What do Mark Zuckerberg and Paul Bulcke have in common?
Aside from being the CEO of a successful company, these two have another card up their sleeve—they can speak more than one language. Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, speaks Chinese and English while Bulcke, the CEO of Nestle, speaks Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. With globalization as rampant as is, these leaders recognized the importance of speaking multiple languages.
Conducting business around the world or even just visiting foreign places would require one to speak the native language for everything to run smoothly. More often than not, interpreters are needed in these situations. Nowadays, being bilingual or, even better, multilingual, is a necessity in itself. In business, to get one step ahead of your competitors means you don’t just have to walk the walk but talk the talk in different languages as well. To successfully reach global clients, one should both learn how to communicate and negotiate with them effectively. If you fail to form this rapport, you’ll be losing the opportunity to call these possible clients as your own.
Having been to different international and local events, I noticed that most businessmen listen more intently if you speak in their native language. They would even go the extra mile to give you a little bit of what they have just by speaking their language.
Lexcode Philippines provides educational opportunities, especially language classes, to its employees as it acknowledges the importance of learning. Being one of the leading localization companies in Asia, it does not only aim for business growth but also the professional development of its workforce.
