Publish at May 24 2022 Updated May 31 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic may have completely turned our lives upside down on many levels, including the professional level. Indeed, our very conception of the world of work has changed, evolved. Telecommuting has taken off and seems to be taking off. Many people have unfortunately also lost their jobs, companies have closed, but as we enter a new era, one in which COVID seems to (hopefully!) be winding down, life is slowly coming back to life and it's time for recruiters to step up to the plate and go hunting for the best candidates.
What about languages in all this? This is precisely one of the main skills to put forward in one's application. So get dressed up, dust off your resume and get ready to give your career a boost by finding out how languages can help you do it!
Working is good. Doing a job you love and are passionate about is better! To do that, you need to know how to land your dream job, and often, to get it, you need to meet some particularly demanding criteria, including one or more additional languages.
Who says dream job, says better working conditions and... better pay! So of course, English appears to be a sine qua non, regardless of the position held, regardless of the professional field. Whether in business, tourism, education or construction, the language of Shakespeare remains an important asset, but it is not a panacea either. In 2022, many other languages are increasingly in demand by employers...
First of all, it should be noted that the languages most in demand by potential recruiters are not necessarily the best paid. For example, English, despite its unsurprisingly high ranking, only appears in 7th place in the list of average annual salaries offered by French companies.
If you're aiming for a high salary, consider Japanese instead. Indeed, given that few French speakers speak this Japanese language (126.4 million speakers), these employees are highly sought after and employers are willing to pay nearly 95,000 euros ($128,000) per year to attract them! On the salary side, Hindi (637.3 million speakers) and Italian (67.7 million speakers) are on the podium of the most lucrative languages for French speakers.
If we look purely at the level of professional demands, not to mention money, German and Mandarin are doing well on the recruiters' side. The former, because it is the European country with the best economy, but also enjoys the reputation of excellence of its companies, ranked at the top of the world (Allianz, Siemens or BMW to name just three). On the other hand, the German language is still spoken by more than 130 million people in the world, which is not negligible.
As for Mandarin, it is a very good linguistic choice to give a boost to your career. Indeed, with steady economic growth, the language of the country with the yellow star has become the second international business language (1.120 billion), just behind English (1.268 billion).
Latin languages are not far behind. Indeed, Spanish (537.9 million speakers) and Portuguese (252.2 million speakers) are particularly convenient from a strategic geographical perspective. Indeed, in addition to Latin America, several countries in Africa and Europe also use these languages, which is very valuable in terms of international trade and business.
What about French in all this? Rest assured, our language is also popular. Renowned for luxury and gastronomy in particular, the language of Molière still charms international firms and the recruitment of French speakers is going well.
A study conducted by Preply in 2022 showed that "for French-speaking workers wishing to expatriate, English-speaking countries will surely be the preferred choice." The United States came in first place with nearly 21,500 job offers for French speakers, followed closely by Canada with 16,500 offers, then the United Kingdom with some 12,000 job offers.
On the salary side, again, Canada leads the way, specifically in Toronto and Ottawa. This is followed by Germany and Italy, which also offer great professional opportunities in terms of compensation.
Finally, it can be said that language learning is useful everywhere and in all circumstances, including in the working world to help our career soar. So, why deprive ourselves of it?
In a context where telecommuting is increasingly in demand, let's take advantage of the time we have at home to develop, perfect, or even discover new languages and thus give ourselves the chance to aim for other work opportunities!
Sources and illustrations
What are the most sought-after and best-paid languages? Cristina Lièvre, May 2022, Elle, https://www.elle.fr/Elle-Active/Quelles-sont-les-langues-les-plus-recherchees-et-les-mieux-remunerees-par-les-entreprises-4017859Learn one of these seven languages to boost your career prospects, Sean Fitzsimons, July 2020, Babbel, https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/learn-one-of-these-7-languages-to-boost-your-career-prospects
List of languages by total number of speakers, Wikipedia,
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers
Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/images/id-1340649/ and https://pixabay.com/images/id-4009327/
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