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The Multilingual Dividend (by Andrew Hill, Financial Times)

March 13, 2013

A few years ago, when Anton­ella Sorace visited the European Central Bank in Frankfurt to talk about her research into bilingualism, she was astonished to find the bank’s multinational staff worrying about what should have been one of their families’ principal assets. “They had all kinds of doubts about the benefits of multilingualism for their children; they worried that their children weren’t learning to read or write properly – in any language,” she says. “I found it very instructive.”

The Italian-born University of Edinburgh professor of developmental linguistics should set their minds at rest. Prof Sorace’s research has shown that speaking another language offers not only utilitarian communication advantages, but also has cognitive benefits. Her message to business is: “Hire more multilingual employees, because these employees can communicate better, have better intercultural sensitivity, are better at co-operating, negotiating, compromising. But they can also think more efficiently.” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>