The Perks of Being Bilingual

Being bilingual is useful in more ways than just being a fun party trick. The perks reach as far as your career.

In 2015, CNN Money named bilingualism as the hottest skill for job seekers.Looking through the yacht job market and it’s not hard to see why. Employers are always looking for Mandarin, French, Italian, German or Russian speaking crew to suit them, and their passengers’ needs.

Consider picking up a second language. It makes you more employable in the following ways:

Being able to speak more than one language creates more opportunities for employment.

Bilingual crew aren’t limited to English speaking yachts. They have the privilege of working for vessels catering to multi-lingual passengers, which means they have more options when it comes to job searching.

Taking the time to learn a second language demonstrates a strong work ethic that is attractive to any employer.

It becomes difficult to pick up a new language the older we get. Being able to speak more than one language means that you have dedicated yourself to doing something 68% of adults over 25 cannot or will not do. Committing to something and seeing it through is an attribute any Captain would want on their team.

Bilingualism will improve your service delivery.

Having the ability to communicate in a second, or third language is valuable, but being able to relate to people from a different background is equally important. Language isn’t learnt in a vacuum. When we learn a new language we pick up cultural idiosyncrasies and customs. In the Western world, for example, making eye contact when talking is the norm. However in many Eastern and African countries, the gesture is seen as presumptuous and impolite. This is all linguistical etiquette that you pick up when learning a different language. Yacht employers will appreciate the crew being sensitive to the cultural customs of their passengers.

Knowing more than one language can improve mental health

Numerous cognitive behavioural studies have found that bilingualism can improve brain function. Not only are you strengthening your brain to be able to absorb more knowledge but it improves your ability to focus, problem solve and multitask. Another study found that people who speak more than one language can process information more efficiently and easily.

What Captain or HOD wouldn’t want someone like that on their team?

So you see, learning another language not only makes you more interesting but it is an investment into your professional future too.