English Experts

[Flavia.lm]

Question: Should fluency be required in non-English speaking jobs?

Answers:
- Yes, in the globalization era, it is important to have an employee who is fluent in English, even if the company is not likely to have any international business;
- No, they shouldn't. Once the professional is overqualified for the position, he will probably lose heart very soon.

Now it's your turn!

[dublack]

yes, especially because the English Language reigns in all the situations, and a professional who has fluency in it certainly will promise a good gain for the company.

[Marcio_Farias]

What can a paper-stuffed bureaucrat like me use English in a public, government-owned hospital for? Ninety-eight point five of its personnel and an overwhelming 100% of its patients use Brazilian Portuguese as their principal or native language on a regular basis.

Still, I won't quit this job[1]. I have had to use English, which I did once or twice in the middle of my paper-handling activities. I remember having once casually talked in English to a female French professor and an American who sauntered in with his Brazilian girlfriend in different years. No more foreigners have walked in since then[2], however.

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[1] Quitting it at 56 does not sound a good idea. Imagine having to sell homemade popsicles all carefully rearranged inside a Styrofoam box, "Olha o picolé!" while strolling the local beaches.
[2] 1999 and 2007.

[RenanKenplers]

In terms of knowledge, I guess it's important and doesn't necessarily have to be required (for now). It enables you to improvise in such situations which demands the use of another foreign language and we should know how to handle with it. My job for instance, I thought I would never use it, and I fortunately did, and consequently due to my studies I was prepared to dare that. Indirectly it has to do with Americanization, that forcefully made the english language be choosen as the first worldwide interpersonal language or the second one, for many. Although what I said is a personal opinion, we all have to climb down that english will be demanded in many future situations.

[Lu Interact]

Fluency no, but some knowledge yes. However, most importantly you never know when an opportunity may present itself - best be prepared.

Besides, knowing another language makes your life more colourful.

[dsoldier]

Thats a really tough question.. but i guess we can't speak in terms of fluency in Brazil..

Why? its 'cos we can't be really god with english without going abroad...

Brazil never needed to be good with English, only some regions, the people are used to talk in english, 'cos of the foreigners..

Well, most of all, what i mean is, in other countries, mostly European, its pretty normal to talk in english, or be bilingual or trilingual.. Brazil hasn't reached this yet..

But i guess that's what we are fighting for..

[danilorpo]

I think it's extremely important to know a foreign language, in our case this language is English. Most of new research are written in English. The products top of the line are made mostly to people which are be able to understand English. So, whether you want to work at the cutting edge company, you have to know at least reading in English. It's worthwhile remember that there is four types of fluence: reading, writing, speaking and listening. I think at least one of them everyone has to have.

[Gustavo Dias]

I think it has to keep as it is nowadays...

The very good companies should require the fluent English, but "lower level" companies keep not requiring fluent English... Because if EVERY companies in everywhere require that one, a lot of people will have their professional career engaged, because Not everybody in the world have the oportunity of learning a second language...

[Marcio_Farias]

[...] Not everybody in the world have the oportunity [...]

Hello Gustavo. As far as subject-verb agreement goes, you might think that that clause needs some. Hint: Singular person subjects take singular person verbs.

[w.slayman]

Hello everyone,

In my humble opinion and speaking not as a Brazilian but as an American some jobs should require English fluency as a condition of employement and as a part of their job discription: aircraft pilots (required by the International Civil Aviation Organization), persons working in the tourism industry, Customs Officials, and anyone who has routine contacts with English speakers, etcetera. All other industries should encourage fluency in at least one language, other than Portuguese, and reward employees who are fuent.

With that being said I feel that any citizen of any country should try to be at least partially bilingual. By partially bilingual I mean a person should try to have a minimal knowledge of the spoken language, so that he or she has the ability to verbally communicate at least on a basic level.

Being bilingual or trilingual will be more important as the relative size of the world continues to shrink on a daily basis, therefore all members of this site should try to improve their skills, because you never know what opportunities may present themselves.