opportunities that would have become available to people looking for work.

I will be the first to attest to the fact that learning a second language is not easy. It takes diligence and patience and a lot of trial and error.
But, for goodness sakes, if we can learn Algebra, we surely can learn Spanish and French. And, I am certain, Spanish and French will come in much handier in daily life than Algebra ever will!

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