Including Languages on Your Resume

Source: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/resume-language-skills

If you're reading this, you are bilingual, or maybe even multi-lingual! That is a very important skill to
have, especially in Northern Virginia. More than 160 foreign languages are spoken in Fairfax County schools. Businesses and schools need employees who can speak to many different people. Here is how to include your language skills on a resume.

You should include a Skills or Qualifications section on your resume. This is where you include your special skills, such as software programs, technical skills, and languages. You can include languages here. For example:

Skills

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Website management
• Languages: Spanish (fluent), English (advanced)
  

If you speak many languages, you might want to make a separate section:

Languages:

• Arabic - Fluent
  
• English - Intermediate
  
• French - Intermediate

Here are some different ways you can describe your language skills:

• Beginner: The beginner language skill level covers those who are just starting to learn a new language. They know some basic words and phrases, but would not be able to create a grammatically correct sentence or carry on a conversation with someone in that language.
  
  
• Intermediate: An intermediate language speaker can hold a basic conversation in the language while speaking at a slower pace than a native speaker and requiring some repetition to understand the conversation. They have limited vocabulary knowledge, understand grammatical rules and have adequate reading abilities.
  
  
• Proficient: A proficient language ability involves the ability to speak, read and write the language with minimal difficulty. Proficient speakers can hold a conversation with a native speaker easily but may need some things repeated or colloquialisms explained. A proficient skill level means they are able to converse in the language
  
  
• Fluent: A fluent language speaker can comfortably speak, write and understand the language with ease. They have full knowledge of the language, including colloquialisms, but are not native speakers of the language.
  
  
• Native: A native language ability refers to a language you grew up speaking and have mastered all aspects of, including grammar, complex concepts and extensive vocabulary.

Learner Profile: Caro

Caro was an Advanced Student in the FCPS ACE ESOL program. She moved to the United States in 2000 from Ecuador, and Spanish is her native language. 

She worked for a school as a family services assistant for many years, and wanted to get a promotion. She had interviewed for the new position before, but didn’t get it. She contacted the Career Navigator for practice with interviewing. After practicing for the interview several times, she was able to get the promotion!

She has good advice for other English learners. She says that most importantly, “it is essential to understand that learning is work.  Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it isn't easy, but there is always work involved.”

She recommends these strategies for improving your English:

• Don’t rely only on technology like Google translate. Try to do simple things like using a dictionary when you do not understand a word or to find the synonym of a word to comprehend the word's meaning in a sentence.  
• Listen to music, communicate with people, and listen to audio books in English. 
• Write down the benefits of learning English and how your life will improve if you learn English.
• Study one hour per day.
• Read things that interest you, whether it is non-fiction, fiction, novels, horror books, etc. 
• Record yourself speaking English and listen back to improve your cadence and pronunciation.
  

Caro says something that helped her was to have a collage of pictures in her room with the things she dreamed of having in America, like a house, a good job, and a college education. 

Caro says that it is important to have patience with yourself and not compare yourself with other people; some students learn English fluently in a year, and others take years to master the language. She says to set a realistic long-term goal for yourself based on your current life.

As Caro says, “The way to achieve good fluency and vocabulary is to lay one brick every day. This means to practice and study every day to achieve your goal.” She sends her best wishes to all the current learners!