The number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities had the highest rate of growth in 35 years—10%, to a record high of 974,926 students in the 2014–15 academic year, according to the 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, released last month. Enrollments in intensive English programs grew even faster—13.3% (from 43,456 students […]
Continue readingEmployer Demand for Multilinguals Is Rising
Today’s job market is desperate for graduates who speak multiple languages. “Languages are always good for us,” says Julia McDonald, head of talent acquisition for EMEA at Infosys. English is the company’s common language, “but our clients often want people that can speak their local language,” Julia says. Mark Davies, employer relations manager at London’s Imperial College Business School, […]
Continue readingThe English Dialect: An Adverse Effect On Global Business Success
Languages evolve, that’s nothing new. However, the English language has its own subset of terminology that native English speakers have adopted and put into use practically on every level – when speaking casually and in business settings. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult for people abroad to understand the “real” English. A Spanish student in Denmark remarked to […]
Continue readingWhat “YOU” Need to Say In a Job Interview
Job seekers place too much focus on answering the hard interview questions that they forget something very important: They need to ask questions, too. Asking the right questions at an interview is important for many reasons. But here’s 2 important ones! First, the questions you ask confirm your qualifications as a candidate for the role you’re interviewing for. Second, […]
Continue readingTalking Toys: Helping or Hurting Young Language Learners?
A new and very interesting study in JAMA Pediatrics discovered that toys marketed as language promoters don’t prove to be so in most cases. In fact, the study found that these toys in fact, hindered the language learning process in young children. Professor Anna Sosa, of Northern Arizona University, led the study and provided participating families three different types […]
Continue readingHappier Holidays For Multilingual Businesses
During the holiday season many retailers, both at the store-level and online, find that communicating with customers in their native language to be a challenge. Selecting which languages communicate in for both employees and website retailers, should reflect your product’s market opportunities and long-term goals. Using backend technologies like geolocation or tracking of billing addresses help identify […]
Continue readingMeasuring English Proficiency in Real-World Situations
Trust — but verify. We trust that English language learners are gaining something through their studies, but how do we verify what they actually can do with their language skills? We may believe that a job candidate has the language ability to take a certain position, but where is the proof? The answer comes through […]
Continue readingUsing Languages in National Security
The largest employer for language professionals in this country is the U.S. Department of Defense—a fact that might surprise many people. In fact, national security is a fast-growing and exciting career area for those with strong foreign language skills, offering a wide variety of opportunities that stretch beyond translation and interpretation. The Federal Bureau of […]
Continue readingGroundbreaking Study from ACTFL Measures Listening and Reading
Fifty years ago, John B. Carroll undertook a landmark study analyzing the oral proficiency of students in language programs in the United States. The often-cited article on his research, “Foreign Language Proficiency Levels Attained by Language Majors Near Graduation from College,” appeared in Foreign Language Annals in 1967—the first year of the journal’s publication. The impact on […]
Continue readingThe Digital Language Divide
The internet, much like space, is infinite. This opens people up to a limitless way to communicate and thus, language plays an important role in how information is displayed and translated. The first language used on the internet was almost certainly English. By the mid-1990s it was estimated that English made up nearly 80% of online content. However […]
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