Many companies would agree that possessing the ability to communicate with diverse audiences, potential customers, or clients, and even with potential investors or strategic partners in more than one language is a valuable asset to have. After all, 75% of consumers say they’d be more likely to make a purchase from a company that had […]
Continue readingCommit to Providing Linguistically and Culturally Competent Offerings to Diverse Market Segments
Through the many sectors, industries, and communities that Language Testing International (LTI) supports across the world, we have been able to observe, experience, and be a part of many business and societal trends. One of these trends, especially within the U.S. market, has been the shift in the American business mindset into attempting to become […]
Continue readingMeet a Language Superhero: Renaud Fenster
At LTI, we often talk about the benefits of being multilingual, and we truly believe that multilingualism gives you a special power: a power to communicate in another language, a power to better understand other cultures, a power to give yourself a competitive advantage, and even a power to save lives. Every year, thousands of […]
Continue readingCommitment to Enhancing Employee-Customer Relations
The landscape of today’s marketplace is highly focused on the quality of relationships. There are clear connections between employee satisfaction and customer experience, but there are other connections between employees and customers—such as language. How can language, and a commitment to language, redefine employee-customer relations? As Alex Shashkevich, of Stanford News, writes, “people speak roughly […]
Continue readingBusiness Benefits of Multilingualism
In our increasingly globalized world, there is a growing need for a multilingual workforce. The demand for multilingual employees more than doubled between 2010 and 2015. The workforce has continued to evolve since then, particularly because of the COVID-19 pandemic — as of 2021, there has been a 30% increase in bilingual remote jobs. Multilingual employees bring undeniable value to the workplace, […]
Continue readingSpanish Speakers Bring Superpowers to Businesses
The U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, and the Hispanic population is a big contributor to the country’s changing demographics. According to the U.S. Census’ latest data, there has been a 23% increase in the Spanish-speaking population since 2010, totaling approximately 62.1 million Hispanics as of 2020. This growth is projected to reach 99.89 million […]
Continue readingGetting Back to Business with Language and Cultural Proficiency
One million vaccinations a day was certainly a lofty proposition as we began the year grappling with how to effectively rid ourselves of COVID-19 and get back to business. As a business owner, diversity specialist, and community advocate, I wondered how this would be accomplished because I know there are still so many gaps in […]
Continue readingThe ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test Administered by LTI
As discussed in previous blogs, being able to speak English is not the only skill that employees who work in a global corporate environment need to have; being able to communicate by writing is also essential to remain competitive and gain success. A measure such as the ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test (WPT), administered exclusively through […]
Continue readingACTFL’s Oral Proficiency Interview Delivered Exclusively by LTI
Given how important spoken English is in a corporate environment for employees to be successful, it is essential to talk about standardized measures that are currently being used to measure these skills. The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, or just “ACTFL OPI®” is a holistic criterion-referenced assessment, because it measures a test candidate’s functional speaking proficiency […]
Continue readingWhy Language Training is Critical to a Business
The world is becoming more and more interconnected every day, and new technologies and digital platforms capable of bringing brands to any customer with access to the internet are the driving force behind this unstoppable phenomenon. Additionally, to help facilitate access to these new international markets, businesses are striving to increase cross-border trade, international investment, and […]
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