Businesses may require foreign language skills

An employee who has the ability to speak a foreign language may be a 'bonus' for some companies, one expert has said.

Angela Baron, an Advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has stated foreign language skills can be very significant to businesses that have global connections and for employees there could be an opportunity to travel to various locations around the world.

'For some organisations, languages will be very important because they are doing business with different parts of the world,' she commented.

But if graduates are to improve their language skills they should 'think carefully about where you want to work and what languages will therefore be important,' Ms Baron added.

According to a survey conducted by the European commission in 2005, 30% of adults in the UK can speak a second language compared to the Europe-wide average of 50%.