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When do you put languages on your CV? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4673 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 9 of 86 10 April 2012 at 12:54am | IP Logged | ||
When I was interviewing looking for a job about 6 years back, talking to literally over a hundred different interviewers, after some thought and advice for several places, I had put "fluent in German" on my resume. Looking back, I would maybe say I was B1+ or so, though I had never heard of the CEFR at the time and I was woefully out of practice, but certainly could make "fluent" small talk and read non-technical writing. I would have been more circumspect with a European employer, but for the US, I thought my level should suffice for the most common business applications of the language in my field (which involve passive skills only). I was somewhat concerned what would happen if someone insisted on conducting the ENTIRE interview in German, though, since I knew my vocabulary did not at the time cover my (new, at the time) technical area of specialty at all. Eventually, it happened: one of the interviewers asked if we could speak in German, at least for a bit. Naturally, I agreed, though not without some trepidation. Within a few sentences, the interviewer switched back to English--he clearly was not himself very comfortable in the language and had verified that I spoke much better than he could. No, I didn't get that job, but I doubt my German skills had anything to do with it... 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6582 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 10 of 86 10 April 2012 at 1:03am | IP Logged | ||
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5115 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 11 of 86 10 April 2012 at 3:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Back before I started translating full time, I worked for many years in IT as a systems administrator.
I hadn't put anything language-related on my resume, because I really didn't think it had anything to do with the job(s) I had been working at or was applying for. The last IT job I had, towards the end of the interview, the manager said "Tell me something about yourself that you think would surprise me." I told him that I was part-time translator. He was so intrigued by that. I honestly think that was the real reason I was hired, even though it had nothing to do with the job. At one point after I was hired, I had to find a solution to a problem we were having with a compute cluster for one of our departments. I spent days searching online and was finding nothing to help. I finally found the website of an Italian administrator that had come up against a similar problem and was able to work out a solution from his postings. I got a decent bonus for "creatively" finding a solution because of it (this was before Google Translate or Altavista's Babelfish was available.) And after that, every time I was tasked with other problems, if I wasn't coming up with a solution as fast as they wanted, the question from above was always "What other languages did you search for?" Granted, European bosses are probably less likely impressed than American bosses would be by multiple languages, but I would put it on your CV in any case. It could just be the thing that tips your interview to your favor. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 10 April 2012 at 3:55am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Heather McNamar Senior Member United States Joined 4767 days ago 77 posts - 109 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 12 of 86 10 April 2012 at 3:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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I apologize for sounding ignorant, but what's a curriculum vitae? I know roughly what it means in Latin,
but I don't know what it refers to. A little education, please? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5319 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 13 of 86 10 April 2012 at 3:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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It probably has a different name in American. It is a document which specifies your formal education, work experience and other skills. Here, when you apply for a job you present two documents. Your CV - which is the same for all your jobs, and a letter of application, where you higlight why you want this particular job, and why you are perfect for it.
5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Heather McNamar Senior Member United States Joined 4767 days ago 77 posts - 109 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 14 of 86 10 April 2012 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Ah, I see what you mean. I think we would call that a resume here in America, but I like the term "curriculum vitae" better. Thank you very much. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5247 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 15 of 86 10 April 2012 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Don't worry, @Heather McNamar, when I first moved to England, I'd never heard of the term "CV". In the UK and Commonwealth English the common usage is "CV" refering to "Curriculum Vitae", a Latin term. In US English, a French term is used "Resumé". Ironic that in the English-speaking world we use two distinct foreign borrowings. I wonder why we don't have a commonly accepted, genuinely English, term for this?
In response to @Solfrid Cristin, I haven't had to send out a resumé or a CV in two decades. I'm self-employed. If I were hiring, I'd hire you in a heartbeat! Whomever has a chance to employ you should jump at the opportunity. Good luck! Edited by iguanamon on 12 April 2012 at 3:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5319 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 16 of 86 10 April 2012 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | ||
Thank you for the vote of confidence, you just made my day :-) I am not actively seeking any jobs right now, though, I just try to keep my CV up to date. The last time I suddenly saw a job I wanted, I was really struggling to get all the papers together, since I hadn't applied for a job in almost two decades either. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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