The Value of Speaking a LOTE in U.S. Business

Abstract

How much value do foreign languages really have in a country like the United States, where the most proficient speakers of languages other than English (LOTEs) tend to be immigrants with little influence or power and where the rich and powerful tend to have little knowledge of LOTEs? This article first discusses the role of English and LOTEs in the history of the United States and in our current position within a global community. It then presents empirical evidence of the value of LOTEs in both domestic and international business. Our findings in the business world reflect the relationship between power and LOTEs in U.S. society, with LOTEs being more valuable in ethnic and small businesses and for clerical positions than in large corporations and for managers and executives. The article concludes by suggesting that in our increasingly multilingual world, our ability to speak LOTEs would give us a greater degree of control over business decisions at all levels. But LOTEs would then have to become more widely spoken among the majority population, would have to be preserved and developed among minorities, and would have to become associated with power and profit among both Anglo-phones and ethnolinguistic minorities.