Most economically valuable languages to learn

Conventional wisdom says if you are are looking for the most economically valuable language to learn, learn Spanish. Why? Spanish is gaining momentum and the line between the English and Spanish world in the Americas is blurred.
However, the most economically valuable languages to learn is not Spanish at least from an Employee/employer stand point. Actually Spanish turns out to be one of the least economically valuable languages to learn. The reason is price, in this case, wage or pay that is, the price of labor, is determined not just by demand but also supply. With the abundance of Spanish workers in the English speaking labor market, excess labor supply drives the price of labor down. A saturation of the lingustic market.
French one of the most wide spread largest languages in the world also has a low price, its marginal cost is high in relation to its marginal benefit.
Adam Smith meets the Slavic world: On the other hand languages like Russian, Ukrainian and Polish command a much higher premium. The economies of Russia, Ukraine and Poland are growing at rates equal to the Asian tiger economies and the pool of English – Russian or Polish or Ukrainian translators or workers is much smaller. The result is higher pay if you know these languages.

This is based on observed salaries for these languages. That is from a workers point of view.  However, if you are an owner of a business you might have a different perspective as your focus might be on expanding your markets to a niche of your choice. Therefore your valuation of the most economically valuable languages to learn might have a different indifference curve.

Tags: , , , , ,