In the United States, proficiency in Spanish becomes an asset

2023-10-09 20:16:37

The United States is currently home to more than 62 million Latinos. Consequence of the increase in this Spanish-speaking population: more and more employers, practically in all sectors, are looking for professionals who have skills in Spanish, explain BBC Worklife.

“The ability to communicate in a natural way with such a large part of the world’s population is becoming incredibly valuable, confirms David Rice, human resources expert. And as businesses need to think more and more globally, this skill multiplies a person’s job opportunities.”

The share of the American population represented by Spanish speakers from the south of the continent already has a major economic impact, which continues to grow. Especially since Latinos living in the United States are not just consumers. “This community also has nearly 5 million businesses across the country, which together generate more than $800 billion in revenue each year.”

The success of Latin American business leaders based in the United States is largely due to their bilingualism, says Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga, associate director of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) at the Stanford Business School. Stanford University. “Through our annual surveys, we find that although the native language of most Latin American entrepreneurs is Spanish, most are proficient in both English and Spanish, and conduct their business in both languages.”

For Latin American communities and Spanish speakers living in the United States, long victims of discrimination, a real turnaround in the situation has begun, notes BBC Worklife. “Experts say the situation is changing, especially in the business world.”

Having Spanish as a mother tongue allows you to understand “the incredible diversity and all the nuances that mark the Latin American population present in the United States”, says Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz, a Venezuelan who founded Refuerzo Collaborative, a bilingual communications agency, in Austin, Texas. “I felt uncomfortable for a long time, with this sensation of living between two worlds. I ended up realizing that it is a wealth and an asset.”