What is the connection between your vocabulary and your income?

Hi everybody, there is something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Have you ever heard of the relation between a person’s vocabulary and their income level? Last weekend I had a conversation with some friends of mine. One said that Earl Nightingale had researched the vocabularies of business people and found out that the richest of them used certain words and phrases to communicate with their clients and partners. What do you think of this?

Hello englishfan. Interesting question. I do think that the better you can express yourself the easier it is for you to get what you want. By the way, who is Earl Nightingale, I only know Earl Grey :).

Earl Nightingale is the co-founder of the Nightingale-Conant corporation which offers a wide range of personal development products. Nightingale wanted to know why in developed countries there are people who make more money than others. He found out that one of the factors that determines a person’s income is their ability to use language. Quote: “… it is our ability to use our language that will determine our place on the social pyramid…”.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Walking outside[YSaerTTEW443543]

When my family moved to Canada the task at hand for us was to learn English or better: to understand English. I knew I had to improve my comprehension skills as fast as possible so I started looking for audio materials. Then we got approached by a young couple who wanted to recruit us for their network marketing group. We actually were not very interested in that business but we didn’t reject them either because they would talk to us in English. They also mentioned a lot of good books and other stuff. For example, the strangest secrect by Earl Nightingale. That was the first time I heard about Earl Nightingale. I listened to the strangest secret I must admit I was quiet impressed. As a matter of fact I still am.

Are you suggesting that all it takes to become rich is learn some important sounding words? If so most people would do exactly that and we soon would run out of people who would be willing to do low paid jobs. I think it’s not as easy as that.

Well, you might have to define rich first. Every single new word you learn enriches you. I think before you can become rich in terms of money, you have to accumulate sufficient knowledge and experience. Yes, there is a close connection between a person’s active vocabulary and their social and financial status. People who recognize language as their most important and effective means to achieve their goals will be more successful than others.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Dental treatment[YSaerTTEW443543]