Are you shutting the door to opportunity by not speaking English? Take a look at the list below. Do any of these statements apply to you?

• Your colleague, fluent in English, got that promotion you wanted
• You wanted to advance your career by taking an MBA, but your TOEFL score held you back.
• You've studied English forever, but feel uncomfortable holding a business meeting.
• When you discover a customer is an English speaker, you move on to the next customer

If you responded 'YES' to one or more of the above - don't worry. You're not alone. These days, the market is tough. . You send out resume after resume, meet with acquaintances for job leads, but competition is stiff! A strong knowledge of spoken English can often give you a real edge as a candidate.

Brandon Fung, a network engineer from Hong Kong, was struggling with his career even before he was laid-off last year. During his last job, he was continually passed over for promotions and now finds it difficult to compete with bilingual candidates for the few jobs available. "It seems no one wants to hire a computer guy who doesn't speak English," Brandon admits. Unable to find a good job, he is now planning to devote more time to learning English and may go back to school. "Hopefully I'll score well on TOEFL and get into a good program."

This is a common story heard from men and women throughout the workforce in Asia. The inability to speak English is often a real impediment to getting that 'dream job,' especially for those who aspire to work in a multinational corporation. Harry Hui, President of Universal Music Asia says "In a world where we operate in a multinational environment and are faced with multi-point competition, it is critical that staff possess the ability to communicate effectively in English."

How much is learning English worth? A solid command of the English language not only gets you the job that you've been striving for, but can cause your salary to skyrocket. According to a Business Week study, "workers who speak English command salaries 35% above those who don't." More importantly, speaking English will open doors to a host of higher-level positions, otherwise unavailable.

So what!|s the solution? Many students, tired of old-fashioned methods that don't work, are turning to technology to help them learn English. One such alternative is Englishtown.com, the largest English school on the Internet. Englishtown combines online classrooms, pronunciation labs, and interactive lessons to offer students a service they can access 24 hours a day. Students seem to be responding -- according to a survey of 85,000 past users of the service, 95% would recommend it to a friend.