CILT (the National centre for languages) reported recently on the ever growing need for people to learn and become proficient in a foreign language. They quote the Chief Learning Manager of Deutsche Bank saying “Multilingualism is an indicator of both general mental agility and an internationalist outlook. Both of these are qualities the Bank seeks in its workforce.”. These skills are not just practical things – employers see the ability to learn a second language and the ability to study something perhaps seen as difficult  good in itself. It is also one subject which helps you communicate – another great skill to have.  The subjects students do best in at school (those getting A* at A-levels) are Maths and Latin – so anyone doing well at a language  when it is not a lnaguge they have learned at home is unusual – and more likely to get you good job offers.

And its not only the Deursche Bank which expects these kinds of skills. The ELAN report – Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise make clear that “a significant amount of business is being lost to European enterprise as a result of a lack of language skills. On the basis of the sample, it is estimated that 11% of exporting European SMEs (945,000 companies) may be losing business because of identified communication barriers”. In other words, nearly a million British businesses are losing out because they can’t recruit enough high quality graduates who speak European languages. And in the current  economic situation, where do you imagine it’s likely the recruitment will be for graduate jobs – a German or French or Italian who speaks English fluently as well as their own language or an English graduate who doesn’t speak anything except English – and maybe doesn’t even see the reason to speak another language.

Perhaps it’s best summed up by the quotation “British people think English is more important than it actually is” – this seems to be confirming what many of us fear – that British graduates don’t see  the need to bother. And if you ever needed any confirmation just imagine going to a rail station anywhere in Europe and not being able to ask for information in English – and then compare this with the likelihood of being able to ask for information in Spanish, French or Japanese in somewhere in central London – Oxford Circus tube station for example!. Absolutely no chance. And when we recently contacted the staff at Oxford Circus tube station to see if they would like to be involved in a training scheme to improve their language skills the response was typically non-interested.

So, why not come along to UIC and see if you can’t find a way of improving your skills, and giving yourself a leg up in the ever more competitive job market. You can find all the training you need at UIC – evening language classes and study alongside people from all over the world who are here to learn English – who are happy to make a huge investment in their futures.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Foreign Languages, UIC London. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.