Today I'd like to think about what level of English is required in life.
Actually the word isn't quite right, "required". You can manage without it too. Just sad.
And I was "lucky", as people say, I studied languages at school and university. Naturally, everyone in this world who didn't study languages at university thinks it's something between learning to cook scrambled eggs and learning to be a secretary.
I won't even argue with this, it's true. Everyone who knows at least one foreign language is dumb as a cork. And if two - then like two corks. As you see, I have a mathematical mind after all.
As a local professional, I'm sometimes asked what level you need to know a language to be enough in life? "In life" usually means at work. Well, and how to actually learn it to that level.
I answer. Again, from my own experience. In two minutes you can start bombing.
Fact One. School English and English in Life Are Two Different Things.
There's such a type of people. At school they learned texts by heart very well. All dictations were A's. Poems and whatnot. They translated texts well.
But then, they came to an interview, and there, bam - what's your name? And that's it. The person got nervous and stopped being an important sausage. Go home.
Interviews are, by the way, generally stressful for English learners. For some reason a million questions "is English needed at interviews? Do they tear you apart?". Damn, it's not needed at interviews. What's needed isn't a walking dictionary, but a person's ability to switch to a foreign language. Language is a tool. Like a knife. An interview is like a restaurant - you're sitting eating steak, and bam - they bring you borscht. You need to quickly take a spoon in your hand and start using it. Just don't prepare specifically for borscht. In another restaurant there might be shchi and you'll shit yourself from fear.
In short, take away one sacred knowledge - you need to be able not just to know words, but to train a switch in your brain.
Fact Two. Cassette English and Talking with Indians.
You might not expect such a catch, but in life you'll be talking not with cassettes, but with Indians and Chinese.
And they learn language the same way as you - through their ass. An experienced person in 5 phrases can understand what your native language is by how you construct sentences. Everyone learns English grammar relying on their native knowledge. So if you want to understand and be understood, knowledge of other languages and general linguistic outlook is very useful.
For example, when you learn that 9 out of 10 Japanese don't hear the difference between "l" and "r", you'll unconsciously use fewer words that are difficult for your interlocutor.
Lesson? Languages aren't dog shit, you need to think there. Expand your linguistic outlook.
Fact Three. Speaking from the Heart.
I know many people who claim their English is fine. But John approaches them and says "Hello". And Vasya falls into a stupor. UH, um, like, hello kind of. No jokes, just a bunch of IT specialists suffer from this crap.
What to do? Practice, my young padawan. Any language requires practice. Or more precisely - you need to pass the psychological barrier that forbids you from making mistakes. Self-confident Petya knowing 10 English words is many times better than beaten-down Vasya who knows a thousand.
Lesson? Don't forget that languages are communication between two people. So it's stupid not to be able to communicate confidently in your native language, but expect a miracle from a foreign one.
The Last. Fact - Not Fact. Work English.
There's also one popular myth that work concepts are enough for work. Like you need to know the words computer, processor, and then it'll roll.
Here I'll disappoint you. 95% of English that awaits you in any work, even IT - is small talk about nothing. Professional things, naturally, nobody cancels, just don't rely specifically on them.
Example from life? Vasya calls the client once a week, the call lasts an hour. He's dumb as a tree, but asks the client how things are, how's the weather, wife, children, etc. An hour flies by in a calm mode, they manage to discuss everything and everyone's happy.
And there's also Petya - he only knows how to fix computers and knows only 10 words from his sphere. The client's conversation with him immediately grows into solving work problems. Petya pisses himself, vocabulary is limited, so he hurries and tries to finish any dialogues as quickly as possible, so he pronounces 100 words per second so they'll leave him alone faster.
End of year. Vasya gets a bonus because the client praised him for his technical(!) skills. And Petya got offended and sat confident that he's smarter than everyone in the room, just languages are for girls-secretaries.
Lesson, not lesson - who knows. Just don't forget that any work is a mix of soft and hard skills, and I don't see a trend that people with purely technical skills succeed more career-wise.
In short, I hope I can help someone with this. If you got burned - don't be offended. Well, and if you liked it, I'll repeat once more IMHO the three most important points for learning any language:
- switch from language to language
- linguistic outlook
- communication practice