Using your language skills to improve your career options

A general estimate made reveals that there are many employment opportunities for people with language skills in a limitless range of industries. It is estimated that 94% of the world’s population does not speak English as their first language and 75% do not speak English at all. Today’s world is a multilingual world and companies are now realizing that they need foreign languages to compete in an international market.

Language educators have since long used the concepts of four basic language skills namely:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

The skills are related to each other by two ways; mode of communication, whether its written or oral and the direction of communication, whether it is the concept of receiving or producing the message.

Well, let us take writing for example; it is the productive skill in the written mode. It is more complicated than it seems at first, and often seems to be the hardest of the skills, even for native speakers of a particular language, as it involves not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way.

In almost every field of work, there is a need for language, not for just one specific job, be it native or English. Just to name a few occupations where language is involved is with IT professionals, journalists, market researchers, personal assistants, recruitment consultants, technical help desk et cetra where languages are used in the majority of jobs. But language skills all by itself may not be as significant in the above mentioned jobs, but when it is combined with a specific qualification or expertise, it enhances your career options.

Sometimes, it so happens that when applying for a post where language skills are not as significant, it is quite important that you avoid emphasizing on your language skills but use it as an addition to your other skills. Also keeping in mind that it would act as an impressive tool when it is required to be used to handle different kinds of situations.

Employers are demanding candidates with languages, and that having these skills can really give young people entering the jobs market the edge. Languages are vital for the success of the general economy but for young people themselves they can also have tangible benefits, as just having a language on your CV could be the key to getting your foot in the door and employers look for those that are capable of communicating with foreign customers or breaking the ice with a few phrases at a meeting.

Language skills can be refreshed in various ways. Maybe you could enroll yourself in to evening classes at a local college, or at home with your family if your mother tongue is not English, or enrolling on a university course.   Another sure shot way of learning is time spent in a country where the language is spoken. Companies and organizations dealing with overseas business, customers or links offer the most opportunities to people having language skills and that can give jobseekers an advantage over other candidates trying for a position in the present climate, giving yourself the edge is very critical, whether its through work experience or language skills. This also applies to companies that are collaborated with foreign companies or web based or foreign owned.

However with the ever expanding EU and migration of skilled workers between member states there are just as many opportunities within the public sector. In the UK alone over 300 different languages are spoken – English is very often not the mother tongue. According to an estimate taken, the UK alone have 300 different languages out of which, English is very often not the mother tongue. Local government roles today need people who can speak different community languages to provide better service and also ensure access to equal opportunities. Governments encourage this since communicating internationally is a vital point, to bring in new investments or to work in a partnership with other regions in Europe and around the world.

Author
V R Sasidar
Founder & CEO
Lyric Labs India Pvt Ltd
An ISO 9001, EN 15038 certified translation services company. Works with more than 1500 translators for 142 languages worldwide. Lyric labs translated documents, software and websites into any language of preference. For more details please visit: www.lyriclabs.com

Rare animal of Munnar – the Nilgiri Tahr

The wildlife of Kerala is big and diversified. This landlocked State in southern India  gives shelter to a huge range of nice and helpful species including the Gaur, Tiger, man-charging elephants, etc. Among all this colorful abundance, there are some unlucky under-populated species that must fight for survival on a daily basis. They’re too short in numbers to go in herds. – Nilgiri Tahr

The Nilgiri Tahrs are stocky goats with short, coarse fur and a bristly mane. Males are larger than the females, and have a darker color when mature. Both sexes have curved horns, which are larger in the males, reaching up to 40 cm for males and 30 cm for females. Adult males weigh 80–100 kg and stand about 100 cm tall at the shoulder.  Adult males develop a light grey area or “saddle” on their backs and are hence called “saddlebacks”. This rare variety can be found only in Eravikulam National Park, Rajamalai in India. I was told you don’t find this variety of tahr anywhere in the world.

I have shot photos of this rare animal which is only few in no’s. officials say there will be a maximum of 40-50 of them only. Its worth seeing them…

Disorganized… it is costing us

As I run this translation services company, from its inception to where we stand now i have noticed our translation services industry is totally disorganized in India. As we grow in our Industry  we see a lot of  individuals claiming themselves a company by designing a good looking website contributing to this perception . Many customers from the west  complaint, saying…”Oh…i thought he was making sense”…”yes, I am going to get it cheap” finally what has happened, the person has switched off his phone, now Lyric can you help us..

I don’t see this isolated incident, I see this happening very often, Customers fail to see the certifications, reference, etc, they says we are running out of time…ultimately the vendor ran out of business…

I also see another peculiar thing happening in our industry, eg.  once individual calling a company in the past 3years have changed his company name 3 times. As they get black listed, they keep changing their names. Our industry works on outsource model, any job that you undertake has to be outsourced, there is a risk for the resource to work, as collecting money from these so called companies will prove to be more expensive. By saying this I also confirm that, I have not seen anyone who has grown from an individual’s stature to an organized company, they should realize there is more money and satisfying work when we get organized and work towards our promises.

A lot of individuals either a journalist or a translator comes to know about the potential in the industry. Its easy to find the potential as you interact with companies like Lyric or Lion bridge you will know the potential one works on, Than investing on the facilities and expertise, these individuals go to get orders, and when the order comes in with money, they are nowhere in the scenario….in some cases the individuals try to do the job, but fail to understand the domain, requirements and its usability, this again puts the customer in trouble.

At least in Lyric, we find it very difficult to cope up with such a situation when a customer narrates his problem like the one mentioned above.

One thing I can tell you guys there is more money in our Industry if we stand by what we promise in our website, the customer is ready to participate in our growth, they know translation is as critical as marketing to their products and services

Good Luck

Coorg, wayanad and malapuram on Budget

Coorg, i was told a lot about this place, friends of mine use to tell me about this hill station. thought will try this december. will write a little about my experience in Coorg, wayanad and Malapuram.

Honestly the roads are bad, not just bad its horrible, if you are driving from mysore, till upto Kusal Nagar the roads are too good, then after..its bad, i think nobody wants to go to Coorg, atleast the guys incharge of roads.. my suggestion is dont go till you hear that the roads are good to travel.

Me, Priya and Arjun went from coimbatore to Mysore and then to Coorg after spending a brief time in Mysore palace, samundi temple, etc we headed to Coorg.  In Coorg we stayed in a Coffee plantation about 9kMs to the capital Madikera, its a lovely thing, if you are going to Coorg, stay in a Coffee Plantation estate, you will get to smell the real life of the coorgis. Kids will love it.

People suggested me to see  some places like the abby falls, raja seat, etc. honestly you dont expect these from a hill station or rather my expectations where different. the best thing that i liked is the “thalai Kaveri”. the heart of South India. i wanted to go here, as i personally have a traveled to a lot of places where kaveri flows and i use to get thrilled with it and here i had a chance to see where it all starts. you have to travel about 40KMs from Madikera, to “thalai Kaveri”. it worth. the roads are not that good. people also travel to “Thadiyandamol” you can do trekking. i have also listed a few places to visit when you go to Coorg. they are Omkareshwara Temple, Abbi Falls, Talakaveri, Bhagamandala,  Dubare Elephant Camp,  Raja Seat, etc

We bought some honey from the market, believe me one of the best i have tasted and all other hill station items like the pepper, coffee, etc.  you stay in Coorg in a coffee plantation for a family will cost you only INR1500/ night, which is a steal..right. good ones.  and the food is as cheap as India would have had in 1970′s. it is that cheap. two days in Coorg, its was too long for me…

We went to Wayanad from Coorg, roads where OK, good places to see including the “tholpetty” wildlife sanctuary, there is one more called the “nagarhole” near kota. we only went to “tholpetty” as we where heading to “maggi” from wayanad.  If you are planning to visit a wild life sanctuary my suggestion is please visit “tholpetty”- wayannad. its a 28KM drive inside the forest in your own vehicle with a forest guard, its adventures. you will never forget. i have been to Bandhipur, masangudi sanctuaries earlier, but tholpetty is truly a thrilling experience.

From there we went to “Kurva Islands” in wayanad. it was late evening when we finished “Kurva Islands” this is not a great place, wish i avoided this and headed to Kannur where we want to stay for the night, we  couldnt reach Kannur, could only make it “thalassery”. we  stayed in a hotel called ” parks residency” a decent two start hotel, and started in the morning to the near by beaches and then to Maggi. Thalassery has the long scenic coastline. you have plenty of beaches on your way to kannur or if you are going to north Kasargoad, your camera will love these places.  we made it to few beaches near Dharmadam, kabad, etc and came back to calicut for that day night.  In calicut, i had two options to consider for stay, one is Asma towers and the other one “the malabar palace”. i decided on Asma towers as it was near the downtown area so we would walk around to see the places. The hotel is worth for INR1700/. a night with a complementary breakfast.

In the morning, we went to the calicut beach  aquarium, it is a “Must Watch” for kids and elders too, where in our lives we can see such varieties of fish. it is breath taking. I have only seen such fish varieties in the text books. We visited Pazhassirajah Museum and an art gallery where the Raja Ravi Verma paintings are displayed very close to Pazhassirajah Museum.

After a couple of hours shopping in calicut, we finished our lunch and started to coimbatore.  i realized that we are travelling for more than 5days when Arjun asked me “to which are we heading now from here?” i said we are going back to heaven….Coimbatore

Why didnt the mumbai attacks influence the Indian elections?

November 2008, people of India said congress over saw the internal security. failed to protect the lives of innocent people and foreigners who are killed in the attack. The Times of India commented on its front page that “Our politicians fiddle as innocents die”. The anger against the political class in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack boiled over with slain NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s father literally shooing away Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan”. Public furor was further exacerbated with Mr. Achutanandan’s statement in a television interview that “If it had not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have gone there”. This statement was highlighted by the television channel video interview. After this became a major controversy, The chief minister later issued an written apology stating that his remarks were misunderstood.

All this is forgotten, people want the same congress to continue…some say the financial muscle power of congress could have bought the poor Indian votes. For them terrorism is very easy to forget, but to earn food and shelter is the biggest challenge.

write to me at sasidar.r@gmail.com

The dynasty is part and parcel of Indian democracy

Dynastic politics seems to have been the flavour of the election 2009 with sons, daughters, sons-in-law’s., all fighting.Will this change in our country? or why should it?..may be its their birth right…this is what a poor in our country thinks…

dont tell my mother….

shows what life is really like in a war zone. In each episode, host Diego Buñuel goes on a behind-the-scenes journey through regions with bad reputations, including: Afghanistan, Iran, Colombia, Congo, Gaza, and North Korea.

A show worth watching, which otherwise is not possible through our mainstream media…

do you follow Diego Bunuel….write to me at sasidar.r@gmail.com

incredible india!!!

For all its bureaucracy and violence, India has had a remarkably successful past few decades. The question is how it will cope with an economic downturn?

When the elections are in midway, India’s coalition government will face the judgment of 700m voters. Being mostly poor, they will not be happy. Recent months, moreover, have brought particular hardships: high inflation, a patchy monsoon, a slowing economy and vanishing jobs.

For most poor Indians, terrorism remains a small part of their troubles. To deal with those, our politicians have reissued a lot of unkept promises. Now that the election campaign has began : to bring everyone electricity, piped water, schools and jobs. They will say little about what they have actually done: there hasn’t been much.

At the same time, we should also agree that Mrs Gandhi and her prime minister have presided over the biggest investment-led boom in Indian history. In the past five years the economy has grown at an average annual rate of 8.8%. Services, which contribute more than half of GDP, have grown fastest, above all India’s computer-services companies. Indian manufacturing has also done well.

A world of fewer opportunities

India is now facing harder times. Its stock market has been sliding all year. As global credit has dried up, even Tata Motors has been struggling to lay its hand on capital. Indian economy is slowing rapidly and confidence is fragile. Previously soaring foreign investment in the country is expected to dip. Nobody yet knows how serious the slowdown will be, but in theory a recession in the rich world should hurt India less than other emerging markets: exports amount to only about 22% of India’s GDP, against 37% of China’s.

In recent years India has been creating more jobs than the gloomier scenarios suggested. Between 2000 and 2005 its rate of employment growth doubled, to 2.6% a year. But that is still insufficient, and there are also fears about the quality of jobs being created. To escape throttling labour laws, Indian entrepreneurs tend to keep their operations small: 87% of manufacturing jobs are with companies that employ fewer than ten people. These tend to be both less productive than jobs in bigger companies and less protected by the law.

If India is to sustain a growth rate of 8% or higher, as it aims to do, it will need to manage four potential constraints. The most pressing, its rotten infrastructure and the dreadful quality of its education, are, alas, not new. But the government’s response has long been inadequate, and with India’s burst of high growth these two problems have become more urgent than ever. India’s other big constraints, its cumbersome labour and land laws, should be easier to fix. But there is depressingly little sign that this will happen soon.

India is getting stronger, but its problems are also growing. In the end, the pattern of its progress suggests, it will succeed. But it may be a long and painful grind.

write to me -  sasidar.r@gmail.com

Sri Lanka seeks military support from India

I am sure this attack was not possible without the neighbor’s military help. In 2006 the srilankan govt was seeking military arsenal and support from India and was promising that Indian weapons will not be used against Tamil civilians.

Today, it is evident that it has used the weapons on the innocent civilians after the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme had released satellite evidence stating craters had been created in the No-Fire-Zone.

god save tamils in srilanka.

Say no to Bangalore and yes to Buffalo

US President Barack Obama said ” no to bangalore and yes to buffalo” as he struggles to bring the ailing American economy back on track.

Certainly a bad news for all of us completely focussed on offering offshore services to the US companies. i remember reading the economic time a month ago quoting the BPO industry in Bangalore having 33% grow inspite of recession allover. more companies where ready to take advantage of smaller towns and rural areas and establish businesses in this sector.

This is a bad news for even the entrepreneurs in smaller towns. smaller companies will be much effected by this move, as it is very easy to replace a smaller facility or integrate it or establish in an onshore location.

The infrastructure and telecommunication facilities in India are getting cheaper day by day should only help the industry gain more grounds and move forward and not just depend on the US business.