We all have friends who are engineers
but how many of them are multilinguals? It might sound like a weird combination
but believe me learning a foreign language can give you an extra edge from your
other competition and also opens up the opportunity to work abroad. We are
living in a world where we are dependent so much on the engineers, be it
technology or architecture. So believe me in whichever part of the world you go
looking for a job you won’t be disappointed and as we all know about the
curious nature of the engineers, working outside their country or working with
international clients can definitely calm their curious nerves down.
Now comes the question which language
to learn and how to manage it with your job or college. Talking about how to do
it you have two options one is to find the best language learning institute in
your surroundings and enroll. The second one, which I will recommend you all,
is learning by yourself; in other words learning with the help of internet. Yes
it is possible, I remember learning Japanese all by myself without spending a
single penny. It just requires motivation and consistency. If you want to know
how to learn a language by yourself please let me know in the comments, I will
definitely make another blog on it. Coming back to the topic, if you are not
fond of self-learning and you have an institute nearby, you can also inquire if
they offer weekly batches. Attending classes on weekends can give you time to
balance your professional/college life and foreign language education. Now
talking about which languages you can learn, I am not going to confuse you guys
by giving you multiple options. Though learning any foreign language can give
you that extra edge and if you’re passionate about any specific language I
would suggest you to go with it. Here are my recommendations looking at the
market trend and requirements:-
Japanese
As we all are aware that Japan is
known for technology and is now facing shortage in manpower. Learning Japanese
can give you lot of opportunities. One unique thing about Japan is that they
are not very efficient with English and if you want to work in Japan as an
engineer it is very important to know their native language. As per the latest
report Japan immediately needs 2,00,000 IT professionals and the number can go
up till 8,00,000 by 2030. Numbers are enough to tell you why learning Japanese
is my strongest recommendation.
German
Germany puts strong emphasis on
Science and technology. Talking about statistics Germany has the highest number
of employed engineering workers among all workers in the European Union. In
Germany 21% of Engineering workers are older than 55 years which causes
replacement problems; but on the other side gives huge employment options to
the young engineers. Good thing is learning German would not be very difficult
for English learners (unlike Japanese) as it is very similar in few manners. So
learning German will take lesser time and can provide you great career
opportunities.
Chinese
Unlike German, Chinese is a very
challenging language and will take a lot effort. But learning Chinese will
cover up all the hard work that you’re going to put. The economy in China is
booming and so are the job opportunities. China is a land of startups and most
of them are in the technical field. There are a lot of engineering jobs in
China for English speakers as the English speakers can provide international
experience, as they have worked in globally recognized projects. The
opportunities even multiply if you can speak their language Mandarin.
