Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Foreign at work: the need or a fad?


In extreme cases, when it comes to "deep Ukrainian companies," the authors ad modestly hinting that "the knowledge of English is a plus." It is not surprising that today the aspirations of people who decided to come to grips with the study of language, much more mundane than the goal of Karl Marx learned Russian at the time, to read "War and Peace" in the original ...

Future polyglots pose a very different purpose: to build a career, changing jobs, travel abroad. However, there are many people who are not going to either go abroad or contact with foreigners. Can you talk about that today, in any way can not be without a foreign language? What is in our time a foreign language - an objective necessity, without which success in the modern world is impossible, or not more than a trendy bar or habitual stamp?
Why do it?

According to the Foreign Language Center Director Inga Zubenko, set a goal to learn English, German, French and other languages ​​is tantamount to set a goal to learn to dance in general - polka, break or samba. Unreal as one, and another, and therefore does not work. Some tend to just "talk." The question then arises: what, with whom, where? Possible answers may themselves be different: work or presentation, partners or Malta, hotel or shopping. Despite the fact that the goal is the same - to speak, to teach a different need. Ideally, the effort, time, money should be appropriate for your purpose.

The goal of most language learners is to build a career. It is clear that for those working in international companies, foreign language (usually English) is a prerequisite for getting a job. But whether useful knowledge of the language staff of the Ukrainian companies?

"Our shops are open in the format b2c (business to customers), and end-users of our products are citizens of Ukraine. As the main language of communication of our clients - Ukrainian and Russian, as we do not focus on the mandatory language skills for our employees. When choosing candidates for various positions, we, first of all, pay attention to the knowledge of the applicant skills that are important for the retail of our size: the ability to find a common language with clients, understanding of the specifics of teamwork, time management skills and self-organization, possession specialized software products ", - said the director of personnel stores ProStor Elena Sychev. However, the expert added, as one of our most important priorities is the continuous development and support staff, all knowledge seekers,
Free English as a measure of capacity

"If an employee can cope with their work without knowing the language, you should not create barriers in the hiring. It's like that when searching the Secretary imperative to put the ability to dance Latin American dances, "- said Natalia Gerasimova, the representative office of the founders' productivity School." However, he does not deny the expert, someone who knows a foreign language, does look more attractive to the employer. "Knowledge of the language at least indicative of a person's ability to achieve this goal, the fact that such employee has the ability and he develops them. Also, it is an indication that an employee can be easily trained and ready to learn. After all, in order to proceed with the implementation of new responsibilities, ability to learn, to absorb new information and put them into practice is necessary ", - said Gerasimov.

Psychologist Oksana Navrotskaya agrees, "In our time, specialists with knowledge of a foreign language are trying to get almost everything - both international companies and companies without foreign partners, even in the distant future. For different reasons. For some employers' knowledge of the language is an indicator of the overall development, for others - a tribute to fashion, and some rightly believe that knowledge behind not wear, so why not take the work of a specialist, who on occasion be able to understand the contents of a fax or e-mail in English? "- she said.
My tongue - my friend?

Generally speaking, the knowledge of a foreign language, of course, increases the cost of the specialist. An analysis of websites publishing different positions in Ukrainian companies, one and the same position with the knowledge of a foreign language and no knowledge thereof involves a completely different wage.

However, according to Director of Personnel Center "My Work" Natalia Stegnienko, knowledge of a foreign language is not always the reason for a high salary. "Peremptorily declare that" no language "specialist is cheaper, it would be wrong. Here is an example of a foreign company, which in April can not find a qualified specialist with knowledge of English. Specialists employed this narrow market, today potential candidates for the position, and no English knowledge earn much more, so the proposal they are not interested ", - said Stegnienko.

According to experts, it all depends on the particular post. "I think we should not talk about the benefits of the knowledge of languages ​​for employees of international companies: it is obvious that candidates who do not speak the language, are not even considered for most positions. If this is the office staff at the level of administrative assistant, assistant, preference will be given also to the candidate who knows the language, even if the application of this knowledge will be very limited. At the same time, if a person is a great expert in his field, it is easy to find a high-paying job, and without knowledge of the language, including, perhaps, in an international company. Simply it will not have prospects. Therefore, we can not say that a specialist with knowledge of the language clearly felt in the labor market better. While ideally need to know English. Not prevent German.
What not to do

Often, foreign language lessons do not give the proper result. Experts note that considerable blame for this lies with the students, who from the very beginning of the wrong approach to the choice of courses. Meanwhile, some teachers teach courses which learning methodology to be applied, what is the reputation of the firm, are not interested in more than a third of prospective students. Most potential customers are concerned first of all the cost and location of the courses. In addition, the most common errors, experts called frivolous approach students allow themselves to absenteeism, failure to comply with homework. In the study there are no miracles language, so if a person has lost the desire to do, no one can guarantee him a decent result.

Interestingly, the opinions of experts about what lessons preferable - group or individual - are diametrically opposed. Some believe that the individual language training is the most effective as a 100% focus on throughout the session strongly stimulates. Others say that learning in a group is much more effective, as students are able to compare their results with the results of colleagues. In addition, the group can easily simulate the atmosphere of a real life, that of individual lessons is almost unreal.

Properly constructed training brings no less pleasure than fitness, fishing or sauna, Zubenko said. However, according to her, it does not mean that the road to the courses is open to all: "Do not go to courses for those who have serious problems with any language, including Russian and Ukrainian. In my head there is different parts of the brain are responsible for different languages ​​- one speech center. " Although the physiological preconditions not learn a language is not present, there may be different boundaries in the study, depending on the specific abilities of the person.

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