Languages for business never go out of fashion, though some languages go up and down in popularity depending on what’s going on in the world.
The most traditionally popular languages for business have got strength in numbers. So, they’re likely to continue holding firm.
But the times they are a-changing.
The pandemic lockdowns have opened up new and untapped windows on the world as we’ve digitised en masse in unprecedented ways.
We’ve sat behind Zoom screens and it’s dawned on us that our capacity to network has increased beyond our towns, cities, counties, and even beyond our countries.
Technology has enabled us to smash through geographical barriers. It’s only language barriers that continue to hold us back if we let them. Thankfully, they’re easily removed, too.
What’s happened over the past two years – and how we’ve dealt with it – puts in to context why people are learning new languages for business in their thousands.
To this end, it’s interesting to look at which languages for business are on the up for the year ahead.
What Languages for Business are Everybody Signing Up for?
The British Council’s Alice Campbell-Cree explains – “The extent to which the country can achieve the vision of a truly ‘Global Britain’, and the UK’s next generation can succeed in an internationally competitive environment, depends on our ability to understand and engage with the rest of the world. Language learning has a vital part to play.”
In order to achieve this goal on the back of Brexit and the pandemic, she believes there needs to be a, “… strategic emphasis on building capacity in
- Arabic,
- Mandarin Chinese,
- French,
- Spanish,
- German,
as the five languages consistently most important to the UK’s strategic interests.”
HR News are largely of the same mind. In their list of the top 8 languages for business in 2021, they included the same languages as the British Council, with the exception of Arabic.
They also included –
- Japanese
- Korean
- Italian
- Portuguese
At La Academia, we offer a broad range of face-to-face and remote courses and tutoring options for adults keen to learn languages for business.
Your success IS our business. Get in touch if you want to learn any of the languages we’ve mentioned in this article – or any other less common languages.
NEW SPANISH COURSES FOR BEGINNERS STARTING IN JANUARY
Starting date: Thursday 20th for six consecutive weeks.
ZOOM: 7 to 9 pm, £90 for the whole course.
FACE TO FACE: 7 to 9 pm at La Academia in Cheadle £100 for the whole course.
FACE TO FACE: 10.30am to 12.30pm at La Academia in Cheadle £100 for the whole course.
Contact us to book your place!
Sources
Which foreign languages will be most important for the UK post-Brexit? Alice Campbell-Cree, British Council
https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-policy-insight/insight-articles/which-foreign-language
8 Business Languages to Learn in 2021, HR News
http://hrnews.co.uk/8-business-languages-to-learn-in-2021/