Bridges are incredibly useful and help many people reach important destinations quickly and easily. However, bridges can also be dangerous when misused, and exceeding a bridge's maximum load capacity can obviously result in disaster.
Similarly, bilingual workers can be incredibly beneficial and can help bridge the gaps many organizations must cross to expand internationally. In fact, some have partially credited the success of Utah's export sector, as highlighted in a recent report by the Brookings Institution, to the language skills many Utahns gain while serving two-year religious missions abroad. However, like use of physical bridges with maximum load capacities, use of bilingual workers as cultural bridges can also be dangerous if their capacities are not properly assessed and respected.
Like Utah, the U.S. State Department also has a remarkably high concentration of workers with second-language skills. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton experienced significant embarrassment in 2009 when the State Department did not understand and respect the limitations of some bilingual employees....
Read the rest at "Multilingual workers can be an asset only if used properly" by Adam Wooten in his International Business column on DeseretNews.com
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