Increase your income with Lango!

No, this blog post isn’t a franchising come-on (though of course if you’re interested in a Lango franchise you should let me know…).

Instead, this is a reference to new research — conducted by a Lango competitor — that translates the various benefits accrued through learning a new language into increased earning.

The idea is that between improved multitasking,  increased sensitivity to other cultures, the ability to conduct business in other countries and even raised SAT scores, foreign language speakers earn 20% more than people who speak just one language.

My guess is that’s an underestimation, especially since today’s learners will likely work in an even more globalized society.

But let me offer a different perspective on this idea of earning more money through learning more languages – since this assumes that what we’re all after is more change in our pockets.

New York Times columnist David Brooks writes in his book The Social Animal : “According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income.”

That’s a widely-applying nugget, but I can see a core of credibility, at least for me and my family: we derive some of our happiest and most fulfilling experiences from time spent with friends – or even like-minded people we don’t know that well.

So what if we combine these effects: what if we learn languages among groups of people who gather around that very purpose?

Regularly interacting with others and forming relationships while learning new ways of communicating? I bet that yields a happiness gain worth at least 120% of your income.