Bi-Lingual Asian Americans — Page 2 of 2

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Investors are constantly seeking out the best possible returns, no matter where in the world the investment is located. Major investment firms are always seeking out analysts capable of conducting overseas due diligence, then reporting back their findings in nuanced English. This field offers bi-lingual professionals with exceptional analytical and verbal skills some of the largest paychecks available in the corporate world.

Just as in the corporate world, politicians and social leaders have recognized the importance of tapping into the interests and resources of new Americans to tip the balance in favor of their parties or causes. People who can speak to immigrants in their own language and understand that group’s social landscape and protocols are invaluable to winning support from increasingly important segments of the community. This is an excellent career track for those with the ambition of entering politics.

In the old days American companies sent executives with little or no cultural knowledge or language ability to head up overseas offices, arrogantly relying on a combination of local staff and translators to make up the cultural and linguistic deficit. During the 1980s and 1990s U.S. companies began to see the severe handicap of having to compete against Japanese, Corean (Korean) and European companies that employed truly bi-cultural executives to secure top talent, negotiate the best deals and conceive business strategies attuned to each overseas market. More recently, U.S. companies have joined the international trend of seeking out bi-cultural and bi-lingual executives to run overseas offices rather than relying on clumsy makeshift arrangements.

No financial decision is more important or personal than buying or selling a home. The ability to reassure someone that you understand the many concerns that go into that decision is a big advantage in winning a client’s trust. Combine that with the fact that since the 1980s Asians have been the most important ethnic segment in buying homes in growth markets like Orange County, Los Angeles, San Jose and Houston. Not surprisingly, the top sales performers in most residential real estate firms in those markets are Asian Americans.

The complexities and pitfalls associated with maneuvering within the legal system are all the more difficult and treacherous for companies and individuals for whom English isn’t their native language. The growth of international business transactions and increasing multi-cultural contacts create an insatiable demand for lawyers and paralegals with the ability to communicate and fact-find in two more more languages. There was a time when law firms took pride in their firms’ cultural homogeneity, but that day has gone the way of cars with fins and whitewall tires.

As the number of lawsuits involving either international or multi-cultural parties multiply, so has the demand for competent translators. Court-certified translators are needed not only in those relatively small percentage of cases that go to trial but in the far larger numbers that go through the discovery process, frequently involving witnesses with limited English ability. The severe shortage of truly fluent translators has often been a bottleneck even in cosmopolitan cities like Los Angeles and New York, fueling the current demand for better qualified translators who enjoy handsome hourly rates for their services.