A JOB website has revealed which languages are the most important when seeking work – and shows that the average European Union citizen of working age speaks three, including their own.
The portal Primer Empleo (‘first job’) says Spanish workers do not even average two languages on the whole, including Spanish.
This average is also skewed by the fact that several regions – Catalunya, Valencia, Galicia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands – have co-official languages spoken jointly with Spanish.
A total of 50% of adults aged between 25 and 64 speak one or more foreign tongues, putting them third from last in the EU, according to research carried out by the Central for Sociological Investigations (CIS).
Although the CIS blames the education system for its limited emphasis on language teaching and the structure of the curriculum, where and when they are learnt differs for each one.
Whilst a quarter of the working-age population speaks English and 9.6% speak French, these were learnt either at school or college, and it is only nowadays that those with limited knowledge of English are studying it as adults, workers with at least an intermediate level of German or Portugueses say they learnt it abroad after finishing their education.
Languages are considered, if not crucial, at least a heavy advantage in many professions, says Primer Empleo.
English is the most-requested language by potential employers in all fields, whereas a few years ago, it was French – and English overtook French as the main second language taught in schools in 2002.
German comes second and French third, although in the fields of construction engineering, Portuguese is the most likely to be expected when seeking employees.
Although European languages are the most keenly-sought in Spain at present, a growing number of employers are seeking staff who speak Chinese, Russian, Arabic and Japanese, given that industry and the economy are constantly growing in countries where these are spoken and trade between them and Spain has the potential to increase.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com