It’s absolutely not true that you don’t need language skills to succeed in career. If you’re going to be an executive for a company in China, you’re better off speaking Chinese. If you want to work in Mexico, you’ll be better received if you speak Spanish; plus you’ll be happier in your new home.
It all comes down to money. In USA, corporations don’t have Spanish menu options for nothing. They don’t spend millions staffing Spanish speaking call centers or develop software interfaces in Spanish if they don’t generate incremental revenue.
Personally, whenever I use an ATM, self-serve register, or call center, I always use the Spanish option. I can assure you that when the managers sit down to review their sales data, they look at how many customers chose the Spanish option. The more people choose the Spanish option, the more Spanish speaking staff companies will have to hire (better for Spanish speaking job seekers). Lowes has a call center that you can call to get service in a number of languages. That’s the kind of customer service that’s necessary to succeed in this globalized world.
What if a manager is called upon to head an office in China? He won’t be very happy nor will he do very well in that society if he doesn’t speak the language. Guess who will have no problem relocating to China if the company chooses to move its research center to Shanghai? What if you want to start a company serving Spanish speaking immigrants?
The more languages you speak, the more options you’ll have in the future.
If you speak Spanish you should use it to your advantage — differentiate yourself from non-Spanish speakers. That’s your competitive advantage, in your career and in life. In my view, if you can bring-in more revenue for the company, you should be paid more than English-only speakers. For example, if you can develop software (or write an instruction manual) in English and Spanish, then you’re obviously worth more than an otherwise equally qualified English-only employee.
