How to find out if your level of English is sufficient for working abroad
This question is very relevant for those who wish to find work abroad, but are not sure about their knowledge of English. I did not have such a question, since my first specialty is “a translator from English and German”. But already my first article about moving abroad caused a lot of comments on the topic of language skills. Almost everyone talked about this. When I replied that I was a translator in the first specialty, they answered me: “Well! Now everything is clear!". When I lived abroad for some time, I talked to other people, now I can tell you for sure - it’s not necessary to be a translator to find work there. Below I give you the experience of my wife, who is NOT a translator, and spoke English only at the household level when we moved. Here's how she coped with this task, and how long it took her. Perhaps you will find something interesting for yourself. Further, the story goes "from the first person", namely, on behalf of my wife.
“It often happens that people underestimate their knowledge of English and are afraid to send resumes, while spending a lot of time and money on improving the language, but all the time they are not sure whether they know English well enough. Or vice versa: a person is sure that he can communicate without problems (after all, for example, during tourist trips he did not experience any difficulties with the language), but at the first interview he understands that he doesn’t understand anything or cannot express his own thoughts. So how do you know if your English is enough for an employer or not?
I will talk about my own experience in learning English. Of course, everyone has his own way, but for me he was like that. Even before the move, I thought that “in principle, I know English well and can communicate.” During the tours to different countries I could talk in the hotel, restaurant, in the shop, at the airport with the staff without difficulty. Well, how to talk, so, spread a couple of phrases, answer questions and everyone understood me, and everything was good. The first difficulties happened almost immediately upon arrival - my husband and I went to lunch, where we were kindly invited by the new boss. Everything was fine until I was asked if I had any plans, what would I do here, etc. I opened my mouth to tell me that I had not yet made plans for myself, but I was going to help the children with their adaptation, that it was necessary to solve a lot of organizational issues with the apartment, the school, to adjust their life. But I could only say: I don’t know yet .... In my head there was a phrase in Russian, the brain was desperately trying to pick up simple words to express a thought, there were not enough words, the pause was delayed, so I said what I said and smiled sweetly. After that, I decided to start learning English.
')
Start learning English. What a familiar phrase, huh? We all started, but did we finish? I started a bunch of times in Ukraine. School lessons, courses, tutors - all this is fine, but not enough! Need live daily communication. Only daily communication will give you a good result and the confidence that you can speak English fluently. I was amazed how quickly I progressed in English when I went to one of the local language schools. My level was defined there as A2 (or Pre-Intermediate). For 3 weeks I remembered everything that I had once taught, “untied” my tongue and began to feel much more confident. I must say at once that classes in local language schools are built a little differently than in our English courses. Here, in language schools, you speak half English every day for half a day only in English. On different topics. You write, answer questions, communicate, meet people from all over the world, hear their accents, etc. But the most important thing is that it happens every day! Classes every day. On the 4th week I asked for a higher level group.
Step by step, I noticed new and new successes in my conversational English. At first I noticed that I sometimes started thinking in English. No, not completely, but some of the words and phrases in my thoughts became English. Further, I began to understand the meaning of the songs, then I was able to watch films in English, then read and understand academic texts and listen to lectures — that is, study in English. What I am doing now and online. Recently, I again visited a language school, I wanted to further improve my knowledge, plans appeared to get a job here. My level was defined as B2 (Upper-Intermediate), despite the fact that those 4 weeks were the first and only ones that I spent in a language school. After spending 1 week there, I realized that they wouldn’t tell me anything new, then I’m only on my own - you just need to gain vocabulary.
To understand whether your level of English is enough to work in a foreign company, try a few of the following exercises:
1) set the timer on the phone and in 1-2 minutes (no less) tell in English about some significant event in your life. For example, about graduation at school or university, about a birthday, about a party. Do not make long pauses, try to speak clearly, pronounce the end of words, observe the time of verbs. Where it was, how, who else was with you, why you remember this event so much, etc. The timer is needed so that you can see how quickly you can find the right words and how clearly you will express your thoughts in a short time. When a person has a certain period - it creates for him a certain stressful situation, which will be akin to an interview, for example. Find out how vividly you orient yourself, how clear and detailed your answer will be, and even how interesting it will be.
2) retell the plot of a famous film, for example “Alien”, starting with its title, then the plot, and end up with those who played the main role. Why such a movie choice? probably because of the terminology. Specific terminology, space, different manifestations of diseases, body parts, technical aspects of the spacecraft. This is not an easy task.
3) try to make a short text in English-tutorial about one item from your resume. For example, I have a clause: “recruitment and selection”, I imagine that I am telling a student about this at school, and I write 5-6 sentences about it, how it works, what to do, what to look for, etc.
If you did it and you like the result, feel free to send your resume to your employer!
In any case, everything is not as difficult as it seems at first glance! You yourself have no idea how easy it is to solve the problem of the language barrier. And this is not the years of preparation, as many think. It is quite possible task for anyone. If you suffer for a long time with the language, but the result does not suit you - take a vacation, go to a language school (better in an English-speaking country), and the result will not take long! Moreover, there your English level will be assessed normally and will help to improve it. ”
- On behalf of itRabota, I want to add that this article is the first step in plans to expand the narrow (how to find work abroad for it specialists) aspect of the project with other equally relevant and important issues within the framework of the same topic. I think this may be useful. And success stories will only inspire.
A little remark. After the previous article I was asked about the demand for .NET programmers and also designers. Over the past 2 weeks, asked .NET, as well as designers. Still interested in a specialist with the knowledge of Magento, and the level of junior.
There is still a steady demand for JavaScript, NodeJs, PHP, Java. Senior level.
So it is very difficult to predict the demand. And the lack of interest in some technologies does not mean that they can not be claimed over time.
Therefore, I advise you to like facebook group to keep abreast of vacancies.
Have a good day!
“It often happens that people underestimate their knowledge of English and are afraid to send resumes, while spending a lot of time and money on improving the language, but all the time they are not sure whether they know English well enough. Or vice versa: a person is sure that he can communicate without problems (after all, for example, during tourist trips he did not experience any difficulties with the language), but at the first interview he understands that he doesn’t understand anything or cannot express his own thoughts. So how do you know if your English is enough for an employer or not?
I will talk about my own experience in learning English. Of course, everyone has his own way, but for me he was like that. Even before the move, I thought that “in principle, I know English well and can communicate.” During the tours to different countries I could talk in the hotel, restaurant, in the shop, at the airport with the staff without difficulty. Well, how to talk, so, spread a couple of phrases, answer questions and everyone understood me, and everything was good. The first difficulties happened almost immediately upon arrival - my husband and I went to lunch, where we were kindly invited by the new boss. Everything was fine until I was asked if I had any plans, what would I do here, etc. I opened my mouth to tell me that I had not yet made plans for myself, but I was going to help the children with their adaptation, that it was necessary to solve a lot of organizational issues with the apartment, the school, to adjust their life. But I could only say: I don’t know yet .... In my head there was a phrase in Russian, the brain was desperately trying to pick up simple words to express a thought, there were not enough words, the pause was delayed, so I said what I said and smiled sweetly. After that, I decided to start learning English.
')
Start learning English. What a familiar phrase, huh? We all started, but did we finish? I started a bunch of times in Ukraine. School lessons, courses, tutors - all this is fine, but not enough! Need live daily communication. Only daily communication will give you a good result and the confidence that you can speak English fluently. I was amazed how quickly I progressed in English when I went to one of the local language schools. My level was defined there as A2 (or Pre-Intermediate). For 3 weeks I remembered everything that I had once taught, “untied” my tongue and began to feel much more confident. I must say at once that classes in local language schools are built a little differently than in our English courses. Here, in language schools, you speak half English every day for half a day only in English. On different topics. You write, answer questions, communicate, meet people from all over the world, hear their accents, etc. But the most important thing is that it happens every day! Classes every day. On the 4th week I asked for a higher level group.
Step by step, I noticed new and new successes in my conversational English. At first I noticed that I sometimes started thinking in English. No, not completely, but some of the words and phrases in my thoughts became English. Further, I began to understand the meaning of the songs, then I was able to watch films in English, then read and understand academic texts and listen to lectures — that is, study in English. What I am doing now and online. Recently, I again visited a language school, I wanted to further improve my knowledge, plans appeared to get a job here. My level was defined as B2 (Upper-Intermediate), despite the fact that those 4 weeks were the first and only ones that I spent in a language school. After spending 1 week there, I realized that they wouldn’t tell me anything new, then I’m only on my own - you just need to gain vocabulary.
To understand whether your level of English is enough to work in a foreign company, try a few of the following exercises:
1) set the timer on the phone and in 1-2 minutes (no less) tell in English about some significant event in your life. For example, about graduation at school or university, about a birthday, about a party. Do not make long pauses, try to speak clearly, pronounce the end of words, observe the time of verbs. Where it was, how, who else was with you, why you remember this event so much, etc. The timer is needed so that you can see how quickly you can find the right words and how clearly you will express your thoughts in a short time. When a person has a certain period - it creates for him a certain stressful situation, which will be akin to an interview, for example. Find out how vividly you orient yourself, how clear and detailed your answer will be, and even how interesting it will be.
2) retell the plot of a famous film, for example “Alien”, starting with its title, then the plot, and end up with those who played the main role. Why such a movie choice? probably because of the terminology. Specific terminology, space, different manifestations of diseases, body parts, technical aspects of the spacecraft. This is not an easy task.
3) try to make a short text in English-tutorial about one item from your resume. For example, I have a clause: “recruitment and selection”, I imagine that I am telling a student about this at school, and I write 5-6 sentences about it, how it works, what to do, what to look for, etc.
If you did it and you like the result, feel free to send your resume to your employer!
In any case, everything is not as difficult as it seems at first glance! You yourself have no idea how easy it is to solve the problem of the language barrier. And this is not the years of preparation, as many think. It is quite possible task for anyone. If you suffer for a long time with the language, but the result does not suit you - take a vacation, go to a language school (better in an English-speaking country), and the result will not take long! Moreover, there your English level will be assessed normally and will help to improve it. ”
- On behalf of itRabota, I want to add that this article is the first step in plans to expand the narrow (how to find work abroad for it specialists) aspect of the project with other equally relevant and important issues within the framework of the same topic. I think this may be useful. And success stories will only inspire.
A little remark. After the previous article I was asked about the demand for .NET programmers and also designers. Over the past 2 weeks, asked .NET, as well as designers. Still interested in a specialist with the knowledge of Magento, and the level of junior.
There is still a steady demand for JavaScript, NodeJs, PHP, Java. Senior level.
So it is very difficult to predict the demand. And the lack of interest in some technologies does not mean that they can not be claimed over time.
Therefore, I advise you to like facebook group to keep abreast of vacancies.
Have a good day!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/298872/
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