Foreign Language Use Among International Business Graduates

Abstract

American business is constantly being urged to employ more executives who can operate successfully abroad in one or another foreign language. Nonetheless, the employment prospects for Americans with foreign language competences remain relatively low. To both meet and stimulate that limited demand, several business schools have instituted programs that combine general business courses with foreign language training and international studies. This article reports on a survey of 600 graduates of three of the best-known international business programs of this type. The purpose of the survey was to determine the importance of a foreign language competence in the careers of these specially trained business school graduates.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. “Americans Get Low Grades in Gallup Geography Test” (Washington, DC: News Service of the National Geographic Society, 27 July 1988).

2. This literature is reviewed in Richard D. Lambert , Points of Leverage: An Agenda for a National Foundation for International Studies (New York: Social Science Research Council, 1986), pp. 31-38.

3. Carol S. Fixman , The Foreign Language Needs of U.S.-Based Corporations, National Foreign Language Center Occasional Paper Series (Washington, DC: National Foreign Language Center, 1989).

Richard D. Lambert , International Studies and the Undergraduate (Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 1989), pp. 65-69.

5. See John Thanapoulos , ed., International Business Curricula: A Global Survey (Waco, TX: Academy of International Business, 1986).

6. Joann S. Lublin , “Grappling with the Expatriate Issue,” Wall Street Journal, 11 Dec. 1989.