You may think going to school and attaining a degree or academic skills in a particular field is enough to make you employable, for instance one may think being a skilful doctor enables him to work anywhere in the world. Perhaps no, the truth is that you may need a second language to increase your chances of being employed in a foreign country.
while the global population is growing by leaps and bounds, the issue of unemployment is no doubt in any country in the world. In response to global unemployment problem, skilled personnel often find their ways outside their native countries in search for employment in foreign countries. Much as securing a job in the foreign land looked a bit easier those days, it might not be the same this days especially if one doesn’t have an extensive knowledge of the local language spoken in the country from which the employment is sought and he is also not willing to take extra language classes.
Globalisation of business has increased the need for extensive knowledge in transactional languages by many businesses and organizations. This is so because many businesses and organisation in the cotemporary world deal direct with the local population and therefore interacting with them directly in their local language is very important.
I have been following the current updates here in UK and realised that much as translation and interpreting services are playing a great role in bridging the communication gaps between people of different languages and cultures, companies and organisations no longer love to spend a lot of money on them especially in aiding the communication between the employee and the local clients.
Early this month, the UKIP leader Nigel Farage advised that the National Health Service (NHS) should not hire doctors who do not speak very good English. During the interview on Sky News’s Murnaghan programme, the UKIP leader told sky news that, “If people don’t speak English and they are dealing with English-speaking patients surely they shouldn’t be employed in the first place.” The argument by Farage was further emphasised by Johnson Boris the London Mayor.
The report by daily mail UK confirms that tax payers money close to £100million is wasted every year by police ,courts and hospitals in providing translation and interpreting services to assist people who can’t speak good English. The government therefore advised councils to minimise the act of wasting a lot of tax payers money on translating leaflets.
Individuals therefore need to bear in mind that a second language is very important not only for personal safety in a foreign country.