U.S. Businesses Need More Foreign Language Skills

I originally wrote this blog in October 2018, and, sadly, the state of foreign language learning in the U.S. has not improved. Schools across all education levels are cutting language programs in response to tightening budgets. Within the U.S., there’s an increasing need for bilingual workers in critical roles in healthcare, tech, and finance. More businesses are relying on AI for translation, but these programs are no substitute for fluent speakers. In the U.S., we need to stop thinking of language learning as a supplementary option when the data shows it’s a vital need.

I am blown away by news that hasn’t gotten much coverage: U.S. employers say they need and want MORE employees who speak another language in addition to English. Yet schools at all educational levels are eliminating their foreign language programs. That doesn’t mean the U.S. isn’t a multilingual country. According to the 2025 U.S. Census, 1 in 5 people (22%) speak a language other than English at home. Immigrants and first-generation Americans learning languages at home are driving this increase. Without more access to formal language learning, it is harder for children from English-only households to learn foreign languages. It also means that as immigrants are denied entry to or removed from the U.S., the country is losing its multilingual skills, putting American businesses at a global disadvantage.

Did you know that today’s employers increasingly rely on employees with foreign language skills? According to a 2018 report by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 90% of those surveyed rely on employees with language skills, and 32% said they rely heavily on multilingual workers.

Wow.

In boardrooms and in the field, with customers and partners, and on social media, U.S. employers are increasingly conducting business in a language other than English. Accordingly, the ability to communicate effectively in more than one language is a critical asset for U.S. students and employees. Being multilingual not only boosts their marketability in the workplace but also helps them thrive in a global economy.

In ACTFL’s groundbreaking report, Making Language Our Business, employers emphasized the vital need for language skills in the U.S. workplace and their impact on the U.S. economy. Not only did the data reveal a significant language skills gap, but the highest-demand languages also had the most severe worker shortages.

How did the vast majority of news outlets miss this news when the research was released?

Perhaps for the same reason that the astounding news reported by the Modern Language Association in January 2018, that colleges have shut down a “stunning” 651 language programs since 2015, slipped quietly into and out of the news cycle.

Is anyone paying attention? Shouldn’t employers and colleges get together to discuss the skills needed to prepare our students for these jobs?

It’s apparent that the need is there—and growing:

56% of U.S. employers say their foreign language demand will increase in the next 5 years.

47% state a need for language skills exclusively for the domestic market.

1 in 3 language-dependent U.S. employers report a language skills gap.

1 in 4 U.S. employers lost business due to a lack of language skills.

The report notes that the demand for language skills is not limited to a single language, market, sector, or functional department. Spanish leads as the most in-demand language among U.S. employers (85%), with other highly sought-after languages including Chinese (34%), French (22%), Japanese (17%), and German (17%). 97% of employers use language skills at least to some extent domestically, leaving 3% who only need them for international needs. And while customer service and sales stand out as the two departments most requiring language skills, 12% of employers cite a need for multilingual employees across all departments—from production to finance and everything in between.

YES! Of course!

Combined with the critical cognitive and social skills inherent in language learning, this data places bilingual workers at even greater competitive advantage over their monolingual peers.

Along with the survey findings, Making Languages Our Business presents seven actionable recommendations that employers can take to build a company-wide language strategy:

Take stock of current language assets by conducting a formal Language Needs Analysis;
Assess employees’ current skills using professional tools;
Maintain an inventory of linguistic and cultural competencies of their workforce to identify strengths as well as areas for improvement;
Make languages a strategic focus during recruitment efforts;
Invest in targeted training for candidates and employees who need additional skills;
Form partnerships with colleges and universities that offer intercultural and language immersion opportunities; and
Advocate for policies in support of funding for early language-learning programs.

All of these steps will not only amplify an organization’s language assets but also boost outcomes that enhance the bottom line, something I have written about since my first book, Get Ahead By Going Abroad. Globally minded organizations can take the lead in developing a strong U.S. workforce for the future by cultivating a pipeline of multilingual talent.

For more than a decade, I have been advocating that employers should be included in discussions about education policy because they and their bottom lines have the most to gain from a multilingual workforce. We must work with them to build the bridges between employers and higher ed, between higher ed and K-12, and between K-12 and employers. There is reason to hope for positive change. For example, 25 school districts in Massachusetts now offer dual-language bilingual education in Spanish and English with a goal of preparing 50 middle school students each year to be highly proficient in both languages.

If we want our country to have strong national security, world-class diplomatic and trade relations, and a robust economy, we must DO SOMETHING to address the lack of language skills and language learning opportunities. This begins with paying attention to news that matters: the policies, trends, and anything else that will affect our future and that of the young people who will become tomorrow’s global, multilingual employees working in a multicultural workplace.

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