Communications provider Telefonica Digital have stressed the importance of being bilingual. The company have said that UK graduates need another language to work for a digital employer. ‘Research published today shows 70% of UK graduates cannot speak any languages other than English well or fluently.’<\/p>\n
Telefonica has said that as a global digital business, headquartered in the UK, it “badly needs” more graduates who can speak second and even third languages to take advantage of huge opportunities in areas such as Latin America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Although the statistic of 70% is bad news for Telefonica it is good news for bilingual graduates as there should be less competition for jobs that require a second language.<\/p>\n
The survey of more than 1,000 UK university graduates reveals 14% of UK graduates have lost out on a job opportunity because they did not speak another language.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
French, German and Spanish are the top three languages graduates with a second language can speak, but ‘only 3% of the graduate foreign language speakers can speak Portuguese, the first language of Brazil, despite that country being one of the fastest growing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) markets’. In an increasingly competitive job market it would appear learning another language is not only a desirable addition to your CV but also allows you to compete for jobs many other graduates are unable to.<\/p>\n