Bilinguals Wanted

Two major factors fuel the increasing demand for bilingual professionals in the U.S. First, Hispanics now represent over twelve percent of the U.S. population; their spending power has more than doubled in less than 20 years. Since customers often prefer to do business with someone who speaks their language, companies need bilingual employees to communicate with their Spanish-speaking customers.

The second factor is the expansion of U.S. companies into other countries. While the recent economic downturn has slowed foreign revenues, overseas business is still a major force in the U.S. economy. In the international marketplace, bilingual executives help their companies acquire and develop new markets and build global presence. Their language fluency and cultural sensitivity contribute to bridging the differences between the countries.

Which industries are seeking bilingual employees

Financial institutions are among the largest employers seeking bilingual professionals. The insurance, consumer products, and healthcare industries also employ large numbers of bilinguals, as does the U.S. government, particularly the Department of State, Census Bureau, and Social Security Administration. Non-profit organizations that serve non-English speaking people in the U.S. or work in foreign countries also need workers who speak more than one language.

Jobs for bilingual professionals span all industries and levels. While positions in sales/marketing and in operations dominate, recent job openings include a wide variety of jobs, including:

• General Store Manager
• Insurance Claims Adjustor
• Editor
• Family Therapist
• Legal Assistant
• Customer Service Representative
• Mortgage Call Center Representative
• Healthcare Professional
• Retail Sales Associate
• Medical Office Assistant
• Health Educator
• Counselor for Internationally Adopted Children

Some positions address language and diversity directly, such as diversity trainers, translators, and diplomats. In elementary and secondary education, prospects for teachers in bilingual education are particularly good as the number of non-English-speaking students increases.

It certainly is a plus to know more than 2 languages and there are some companies who will pay premium or provide extra pay for being bilingual. A variety of employment resources are available who eagerly assist bilingual professionals and connect them with companies who seek bilinguals. Many small businesses as well as Fortune 500 companies are looking for qualified bilingual professionals. Job fairs and numerous career websites specialize in the employment of bilinguals who speak English and other languages. They may specialize in Hispanic or Asian languages or act as a central clearinghouse for hiring speakers of any language.
Companies that succeed in integrating a diverse, multi-lingual global workforce stand by their commitment to treating everyone with dignity and respect. They hold diversity training and foster communications about cultural awareness and differences. Once word gets out that a company places a high value on diversity, the company will automatically attract a multi-lingual workforce.

Bilingual professionals are in high demand at all levels in most industries. In the increasingly global economy, organizations need people who speak more than one language to bridge language and communications differences.

Excuses Will Not Improve Your English

Is English your second language? Are you strong enough with it to make the language an asset in your life? Too many people, with English as a second language, allow their lack of knowledge to become a hindrance to their life. Everyone in a similar situation knows what they need to do, learn the native language of the country where you live. It may seem there are plenty of reasons to continue procrastinating, but the truth is these reasons are not substantial.

Not enough money for classes. This is a common enough excuse for people who do not know the language to avoid learning it. The truth is, there are affordable classes and finding one is as easy as clicking here .

Cannot find a learning center Maybe this is a problem in rural areas, but I doubt it. Most every city or town conducts classes for adults on improving their English. If you live in a major city like New York, then there are plenty to choose from, like this one .

Learning another language is too hard. The hard part is deciding to learn a new language. Actually learning it will not be that hard, as long as you sign up for a school with well trained, enthusiastic teachers.

Claiming not to need it. This has to be the worst excuse of them all. If you live in a country where the main language is English, then you need to learn it. Posing as if you do not need it is simply a strong case of denial. Of course you need it.

Success in learning English means you can get a job that can turn into a career that will make you and your family proud. Stop letting your handicap to all those around you, keep you down in life. Many have done it before you and you will not be the last. People take it upon themselves to become fluent in English as a matter of course for improving their prospects in life. Stop letting meager excuses hold you down and sign up to for English courses today.

Learn English in the City

There is no better spot in a country to learn about culture and language, than a major city. When it comes to finding the people, location and resources to learn English, New York City is the place. It meshes so many different cultures together, living harmoniously in one area. However, the people of those different cultures find themselves in similar straights, needing to better their English in order to succeed in the city. Many people know English only as a second language in the city, sharing the common goal of improving their command of it. New York City is known for quite a few things and teaching English to those who need it to improve their lives is definitely on the list.

The best part about city life is that many resources are available and well within access most of the time. Learning any language requires participating in a well paced program that combines lessons with constant immersion. To learn a language, you have to speak it, sleep it and live it. Going to classes can be a nuisance, but in the city it’s very easy. With so many available locations, it is easy to find a program conveniently located, with time slots that fit any schedule. Public transportation in a city is usually at its best. A person can get anywhere in the city at anytime with little or no hassle. These benefits of the city just make it much easier on a person to go to classes and improve their English.

Not to mention, New York City is one of the most vibrant cities in all of the United States. If you are going to pick a place to learn English fluently, this is it. All aspects of the language are handled, heard and learned in the streets of the Big Apple. English isn’t just a language here, it’s a way of life. Learn the language in the classroom and experience it in the city. 

Learning English Opens Doors

Throughout the world, language resides as a barrier between cultures. The spread of technology and global business ventures turned language into a barrier that needed overcoming. As a result, there are a few languages that have taken a leading role as a common tongue throughout the world and English is one of them. To communicate business in anyway, you almost have to know English. If you live in the U.S, it is possible to get by without being fluent in the legal language of this country, but it will make life incredibly difficult. Not having a strong base in the English language puts limiters on what a person can accomplish in this country. It is necessary to overcome an obstacle of this size to achieve your goals and make use of other opportunities that may find you. Knowing the native tongue of this country gives a person options and a chance to find their own way to living well. Open doors and stop limiting yourself, learn English and start living the life you want.
As we have all heard before, knowledge is power. When that knowledge involves the leading method of communication, then it is a power that acts as the key to all the locks around. Do not be fooled, the locks are everywhere. You cannot get most jobs offered without knowing English. You cannot raise higher in any business organization without knowing how to communicate in English. Healthcare is mostly handled in English, so if you cannot speak it, how will you properly maintain your health and the health of your loved ones? Driving, finding good deals, keeping up with current events and everything else is done in English. Not learning it or not becoming fluent in it is creating a handicap for yourself. It is like cutting off a limb; in this case, perhaps two.
Advancing down a path to a better life will eventually, require that you know the English language. One of the main tools for bettering life is furthering ones own education. If you live in the U.S, education is handled in English. The dots connect themselves.
If you are not fluent or at least have a firm grasp of the language, then gaining one should be your first priority. It is the biggest problem anyone not fluent faces in this country, when trying to make their way. There are accredited organizations that can and will help anyone improve their skills with English. Learn English and start unlocking the doors to a better life .

New Language Replaces the Old?

Traveling abroad presents an ideal opportunity to master a foreign language. While the immersion process facilitates communication in a diverse world, people are often surprised to find they have difficulty returning to their native language. This phenomenon is referred to as first-language attrition and has University of Oregon psychologist Benjamin Levy wondering how it is possible to forget, even momentarily, words used fluently throughout one’s life.

In a study appearing in the January, 2007 issue of Psychological Science, Levy and his colleague Dr. Michael Anderson discovered that people do not forget their native language simply because of less use, but that such forgetfulness reflects active inhibition of native language words that distract us while we are speaking the new language. Therefore, this forgetfulness may actually be an adaptive strategy to better learn a second language.

In the study, native English speakers who had completed at least one year of college level Spanish were asked to repeatedly name objects in Spanish. The more the students were asked to repeat the Spanish words, the more difficulty they had generating the corresponding English labels for the objects. In other words, naming objects in another language inhibits the corresponding labels in the native language, making them more difficult to retrieve later.

Interestingly, the study also showed that the more fluent bilingual students were far less prone to experience these inhibitory effects. These findings suggest that native language inhibition plays a crucial role during the initial stages of second language learning. That is, when first learning a new language, we have to actively ignore our easily accessible native language words while struggling to express our thoughts in a novel tongue. As a speaker achieves bilingual fluency, native-language inhibition becomes less necessary, accounting for the better performances of fluent bilingual speakers in the study.

Although the value of suppressing previously learned knowledge to learn new concepts may appear counterintuitive, Levy explains that “first-language attrition provides a striking example of how it can be adaptive to (at least temporarily) forget things one has learned.”

More information for this ongoing study can be found at the University of Oregon Memory Lab website at http://memorycontrol.uoregon.edu/.

Stay Updated on Student Visas

The State Department has rules for giving permission to foreign students studying in the United States. The rules can be found on the State Department’s travel Web site: travel.state.gov. Under Services, go to Visas for Foreign Citizens to Come to the United States, Non-immigrant Visas, Student and Exchange Visitor Visas and Applying for a Foreign Student Visa.

Every foreign student who has been accepted by a college or university to study in this country must have a legal document called a visa from the United States government. The rules for getting a visa have changed a bit over the past decade, requiring more stringent security and background checks.

National security is the most important issue in deciding if a person should be permitted to enter the United States. It now takes a longer time for a person to receive permission to enter the country. This past summer, a new policy took effect. It requires additional security investigations of men between the ages of sixteen and forty-five from twenty-six countries. Officials say these men are waiting the longest for their legal papers.
A State Department spokesman said visa applications that used to be approved in days are now taking much longer. This is because officials must see if the name of each student appears on lists of foreigners with possible links to terrorists. Officials say that future security investigations are expected to take less than one month from the time of visa application.

The State Department says international students are not being studied any more closely than people who want to enter the United States for other reasons. But students must enter the country before their college classes begin. So they must apply for the visa as soon as they can to permit enough time for approval.
Other new rules have also taken effect. For example, universities must place a confirmation document on a State Department Web site for every international student they admit.

We will continue to post any updates to these rules and regulations, so keep checking back to make sure you are properly covered to be a student in the United States.

Should English be Standardized?

Today we are all part of a “Global Village”. The Internet continues to have exponential growth, as even more people are becoming aware of this “Global Village” on a personal level. People correspond with others from around the globe on a regular basis, products are bought and sold with increasing ease from all over the word and real time coverage of major news events is taken for granted. English plays a central role in this globalization and it has become the de facto language of choice for communication between the various people that live on this planet.

Many English speakers do not speak English as their first language. In fact, they often use English as a sort of backup language in order to communicate with other people who also speak English as a foreign language. At this point students often wonder what kind of English they are learning. Are they learning English as it is spoken in England? Are they learning English as it is spoken in the United States or Australia? One of the most important questions seems to be left out: Do all students really need to learn English as it is spoken in any one country? Would it not be better to strive towards a global English? Let me put this into perspective. If a business person from China wants to close a deal with a business person from Germany, what difference does it make if they speak either US or UK English? In this situation, it does not matter what version of English they use to communicate, as both parties are likely to understand each other.

Communication enabled by the Internet is even less tied to standard forms of English as communication in English is exchanged between partners in both English speaking and non-English speaking countries. I feel that two important ramifications of this trend are as follows:

• Teachers need to evaluate just how important learning “standard” and/or idiomatic usage is for their students.
• Native speakers need to become more tolerant and perceptive when communicating with non-native speakers of English.

Teachers need to carefully take into consideration the needs of their students before deciding on a syllabus. They need to ask themselves questions such as: Do my students need to read about US or UK cultural traditions? Does this serve their objectives for learning English? Should idiomatic usage be included in my lesson plan? What are my students going to do with their English? And, with whom are my students going to be communicating with in English?

These questions and more should be addressed in order to give ESL students the education they need in the English language so it will be affective in their lives.