I do some work on an international level. When I decided to take on this challenge, I anticipated that there would be a bit of a learning curve and I would have to adjust to cultural differences, time zones and other details. I even rightfully imagined I would have to learn something about currency exchange rates (and I have)–but I didn’t really think on whether or not I would need anything other than my decent command of the English language in order to communicate with all the people I would need to communicate with.
The truth is, I’ve found that a lot of people I work with in other places do have a decent command of the English language too. But, not everyone. I do receive e-mails that are written entirely in Spanish (or Norwegian or French)–and they are not SPAM. Then I have to find someone or some way to translate. I find myself wondering more and more often whether or not learning Spanish might not be an advantage to my business and work world.
If you are starting to wonder if you should be learning a second language, it might help to take a good, hard look at your market and industry and research the trends going on in that market. Where are your customers coming from and where are they likely to come from in the future? If you are expecting to do substantial work in a culture or country that speaks another language (and it is not typical for people to also be fairly fluent in English) then it might be a good idea to learn something of a second (or third) language. If you will be doing contracts or other important documents in a language other than English, you will definitely want to have an attorney or legal representative who CAN work in that other language look over the documents and translate for you. If you are only doing occasional work with people who speak other languages, you can probably get by with a translator.
If you cannot find a class to take, consider a computer, DVD, or cd tutorial. You can listen and work on the second language from home at your own pace. You might also be able to learn from one of your children–my eldest daughter is getting increasingly fluent in Spanish, since she has been studying it for nearly six years and she has been a big help in teaching me some basic words and phrases (and doing some translating for me too)!
See Also: Ten Good Reasons for Foreign Languages
Learn a Foreign Language on Your Computer