Do you dare to send your CV to a company that you like because you are not sure of your foreign language level? We publish recommendations for improving a foreign language in order to confidently communicate on working topics.
How does knowledge of a foreign language affect the level of wages
Cambridge University and Quacquarelli Symonds recently conducted a global study on the value of a foreign language in companies around the world. It was attended by many companies, representatives of large and medium-sized businesses. The goal of this large – scale project is to understand how global businesses truly perceive a foreign language. Is it really as important as it is commonly believed? It turned out that 88% of companies consider a foreign language to be extremely important for business development.
According to respondents, top managers (according to 86% of respondents), marketers (84%), customer service specialists (82%) and sales specialists (72%) should know one foreign language among the most popular specialists.
The reasons are simple. Representatives of these professions often work with international projects, documents and manuals in a foreign language. At the same time, a specialist with a good knowledge of the language can work not only in local companies. Now it is not so difficult to get a job in a branch of a foreign company or work remotely for the company.
The main myth about cooperation with foreign companies
The vast majority believe that working with foreign companies requires an ideal level of foreign language proficiency, not lower. This is not true.
If the work is not directly related to texts or communication in a foreign language, then an average level is quite sufficient. That is, you just need to be able to find a common language with a native speaker and understand the essence of the task that needs to be performed. A vocabulary of 40,000 words and a perfect command of idioms are completely unnecessary here.
For example, you are a logo designer. An entrepreneur doesn’t care how good your business is. It is important for him that you make a good logo at a suitable price for him.
Business doesn’t care if you know how to use Present Continuous and liabilities. It will only matter how well you do your job and how fully you can understand what the customer wants to get.
Yes, a high level of foreign language will allow you to quickly find a common language with the client, but this is not necessary. You can cooperate with foreign companies even with a fairly mediocre knowledge of the language.
What can I learn from working with native speakers?
Despite the fact that no one will require you to have perfect knowledge of all idioms, you still need to have some necessary minimum of English. After all, it depends on him whether you can find a common language with an English-speaking customer or colleague.
Technical terms
In every profession, without exception, there are a huge number of terms that you need to know. You may know them perfectly well in your native language, but you are constantly confused and forget what a specific definition sounds like in a foreign language.
For example, there are about 300 terms in the IT field that any specialist should know. And for each narrow specialty – from 300 to 700 additional words.
And at the same time, you need to know all these designations so that you do not have to be distracted in the dialogue and look at them in the dictionary. After all, the customer will not think that the interlocutor knows the language poorly, but thinks that he does not know his specialty well.
Working slang
This is more difficult. Because highly specialized slang in professions changes every year. Some expressions become obsolete and forgotten, and new ones appear in their place.
There are dozens and hundreds of such slang expressions in each specialty. The most difficult thing is that in each individual company they may differ.
There are two strong tips to help you deal with slang :
- When working with foreigners, do not hesitate to ask again the meaning of strange phrases. Especially often they can be heard inside teams that have already worked together. Usually slang is used to replace some complex and long designations or just have fun. The more you communicate with experts, the easier it will be to understand slang.
- Practice a foreign language with a language teacher who works in the same field as you. Ideally, it should be a native speaker for whom teaching is a secondary means of earning money. This will give you first-hand information.