THE POWER OF MULTILINGUALISM IN A GLOBALIZED ECONOMY

Abstract

Language appreciation in trade and commerce is a strong determinant to the viability of
goods and services in a corporate entity. The economic power of language transcends
beyond the level of small businesses, to impact on large-scale national and international
businesses. The awareness that economic returns ride on the wheels of language
comprehension between the trader and his client has grown to a phenomenal proportion;
while economic internationalisation and multilingualism have become two sides of the
same coin. Moreover, the growth of early civilisations in Africa, Asia and Europe was
facilitated by cross-cultural transactions, premised on the mutual understanding of the
seller and buyer. Here, the economic power and market potential of multilingualism are
advanced. The paper further argues that if monolingualism is propagated over linguistic
heterogeneity, the economy will suffer. Furthermore, the paper posits that multilingualism
can be exploited as a resource with exchange value in a globalized economy and advocates
the incorporation of multilingual orientation in a programmatic form into global business
policies.