27yo M’sian Earns RM8k a Month Thanks to His Self-Taught Japanese Language Skills

Imagine earning up to RM8,000 a month thanks to your proficiency in a foreign language!

That’s the reality for a 27-year-old Malaysian who taught himself how to speak Japanese.

Taking to the Malaysian Pay Gap Instagram page, the IT Helpdesk staff member shared how he managed to go from getting paid RM1,800 from his first job to now getting paid RM8,000 at his current, 4th job.

This image is for illustration purposes only.

He wrote, “I just want to share a ‘hack’ for us customer service, helpdesk people. Learn a new language. Be it Japanese, Korean, French, German, etc. Put your K-drama and anime experience to use! It helps, a lot!”

According to the post, his current based salary is RM6,400 with a language allowance of RM1,600, totaling in RM8,000 

The 27-year-old went on to share his experience from his first 3 jobs, where he started off with only RM1,800 as an IT support help desk worker at a local hospital, only to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

He then jumped to a local software firm where he went from RM3,000 to RM3,500 after 3 years there as a customer support agent.

“It was then that I realised that there was a gigantic market out there hiring for customer service and help desk agents for different languages, but with a lot higher salaries than a local language agent.”

“I have self learned Japanese for a long time, though not super proficient but serviceable. I then registered for the JLPT N2 test, scored it and used it to secure my third job,” he explained.

This image is for illustration purposes only.

His third job was at an MNC as an IT support help desk agent that services Japanese users, where his paycheck went from RM4,800 to RM5,300 after 2 years.

Though, soon after that he received an offer from his current company (the RM8,000 job), in which he could not turn down.

“And now, here I am, on my 4th (job) as an IT help desk personnel, still servicing Japanese users, using Japanese. If I had stayed in my comfort zone using only my native languages, I might have stayed stagnant and stuck.”

“Learning a new language and working in said language’s environment had grew my career and broadened my horizons beyond my expectations. Not to mention, with 2 plus years of Japanese business experience under my belt, I can now watch anime without subtitles and travel to Japan with zero language issues,” he added.

What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Be right back, going to go learn a new language!

Also read: M’sian Stumped After Finding Out 8yo Daughter Gambles at School, Earning Her More Than RM1.5K