Daijob Global Recruiting Co., Ltd. | An Investigation into the language ability of "bilinguals"

REPORT2015/1/15

An Investigation into the language ability of "bilinguals"

60% of professionals on Daijob can speak at least two languages conversationally that are not their mother tongue. Many professionals would most like to learn Spanish.

Daijob.com has conducted an investigation on their own users to clarify the actual language ability of bilingual professionals.

【Investigation Overview】

■Investigation Objective: To understand the language ability and usage of non-native languages by bilingual professionals.
■Investigation Period: 2014/11/25～2014/12/26
■Investgation Subjects: Readers of the Daijob.com newsletter: 198,000 people.
■Investigation Method: One-click voting within the Daijob.com newsletter
■No. of valid responses: See each question below.

◆Other than your native language, how many languages do you speak to at least conversational level?
　60% speak at least two other languages (310 responses)

Daijob's findings showed that 37% of respondents had acquired exactly 2 languages other than their native language, while 34% had acquired exactly 1. Including other results, 60% of job-seekers on Daijob.com could speak 2 languages other than their native tongue to conversational level.

◆What level of a second-language is needed in your job?
　For around 50% of respondents, at least business level is necessary. (300 responses)

Daijob's findings showed that 35% of respondents needed at least business level of a second language at work, while 26% said they need at least conversational level. 87% ofrespondents needed to use at least some level of a non-native language at work.

◆Which of the following would make you most nervous if you suddenly had to do it?
　21% said they could deal with any request (201 responses)

It would seem that the same kind of tasks that cause nervousness in a native language also cause nervousness when requested to be done in another language, with 17% saying "a presentation" and 21% saying "a speech". On the contrary, 21% said they would be OK with any (reasonable) demand. Although 96% of Daijob's members are bilingual, many said they would feel nervous about a language level check.

◆Are there any other languages you wish to acquire?
　Spanish is by far the most popular at 24% (136 responses)

When asked what language they would like to learn next, 24% of respondents said "Spanish", followed by 12% for German, 11% for Korean and 10% for French. This is perhaps because there are so many Spanish speakers globally, and the economy in such areas is expected to grow.

For a full report, please click here (Japanese only) →バイリンガル人材の外国語に対する意識調査

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