The 7 Most Important Languages for Business

For the longest time, we English speakers did not really have to speak another language as English was all we need in most cases when it comes to our business use. But as the business world is more and more globalised these days, only knowing English is not really enough anymore. In a globalised market, it has been easier than ever to do business with people all around the world. The problem is that not all of them uses English in their day to day operation so it is up to you to learn their language in order to communicate with those stakeholders and get their businesses. Learning another language can allow you to differentiate yourself from your competitors to gain the competitive advantage to gain more international market share. But which language should you learn? In this blogpost, we will show you what are the most important languages for business so that you can expand your business internationally!

Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is the native language of most of the population in China. Due to its huge population in China, it puts Mandarin as the language that has the most native speaker with roughly 1.1 billion people who speaks mandarin natively. It has nearly 3 times the amount of native speakers of native English speakers. As China’s economy is the second biggest in the world and it grows bigger and bigger each day, there are more and more businesses opportunities for international firms like us. There are still a lot of firms in China that only use Mandarin as their business language, knowing the language can help you to venture into China and start sourcing new suppliers, business partners and customers. With such a large amount of native speakers and the size of its economy, Mandarin is considered to be one of the best languages to learn for business today.

German

Germany is the largest economy in Europe currently and it is unlikely to change for years to come. Although it only has a relatively small number of native speakers of 130 million, its economic output of €3.8 trillion makes German still another very useful language to learn if you are interested in the European market. Germany exports a large number of precision components, vehicles and chemicals and German is one of the official languages for a lot of European countries which make it an excellent language to learn if you are interested in expanding into the European market.

Spanish

There are more than 475 million native Spanish speakers around the world and 52 million of them are based in the US. It is widely spoken in 44 countries and it is the main language in south and central America. It is also considered to be one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. That makes Spanish an amazing business language around the world and especially in the US as well. If you are looking to venture into south, central or north America then Spanish is a no brainer when it comes to learning a language for business use.

Arabic

Arabic is named “The language of the future” by the British Council and there are good reasons for that. With around 315 million speakers located in countries with booming economies in the Middle East and Africa, including UAE, Egypt and many more. Learning Arabic might just be your ticket to enter the rich and prosperous part of the business world. The US and Europe also have a large population of native Arabic speakers and if you are in the oil, construction and real estate markets then Arabic might be the best option for you.

Hindi

Hindi is the official language of India. With its rapidly growing economy and population, it is another language that we can not dismiss. Hindi has 341 million native speakers. India is the sixth-largest economy in the world with a GDP of $2.6 trillion and its booming IT industry is definitely worth looking into. India’s textiles and automobile industries are so very big and it could be the countries for you to find your perfect suppliers if you happen to be in those industries.  

French

French is the second most widely spoken language in Europe and there are 29 countries that list French as one of their official languages. There are more non-native speakers than native ones due to the centuries of French colonization which there are 77 million native French speakers and 203 million non-native speakers. It was the most widely spoken language years ago before it was overtaken by Egnlish.  It is a very important language in Africa and using French as a business language can help you find business opportunities in almost every continent.

Russian

Russian is one of the 6 official languages in the United Nations and has 154 million native speakers plus another 104 million non-native speakers worldwide which place it at 8th place in terms of the most spoken languages in the world. With its strong political and economical power, especially in fields such as natural gas and real estate investment. Russia is also considered to have a large number of highly educated and successful entrepreneurs who do not speak any English at all, knowing Russian is a must in order to persuade them into doing business with you.

Learning languages for business purposes

If you want to open the most doors then Mandarin Chinese and Spanish are probably the best options for you. But which languages to learn really depends on which industry you are in and what your target markets are. Researching the most used languages in your industry and your target market can point you in the right direction and save you time and effort before you fully commit to a language. An alternative way to learn a new language is to hire personnel with the language skills that you need or hire a professional translation agency to help you out with your language needs!