The 10 Best Languages for Business

12/12/2018 17:59:45Language评论1961阅读模式

摘要

When researching which languages to target, a common approach is to focus on the world’s most popular languages. While this is a good starting point, it fails to consider cultural and diplomatic factors that directly correlate with the translation ROI of a language.

The 10 Best Languages for Business

文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Savvy business owners understand that there is a multitude of opportunities in targeting foreign audiences. After all, native English speakers only make up 4.9% of the global population.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

But translation strategy is more than producing your content in various languages and sending it out to the world in hopes of attracting new audiences.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

A plan for prioritizing the languages you target will lead to quicker returns and better efficiency.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

First, if your research shows that you have a strong demand in specific locales but haven’t yet translated your content for them, then you have some low hanging fruit to pick.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

But what if you’re launching a new product or you’re already established your in primary foreign markets and aren’t sure where to target next?文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

In this post, we’ll provide the ten best languages for business and why you should consider targeting them for translation.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

The Most Useful Languages for Business文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Dr. Kai Chan of INSEAD has published a report that tackles this very issue. Using the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, he found a correlation between the most influential languages and the most competitive countries.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

From this research, the power language index (PLI) was born—a ranking of 124 languages by global influence and a valuable resource for businesses that want to get the biggest return on their investment. (See more on the report here).文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Ranked by order of global influence, here are the 10 best languages for business:文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

English
Chinese
French
Spanish
Arabic
Russian
German
Japanese
Portuguese
Hindi

Language Profitability vs. Language Popularity文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

It’s interesting to note that some of the world’s most popular languages are not the world’s most influential languages.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Both multinational business and foreign language learners focus on the languages that provide the highest return on investment (ROI).文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Here’s a pie chart of the world’s most popular languages by the number of native speakers:文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Note that although English is the most influential language, it is the third most spoken language. French and German didn’t even make the top 10 although they are within the top 5 most influential languages. The 10 Best Languages for Business 文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Translation ROI

When targeting foreign markets, your translation ROI is going to depend significantly on how much demand a language’s speakers will have for your product.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

But ease of market entry is equally essential in translation strategy and is greatly influenced by the cultural, geographical, and diplomatic facets of the countries where those languages are spoken.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

Dr. Chan calculates language influence not only by their number of speakers but also by geography, economy, communication, knowledge, and diplomacy—significant influencers of the usefulness of a language.文章源自WordsLinker-https://www.WordsLinker.com/the-10-best-languages-for-business.html

He puts it this way:
“To understand the efficacy of language (and by extension culture), consider the doors (“opportunities”) opened by it. Broadly speaking, there are five opportunities provided by language.”

Geography: The ability to travel
Economy: The ability to participate in an economy
Communication: The ability to engage in dialogue
Knowledge and media: The ability to consume knowledge and media
Diplomacy: The ability to engage in international relations

In the context of business, these five factors correlate directly with language profitability or translation ROI.

Dr. Chan says:

“For business leaders, the PLI gives clues as to the most important languages to implement for a global audience. For instance, what tongues should be prioritized when setting up hotlines, creating websites and translating business materials?”

We’ve expounded upon the PLI index below, using updated populations from Ethnologue. The PLI assigns scores to each language as well as a global ranking for each category.

The World’s Most Powerful Languages