To succeed in any endeavour requires enthusiasm and hard work. This is true for an employee, for an entrepreneur and for someone studying languages. This enthusiasm gives you the energy to work hard to overcome obstacles and to take advantage of opportunities. I have worked with many people who had enthusiasm and were effective in their work. They were not all linguists, but they had the knowledge and ability that transcends language barriers. These kind of people exist in every culture and language group. Such people can also become good linguists if they are motivated to do so.
But language is not a condition of success in business, just an enhancer. If you are a good business person, the ability to communicate in other languages can make you more effective. In business, you need credibility. People have to trust you. Business is dependent on a network of people: colleagues, employees, bosses, customers, suppliers, advisors, friends and others on whom you can rely and who are prepared to rely on you. If you are not trustworthy, reliable and effective at what you do, speaking foreign languages will not help you. I believe it was Voltaire who said of a certain French nobleman that he spoke six languages and had nothing to say in any of them.
However, speaking a foreign language fluently can be invaluable in building relationships of trust. You need not speak like a native speaker, but you need to be comfortably fluent. You need to be able to communicate without struggling and your counterpart needs to feel comfortable communicating with you in the language. This is the professional level of language competence that is required for international business. It is definitely achievable with the right attitude and method of study. I believe The Linguist program can help any learner achieve this level of fluency.
