The advantages of being a multilingual

By Karl Stubbe on October 21st, 2009

A few weeks ago, the political landscape changed dramatically in Japan and shortly afterwards in Germany.  An incident occurred just after the elections in Germany at a press conference with next foreign secretary, Guido Westerwelle. Asked by a BBC reporter whether he would be so kind to answer the next question in English, he replied with a clear “No,“ and in broken English said, “We are in Germany, so you will have to speak German with me“.   

This little episode of a language problem in our globalized world exemplifies two very important arguments for multi-lingualism. Westerwelle should have been able to answer a question in English. After all, he is the future foreign minister.  However, at the same time, the BBC reporter should have been able to ask his question in German. After all, he is the BBC‘s correspondent in Germany.

If we keep this story in mind and transfer back to Japan, we are faced with similar experiences and moments like these on a daily basis. This is especially due to the fact that Japan as a country, is still a far cry away from being a place where one could be able to get by just on English.

 Some might say, “I work in a foreign company, and therefore don‘t have the urgent need to learn more than a few bits and pieces of Japanese here and there“. Fair enough, but today I would like to introduce a few undeniable advantages of investing a bit of time to learn Japanese, or any other language that you think may come in handy, to become a complete multi-lingual.

 First of all, you will be able to save your company the time, money and hassle to organize interpreters or translators when you are planning to have meetings with Japanese speaking business partners. This fact alone is enough to give your CV or your standing inside your company a massive boost.

 Secondly, small talk outside of business meetings is just as important as, and at times even more effective than, the actual conversations that are carried out inside meeting rooms. For example, the ability to have a chat with your Japanese business partner in Japanese on say, the lunch menu at a restaurant, last night‘s J-League game or, yes, even the weather, can be of enormous assistance to improve business climate and form successful relationships with Japanese companies.

 Last but not least, something that has come up again and again when talking about working in Japan; there simply is no better key to understanding the culture of a country, their society, as well as their companies and business culture, than learning and mastering its language. It’s that simple.

 Being multi-lingual is less of a bonus on your CV and more of a requirement. However, if you accept not only the necessity, but also understand the advantages that come with it, your experience in Japan, or in whichever other country you may find yourself someday, will become that much more memorable, exciting and successful.