Finding Out I’m Bilingual: An #Allume Post

Now that’s a title for a post, huh?

Who doesn’t know they’re bilingual? Everyone knows how many languages they speak. You would think I would know well before my nearly 30 years on this planet that I can speak multiple languages.

Well.

They aren’t traditional languages. While I took enough Spanish in high school to get by, and enough Italian in college to order successfully off a menu & know that the words is eSpresso, not eXpresso (pet peeve), I really can’t speak any other language than English.

Unless we’re talking about social media and business.

I have to thank Saul from Dayspring for this revelation. In his presentation with Lisa Jo at Allume, they bounced back and forth between the business side (Saul) and the blogging/social media side (Lisa Jo). The focus of their presentation was helping bloggers understand some of the differences between blogging and the corporations they might partner with as affiliates or contributors. It was an amazing session.

Here’s the thing though. I think I might be a rare breed. I speak both languages.

My day job doing marketing in corporate America has taught me to speak the business language. I know how slowly decisions are made. I know what it’s like to focus on budgets, ROI, marketing strategies, strategic objectives, and SWOT analysis.

My passion as a blogger has taught me to speak the social media language. I’m creative, and early adopter of technology and social media platforms. I love networking on Twitter and finding ways to spread encouragement and Jesus through Facebook. I speak avatar and hashtag, Google analytics and Disqus. I know how quickly things can change – how Twitter handles suddenly reflect real names instead of blog names and blog names are changed and redirected overnight.

I’m not sure I know what to do with this new found knowledge. Is there a market for a marketing girl who is bilingual in business and social media? Does anyone need a translator? Maybe there is a company out there like Dayspring who loves bloggers and needs someone to interface with them. I don’t know.

I just know that I’m grateful to Saul for telling me something about myself I never knew 🙂 And for amazing me with his ability to know me by name the second he saw me, and we had never met. He was truly one of my favorite parts of Allume, I’m so glad I was able to meet him!