Marisa
Would it be useful to have a minor in a foreign language?
I am in my fifth year of Spanish, and would like to peruse it as a minor. I am wondering if it would be a useful skill to continue developing to work ing the physics industry. #career #physics #language #spanish #personal-development
6 answers
Yasemin G.
Yasemin’s Answer
Best of luck!
Mikio Bohler
Mikio’s Answer
Joel Volkert
Joel’s Answer
That is a great question. Being bilingual, especially in Spanish in the United States, is a HUGE advantage and I highly encourage you to minor or even major in it. Personally, I took it out of enjoyment and ended up majoring in it, not even realizing how many classes I had taken towards my degree. Here are a few other encouraging statistics:
- The number of employers looking for bilingual employees DOUBLED from 2010 - 2015
- The number of job postings listing Spanish as a desired skill increased by 150% between 2010-2015.
(New American Economy, March 2017)
- Many jobs offer bonuses and incentives for bilingual employees
In addition, Spanish allows you to communicate outside of the workplace, for travel and for meeting others (and it's a lot of fun!).
Buena suerte, y déjame saber si tienes más preguntas!
Joel
Rachel Weinheimer
Rachel’s Answer
Parris La Beur
Parris’s Answer
Absolutely! Here are the reasons why:
- Marketability;
I've friends/co-workers who are bi-lingual and they definitely have an advantage on positions in IT that others will not be considered a candidate for due to not speaking another language. One such case is a friend I worked with here in the states, now is head of the Technical Infrastructure division for client services for Cisco Systems in Singapore due to his ability to speak Cantonese.
- Opportunity:
With ever growing technology focused environment of companies and product demands, organizations are not defined by demographics. They are customer-centric and therefore will always have a need to support clients globally . Selling to your own backyard is not where technology is confined to. Global customers demand support for the products they purchase. That is where being bi-lingual will work to your advantage! Case in point: A company i worked at needed to open up an office in Singapore to have a local presence and support the clients in the Asia-Pacific market. They sent a friend over there to establish an office and he became the Technical Account Manager for the whole Asia-Pacific market due to his IT skill AND knowledge of the language and local culture. Nobody in the company could fill the need except my friend!
I highly encourage learning a foreign language to compliment your technical abilities.
Thank you for your time and answer!!
Marisa
Latricia Friend, MBA, CHM
Latricia’s Answer
Plus, being fluent in more than one language makes travel more fun!