THE BILINGUAL JOB FAIR BLOG

The Top 5 Advantages of Having a Bilingual Staff: Fun Learning Experience for Everyone

April 21, 2010

Advantage #5: More fun at work; more learning for everyone.

I believe that when bilingual people from different countries work together, they might connect more to each other than the average company personnel. They could have many things in common, like knowledge of more cultures, different values, music, beliefs, foods, dance, and other diverse cultural identities.

When I lived and worked in New York City, I recall being in the subway and hearing two people speaking, and asking myself “what language is that?” After living there for a while, I would challenge myself, and was able to tell when people were speaking Greek, Japanese, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, French, Hindi, Korean, Russian, and so on.  It all fascinated me.

At the advertising agency I worked for, there were people from Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and many other Latin American countries.  I loved to learn more about their respective dishes, native cultures, dances, music, about their families, and to hear about their individual American dream stories.  All of the employees were bilingual, and it appeared that we had an International day each day at work.

When a company has bilingual employees in the US, those employees have usually moved here from other countries.  Consequently, they have their own ‘American dream story’ and have worked hard to ‘make it’ in America.  A company can have an International Day, and can have employees bring homemade dishes from their respective countries.  Companies can have more fun events at work and enjoy the teamwork that builds and develops from having a pleasant work environment for everyone.  To learn more about having a diverse work environment, click here.

In summary, globalization is changing the world – and we all need to get a better worldwide picture in our respective companies.  Globalization not only goes for the economics, but it also goes for our communication with each other.  Bilingual employees will become essential to get a better worldwide picture.

Filed under: Advancing your Career

Tags: bilingual, bilingual staff, corporate culture, diversity, languages