The contemporary professional life requires specific attention to additional skills and capabilities that can distinguish an individual from others. Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages fluently or partially that allows an individual to communicate with native speakers. The apparent advantage of this capability provides a person with an opportunity to work in diverse cultural environments. This paper aims to examine bilingualism in professional life and study evidence regarding the benefits of this cognitive ability.
Importance of Bilingualism
The importance of bilingualism at the professional level is displayed through the changes in society as a whole and the advantages that are speaking two languages has. According to Walsh (2015), bilingualism was proven to enhance one’s executive functions such as problem-solving, reasoning, and attention. The experiments conducted with bilingual children showcased their enhanced ability to resolve tasks when compared to kids who only spoke one language. Moreover, Walsh (2015) states that this skill improves cognitive skills, resulting in better memory functioning in older aged people. While these elements mainly refer to the personal benefits that bilingualism provides, they can also be applied at work.
One can argue that the current environment and innovation enable easy cooperation with people from other states or even continents. Lazar (2018) states that the changes affecting the global economy demand individuals to be able to speak more than one language to communicate. In business, this is especially necessary due to the growing importance of multinational companies. Lazar (2018) argues that in the future, the workforce will be heterogeneous in terms of culture and language due to globalization. Therefore, a bilingual individual can bring more benefits to companies in the modern world. Yi and You (2018) state that “the development of foreign trade in various countries has accelerated the demand for international bilingual business professionals in various countries” (p. 248). According to my personal reality, academic perspective, and professional experience, bilingualism provides many advantages. Individuals who know more than one language can communicate with a culturally diverse population, which expands their knowledge and understanding of the world.
Despite the advantages of bilingualism that were discussed above, there are several issues outlined by the recent research. Folke, Ouzia, Bright, De Martino, and Filippi (2016) conclude that bilinguals are unable to assess and evaluate their performance accurately. This issue is connected with the concept of metacognition, which is one’s self-awareness, which appears to be less developed in individuals who speak more than one language. Konnikova (2015) argues that the current research on bilingualism and its advantages provides partial support for the argument of its benefits. Therefore, more large-scale studies are required to determine the validity and importance of this skill in both personal and professional life. However, regardless of the impact of bilingualism on cognitive abilities, metacognition, and resolving tasks, it is evident that speaking a second language provides professional advantages because the person is able to work with individuals from other countries and understand their rationale for actions.
Conclusion
Overall, this paper defined bilingualism and provided evidence suggesting the importance of it in one’s professional life. Research suggests that this skill contributes to the development of several cognitive functions. Additionally, the changing environment of the professional world requires one to have the ability to communicate with people in different countries. However, the downside of this skill is the lack of self-awareness and substantial evidence supporting the conclusions regarding the positive impact of bilingualism.
References
Folke, T., Ouzia, J., Bright, P., De Martino, B., & Filippi, R. (2016). A bilingual disadvantage in metacognitive processing. Cognition, 150, 119-132. Web.
Konnikova, M. (2015).Is bilingualism really an advantage? Web.
Lazar, M. (2018). The bilingual advantage in the global workplace. Web.
Yi, L., & You, Y. (2018). A study on bilingual talents cultivation model of international trade practices from the perspective of production-education integration and school-enterprise cooperation. Paper presented at the 8Th International Conference On Education, Management, Information, And Management Society (EMIM 2018). Web.
Walsh, B. (2015). Bilingualism as a life experience.Web.