Learning German Pays!

In March 2014, The Economist published a study of how knowing a foreign language affects a worker’s paycheck. Obviously, it helps!

In almost every profession, knowing German will increase your earnings: engineers, chemists, physicists, and managers all get paid more if they know German. The same is true for those working in marketing, life sciences, economics, pharmaceuticals, software, telecommunications, and healthcare.

The Economist cites MIT’s Albert Saiz, who got his doctorate from Harvard. Analyzing the salaries of various professionals, Saiz

found quite different premiums for different languages: just 1.5% for Spanish, 2.3% for French and 3.8% for German. This translates into big differences in the language account: your Spanish is worth $51,000, but French, $77,000, and German, $128,000. Humans are famously bad at weighting the future against the present, but if you dangled even a post-dated $128,000 cheque in front of the average 14-year-old, Goethe and Schiller would be hotter than Facebook.

Obviously, the numbers will vary from individual to individual. Saiz reckoned with a $45,000 starting salary. The 3.8% premium for knowing German would be $1710 in the first year. This amount compounds over time. “Assuming just a 1% real salary increase per year and a 2% average real return over 40 years,” Saiz arrives at the figures above.

In any case, learning German is worth it!

Studying in California? Take a German Class!

A survey of academic majors and professional programs at the University of California and the California State University system shows that German is recommended, strongly recommended, or required for more degrees and diplomas than any other world language.

Evidence comes from three documents: “Prerequisites and Recommended Subjects in Preparation for Work at the University of California,” “San Francisco State University Bulletin,” and “U.C. Berkeley General Catalog.”

German is recommended or prescribed for a total of 56 majors or degree programs. By contrast, French was recommended for 43 majors, Spanish for 21, Japanese for 7, and Chinese for 4.

The following departments recommended German to their undergraduate majors and to their graduate students: Ancient Civilization, Anthropology, Art History, Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Dramatic Art, Literature, Mathematics, and Paleontology, among others.

These departments “strongly” recommended German: Anatomy, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Physics, Botany, Chemistry, Film Studies, Genetics, Linguistics, Logic and Methodology of Science, Molecular Biology, Music, Near Eastern Studies, Physical Science, Physics, Physiology, Religious Studies, Zoology, and others.