In a recent viral video, 4-year-old Bella from Russia amazes people worldwide by speaking fluently in seven languages. She speaks Russian, English, Chinese, Spanish, German, French and Arabic. Wow, that’s impressive. What does that mean for future business? Could little Bella be a foreshadowing of the future workforce?
Many Americans take high school Spanish or French for four years and are nowhere near being fluent by the time they graduate. Oncology nurse, Suzanne Robin, wrote an article stating that children often have an easier time learning new languages because they are wired for it. Until the age of 11, our brains are ready to acquire new languages through the use of deep motor skills. Once this area stops growing quickly, and our brains begin to think critically and abstractly, we find it more difficult to absorb a new language. What if instead of waiting until middle school or high school to expose American students to another language, we introduce another language in preschool?
Most children learn multiple languages by being exposed to them growing up in a multilingual home. Children can easily switch from English to Spanish or French to English when growing up with parents or grandparents that speak those languages. Since most American homes speak only English, the prime language learning period is lost. There are some programs available, like BBC’s Muzzy, established in the 80s, that have tried to fill the gap, but it’s still a work in progress.
If the American future workforce was multilingual, what would our economy look like? Small businesses could expand their reach, major corporations could do international business more easily and the world would shrink. According to CNN, there is already a huge demand for multilingual employees in the healthcare, hospitality, education, law enforcement, customer service, social services, finance and communication industries. However, just because a company has multilingual employees, that doesn’t mean there is no longer a need for document translation services companies like ASTA-USA Translation Services, Inc. and Legal Translation Solutions.
Speaking multiple languages and being able to read and write with correct sentence structure and grammar are two totally different skill sets. When drawing up contracts, creating product packaging, marketing campaigns and websites, companies still need to partner with a reliable document translation service like ASTA-USA. Our accredited translators have industry experience in corporate business, marketing, legal, finance, education, government, medical, technical, science and research and just about any other industry in the market. We are prepared to translate your written business materials into and from 70 languages. We have partnered with top companies all over the world for 30 years in order to provide unmatched document translations.
Contact us today for a free quote and let us help your company expand its international reach.