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Money talks, and speaks loudest in English

English is the dominant lingua franca of the international business scene and countries whose official language is English, or whose main languages are linguistically close to English, attract more foreign investment, a new study from the University of Toronto.

The study looked at all common languages spoken throughout the OECD and highlights the importance of English in deploying multinational strategies, even in countries where English is not the prevailing tongue.

Countries whose official languages include English account for nearly half of all the OECD’s gross domestic product and attract almost 47% of foreign investment, while countries that have high proficiency in English are also more likely to attract foreign investment.

“The closer a country’s language is to English, the bigger a kick they get,” said Walid Hejazi. “If you go into France or you go into China, you need to have that local language, no question. But having a proficiency to speak English is also important because if you’re going to communicate in any other language than the official language there, more likely than not, it’s going to be English.”

Read more at University of Toronto

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