I came across a useful website and if anyone wants more information about jobs using your language skills you can try visiting Top Language Jobs - it has 20 internaitonal sites which covers language jobs in the USA and Europe.

You can also use this website to see what kind of jobs using your language skills are available in the market and what kind of salaries they offer compared to only English speaking roles and what languages are most in demand.

http://www.toplanguagejobs.com

Best of luck with your job searches!

I do speak 4 languages..sometimes altogethers, but unfortunately on the IT field that’s not important ;(

“…reaching out to underserved communities will make it that much easier for them to NOT learn English”

YES! That’s what the danger is, but unfortunately there are parts of society that believe to do otherwise is to be cold-hearted and un-neighborly. Very frustrating.

That’s why I think it’s a bad idea to print handouts, brochures, bulletins, whatever, right down to the local churches and schools. They’re given no incentive to change. And why should they when they have their needs being met by people who are literally bending over backwards to not just acclimate them into our society, but dare I say, give them preferential treatment.

Great comment, Bonnie!

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, in each of those countries, English was spoken well enough by the merchants I dealt with so that I didn’t have any problems. As a matter of fact, whenever I tried to practice their language, they insisted on practicing their English instead. (Hmmm… was it because I was mutilating their language, or were they eager to speak better English?)

But I do recall going to a restaurant in Japan with a coworker who actually got upset at a Japanese waitress because her English wasn’t very good. “Don’t you understand English?!?” she yelled. Talk about “an ugly American.” I was shocked and embarrassed at this display of arrogance.

Today I am living in California (but shockingly enough, don’t speak Spanish) and am married to the son of Chinese immigrants (he does speak Spanish). My mother-in-law has been in America for nearly 60 years. Yet she speaks very poor English and depends on her grown children to help her communicate.

I do have a couple of points to this rambling…

When living in foreign countries, I appreciated–but certainly did not expect–being able to communicate in my own language. The communication in English was with individuals who took it upon themselves to learn it because they did business with Americans… it had nothing to do with the government requiring any bi-lingual translations or anything of that sort.

Point 1 - So I agree that it’s good business sense for merchants to be able to communicate in the language of their customers. But I don’t feel those customers should EXPECT it, and therefore not bother to even try learning the language of the country they live in.

Next, because my mother-in-law chose to limit herself to a Chinese community after immigrating to America… going to Chinese stores, reading Chinese newspapers, watching Chinese TV, all available to her here… and because her husband DID learn English and work with Americans… she had no NEED to learn English, and so she did not. In her world, she never really left China, never adapted herself to her new country–a country she’s lived in for 60 years (she lived in China for 17 years). She is therefore basically unable to function independently in any non-Chinese community.

Point 2 - I’m concerned that all the “reaching out to underserved communities” will make it that much easier for them to NOT learn English… which in turn may limit their desire and abilities to look for opportunities outside of their own communities and to get ahead in this country.

Poor English on resumes and job applications is one of the major reasons employers toss them in the reject pile.

You are so right, it’s simple. Even in mostly-spanish-speaking Puerto Rico, my kids learnt English before Spanish, and even today they’d rather speak English than Spanish between friends. They claim it’s faster!

TV and media has a lot to do with it, the local spanish language channels aren’t worth a damn. Not even I watch them, and I’m a full blooded spaniard raised in Europe, not America.

I agree that there must be a common, uniting language. But it shouldn’t be the only one. The more languages we learn, the bigger our sphere of influence.

Anyone that speaks a romance language can pretty much pick up on other romance language.

Why limit it to bilingual?

I agree with you that America seems to be the exception to the common sense rule that says, “speak the language of the country you’re in, not the other way around.”