Don’t be fooled – speaking English is not enough

The world wants to speak English – but don’t be fooled

I am off the the Frankfurt Book Fair on Tuesday to exhibit KLOO Language Games. Have you ever been to one of these international fairs? The Frankfurt Book Fair is huge – about 250,000 people will attend the show. That’s the population of Iceland walking around 11 colossal halls.

From a language point of view two things strike me. Firstly, the standard of English for whom English is not their first language is truly astonishing. Nationality after nationality turn up at my stand and converse in fantastic English: articulate, expressive and confident. Learning a language for many Europeans is natural and their ability to switch to English when I am present both impresses and, to some extent, embarrasses me in equal measure.

The second aspect is their hunger to learn English. We will be exhibiting our new “Race to London” game, which teaches people to speak English, and we anticipate a lot of interest in the rights to the game from lots of countries. Language acquisition is a rite of passage for many young Europeans.

English speakers beware

Unfortunately, many mono-lingual English speakers draw the wrong conclusion from the keenness of others to learn their language. They mistakenly believe that as they already know English, there is no value in learning another language.

From almost every perspective this is wrong: from being a citizen of the world to understanding other cultures; from mental health benefits to enjoying better holidays; languages have immense value to those that learn them.

OK these are “soft benefits” and I can almost hear people saying – “that’s nice but how does it affect my wallet?”

How about this?

Having a language is good for business and your career

Did you know that those who speak languages have better career prospects and can expect to be paid better? This year the CBI stated that more than a third of British businesses hire people for their language skills, but that they are increasingly forced to recruit from overseas to meet demand. Think about it – two candidates who are equal in every way – except one is bilingual. Who would you choose?

In the meantime a Personnel Today report showed that the average wage for language graduates is higher than other graduates in areas such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering after as little as 3 years. Added to that a recent poll of 500 companies, conducted for CILT, the National Centre for Languages, revealed that one in four said the ability to speak a second language would give a candidate the edge when applying for a job.

The jobs market is competitive and if you want an edge – get a language!

Spanish and French Language Games

If you want to learn Spanish or French then have a look at KLOO MFL Games available at www.kloogame.com or on Amazon. Winner of 6 major awards and embraced by teachers and also families. Our games embed important language learning principles that enable learners to make sentences within seconds and use Discovery Learning to build vocabulary. As a result, learning French, Spanish or indeed English becomes fast, easy and fun.

Take a look at why building vocabulary with KLOO games is almost effortless:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKLbd08Ttbo&feature=g-upl]

Related articles
Education Landing Personal