THE BILINGUAL JOB FAIR BLOG

The Top 5 Advantages of Having a Bilingual Staff: Communication

March 23, 2010

When companies want to sell their products and or services to people in other countries, or want to target a different demographic whose language is different than their own, they hire bilingual staff to get the work done. The bilingual employees are able to communicate and connect with the new perspective customers.  The bilingual staff starts with the face of the company; the bilingual receptionist.  It can also include managers, sales, accounting personnel, customer service and others.  There are many advantages to having a bilingual staff, and I plan to condense the advantages to the ‘Top 5’.

Advantage #1: Better internal and external communication with employees, vendors and customers of the company.

Below is a true example that illustrates the importance of having a bilingual staff.

A company in the US is expanding overseas to Latin America and India.  They will need to have all of their HR policies, procedures and company benefits translated into Spanish and Hindi, as well as, their web site, services and products brochures.  In addition, they will need to interview and hire personnel overseas to work with local suppliers and vendors in the newly established locations.  Can they make all of these new additions and adjustments without bilingual personnel?  With so much to do, the company decided that it was necessary to have a bilingual staff.  Not only would it help strengthen their knowledge of the language, but also help them to communicate more effectively with the international markets.

Check back later this week for more advantages of having a bilingual staff.  You can also click here to learn more about the ‘Five Emerging Industries for Bilingual Careers’.

Filed under: Advancing your Career

Tags: bilingual, bilingual careers, bilingual staff, languages