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Kung Fu Skills Not Essential

So you love English, love social media, are open to relocating, perhaps to China, specially if you also have a keen interest in Kung Fu, yes? Then we have seen the perfect job opportunity for you!

You know that English has truly become the global language of choice when you see a situations vacant advertisement posted online by an ancient Chinese Buddhist temple seeking a Brand Builder who is fluent in English!
Such is the fame of the 1,500 year old Shoalin temple, where the monks are known for their skills in martial arts such as Kung Fu, that the temple has become an shrine to martial arts lovers from across the globe.
Even though the temple is located in an isolated position, deep inside the mountains of Henan province, visitors are drawn to the site in order to experience for themselves the special form of Kung Fu practiced by the monks. Whilst most of the monks themselves do not speak English, in order to market and secure the temples brand globally, English has been chosen as the preferred language for the position advertised.
It just goes to show that the reach of English as an international language is still growing strong and is reaching even the most unexpected places.
The Guardian newspaper has more on this story. Have a read, it will certainly make you laugh yet they are totally serious. Could you, or someone you know, fit the bill?
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I need English for work

Knowing English and having the vocabulary learned from a textbook is very important at some work places.  But what about the things that the textbooks don’t teach you?  Have you heard a phrase that totally confuses you and then you lose your train of thought and all of the sudden are totally lost?  Usually when this happens when the person that you are speaking with uses an idiom that you are not familiar with.  Native speakers can even be confused by idioms!  Especially when speaking with people from a different area.

someone’s TRAIN OF THOUGHT

Fig. someone’s pattern of thinking or sequence of ideas; what one was just thinking about.

If native speakers can be confused by these, how can an English learner even start to take on idioms?

TAKE ON

Phrasal verb a:  to begin to perform or deal with  b:  to contend with as an opponent

You MUST surround yourself with everyday English as much as possible. (click on this link, you won’t regret it)

You can follow the steps found in the link above and focus on your industry.  That is the best way to improve your business English and let’s not forget the power of Google!  If you work in a hotel, google ‘hotel idioms’.

Try this quiz and see how you do >

Business English Idioms: Idioms Test

 

I am always available to answer any questions you have about idioms 🙂   Comment on this blog post and I will reply!  

 

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I don’t know where to start for a job interview

Student: I don’t know where to start for a job interview in America because the system I use is only Russian.

Teacher:  Get comfortable with the terms in English so you can easily explain what you do in English.  This is going to require a lot of reading, both about the system itself  (in this case: 1C: Enterprise 8 )  and then general IT interview questions.

Interviews require a lot of research.   You need to know exactly what they are looking for and explain how you fit their needs.  You also need to know about the company and their practices.  In the IT industry the required skill set may be the same, but how the companies operate vary from one to the next.   You need to find out how they operate and make sure that your answers fit with how they do things.

 

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