At the time of this writing, Microsoft ® reports MVPs from over 30 native language groups. These include, but are not limited to, English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and many others. (Many MVPs are multi-lingual, speaking as many languages as are present in their community. This has always been true of many Europeans, but is becoming increasingly common in both Asia and North America.)

Cultural sensitivity, which is growing in importance every day, requires more than just language facility. Having said that, fluency in the language from the culture you're working in is important on many levels. Not only can it speed and improve communication, it always displays a level of respect and suggests a greater awareness of issues in that particular demographic / geographic / economic space.

As stated in other places in this site, our philosophy is to, whenever possible, use MVPs closest to our clients. By so doing, we can leverage not only their technical expertise, but their proximity to and awareness of your business environment.