“If you want to make the most money, […] you have to learn Portuguese and move to New York,” écrit Forbes. The magazine specifies that the median annual salary for a position requiring proficiency in this language in the American metropolis is around 264,000 dollars.
750,000 bilingual positions
The publication thus relates the results of a survey of an American site specializing in the learning of foreign languages. After analyzing more than 1.5 million job postings, language learning app and platform Preply discovered that there were 750,000 bilingual positions available in the United States, before revealing “which foreign languages can help a professional earn more money, which bring in the biggest salaries in 2022, and which are the most sought after by companies”.
In New York, summarizes Forbes, knowledge of Portuguese leads to the best paid bilingual jobs. Next in this progression are positions requiring a command of Japanese and German, respectively. In Chicago, jobs requiring German dominate, with a median salary of $145,000. Those requiring French rank second with $116,000.
German outclasses French
Nationally, Preply representative Daniele Saccardi assures that German is the highest paid foreign language in employment with a median salary of 70,000 euros:
“German has overtaken French as one of the most popular languages to study, and it’s no surprise that German tops our lists not only in the United States, but also in the UK and Europe.”
It is Portuguese which comes second in this top 10 of the best paid professional foreign languages in the country, followed by Japanese, Italian and Mandarin. French ranks sixth, ahead of Spanish, Bengali, Arabic and Hindi.
Preply President Kirill Bigai tells Forbes that he is not surprised by the results of the investigation: “The labor market is more competitive than ever.” The American magazine reports that Preply provides access to more than 140,000 tutors teaching 50 languages in 203 countries around the world.
How to master a foreign language?
Forbes offers advice on how to develop foreign language skills: first, adopt an immersion process by listening to films and music in the foreign language and then immersing yourself in books on the language to be learned; pay particular attention to the pronunciation of words; practice using daily conversations; be consistent in their desire to master the desired language; finally, linking learning to “rewards”. The magazine concludes:
“Remember that immersing yourself in a new culture will give you new opportunities.”