March 2017 – This month, SOSi, along with a diverse group of private and nonprofit partners spanning the education, business and foundation sectors launched Lead with Languages to showcase the importance of language skills in the 21st century job market and the growing U.S. skills gap.
World languages are a crucial 21st-century workplace skill for business operation in an increasingly multicultural and internationally integrated marketplace in which employees, customers, suppliers and partners speak multiple languages.
Fewer than 1 in 10 Americans speak a second language. In the Department of Defense, only 10% of personnel speak a foreign language. One of the largest providers of cleared linguists to the federal government, SOSi understands firsthand the importance of language skills for mission success in both government and civilian markets.
Lead with Languages is an unprecedented national movement aimed at highlighting the growing importance of language skills and making language proficiency a national priority. The growing coalition seeks to raise awareness across the U.S. and motivate people to take action around the rapidly rising importance of language skills to a wide array of careers—and to our nation’s economy, national security and international standing.
A major sponsor of the campaign, SOSi joins other leaders in the field, including Rosetta Stone, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Eurail and Qatar Foundation in its support. Throughout the year, SOSi will join Lead with Languages to help spread the word, with events focused on the defense and intelligence markets, social media campaigns and media interviews. A handful of familiar faces were featured in the campaign’s launch videos.
The campaign’s ultimate goal is to inspire a new generation of Americans competent in other languages and cultures and fully equipped to compete and succeed in a global economy. To find out more about this effort and access a wide variety of resources on language learning, visit www.leadwithlanguages.org. Help us spread the word!
Read the full press release.
