English Proficiency

Hi Van! Well, sad to say but speaking proficiently in English is a big plus point. Our way of communication is a big factor that counts especially on the first day of meeting. We have a saying that "First Impression Lasts." And during the first meeting, what gives a big impact about us are the following: Confidence, proper attire (depends on the occasion), the manner of our speech as well as what we say. Depending on the people that you are going to meet and the reason for such meeting will the impact of Good English communication skill count. :D

Yes, you are right. Most employers hire employees who have great commands in English as well as having good accent. I guess it's a need for us to improve our knowledge in English especially when we are working in offices, schools, call centers, etc. Also, we need English to talk to foreigners. If we have bad English, we won't be understood that much and it will cause confusion. Happy mylotting.

Actually, you are not that bad, and I can tell by your use of language and your grammar skills on mylot. I know many people on here, but of course, I will not name any names, whose English skills are far worse than yours. Yes, practice English any and every chance that you get. My advice would be to watch the BBC, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and watch British and American films that are deemed "great films" such as "Casablanca", "Jane Eyre", and films like that. Find Native English speakers, and practice speaking English to them. When I was learning how to speak Spanish, I read Spanish papers, watched Spanish television, talked to people who spoke Spanish, and I would practice it when I could. You have to immerse yourself in the language.

In a country like us wherein most of the industries common language is English, it would be appropriate to add English proficiency as a requirement for the job. And if your not good at it, its not late to learn English. One proven way to deal with it is by simply doing your best in social networking site such as this. Not only that it will make your English proficient but you'll be able to make new friends here.

Personally, one doesn't have to be that proficient in english to showcase his talents and abilities. There are those times that what is needed is actions not words. For some cases, being literate in english is a must especially when you do speech or if your work requires you to speak in front of many people. But at the end of the day, it's the actions that counts. Action speaks louder than words :)

Hi Vanessa, as for me, we don't necessarily need to be proficient or to be so good in english language, a bit of knowledge and as long as you can converse using the language that could be ok. But as for our society, we need to be one. Our country aims to be globally competitive and being proficient to this foreign language is one of their basis thus, people who hasn't knowledge about this foreign thing seems to be so pitiful (pardon the word) for he/she cannot go along the way. But, what I learn from the recent trip I had out of the country, foreign countries especially those countries where english is not the primary language they do not bother if they cannot speak in english, what they want is for foreigners to learn their language especially if foreigners are on their country. Looking at this attitude of the locals, I find it more amusing than trying hard to learn the english language. And looking on their way of living they are more progressive than us, trying hard to be globally competitive and being proficient in english. So, for me let's not just get so serious in being so proficient in english, lets focus on other things that will help us become better and successful in any other way. :))

I personally feel that not having a good command of the English language should in no way be a barrier to anything such as socialising etc., but I'd imagine that any difficulties you may suffer could be more to do with, for instance, getting work as you do say that most employers ask for English language proficiency. That is because the rules of English grammar are quite complicated and when it comes to things which you may have to do in the workplace, such as write letters and reports, a good command of English grammar would be needed because English is one of those languages whereby if the rules of grammar aren't followed, what comes out often doesn't make sense and can confuse people. Hope that's of help and I sincerely hope that any problems you have with the English language don't prevent you from socialising and being accepted in general.

One who has great abilities will strike the attention of the public. At times you may get rejected for the lack of knowing English. But if the talents do excel then that candidate will learn English too fast and will learn good English like a native speaker. But in the beginning you have to pay for the mistakes you do while speaking, writing or communicating. it is a universal phenomenon that when we make mistakes while speaking a language, the listeners will laugh and mock at you, even gear at you. We must know that when one has excellant qualities then there will be some guys waiting for putting you down. Sometimes, even if you may have excellent talents, you may not become popular.

We all know English is an Universal Language and we can go anywhere in the world if we are good in English, we must improve our English skills from our school days to be proficient in it. Most of the online users are from non English countries and trying their maximum to improve their English skills and knowledge, since English proficiency is very important in online world, as we are from different countries and English is the common language to interact with others using the online sites. Most of the companies and big organizations always appoint their staff based on their English knowledge, if you are proficient in English and have the ability to speak it fluently, you can get a good job in a Multi National company based on your skills and talents. Some persons are rejected in the interview due to their poor language skills, we must improve our English skills as much as we can to get a good job. In our day to day life we can increase our language skills if we are not fluent in English, we have lot of ways to improve our language, we can read English news papers, Magazines, Learning materials, speak with our friends in English, write articles in various sites to improve our language skills. Our continuous practices will help us to become proficient in English which is important in our life.

You seem to be doing fine. Knowledge of a second language at all is impressive to me. I took French in school for three years and although I could probably read a paragraph or two of it and maybe get the idea, I could not understand a word of it if someone were speaking French to me. I believe your knowledge of a second language is a skill in itself, and you could always improve it. But so could I and English is my native language.

While English is my native language, I can understand how it feels to struggle with learning another language. For the most part, being proficient in English will definitely help in some situations, but it's something that can always be improved. For instance, I took four years of Japanese in secondary school and traveled to Japan to do a home stay/study abroad program for a few weeks. Because I have always been interested in Japanese culture, each day for for Japanese language classes at my secondary school I would study very hard. Besides doing the homework assigned, I would do a lot of self studying with the grammar of Japanese language and writing system. When I arrived in Japan, I still had trouble reading kanji characters. While I could ask for directions, reading street signs and maps was very difficult; for learning languages, being able to speak and read another language takes a lot of hard work.