learning a new langauge (specifficely Russian)

[mike218]

I have decide to pick up a language (Russian) in order to improve my job application and job prospects (its considered a critical language by the federal government). Does anyone have any advice they could give me.

[Strangefox]

I have decide to pick up a language (Russian) in order to improve my job application and job prospects (its considered a critical language by the federal government). Does anyone have any advice they could give me.

Critical language? What do you mean? I wonder what are other languages considered critical by the federal government...

[mike218]

Critical language? What do you mean? I wonder what are other languages considered critical by the federal government...

I believe, that if you apply to certain positions, the ability to speak, read, etc in a critical language enhances your application.

[geekgrl1]

I recently read an article about this - Russian, Spanish and Chinese are supposed to be the languages employers (civilian and government) seek most now. I just bought Rosetta Stone Spanish, and it is too early to say if I will be successful with it; but the government does use it to teach its people a new language very quickly.

[Gaijin Punch]

I recently read an article about this - Russian, Spanish and Chinese are supposed to be the languages employers (civilian and government) seek most now. I just bought Rosetta Stone Spanish, and it is too early to say if I will be successful with it; but the government does use it to teach its people a new language very quickly.

Very interesting info.

My parents are Russian and I can understand the language pretty fluently, but am unable to speak it. Might be time to finally learn it.

[lasgirl]

Critical language? What do you mean? I wonder what are other languages considered critical by the federal government...

• Super Critical - Arabic (Modern Standard, Egyptian, and Iraqi), Chinese (Mandarin), Dari, Farsi, Hindi, and Urdu
• Critical - Arabic (forms other than Modern Standard, Egyptian, and Iraqi), Azerbaijani, Bengali, Chinese (Cantonese), Kazakh, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Pashto, Punjabi, Russian, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, and Uzbek

http://foreign-service.com/languages

[Mal83]

Russian's great if you're really into it, I have been for a long time, studied it for 4 semesters at school and a 5th one in Moscow. Then I spent 2 years in Ukraine for the Peace Corps where I finally went from being good at in my classes to using it to live in Ukraine. It's a very tough language and I know I've lost some of it since being home, but at the very least it helped me get into the Global Affairs program at George Mason, they require foreign language proficiency. Not that I'll ever go into translating, but I feel like be able to put that on my resume will provide a bit of a boost, you never know how it will come in handy one day and give you that edge over someone else.

[geekgrl1]

The article I referred to was in a business publication. I work in the manufacturing field, and the countries with the most active development are Russia, China, and South America, so businesses need employees with those languages. Many companies that have been in China and South America for a long time are now building plants in Russia, and there seems to be a shortage of managers who speak the language.

[rising_star]

My advice is to do immersion program if you can. You will improve your language skills much more quickly that way.