IT PAYS TO “BE BILINGUAL” IN HOUSTON

Houston area business people sign up for Spanish classes to remain competitive

As the Houston population becomes increasingly more diverse, the need for employees who speak more than one language is reaching an all time high. Recent reports from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States, accounting for more than half of the nation’s population.

Hispan Telligence, a division of Hispanic Business, Incorporated found that Hispanics currently account for $700 billion in buying power, a number that could increase to approximately $1 trillion by 2010. For employers, being able to communicate in one language means missing out on a monumental client base and losing revenue.

A recent keyword search for bilingual positions on Career Builder, a career job board, turned up more than 6,000 results, and the wages are substantially higher for those that can talk the talk.

In Washington County, Oregon employees who spend between fifteen and twenty percent of their time in regular and frequent use of their expanded language skills are seeing as much as $30 more per day, than that of their non-bilingual counterparts. In California, government workers are granted $0.58 more per hour more than their counterparts, although that number could see a dramatic increase in the future as the need for more bilingual workers is more pronounced in the South and the West, where there is a higher concentration of non-English speaking residents.

Many executives are taking the lead on the need for bilingual workers by educating themselves first. A recent survey revealed that a little over 30% of corporate executives are bilingual, 20% speak three languages, nine percent speak four languages and four percent speak more than that!

Employees are also cashing in by signing up for Spanish classes at, Be Bilingual, a school that specializes in private customized foreign language instruction. The school that has been in operation for over 20 years, has helped hundreds of employees and employers in the greater Houston area become significant players in the global enterprise by providing on-site corporate lessons and an extensive product line of support materials such as workbooks and CDs.

If you are interested in hearing more about the services offered at Be Bilingual, or you would like to enroll please contact them at 713-789-6338.