"What is a foreign language worth?"

<p>

</p>

<p>Website: <a href=“Johnson: What is a foreign language worth?”>http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/03/language-study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>What do you think? Can you really put a price on learning/speaking another language?</p>

<p>The market value of any skill is highly context-dependent. For people who are already fluent in English, there is probably little financial ROI at this point in history to learning another language unless you are doing so for a specific reason. For example, my H’s employer paid for him to take Portuguese back in the 80s for business purposes. </p>

<p>But as the mother of a recently declared German major, I found this piece heartening. And personally, I believe that all people who want to call themselves educated should have at least reading knowledge of another language besides their own.</p>

<p>I took Spanish in college and have yet to have any use for it, to the point that it was kind of a waste of my time to take it since I am losing all my skills from disuse. If I ever actually have to use it I will have to re-learn much of it anyway. I am studying French right now for fun, but I’m using free resources and I don’t expect to get anything out of it but fun, so I have a much different attitude about it… I am getting the same payoff for significantly less investment, so it still doesn’t seem like a critical addition to my education but at least doesn’t seem like a waste. Unless you work in an industry that uses the language, or live in an area where a language is prominent, it seems to me this is a skill to acquire just so you can brag about having it. I don’t think it is necessarily adding something significant to my education at this time, but maybe it would have when I was younger and my language skills were first developing.</p>

<p>That isn’t to say that I don’t think you get anything from learning a foreign language, I do think it is a good brain exercise, I just don’t know if I’d say it’s “worth” anything to most people.</p>

<p>I think it completely depends on the context. In my daughter’s current job, a working knowledge of Spanish would be very helpful. </p>

<p>There are better ways of looking at language learning than ROI. </p>

<p>There is also language comprehension, and the ability to basically function in a language, as opposed to a true nuanced ability to speak, as would be useful in a business situation. The difference in the economic worth of these two situations is enormous. </p>

<p>I was interested to see two of mine, in the last year, have interest from employers due to their ability to speak two other languages besides English. There are many bilingual candidates for jobs. Trilingual sets you apart from the North American crowd, though perhaps less notable in Europe and Asia. </p>

<p>In my case, I studied French in high school, continued to study it while majoring in Management at McGill in Montréal, where I became fluent. It led to my first career job with a French bank and a career in international business. It also resulted in my meeting ma femme qui est québécoise. So my interest did have a pretty good ROI, although that was not my original goal. </p>

<p>I am trilingual, not by choice, but as a result of my immigrant family. It was critical in helping me land my engineering job almost 2 decades ago but has not been useful in my current career. I believe that being able to speak fluently in another language adds credibility to you; it is an asset especially if it is something you acquired on your own. It shows motivation and aptitude to learn new subjects. But getting a good ROI will vary tremendously. It all depends on what you do with that language. </p>

<p>I learned French in high school and spent a year in France, and have never used it except to enjoy French movies in the original, do my senior thesis research and enjoy being a tourist. I learned German in college and ended up spending five years working there, in a job I absolutely would not have had if I hadn’t spoken it. Haven’t used it much since however. My younger son has spent the last four years learning Arabic. I am really hoping that it will help him get a job, but it’s too early to tell.</p>

<p>My two kids (sophomore and senior) have taken Spanish and Mandarin (at the same time) for a few years now. They actually prefer Mandarin, and I can see my son (or both) working with international things of some sort, especially in Asia (which he loves). I think any language is impressive on the resume and helpful to be friendly (we live in California, so some Spanish – and Mandarin – are useful. They will keep up at least one language in college. Perhaps living in CA makes me more positive on language learning benefits. Also, our piano teacher has said that learning languages helps with music, and I have read helps to stretch certain brain paths (of which I am no expert!).</p>