Don't Speak a Foreign Language? You're Losing Money. Lots of it.

Yesterday, the BBC Newshour interviewed me about why English speakers are notoriously bad with foreign languages. The United Kingdom is losing $11 billion to $26 billion a year because it's lacking enough foreign language speakers to service its export markets.

I explained that music is a huge element in learning languages and that in the English speaking world, we hear little foreign music. Therefore, our ears aren't used to the sounds of other tongues. We also have to find something we love in the other language. Our heart has to resonate to the language.

How much money is the US losing because of our dire lack of foreign language speakers?

Why are we cutting foreign language programs?

Speak a foreign language and you’ll have better chances of getting a job. But the US government wants to cut foreign language program funding for public school language classes through the The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), the only source of federal funding for K-12 foreign language programs.

High school Spanish is not just a requirement for graduation or for college admissions, it may be a ticket to employment, a valued commodity in today’s recession.

Why we need polyglots

According to the US Census, about 20 percent of the US population speaks another language, but few Americans are functionally bilingual. Businesses have trouble finding competent foreign language speakers to service domestic and international markets.

Despite growing exports to emerging market economies in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and other developing markets, few American businesses have Mandarin, Russian and Portuguese speaking personnel to navigate the cultures and business environments of the BRICs.

How are we going to tap into the expanding economic clout of South America’s powerhouse when many Americans can’t find Brazil on a world map, much less know that Brazilians speak Portuguese and not Spanish or “Brazilian”? 

Our geographical, cultural and linguistic ignorance makes us the butt of many jokes worldwide about monolingual and ignorant Americans. Beyond the mockery lies the sad truth that if we don’t teach our kids foreign languages, they’ll not only be made fun of, but they may be out of a job.

English is not the universal language.

To properly conduct business abroad, you must speak the local tongue. How else are you going to know what your business partners and competitors are saying behind your back?

Although high level business people across the world may speak English, the average Chinese, Russian and Brazilian on the street will not. It’s one thing to read an economic country report and analyze numbers, it’s another thing entirely to walk the streets and understand for oneself how the country works and if one can do business there. Corruption, culture, history and business practices are lost in translation in glossy country profiles.

To grow US exports abroad, we need foreign language speakers. US businesses are losing out because of our cultural and linguistic ignorance. The domestic consumption in the US and other developed countries has been stagnating for years. US businesses need foreign markets to survive.

Increase in interest in foreign languages

Albeit late compared to other developed countries, the US is slowly waking up to the need to be multilingual.

In 2008, a record number of US students went abroad to study according to USA Today. As reported by the New York Times, bilingual babysitters are in high demand because parents want to give their kids a competitive edge and global outlook.

More schools are offering Mandarin Chinese as a language option with some elementary schools opening up Spanish and Mandarin immersion programs for kindergartners. Parents with the financial means to pay for after-school language programs, language learning software and online classes are supplementing their children’s education.

But the majority of American school kids have insufficient access to foreign language classes, with some school districts only offering classes in high school.

Although teenagers and adults can learn a language to fluency, it’s best to start as early as possible when kids are more receptive to new sounds, language patterns and easily absorb their new language with games and songs.

Foreign language programs cut = national security dangers

Former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama have all spoken about the need for foreign language speakers for national security needs. The State Department, Defense Department, CIA and FBI have a shortage of speakers of Arabic, Farsi and Dari and other in-demand languages.

If we cut foreign language programs now, we are shooting ourselves in the foot for the future. We’re already short on qualified language speakers. Let’s not bleed an already anemic body.

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Susanna Zaraysky speaks seven languages and is the author of the book, Language is Music, a guide to learning languages using music and the media. Read more about Zaraysky in this Cupertino Patch article, Learn Any Language by Treating it as Music.