Odds are you've probably heard your parents or teachers repeating this mantra since you were a child:
“You’d better learn English if you want to get a nice job”
I still hear their voices in my head, and they were absolutely right: being proficient in English has positively affected (also economically) my career and can do the same with yours.
From the education to a job
Speaking English can open you the gates to advanced education. Numbers don’t lie: from 2008 to 2015 the number of bachelor and master programs held in English in European non-English countries has grown by 300%[1] and some courses are only available in English. As a consequence, mastering English and accessing an excellent education in English can land you the job you aim for.
Boost your wage
Scientific research is proving your parents’ and teachers’ wisdom right: according to an article appeared on the Harvard Business Review, “recruiters and HR managers around the world report that job seekers with exceptional English compared to their country’s level earned 30-50% higher salaries”[2]. The same trend was observed worldwide by a report from Cambridge English in 2016. According to their findings, around 50% of employers offer a better starting salary to applicants with a good command of English language. English language proficiency usually helps move up on the job ladder and facilitates salary increases. Better pays are registered in those non-native English-speaking countries where the English skills gap is bigger (China, Japan, Brazil, and South Korea, to name a few)[3].
Invest in your lifelong learning
Whether you were lucky enough to access an English education since your childhood or you had to learn English the hard way when you were already grown up, the money you spend learning English may be one of the best investments you can make. The skills recruiters search for vary from field to field, and from country to country. It’s no surprise that reading and speaking are the most frequently requested: reading is vital for “maintaining professional knowledge”, “speaking tends to be the most important skill in service industries such as Travel, Leisure and Hospitality”[4]. Nevertheless, if you are aiming for more advanced or managerial roles, mastering English writing is what will make you stand out of the competition.
How tech can help you become a better writer
There are no shortcuts nor magic software, being a proficient writer takes years and hard studying. Nevertheless, with some technological help and a grain of salt, you can radically boost your writing skills. We built Ludwig because we needed it ourselves in the first place (I'm an English-as-a-second language myself). Ludwig is a linguistic search engine that lets you compare your best guess of a sentence against similar examples coming from the best-written sources available online. By checking for occurrences and differences with the example sentences that Ludwig finds for you, you’ll be able to understand if what you’ve written is correct and actually means what you wanted or otherwise get some clues on how to rephrase it. Ludwig also has an advanced dictionary, contextualized translations from 180 languages to English, and advanced search functions.
In order to improve the writing experience, we built a lightweight Desktop App that is seamlessly integrated in the writing process. You can download it and start using it for free (with some limitations) in no time.
Once you’ll be more confident in your job, getting a higher wage will be a much easier game. Last but not least, remember that the non-monetary reward of feeling confident in your job has no price.
ICEF Monitor, English-taught programmes in Europe up more than 300%, 2015: http://monitor.icef.com/2015/06/english-taught-programmes-in-europe-up-more-than-300/ ↩︎
McCormick C., Countries with Better English Have Better Economies, Harvard Business Review, 2013: https://hbr.org/2013/11/countries-with-better-english-have-better-economies ↩︎
Cambridge English, English at Work: global analysis of language
skills in the workplace, 2016: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/335794-english-at-work-executive-summary.pdf ↩︎Cambridge English, English at Work: global analysis of language
skills in the workplace [full report], 2016: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/english-at-work-full-report.pdf ↩︎
