Yesterday from gave rise to a wave of discussions, but I would like to talk a little about why you still shouldn’t stop at the Intermediate level and how to overcome language “impotence” if you have reached the limits of your capabilities and are no longer progressing.
This topic excites me, among other things, because of my background - I myself once started with a school deuce in a quarter in English, but now I live in the UK and I was able, it seems to me, to help several of my acquaintances overcome language barriers and raise your English to a fairly decent conversational level. I am also learning now already the 6th foreign language and every day I face the problems “I can’t speak”, “I don’t have enough vocabulary” and “how much can I study to finally have a breakthrough”.
Is this a problem at all? Should I try to move beyond Intermediate?
Yes, this is a problem. IT is one of the most globalized areas of human activity and the generally recognized language of IT is English. If you do not speak the language at a sufficient level (and B1 Intermediate, unfortunately, is not sufficient), then you will face many different difficulties in your career and professional development. In addition to the quite obvious restriction on the list of employers for which you can work (only Russian companies focused exclusively on the Russian market), which immediately reduces your opportunities for salary and career growth, there are less obvious restrictions. The main one is those projects and technologies with which you can work.
I will give an example from personal experience - 8 years ago, when I was still living in Russia, I worked for a large integrator, led one of the smallest units for the development of Enterprise software and integration for large businesses. One fine day, the company managed to agree with one of the TOP-3 global software giants on a major joint project in Russia. According to the specifics of the technologies and the essence of the project, it could be carried out by several departments in the company, so the choice of management was between those who can communicate with the vendor and those who cannot. If at that time my language level had been Intermediate, neither I nor my team would have taken part in this project, none of us would have been able to tinker with closed internal vendor APIs and we would not have worked with a product that millions of people use every day without exaggeration of people. Such opportunities fall out maybe two or three times in the entire career of most specialists in the market, and to miss such a chance due to ignorance of the language, in my opinion, is criminal negligence.
Having already moved to Europe and having worked here, I was able to appreciate the whole abyss in the level and interestingness of projects available in Russia and on the world market, even in such a boring segment as a bloody enterprise. The problem is not that we are somewhat backward, on the contrary, technologically Russia is in many ways ahead of the same Europe. The problem is that there are too few consumers and money in the Russian market, so nobody really needs truly large-scale and multifaceted projects, and if you don’t participate in international teams, then you can spend your whole life sawing through dull web windows or regular processing on 1C. Simply because there are a lot of great specialists in Russia, and there are very, very few great projects on the domestic market.
Another equally important aspect is that an Intermediate level of English will simply slow down your professional growth. It is impossible to adequately read the blogs of Western technology experts with such a level of language, and even more so to watch conference records. Yes, our wonderful guys translate some materials, but it’s simply impossible to find, for example, a complete translation of materials from DEF CON 2019 into Russian, but . However, I strongly doubt that the Intermediate level will be enough for an adequate understanding of even presentations, not to mention the video from the conference, even reading subtitles. An equally interesting source of knowledge are podcasts, which usually do not have subtitles, so there is absolutely nothing to do without a good level of English.
Why does linguistic "impotence" occur?
Many people, when studying foreign languages, sooner or later come across a wall - no matter how hard you try, but the language does not improve, you do not feel enough confidence and skills in yourself to use the language freely and it is completely unclear what to do with it.
It seems to me that there are two reasons for this phenomenon. The first reason is that there is a huge quantitative gap between the simplest everyday vocabulary like “There are three people in my family” or “I want to eat soup” and live communication with jokes, idioms, professional slang, etc. In the first case, we are talking about 1500-1800 words and a very small number of idioms, and this is considered the lower limit of the Intermediate level. In the second case (the so-called fluent language), we need at least 8-10 thousand words and hundreds of idioms. This gap is not so obvious when you are just starting to learn a language, but by the time you have more or less figured out the grammar and can somehow listen (understand) foreign speech and try to use the language in real life, you find that there are a lot of nuances that you do not understand and do not feel. Until the vocabulary grows up to these notorious 8000 words, your own speech will seem to you very clumsy and incoherent. Developing such a significant vocabulary requires a lot of practice and time, during which it will seem to you that there is no progress (although of course there is).
The second reason, in my opinion, is that real live speech is actually very different from what we see in textbooks, and I'm not even talking about the vocabulary that textbooks or courses teach, but in general about the situation with which you face. The simplest example is a stand-up scrum team of programmers in which there are representatives from different countries. I haven't come across any English textbooks, including "Business English" books, that teach you how to describe your difficulties with the implementation of any task or use the situation of the interaction of several departments in the office as examples. Without real communication experience in such situations, it is very difficult to find the right vocabulary and overcome internal tightness in using the language.
Everything is gone, what to do?
First, don't give up. During my not so long life, I had about two dozen teachers of different foreign languages, they all had different approaches and methods, I achieved different results with all of them, but most agreed on one thing - the main thing is perseverance. Every day half an hour of language a day (in any form) is much better than any super-intensive courses or classes once or twice a week for an hour or more. Even if you do not feel progress, but continue to use the language daily for reading, watching movies, or even better for talking, then in fact you are progressing.
Second, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Everyone speaks English with errors, including the English. In principle, this does not bother anyone, especially the British. In the modern world, there are. Believe me, your English will definitely not be the worst of those that the interlocutor has heard. And with a probability of about 5:1, your interlocutor is not a native speaker and makes slightly fewer mistakes than you. If you worry a lot about mistakes in your speech, correct vocabulary and appropriate idioms are much more important than perfect grammar and perfect pronunciation. This does not mean that you need to distort words with incorrect accents or reading syllables, but the so-called “Ryazan accent” or the lost article is not the worst thing that your interlocutor heard.
Third, surround yourself with language. It is necessary to constantly consume content in the language, but it should be content that you are interested in, and not exercises from textbooks. For me, at one time, computer games with a lot of text worked very well, in particular the notorious , but this is just a special case of the general principle. The series that worked best with my wife were those that we first watched in English with Russian subtitles, then with English subtitles, and then without them at all. One of my friends pulled up his tongue watching stand-ups on YouTube (but he did it all the time, almost every day). Everything is individual, the main thing is that the content is interesting for you, that you consume it regularly and that you do not give yourself indulgence in the form of translations, even if they are available. If today you understand 25% of the content, in six months you will understand 70%.
Fourth, communicate with native speakers. This is very important, especially starting from the Intermediate level. If possible, go to international conferences and communicate with people there. If not, try to make acquaintances on tourist trips. Even a couple of hours in a Turkish hotel bar with a drunken English fan can really kick start your language skills. Live communication in real non-sterile conditions (when it’s noisy around, the interlocutor has a heavy accent, you / he is drunk) cannot be replaced by lessons or TV shows and it greatly stimulates your language abilities. I understand that being in the regions is not so easy, but in the two capitals there are groups for communication with natives, in a friendly cafe atmosphere on any topic from universal to quite professional.
Fifth, try to interview in foreign companies. Even if you do not plan to go anywhere or work for a Western client, such interviews will give you a great experience, after which you will feel much more confident in Russia. One of the advantages is that you will most likely be interviewed by non-native speakers, so it will be easier for you. With a high probability, if this is a large company, you can also be interviewed by Russian-speaking interviewers, who, all the more, will understand you. In addition, this is the practice of speaking specifically on professional topics that are most important to you.
Sixthly, gaming techniques work great for building vocabulary. Yes, the ridiculous green owl Duolingo, which has already become a meme, can help you build up your vocabulary and stimulate you to spend those very cherished half an hour a day learning the language. The Russian analogue is Lingvaleo, the avatar is different, the principles are the same. I am currently learning my 20 new Chinese words a day thanks to the green owl.
Instead of a conclusion
My team now includes people from 9 different countries from 4 continents. At the same time, from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - about a third. Our people are some of the strongest IT professionals in the world who are highly valued and treated with great respect. Unfortunately, in the expanses of the FSU, the study of foreign languages, including English, is treated carelessly and it is believed that this is the lot of a few talents, but this is not at all the case. I really hope that specifically you, the reader of this article, invest some time in yourself and improve your language level, because the Russian-speaking community definitely deserves more representation in the IT world. In any case, development is better than vegetating in a cozy swamp?
Source: habr.com