Why the Insurance Industry is Perfect for Millennials

College students and alumni are told to take their job hunt seriously. People giving them advice often warn of how the decisions they make at the beginning of their career can have a tremendous effect on where their career ends up years later. That can be both positive and negative. Millennials are a very different generation than those that came before them and the industries their parents look to for a career are frequently very different than the industries where millennials are look. One industry where millennials may be making a mistake by overlooking it is, Insurance.

Yes, insurance is a great industry for millennials to start their career. That is because the workforce in the insurance industry is aging. The average age of an insurance agent is now 59 years of old. In the next 10 years there are going to be thousands of professionals who need to be replaced in the industry. On top of this millennials are now coming to the age where they are buying their own personal insurance and are beginning to start their own businesses. Insurance companies need employees to help them communicate with these potential customers. If you can promote yourself as someone who can effectively market to these new demographics than you can set yourself up for long-term success in the insurance industry.

There are many industries that are here today and gone tomorrow. Insurance is the polar opposite of those industries. Insurance is kind of like death and taxes. People will always have to purchase insurance in some form or fashion. Regardless of whether that coverage is for their personal life (car, home and health insurance) or for their business, there will only be more people purchasing these coverages in the future. On the personal side of the industry, health, car and home insurance are required by law. On the commercial side of the industry, Workers’ Compensation and General Liability Coverage are required by law in nearly every state for nearly all businesses. For this reason, millennials can get into the insurance industry knowing comfortably the industry will still be strong in a decade or two.

Aside from the stability of the industry, the industry provides recent graduates with the ability to develop three important and easily transferable skills. Those three skills are communication, risk management and critical thinking skills. Through working in the insurance industry you will learn how to effectively communicate with people of diverse backgrounds. In a typical day you might have a phone conversation with a small business owner who owns a construction business and the next phone conversation might be with an account or a lawyer. Thinking quickly on your feet to adapt your message to all types of clients will go a long way towards your success or failure in this industry. The skills you learn in the insurance industry will set millennials up for success now and in the future.

Mitchell Sharp is a Marketing Associate for The Insurance Shop LLC. His passion is in using his knowledge of social media and content marketing to benefit the small business community.

Career Advice from DU Alumnus, Andy Taylor

University alumni revisit campus on a regular basis. They interact with current students, chat with old professors, and admire the progress and development of our school since their graduation. From time to time, DU welcomes alumni in a more formal setting. A notable alum and recipient of the University of Denver Evans Award is Andy Taylor. He and his wife Barbara, who is also an alum, have maintained an excellent relationship with the university since their graduation. In 2012, they donated a generous gift, matched by the university, which was used to establish the Taylor Family Undergraduate Career Center for business students, as well as to award two different need-based scholarships to dozens of Daniels students year after year.

When Andy visited campus in early March, Taylor Scholars, alongside Daniels faculty and staff, joined him and Chancellor Chopp for brunch. Even as the Executive Chairman of Enterprise Holdings, Andy was not too busy to share some words of wisdom with current students. He spent the session encouraging students to learn from his experiences in the business world. These were some of the key lessons from this event:

Love your job
Of course, we have heard this time and time again, but you have to take it to heart when someone who has been there says it. Andy talked about how every day he looks forward to going to work, which makes all the difference in the workplace. Having passion behind what you are doing can make all the difference and keep you motivated throughout your career.
Strive towards ethics
Daniels places huge emphasis on the importance of ethics, and Andy has found that pursuing ethical business practices has held great value throughout his career. He encourages students to maintain a strong sense of ethics on their professional and personal journey as well.
Always look forward
The business environment is ever-changing, so we must continue to adapt our businesses and strategies to remain relevant. Andy talked about how Enterprise is always looking forwards – analyzing trends and deciding how they will fit into the equation in the future. As a leader in a big company, he talked about the importance of pushing innovation and creativity in the workplace.
Keep a balance between work and personal life
Surprisingly, these two do not have to be separate in order to be well-balanced. When Andy’s children were still young, he would sometimes bring them into work. He described this sort of event as a “family thing,” where the kids might learn a thing or two on a Saturday morning for example.
Reinvest in your businessAndy attributed a good portion of the growth in his business to the consistent re-investments he made. He talked about how he chose not to take the money for himself and instead used it to push development in his business. While this may sound intuitive for many, the key lies in making sure not to take excess profits to keep for personal use, which may be challenging if your business is doing well.

A couple of good lessons later, brunch wrapped up. Students lined up to meet Andy Taylor and to thank him for his generous gift. For many students, the funds dedicated to the Taylor Scholarships have made all the difference today and his words of advice will shape their future.

Brian Spencer: Core Consultant with Hitachi Consulting

Congratulations to Brian Spencer for landing a job as a Core Consultant with Hitachi Consulting!

Tell us your story about how you landed your job or internship.

“Hitachi Consulting visited Daniels in the Fall Quarter to discuss positions they were hiring for at the time. I applied for the Core Consultant role and received a first-round interview. The first round of interviews took place on campus. Shortly after, I received notice that I was invited to the final round of interviews. The final round of interviews took place in Hitachi’s downtown Denver office. I had prepared myself for the 4-hour interview process with the help of Daniel’s Career Services. I was offered the job and accepted it shortly after receiving this news.”

What primary factor would you contribute your success in landing your job and why?

“Daniels Career Services office played a huge role in helping me land this job. Mock interviews put me in the “head space” of a consultant. My career coach assisted in taking my previous work experiences and framing them so that they were relevant to the job I was applying for. Another factor that contributed to getting the job offer was having an internship with a sister company of Hitachi Consulting called Hitachi Data Systems. My internship with Hitachi Data Systems ensured me and those I interviewed with that I understood the culture of the company and that it was a good fit.”

What advice would you give to other students about the job search process?

“Thoroughly prepare yourself for any interview. Understand what the company does, and what they are looking for in a candidate. Leverage the career center to help in this process. The coaches and counselors want you to succeed and will give constructive feedback on how you can effectively interview. Mock interviews will give you a chance to reflect on how your responses can improve.”

Getting Your Startup to the Starting Line

Getting Your Startup to the Starting Line

For many DU graduates, starting a new business is the preferred path for combining classroom learning with specific industry expertise to create a new product or service that fills a customer need with a better solution. The rewards of entrepreneurship are well-publicized and frequently glamorized – but the reality of transforming an idea into a company can be more challenging and time-consuming than originally envisioned.

Based on lessons from successful startups, steps that can help aspiring DU entrepreneurs include:

Make your idea specific – clearly define the product or service so that a potential customer or investor understands exactly what you’re proposing, (A “new app that will revolutionize retail” isn’t specific).
Define the market – who’s the most likely buyer? (It can’t be everyone).
What specific need are you filling or what problem are you solving? (Make sure you’re looking through the eyes of a customer rather than your own).
What competition exists? (Even if you think your idea is completely new, there’s probably a company already offering a product to your target market, even if it’s not exactly like yours).
What price do you expect a customer to pay – and based on what research? Can you define the value to the customer that supports your proposed price?
What percentage of the market or how many customers are needed to succeed? (If you need 50% of the market, it’s not likely)
What resources, team, technology and marketing will be needed to turn your idea into a company?

While the founders of Facebook and Apple arguably created demand for something that didn’t exist, most startups succeed by identifying a specific market need that isn’t being met, or being able to service an existing need at a lower price.

The building blocks of the DU curriculum prepare graduates for success in a number of fields, but putting all the ingredients together in a recipe that bakes a successful startup can require additional expertise – or access to people who have already been down the same road.

For some entrepreneurs, an “accelerator” provides the dynamic environment that lets them put the pieces together in an intensive short-term program that offers high levels of mentor support, a curriculum specifically tailored to the needs of a startup and access to industry experts who can validate a market need or suggest an effective pivot. Typically, the accelerator’s goal is to help the startup team develop a complete business plan for presentation to potential investors – and hopefully secure funding that will let them bring their product to market.

Traxion, a new business accelerator in Golden, is now soliciting applications from all types of non-manufacturing startups, with a preferred focus on Technology, Environment and Energy.

Participation will require 12 weeks of dedicated immersion in the program starting in late August. A funding stipend to cover short-term development expenses will be provided.

Entrepreneurs with a business idea, team and preliminary market analysis interested in working with Traxion, can learn more now.

About the Author: Bud Rockhill provides hands-on support to mid market companies as an advisor or Board member to improve sustainable profitability and scale through management processes, organizational design or infrastructure. He has been the CEO, President or owner of four companies in three industries over the last 25 years, and three of the companies he has led have been sold to outside investors.

13 Ways Your Life Will Change After College (Huff Post)

Huffington Post*)

For many soon-to-be DU graduates, this is the first time in your life where there is not a structure or schedule for your life. In high school, you worked toward going to college. In college you days and weeks were counted by quarters, winter breaks, spring breaks and summers. As June quickly approaches, it is common to experience excitement, anxiety, fear and an urgent need to get on with your life whether or not you know what you are doing come June 5th. Here are 13 great things you will likely see changing as you charge ahead into Life After DU.

Don’t Forget– If you need assistance with those post-DU plans, you have life-long career services at DU!

Co-authored by Jody Porowski, CEO at Avelist

It’s a good thing, I promise.

1. Life changes after college. And at first it will be hard. You and all of your best friends won’t live in the same building. You might even live in different cities.

2. You’ll find yourself spending way more time alone than you have in the past four years combined. Maybe you’ll finally eat at a restaurant alone (with a book or your computer, of course).

3. And there will be Friday nights that you don’t have anything to do. In fact, you probably won’t want to do anything on a Friday night. Because you’ll be tired.

4. Gone are the days when you were constantly recruited to join social groups or campus organizations. No one’s fighting over you now, that’s for sure.

5. You’ll try to stay in touch with college friends. You’ll look forward to reunions. You’ll make weekend road trips a priority. You’ll spend tons of time on the phone and writing each other emails.

6. You’ll probably try to meet new friends too. And you might cry, because you feel like you won’t ever find any friends as good as the ones you made in college.

7. But slowly you’ll shift gears and the “real world” will start to feel normal.

8. You will find a career path that you’re passionate about. But don’t be discouraged if it takes a few jobs or grad school to get there. That’s normal.

9. You’ll realize that you don’t have to study for tests and write papers.Suddenly you’ll be able to explore interests, hobbies and passions that you didn’t have time for in college.

10. You’ll be “on your own” in a new way. While the heightened responsibilities of life might feel scary at first, eventually you will feel empowered and independent.

11. You’ll see your friends working hard to make the world a better place, investing themselves in all different industries, becoming the people they were created to be. And you’ll be proud of them. You’ll also smile when you think about the days you lived together in the same house.

12. As time moves on, you’ll find a new normal. You’ll keep your old friends but you’ll make new friends too. Through work, your gym, networking events, your young pro kickball team, parties, or a non-profit you volunteer at.

13. And one day, out of the blue, you’ll sit back and realize that if someone gave you the choice, you wouldn’t go back to college. Because you love your life. You’re excited about the future. And you want to keep moving forward.

*This article was originally published in the Huffington Post on October 21, 2015.

The Trouble with the Low-Cost Game

By Chemeketa SBDC

Don’t have enough customers so it’s time to lower prices, right? Well, maybe. You may be tempted to do this in your business, especially if a competitor has lowered prices. But you run the risk of lowering yourself right out of business.

Carefully consider other options; perhaps there are better ways to remain competitive. And if you need to lower prices, do so with a clear idea of where that might take your business.

• Review each step of your supply chain, from your vendors on through to your customers. Why are there not enough customers? Are you losing current customers because they’re dissatisfied? Chances are there’s more to it than your prices. Find the areas of weakness and shore them up.

• Find ways to cut costs where your competition can’t. This increases your margins and consequently your cash. If you need to cut prices as a last resort, you’ll be sitting in a better position. You may think you’ve cut costs to the bone, but take another look.

• Examine your business model. Are there strategic changes you can make instead of tinkering with pricing? Are your current offerings what the market really wants? You may have a problem with what you’re selling instead of how much you’re charging for it.

• See if you can raise prices in a complementary service or good if you need to lower them on a core good or service. A coffee shop might leave the coffee pricing alone, but slightly increase prices for pastries. This results in the same revenue per customer. On the surface it appears as if you are competitively priced, but you’re not paying the penalty for those low prices.

• Selectively lower prices for only some of your customer base, or for only a limited time as an incentive. Make sure that what you gain (in customer loyalty or in increased purchases of ancillary goods) makes up for the loss from the price reductions. Be strategic about this.

• Have a clear idea of just how low you can go, if you choose to engage in a price war. Know your limits. Remember that smaller businesses will lose this arms race much faster than larger and better capitalized businesses.

Which jobs will be automated in the next 20 years?

The short answer to the above question is ‘lots of them’. But precisely which ones – and, more importantly, the extent to which that might impact on your prospects as you enter the workforce – isn’t nearly as straightforward.

For one thing, the idea of robots (or, less exotically, machines) performing parts of our traditional jobs isn’t new at all. They’ve been doing it since the early 1990s, in fact, when we first developed technologies that led us – and our computerized helpers – into the controversial modern field of machine learning.

Back then, these smart machines were mainly deployed to cover very basic, mundane, repetitive tasks that were generally seen as an irritating time drain in various common careers. By teaching machines to ‘read’ handwritten addresses, for example, we could put them to work sorting mail for delivery at the post office, or churning out initial risk assessment scores based on tick-box applications to insurance firms.

Rise of the machines

At the time, handing off these sorts of tedious admin duties to robotic assistants was widely seen as a great boon for employees, freeing them up to focus on aspects of the job that required more critical thinking or creative problem-solving approaches. The worry a lot of people have today, though, is about how successfully we’ve continued to develop these artificial intellects over the past couple of decades.

Today, we’ve got robots and algorithms that can use much more complex versions of the same basic ‘learning’ process – in essence, developing the ability to make judgment calls, by mapping new information on to vast databases of previous examples – to perform far more exacting tasks. Smart machines can already use this type of artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose a wide range of diseases, play the stock market, and even grade student papers at least as reliably as (and often outperforming) their human counterparts in medical, financial and educational roles.

As humans, the long-term outlook for our ability to rival automated algorithms on these sorts of playing fields is, frankly, not great.

In fact, during a fascinating a TED talk in February last year, Anthony Goldbloom – the CEO and co-founder of data science and machine learning platform Kaggle – declared that humans have literally “no chance” of even competing with today’s machines in the successful completion of repetitive, high-volume tasks. And, as the technology quickly becomes more affordable, this will inevitably lead to significant (and often painful) upheaval across a great many job markets.

Data is the difference

Where machine learning can’t match human performance, though, is when it comes to dealing with what Goldbloom refers to as “novel situations”. Ask a robot or computer to get from A to B with a good enough road map – which is effectively what huge datasets provide – and they’ll beat us to the finish line every time. But, take away that road map, and there’s no telling where they’ll end up.

In other words, even the smartest machines aren’t currently very good at thinking on their feet, or coming up with creative solutions to problems they’ve never tackled before. Crucially, they’re almost completely unable to employ processes of deductive reasoning, meaning they can’t import solutions from one set of experiences and use them to solve problems in an entirely unrelated field.

By way of example, Goldbloom recalled the invention of the microwave oven, which came about after a WWII engineer (Percy Spencer) noticed that the radar unit he was working on had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. That, according to Kaggle’s CEO, is precisely the sort of intuition that smart machines aren’t even remotely capable of at present; moreover, we’re not even close to understanding how we might develop any sort of AI that can.

While Spencer’s accidental ‘eureka moment’ might seem an extreme example, it’s actually based on a kind of creative deductive reasoning process that – on a smaller scale – we as humans instinctively perform many times every day. In terms of our long-term employment prospects, that’s huge for us, because plenty of roles call for a lot more of that type of behavior than you probably realize:

Directly customer- or client-facing jobs. This is arguably the most obvious area where we’ve still got smart machines licked for a while yet. Any job that requires regular interaction with other humans – be they customers, clients, or even working closely alongside colleagues – are entirely dependent on a complex code of social interactivity that requires emotional intelligence, cultural sensitivity and a huge range of reactive flexibility to carry out successfully. Algorithms simply can’t replicate that effectively yet (even the very few who’ve managed to navigate the Turing Test!).
Jobs in which you can increase your own value. Nearly all positions have a set of base level performance indicators, but many offer considerable scope to go beyond the bare minimum and take on extra responsibilities or expand your field of influence. Over time, the remit of the job, therefore, evolves with you, and the niche you end up filling for your employer effectively becomes a bespoke one. Machines can’t really do this: they have a single role with strictly defined parameters, and will never do any more or less than explicitly instructed. Not all bosses would necessarily see that as the definition of a great employee.
Jobs that frequently raise new challenges. If each work day serves you up a fresh set of obstacles to overcome (the sort that can’t necessarily be tackled using a one-size-fits-all approach, even if they share a basic theme), then the chances are an algorithm might struggle to perform well in the role. Machine learning can certainly make a judgment call based on precedent, but it offers very little in the way of flexibility or adaptability.
Creative jobs. Another obvious one, perhaps, but we’re still a long way from seeing the first AI author scoop a major poetry award, move us to tears with a beautifully delivered monologue, or – perhaps more relevant to most of us – even come up with a reasonably compelling three lines of marketing copy. And, despite having developed robotic chefs that can cook incredibly precise meals by following a downloaded recipe, their attempts at creating recipes from scratch have been a bit…well, like this. Delicious, right?

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Organizing Your Job Search

When on the hunt for a job, it’s not uncommon to be applying for multiple opportunities at once. This is especially true for those of us just starting out in our careers. But multiple applications mean different resume versions, various cover letters and many, many different deadlines to keep track of. With so many moving parts at once, it’s easy to become disorganized.

But a disorderly job search process can lead to embarrassing mistakes such as lost phone numbers, confused deadlines, and missed interviews. To help you avoid these downfalls, we’ve put together a few tips to help you keep your job search organized.

Start With Your Career Goals

It’s easy to want to just jump right in and begin filling out job applications. But before you do, it’s best to take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture. Your career journey should start with a look at the direction you’re headed.

Though it may seem trivial to set aside time to organize your thoughts to clearly think through the career path you’d like to pursue, this is one of the most important steps to take. How are you supposed to start going anywhere if you don’t know where you’re headed?

Reflect on what you’d like to do and why you feel that’s the right path for you. It’s easy to feel a little lost and be unsure about where you’re going. And at this stage in your life, that’s ok. Start by thinking about your long term goals as those don’t need to be overly specific. Where do you want to be 10 years from now?

Then work backwards from there down to 5 years, 1 year, and 6 months from now. Be sure to think through your personal goals in addition to your career and finances. Take your family, education, and anything else you value into consideration.

Create a Schedule

After you’ve spent some time finding your direction and clearly thinking through your goals, it’s time to start building out a schedule. After all, in order to achieve the goals you now have in mind, you’ll need to set aside time to go after them.

The first step in this stage is to identify time you can set aside that’s dedicated to job searching. Find blocks of time within your schedule between classes, work, and any other responsibilities. Job searching is a time-consuming process and requires regular attention. So aim to set aside at least two hours every day to fully focus on it.

Next, start building a schedule to complete certain tasks you know you need to get done. For instance, devote one hour to cleaning up your professional online profiles like LinkedIn. Devote another hour or two to preparing your resume. You should be able to fill up at least the first few days of your schedule, if not your first week, with tasks to complete.

Perhaps even more important than actually setting up this schedule is sticking to it. Let’s be honest here- activities like resume building and email sending are less than thrilling tasks. It can be easy to let these fall by the wayside and choose something a little more exciting to occupy your time. However, this will only put your behind and lead you down a path of disorganized job searching. Make sure you leave the time you set aside for job hunting devoid of any other activities.

Minimize your Job Applications

Looking for a job is more often than not a high-pressure situation, so it’s easy to begin aimlessly applying for any open position you find. But even though applying for more jobs can make it feel like you’re increasing your chances, this is actually just a waste of your time. Not to mention an easy way to become disorganized.

Remember that time you dedicated at the beginning of this process to think through your short term and long term goals? Here’s where that comes in handy. Start off by narrowing your search to only the jobs that align with those goals. Look out for the opportunities that will help you get to where you want to be.

Next, narrow your search down to only the openings that match the level of skill you have. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that your qualifications need to match up with those listed on the job description exactly. In fact, this will likely never be the case. Job descriptions should be more of a directional tool for whether or not you’re a potential fit for a role, so look for those where you match around 80% of the qualifications listed out.

Track Each Position You Apply For

Here’s where things can get especially messy. Applying for multiple positions at once leaves you with a lot of different things to manage. It’s very important to make sure you’re keeping track of all of the different details as you go along.

One of the best ways to do this is to create a system for keeping track of each position you apply for. One of the most common ways of doing this is to create a spreadsheet. This is an easy and effective way to help you keep track. Don’t worry about making anything too fancy. Just be sure to include basic information such as:

Company Name: this is the name of the organization you’re applying to
Contact Details: include the name, email, and phone number of your contact at the company. In most cases, this will be a hiring manager
Date Applied: the date you submitted your initial application
Deadlines and Interviews: deadlines for upcoming information the company asks for and scheduled interviews
Date Followed Up: date you followed up after an application submission or interview
Status of Application: whether you’ve been rejected, are waiting to hear back, or have an interview scheduled

Not a fan of excel? No problem. There are tons of different ways to track this information.

JibberJobber is an online job search organization tool that helps you keep track of what you’re working on. If you prefer working off of your phone or tablet, then there are tons of great apps available. Most major online job boards including Indeed, CareerBuilder, and LinkedIn provide step by step instructions for job applications.

Also, keep in mind that setting up a system for tracking alone is not enough. You need to be diligent in updating your system each time you take a new action or receive an update from a potential employer.
There are so many different things to keep track of when job searching. It’s easy to become overwhelmed and confused. But by following these few simple tips, you’ll be ready for a more organized and effective job hunt.

QuickBooks Online

By Chemeketa SBDC

The purpose of this course is to familiarize users and prospective users with the basics of QuickBooks Online. Attendeeds will use (test drive) a sample company (Craig’s Landscaping), see options and make case study entries.

Tuesday, November 7
Getting StartedProduct Overview – benefits of QuickBooks Online, features of various subscriptions
Importing Data – exporting Desktop data to Online, importing lists to Online
Setting Up a Company – users, lists, and company settings

Tuesday, November 14
Navigating QuickBooks OnlineNavigating Client Home (Dashboard), the Customer Center, and the Vendor Center
Using the Left Hand Navigation Tabs for Efficiency
Quick Creation of Documents (Invoices, checks, bills, receipts, etc.)

Tuesday, November 21Recording TransactionsSales & Revenue Transactions – Sales receipts, invoices, payments, and deposits”
Expense & Purchase Transactions – Checks, expenses, bills, and bill payments}
Banking Transactions – Deposits, transfers, uploading transactions, and reconciliations

Tuesday, November 28
ReportingReporting Capabilities – Customization, QuickZoom, settings, and wide reports
Business Dashboard and Overview
Specific Reports – sales, accounts receivable & payable, expenses & purchases, budgets, etc.
Customizing Reports and Exporting Reports to Excel

Date: Tuesdays, November 7 – November 28Time: 8:30 am to 11:30 am
Location: Chemeketa Center for Business & Industry, 626 High Street NE, Downtown Salem
Cost: $399
Registration and Information: 503.399.5088

I sem – Special English – Language Families

What is a language family?
Most languages belong to language families. A language family is a group of related languages that developed from a common historic ancestor, referred to as protolanguage (proto– means ‘early’ in Greek). The ancestral language is usually not known directly, but it is possible to discover many of its features by applying the comparative method that can demonstrate the family status of many languages. Sometimes a protolanguage can be identified with a historically known language. Thus, provincial dialects of Vulgar Latin are known to have given rise to the modern Romance languages, so the *Proto-Romance language is more or less identical to Latin. Similarly, Old Norse was the ancestor of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic. Sanskrit was the protolanguage of many of the languages of the Indian subcontinent, such as Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu. Further back in time, all these ancestral languages descended, in turn, from one common ancestor. We call this ancestor *Proto-Indo-European (PIE). Language families can be subdivided into smaller units called branches. For instance, the Indo-European family has several branches, among them, Germanic, Romance, and Slavic.

How many language families are there?
According to Ethnologue (16th edition), there are 147 language families in the world. This figure may not be precise because of our limited knowledge about many of the languages spoken in the most linguistically diverse areas of the world such as Africa. The actual number of families, once these languages are studied and relationships among them are established, will undoubtedly keep changing.

World’s largest language families

The largest language families (those with over 25 languages) are listed below (Ethnologue). There are 6,523 languages in this group, and together they account for close to 95 percent of all world languages (assuming that there are some 6,900 languages in the world). The remaining families account for only 5 percent of the world languages. In addition, there are 53 languages considered unclassified.

Indo-European	439 languages	Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Maldives, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, USA, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Venezuela

Indo-European is a family of languages that first spread throughout Europe and many parts of South Asia, and later to every corner of the globe as a result of colonization. The term Indo-European is essentially geographical since it refers to the easternmost extension of the family from the Indian subcontinent to its westernmost reach in Europe. The family includes most of the languages of Europe, as well as many languages of Southwest, Central and South Asia. With over 2.6 billion speakers (or 45% of the world’s population), the Indo-European language family has the largest number of speakers of all language families as well as the widest dispersion around the world.

English language, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to Frisian, German, and Dutch (in Belgium called Flemish) languages. English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It is also an official language of India, the Philippines, Singapore, and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. English is the first choice of foreign language in most other countries of the world, and it is that status that has given it the position of a global lingua franca. It is estimated that about a third of the world’s population, some two billion persons, now use English.

English languageMap showing the use of the English language as a national, primary, or widely spoken language in countries around the world.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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By Chemeketa SBDC

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Start With Your Career Goals

Create a Schedule

Minimize your Job Applications

Track Each Position You Apply For

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By Chemeketa SBDC

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