Why it’s so important for school leavers and graduates to work on their language skills
Tuesday, 8th June 2010
According to a recent article on the CILT website, a survey conducted by the CBI indicates that 71% of UK employers are dissatisfied with foreign language skills in school and college leavers, and 55% are unhappy about graduates’ language skills.
The CBI (Britain’s top business lobbying organisation) report looks at what makes young people most employable, and according to CILT it ‘highlights the importance of linguistic proficiency in another language and its capacity to help build business relationships around the world.’
The report is also said to emphasise the importance of international cultural awareness, communication and literacy - skills that can all be gained by studying a language - as well as problem solving and creative thinking – again, attributes that have been linked to multilingualism.
The competitive job market that new graduates find themselves in today means it’s essential for them to have as many strings to their bow as possible, and given that foreign language skills are so highly regarded, it seems obvious that learning a language is one of the best ways to ‘up-skill’.
The great thing about foreign languages is that it’s never too late to learn. If you’re still at university and aren’t studying languages, why not take the opportunity to take a subsidiary course in a foreign language, or even investigate the possibility of taking a year out on the Erasmus scheme to study abroad?
If you have recently graduated from university or finished college, and haven’t studied a language there are still lots of ways to learn, including taking an evening course, organising one to one tuition, or even booking a longer-term language course abroad. To talk to one of our advisers about different language learning options, and what is best suited to you please call 0845 1304775.
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Tags: spanish, french, german, learning, italian, languages, language, course, language course, language learning, language course abroad, graduates
Posted by Laura Harrison under Attitudes to Language Learning,
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