IT and Linguistics

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Another language would be useful.

If you were working for a company and they had to send some one abroad , and they had to pick some one ,
If you spoke that language you have a greater chance of getting picked.

Looks good on a c.v definitely.

I have a relation who is from Egypt and i am thinking of trying to learn a little Arabic as you say we are a multicultural society and it is another skill.

The more you learn the more you earn

 

I've recently been considering learning Cantonese. Its not the official Chinese Language (Mandarin), but another dialect. My Tai Chi is based in cantonese, so it makesa bit of sense from that point of view.

 

English isn't my first language (as I'm one of those Poles that invaded UK recently but I work in English company with English as an 'admin' language (we use a few other ones to contact our customers/consultants)

And I myself speak almost fluent English as well as German on intermediate level
And Russian on a beginner level. I can also understand Czech/Slovakian and all that really realy helps. And it’s not only the CV thing.

I’m actually not surprised that you started that discussion as I’m going over that subject over and over again when meeting with English.

The funny thing is that we’re almost always getting to the conclusion that English are to lazy to learn any other language AS MOST OF THE WORLD speaks yours

btw Arroryn I just love your avatar

 

i spk in net tlk if tht cnts ?

grim

 

I have to say that, outside of business, I think its really arrogant to visit a country where you dont speak the language at all. At the very least, one member of your party should be able to speak enough to get by on a visit. Doesnt need to be fluent, but passable.

We British are FAR too guilty of this.

 

charming, there's nothing like being made to feel welcome

grim

 

My understanding is that English is the de facto language of technology. Consider that Microsoft and Cisco are both major IT companies and that they are both based in the United States. Do either of them go out of their way to publish their documentation in all the various languages where their products are used?

I'd have to say that Americians also fall into the "too lazy to pick up a second language" category. I've tried more than once to pick up a second language (I tried German in high school and again at uni) but I don't seem to have the knack. My daughter on the other hand is a natural. Whilst studying for her bat mitzvah (she's Jewish), she was taught Hebrew by a wonderful instructor and it stuck. Her last year of high school, the Rabbi at her synagogue asked her to help out with the Wednesday night Hebrew classes.

She spend 11 months in Japan as an exchange student. She was too lazy to do much studying of Japanese before she left but her survival skills took over when she got there. She says she's not fluent but knows enough to get by.

She'd like to study abroad in Austria and has been trying to pick up some German.

The thing about studying for a second language is that you really have to use it all the time in order to retain anything and expand. If you just take a class once a week and study a bit of homework, you'll never get it (unless you are talented that way). If your survival depends on learning that language, that's another story.

 

English is my first language (though anyone who's worked with me would probably say my first language is 'profanityI also speak Spanish, Italian and a little French. Languages in this country are not taken that seriously in school, largely because we have the luxury of speaking a language that has pretty much become the standard business language across the globe. That means it can be a right royal pain for any multilingual company to find decent native English speakers who are fluent in another tongue.

I think being fluent in another language would be as much of a benefit in IT as in any other profession, especially in the finance sector. So many jobs advertised nowadays request another language - even at conversational level - simply because there are many occasions when speaking to someone in their native tongue will enable you to articulate a request or tease more information out of them then attempting to converse haltingly in English.

 

I've always wanted to learn another language, i've never found a method that works for me though
i think perhaps i will need to take like, a class, in the country of choice, just to 'get it' lol

 

I don't understand about half of what I read here, so I am beginning to doubt I even have a first language, let alone a second language.

I used to know enough informal Spanish to get by. Well, at least I could swear fluently in it, as every other word the Mexicans I worked with during, and just after graduating from, high school was a swear word.

They were quite a bunch. All you had to do to see them become track stars was point at someone in an old green army jacket from the Army surplus store and say "immagracion". Those guys could flat out run....

A lot of them were really good people even though they were "wetbacks" in that they had snuck across the Rio Grande into Texas and then moved on further north and west.

 

I used to speak Italian and if had the time I would learn again as I haven't spoken a word of Italian apart from ordering a pizza at an Italian restuarant.

I think the English are very lazy when it comes to learning another language. It's like what the Canadian tourist stated and that was Europe is on our door step and many of us never go? We could fly from London to Italy in 2 hours or hop on the ferry and be in france in 1 hour (brittany ferry).

Could it be because English is widely used in most parts of the world? I am not sure but we are lazy.
Then again how many times do you hear french, italian music played on the radio? Maybe if french was compulsary then we wouldn't be so lazy

I have some friends in Greece, Italy, France and Canada. In Greece they learn 4 - 6 languages while here in the UK we struggle with the 1. - Well at least

I do know from working on a building site English is not that important. Just reading a copy of the daily star and used the F word in every sentence.

Well That's my 2 bits worth.

 

Freddy which bit don't you understand - the question or the answers? I don't know what the majority of foreign nationals are in the US. But in the UK at the moment it seems to be the Polish, having spoken to some of them the general feedback was they took the time to learn English to come to the UK for better money why can't the English take the time learn another langauge?

I think fergal hit it on the nose, if we were promoting a product from a UK company and our customers are in another country we should take the the time to learn that langauge.

 

if that's part of the service i think you need to

grim

 

Arroryn, your right, when i was learning french I use to buy french newspapers from WH Smith and listern to french rap music like MC Solaar I think it's the only way to learn a langauage and that is to immerse yourself in it!

There really is no excuse not for learning another langauge with all these resources around us.

Come on England - What's stopping you?

 

See, here's what I mean.

I start off with my tongue planted so deeply in my cheek that I thought no one could miss it, and I get two responses telling me that fact wasn't comprehended.

As to not understanding what's written here, well, between all the neds, chavs, blimeys, crikeys etc.... I am able to recognize a word here and there, but you all seem to speak a different language than I do.

Below are two links. The first is an article that was linked to here. The second shows what I took from a posted article. It clearly shows we speak different languages, so if you all are speaking English, well, then I'm not too sure what my first language is.

http://www.334notout.com/ashes/reports/report6.htm

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=115755&highlight=cricket#post115755