By Gauri Puranik
Growing up in a Marathi-speaking household, I assumed that multilingualism was more of an urban trend. But over the years, my summer trips back to Sindhudurg have changed that perspective. My young nieces and their friends effortlessly switch between two languages, with some picking up a third.
Their playlists capture this shift – songs by artists like Sanju Rathod, where Marathi and English flow together in tracks like ‘Gulabi Sadi’ and ‘Shaky Shaky’. This reflects a new generation that isn’t just multilingual, but also eager to learn, explore, and connect through languages.
This isn’t a local phenomenon. Across the world, people are embracing new languages – whether to study abroad, build careers, or immerse themselves in another culture. India is part of this movement. Professionals are polishing their English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, and many other languages to their repertoire. It’s no surprise then that bilingual CVs are on the rise.
Multilingualism
Research shows that multilingualism enhances employability and supports social and international mobility. In a borderless, digital-first world, the ability to switch between languages means higher earnings and cultural dexterity for employees. For employers, it means a strategic skill for effective communication in national, regional, as well as global markets where there’s a need to engage with different cultural groups.
It’s not limited to boardrooms. From customer-facing roles in retail and hospitality to industries like travel, tourism, and technology, language has become a tool of competitive advantage. Having multiple language skills demonstrates an openness to learn about other cultures, thus enhancing the ability to work across cross-cultural and diverse teams —a fascinating edge in leadership and innovation.
Forward-looking companies are investing in this shift. Many sponsor language training for staff that is deployed internationally. A friend working at Ford, for instance, was deputed from India to Shanghai and provided a home tutor to learn Mandarin.
Entrepreneurs are harnessing multilingualism. An example is Mark Zuckerberg addressing students at Tsinghua University in impressive, fluent Mandarin nearly a decade ago. He showed how language can be a way of building a bridge and tapping new consumers.
Language-driven careers
The professional landscape is evolving in response to this multilingual wave. Careers in translation, interpretation, tourism, transcription, dubbing, and voiceover are booming. In today’s content-driven economy, localisation has become indispensable.
The demand for multilingual skills is spilling into emerging sectors. AI training, natural language processing, content moderation, and user experience testing in regional languages are growth areas. The global language services market, valued at $71.77 billion in 2022, continues to expand.
Global citizenship
Even in this age of instant translation apps, language learning holds fort because technology can merely translate words. It cannot incite trust, foster empathy, facilitate constructive relationships between diverse groups of people. Nor can it create the cultural sensitivity that comes from experiencing the world through multiple linguistic lenses. Multilingualism, thus, is not just a soft skill, but a strategic one, tightly linked to leadership and long-term success.
Policy and pedagogy
In India, to prepare young people for the future of jobs, it is critical to nurture the country’s vast linguistic diversity. According to the last Census, nearly half of India’s urban youth between 15 and 49 years are bilingual, and one in six are trilingual.
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) underscores multilingualism as an asset. Over the past three years, the government has put this vision into practice. Higher education textbooks are being translated through the AI-powered Anuvadini app and national-level entrance exams are being conducted in 13 Indian languages.
At the school level, children are beginning to learn in their mother tongue and the DIKSHA platform is offering more than 3.6 lakh educational resources across 133 languages, including 126 Indian and seven foreign tongues.
The British Council has long supported multilingual approaches. Through our partnership research programmes like MultiEd India and MultiLila, we work with stakeholders to embed multilingual approaches into both policy and practice. This includes empowering teachers to manage multilingual classrooms effectively, designing curricula that integrate local, national, and international languages, and supporting systemic reforms for inclusive language education.
Multilingualism, at the macro level, is reshaping careers, leadership and policy. And at the individual level, creating a bridge to the world.
The author is the head of English Programmes India, British Council