Developing Engineers

A foreign language is a valuable transferable skill

There is complacency towards learning foreign languages in Britain – and all English-speaking countries. It takes a lot of time and is it worth the effort if everyone else speaks English?

The trend is continuing - this is the first year French has dropped out of the top ten subjects studied at GCSE. And this may be particularly true for engineers. Students are often good at either sciences or arts – not both. So many engineers don’t find languages easy.

In last weekends FT Simon Kuper argued the English speaker holds the advantage in an English speaking world – so why take the effort to speak a second language poorly and give up this advantage.

This may be true for the boardroom. But in an increasingly international workplace, dealings are not only with younger professionals highly versed in English – but technical experts, older engineers or shop floor workers who have no English.

So when a recruiter reads many similar CVs – this is a skill which will make a CV stand out. A native English-speaking Engineer with a foreign language is a rare and valuable asset! It’s also a transferable skill with many fringe benefits – holidays will never be the same again!

This will be where those who refuse to learn will fail. As increasingly foreign engineers are fluent in English – there will be fewer opportunities for British engineers in international projects. Meanwhile, the engineer of tomorrow will be learning Chinese.

A current Eurostar train built by Alstom (photo courtesy of www.blingcheese.com/image/code/6/eurostar.htm)

The £700million deal to update Eurostar trains is in danger of collapse, as French ministers are threatening to wreck the deal after Eurostar chose a German supplier.