Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Nǐ hǎo. ¿Cómo estás? Guten tag! Lei hou. A little sampling of what's to come. We're
talking about language, it's a start for many Americans. But, learning a language can be
a launch pad to better jobs and bigger paychecks, especially if you want to move overseas. Liling
Tan reports from New York City. Learning a foreign language from the comfort of home,
taught live by a native speaker, using a program that provides cultural context, with conversations
catered to your interests. It's the brain-child of entrepreneur, Ryan McMunn, who after failed
attempts at learning Mandarin through other programs, found success with this customized method.
(speaking Mandarin)
Ryan now offers the program through his start-up, BRIC Language Systems, for learning Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese. And he says client interest is
growing among multinational companies from English-speaking countries. The US, first
and foremost, that's the market that we're operating in, but also Canada, Britain, Australia,
New Zealand. They are aware of the fact that they are losing out on business deals by not
speaking the languages of the countries that they're operating in. Jeanne Branthover specializes
in executive-level hiring, and says being bilingual is essential, especially in emerging
economies where companies are looking to grow. We've actually seen 5% to 20% difference in
salaries, because at the end of the day, there's certain jobs that companies really feel are
not going to be completely satisfied without having a language. Which is why a growing
number of young American professionals are looking to cash-in by investing in a second
language. 1.7 million people are graduating college in the US in 2014, so when I'm speaking
to colleges and university students that's one thing I say, "How are you going to differentiate
yourself?", and one of the best ways with only 18% of the US population speaking a language
other than English, is to learn another language. So if you're posturing for that pay raise
or want to set yourself apart form your rivals, experts say Spanish is a key language to learn,
along with Mandarin, Portuguese, and Arabic. (Speaking Spanish)
It's going to be hard to out-do that, but for our French producer here, "bon nuit", she says thank you and good night,
and thanks for watching. We will see you tomorrow on CCTV America.