Barriers to sustainable consumption attenuated by foreign language use

Language barriers to foreign trade: evidence from translation costs∗

[Foreign trade involves tasks that may be subject to language barriers, such as researching foreign markets, communicating with counterparties and marketing products to foreign consumers. Language skills have a wage premium that is determined by local and worldwide supply and demand for language services, and the premium is specific to each country and pair of languages. I construct a novel mea...

Language Learning Strategy Use and Prediction of Foreign Language Proficiency Among Iranian EFL Learners

The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly, it attempted to investigate whether language learning strategies (LLSs) can predict foreign language (FL) proficiency. Secondly, it examined what kind of LLSs Iranian learners of English use more frequently in FL institutes. To do so, 112 intermediate Iranian EFL learners participated in the study. Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning...

The Returns to Occupational Foreign Language Use: Evidence from Germany

This paper analyses the wage premia associated with workers’ occupational use of foreign languages in Germany. After eliminating timeinvariant unobserved heterogeneity and other confounding factors, sizable returns of about 10 percent to applying fluent English skills are found. Returns to occupational use of other foreign languages are, if anything, restricted to a few specialized occupations....

Overcoming Barriers to Sustainable Market Differentiation

EFL Learners’ Language Aptitude, Foreign Language Anxiety, and Willingness to Communicate

This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship among EFL learners’ language aptitude, anxiety, and willingness to communicate (WTC). Accordingly, two questionnaires and a battery were used: Language Aptitude Battery for Iranian Learners (LABI), Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), and WTC Scale. A total of 164 undergraduate students majoring in English literature and Eng...