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Doing a job interview in another language | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| Nature Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5032 days ago 63 posts - 80 votes  Speaks: English*, French | Message 1 of 9 02 November 2011 at 9:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I had a job interview in Montreal for a store and the area it's in is a pretty anglophone area. The girl who called me for the interview spoke to me in English so I just figured the interview will be in English, however I get there, and the guy interviewing me is French!
I had to do an entire interview in French and my French really is so-so. I told him French wasn't my first language and he said it was okay I could answer in English but I continued on and answered in French.. it was so tough but I wanted to show him I COULD speak French and I don't have to resort back to English. He said I spoke French well but that's so not true I know it... did this hurt me? Should I have just responded in English? There are some employers where I applied to that don't speak French AT ALL or very little yet they got the job cause they were interviewed by someone in English. It's frustrating because I couldn't express myself as well as I wanted to but I figured hey, it's a store not a bank I'm applying to... Was it smart of me to continue in French or should I have switched to English? Many people at that store speak average or little French.. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 9 02 November 2011 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I think you did a good thing continuing in French. How have you avoided learning French well in the first place? Do they not encourage learning the other language at school? We have two official languages in Norway, and although I hate the other Norwegian language, we still had to learn it. Everyone who works in the public sector must be able to answer any letter from the outside in both languages. I would have thought Canada had a similar policy?
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| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4654 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 3 of 9 02 November 2011 at 11:46pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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A little off-topic, but... Solfrid Cristin, why do you hate the second language (or the second standard, respectively) of Norway? And, do you think about nynorsknow ?
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| Nature Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5032 days ago 63 posts - 80 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 4 of 9 03 November 2011 at 12:10am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I can speak French but just so-so and more slangish. I learnt French only from school and from kids on my soccer team. Don't ask me to start talking about complicated subjects and unfortunately, a job interview requires speaking properly and using big words :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 9 03 November 2011 at 1:39pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I should have known better than giving such a broad statement on this particular forum. I don't really hate the language as such - and yes, I am referring to nynorsk. In fact it is a language which is beautiful for songs and poetry, and if we had just been allowed to sing, read poetry and literature in general in class, I think most Norwegians would have liked the language. My main issue with it is that we are forced to learn it, it is not a natural language,it is not a spoken language, and it is so close to the standard Norwegian that it is a waste of time to learn it. I think we have about 10-15 percent who chose to write in it, 10 percent who insist that we use it, and the rest of the population thinks it is a pain. If they had put the whole thing to a referendum, I think people would have said 1) Yes, it is a variant of Norwegian, and those who wish to use it may continue to do so. 2) No, we do not want to have it as a compulsory subject in school, we do not want to see action series subtitled in it, and most of all, we do not want to have the obligation to use it in the public sector. At least in Canada, both are world languages, which it makes sense to learn, because you can speak to more people. No matter how well I learn nynorsk, it will not bring me a single extra person which I did not already understand. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5176 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 9 03 November 2011 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
If the interviewer was francophone, sticking to French was a good idea. If the interviewer had been anglophone, it would have been a bad idea. But I think you just learned an important lesson -- if you live in Montreal and you intend to live and work there, you will need better French language skills. And maybe a better attitude towards the language and its speakers? Edited by Arekkusu on 03 November 2011 at 3:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5627 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 7 of 9 03 November 2011 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't see how you can fault Nature's attitude. He/She (?) continued speaking French in the interview despite not feeling fully confident in the language. What more could you ask for? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5176 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 8 of 9 03 November 2011 at 9:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
My faulting his attitude was based on a previous thread. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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