English in your WORK

[Rui]

hello everybody,

I've decided to write this thread to make a question to everyone here, and the think im willing to know is if english is already a toll necessary for your daily work?

And im asking this because it seems like in my company the things are in fact now changing to the time where we thought the english would become absolutely necessary, now its becoming quite normal to have foreign clients and therefore english its our first choice to establish a good and fluent communication, although we are facing some problems because not everyone is already prepared to face this challenge, we cannot always choose the best guy to the right project but the one that will be more prepared to talk and communicate with the client. Is it the same happening in your countries?

thanks ;)

[Vega]

Last year I was on summer practice in Oil refinery. I needed English in order to be able to understand documentations. I had to translate some of them from English to Russian for my project. But I haven't had a chance to talk with a native speaker. Actually, I didn't see anyone there. :?

[sushu]

In my opinion, English is very important nowadays. In my work, i sometimes have meeting with my foreign partners, and i have to use english to communicate with them. As my english is not good (though i have tried to learn english for ages :( ), and this is an obstacle for me. i sometimes don't understand clearly what they say and i am afraid of asking them. I am trying to improve my english.

[sweets]

well
i face this problem when i try to watch tv. programmes in english without looking to the traslation they speak too fast to catch and understand

[Dixie]

Well, Rui, as you may already know, English is an ESSENTIAL tool for my job

[Vega]

well
i face this problem when i try to watch tv. programmes in english without looking to the traslation they speak too fast to catch and understand

I watch CNN everyday. In the begining it was difficult, but now I hear the words. :)

[Rui]

yes, i know that english is really important for your work Dixie, otherwise you wouldnt be a good english teacher

And yes, i think its important to watch the news and understand what they say in order to practice our english with some words more commonly used, although i think that only by using the language to communicate we will achieve a level where is possible to think about it as a tool, thats why i think that places like this one are really important. i really hope to keep learning english as much as can even knowing that its hard to maintain a good level if you stop using it for some time.

By the way, i have a question for you Dixie, do you think that your knowledge of english keeps growing or you got to a level where is hard to improve it due to the fact of not living in a country where english is not the official language.

[Hardi]

English is a tool that I borrowed from my neighbour. How much I treasure it, depends how much I like my neighbour and of course how much I like the tool it's self. If I don't like my neighbour and his wrench that I borrowed. I might to use his wrench to lift my beloved tractor instead of loosening it's wheels screws to replace wheels and while loosing screws will be essential not to broke my treasured tractors screws not the stupid neighbours tool. But if the wrench have a nice red handle with good grip and also neighbour isn't some bumpkin. I might actually fall to love into his wrench and want to keep it for my self.

[sirkanit]

Well, Rui, as you may already know, English is an ESSENTIAL tool for my job

The same thing happens 2 me.
I work in an american company so there's no other way. English, english, english...

[Rui]

so lucky you guys of having such a chance of using english, i'm saying this because i would like to practice more, i love to travel and therefore for 8) me english is like to have the power to go everywhere and to be understood.

[IrinaKhizh]

As for Russia and especially for Moscow, I think the importance of using English is quickly rising at the moment. I reckon, it's due to the fact that lots of foreign countries started doing their business in Russia.
As I work as a recruiter in a recruiting agency I can see how much vacancies have the language requirements nowadays. Even specialists on relatively low positions have to have 'good command of English' (that's how our clients put it in a vacancy description).
It means that I have to check the ability of candidates of speaking in English. So I ask them a few questions in English during an interview usually. Sometimes I write letters in English to some our foreign clients.
Nevertherless, I'm not satisfied with the frequency of using English. I want to be deeper involved in everyday English conversation and correspondence.

[Dixie]

By the way, i have a question for you Dixie, do you think that your knowledge of english keeps growing or you got to a level where is hard to improve it due to the fact of not living in a country where english is not the official language.

It IS hard to live in a non-English speaking environment in order to practise or even improve your knowledge. I miss that a lot.

I think you never stop learning, especially a language. As you know, languages keep growing, new words and concepts are born every day (recent example: yesterday I was in a lecture in Barcelona, the lecturer mentioned the phrase "... You can google it". I heard the people behind me whisper, "So, google, like, it's a verb already").

No, I don't think you ever stop learning. Almost every time I watch TV in English I learn something new. So there is always room for improvement. Yes Rui it's hard when you don't live in an English-speaking country, so the effort is bigger.

[sirkanit]

so lucky you guys of having such a chance of using english, i'm saying this because i would like to practice more, i love to travel and therefore for 8) me english is like to have the power to go everywhere and to be understood.

Yeah I suppose you're right. However, if you have friends interested in improve their enghish skills you can take advantage of that and practice as much as you can w/ them.

[(((Edu)))]

I'm improving my English. Maybe a day I'll be a translater in my work.

[sirkanit]

Sure! It's just practice. Andy BTW work as a translator is really a cool job. But obviously you have to be very good.

[jrkp]

Well, at work, I don´t have the chance to talk in english as much as I´d like to do it, considering that almost all my co-workers don´t speak it, despite the fact that I work for an american company. Also, it doesn´t have any foreign client since the goverment took control over all the oil fields in the country, so, we don´t have to deal with english speakers costumers. However, I feel that I have some advantage over others workers, because I can get the latest information of the company without any problems, you know, communications, papers, and stuff like that. Also, sometimes I have to make phone calls to other fellow workers that work in other countries, and I don´t have the problem to look for anyone who wants to make that call for me....

[jrkp]

yes, i know that english is really important for your work Dixie, otherwise you wouldnt be a good english teacher

And yes, i think its important to watch the news and understand what they say in order to practice our english with some words more commonly used, although i think that only by using the language to communicate we will achieve a level where is possible to think about it as a tool, thats why i think that places like this one are really important. i really hope to keep learning english as much as can even knowing that its hard to maintain a good level if you stop using it for some time.

By the way, i have a question for you Dixie, do you think that your knowledge of english keeps growing or you got to a level where is hard to improve it due to the fact of not living in a country where english is not the official language.

Absolutely true!! you you what it says: "use it or loose it"...

[Melek]

I use English everyday at work,except for Saturday and Sunday. Our organization corporates with Norway.I often attend their conference as the representative of our Organization.I adore this language.My life is up to English )))