The Language Trend in Future Global Markets

Research by the Modern Language Association indicates that the number of American students who learned a language other than English decreased by about 100,000 between 2009 and 2013. So what does this mean exactly? For starters, it means the demand for multilingual employees is rising.

This trend has made the need for language testing across many markets all the more prevalent and in some cases required. For instance, PayPal, the leader in online payments, uses Language Testing International (LTI) to test the language skills of its prospective employees who are required to speak various languages.
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IIE Releases Open Doors 2015 Data

The number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities had the highest rate of growth in 35 years—10%, to a record high of 974,926 students in the 2014–15 academic year, according to the 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, released last month. Enrollments in intensive English programs grew even faster—13.3% (from 43,456 students to 49,233).

The report also found the number of U.S. students studying abroad increased by 5% in 2013–14, the highest rate of growth since before the 2008 economic downturn, in addition to which the number of American students taking part in service learning abroad (noncredit work, internships, and volunteering abroad) rose 47%, from just over 15,000 to more than 22,000.
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Employer Demand for Multilinguals Is Rising

Today’s job market is desperate for graduates who speak multiple languages.

“Languages are always good for us,” says Julia McDonald, head of talent acquisition for EMEA at Infosys. English is the company’s common language, “but our clients often want people that can speak their local language,” Julia says.

Mark Davies, employer relations manager at London’s Imperial College Business School, says there is growing demand for multilingual European language speakers at companies including BP, GE, Johnson & Johnson, and GSK, which have operations in emerging markets.
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The English Dialect: An Adverse Effect On Global Business Success

Languages evolve, that’s nothing new. However, the English language has its own subset of terminology that native English speakers have adopted and put into use practically on every level – when speaking casually and in business settings. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult for people abroad to understand the “real” English. A Spanish student in Denmark remarked to another researcher: “Now it’s more difficult for me to understand the real English.”

This “real English” – which dizzyingly encompasses the whole range of dialects from Liverpool in England, to Wellington in New Zealand, via Johannesburg in South Africa, and Memphis in the US – is only the start of the problem of understanding what is trying to be communicated.
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