Wzzup folks,
I wondered if knowledge of foreign languages gives you any advantage during the interview process?
Besides English I speak both Spanish and Arabic on a decent level.
I thought it might give you some bonus points if you want to join groups like Natural Resources but I have no idea if it actually does, so please enlighten me.
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No, not if you're working the US.
It really depends where you're applying for and even if you speak a language on a "decent" I personally feel that to really leverage your multi-lingual background you need to be able to conduct business in the said language.
A friend of mine said she spoke french and the interviewer tried conducting the interview in french with her but she wasn't able to answer certain technical aspects because speaking and conducting business in an language is very very different.
Only advantage would be if you're interviewing for a LatAm focused group. Otherwise nobody is going to care.
It all depends what you mean by 'decent'.
Does that mean fluently conversational, reading and writing but you have problems with technical topics? Or does it mean you can say basic phrases and hold a conversation that would make you sound like you have known the language less than a couple years.
If you're truly fluent and can have business conversations in the language, then it could definitely be a plus. However, it won't make or break you regardless. Natural resources would be a good one, but Arabic and Russian would be the two I'd have focused on if I were you. Spanish is great, but most Spanish speaking business partners know English enough for business transactions.
Foreign Language skills? (Originally Posted: 01/29/2008)
I suppose sales covering certain countries need foreign language knowledge,
but what about traders? structurers? Working in UK, for example, would russian em debt traders need to know a little russian? Are there any examples where foreign language is needed for traders? Is it an advantage but not necessary?
thanks,
I'd say it is an advantage but not necessary; I will be working in emerging markets as a sales man (based in London). Most traders who interviewed me didn't speak any emerging market languages, they usually just spoke the usual French or Spanish, and of course English; some of course spoke Arabic and Russian, but some did not. Even a sales person in emerging markets only spoke English.
Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is. - My ex girlfriend
thanks, makes me feel better. I'm almost embarassed to admit it, but I only know english. :(
Sales, trading and foreign languages (Originally Posted: 11/19/2015)
I have some questions on S&T at bb banks
Could anyone tell me if there are any benefits in speaking foreign languages when it comes to sales and/or trading? For example, are there S&T teams for a specific geographic region?
I still can't see why applicants apply for S&T as a whole and get placed in either sales or trading while, as far as my understanding of the matter goes, trading - and especially the more technical kind - is very different from sales and also attract very different types of applicants
Also, what would be the value of some legal experience - specifically regulatory mifid2/dodd-frank
Thanks!
If you'd like some anecdotal evidence, I recently got fast tracked for a summer analyst spot in S&T in Asia with a BB (GS/MS/JPM) solely because I applied to a different division in the US and they noticed I could speak Chinese (I'm a Sophomore and this was the only offer I received this year).
On the other hand, the guy who interviewed me was in S&T in Asia and said he could only speak English. Some other caveats: I'm not ethnically Chinese, so the novelty of a white guy who speaks Mandarin may have just made me seem interesting, and I have a pretty strong CV even without the languages. Also while I may have been fast tracked for the S&T SA position in Asia, the original role I applied for in the US was much less competitive than S&T (think middle/back office) at the same bank and didn't even get a first round interview, so from additional anecdotal evidence I would wager that the US just doesn't give a shit about languages in the same way Asian or European offices might.
All in all, if you're applying to for a role in the US I wouldn't worry about it.
Thanks for your reply
This was my thought exactly when it comes to US firms, so good to have that confirmed the very first reply.
For me personally, I am thinking of applying for a role in London. So the nature of my question was if speaking an European language would be of any benefit in sales (and trading). I guess I'm more concerned about not being a native English speaker.
Also - I was in China a couple of months ago and noticed that the Chinese in general have massive respect for anyone who speaks their language. That probably has to do something with Mandarin being ridiculously hard to learn...
Agreed with @Drummond. I'm a sophomore at a non-target university, with a non-business major. I got 4 accelerated interviews and 2 offers (didn't interview with the other 2) this fall.
I think that my experience living abroad in China for 2 years in high school and fluency in the language (I'm not ethnically Chinese) was a big plus. It's not only that you're able to speak to clients, but learning a language like Chinese really says a lot about commitment to work. Just my luck - the interviewer was Chinese and asked me to talk to him for a bit in Chinese... so don't exaggerate your language skills, it can bite you in the butt!
I'll be interning in S&T at a top 3 bb bank this summer.
it's absolutely crucial for london, from my experience, uni lingual english speaker are a tiny majority. While Northern European have no problem interacting in english, the same cannot be said for the rest of europe so french / italian / spanish, etc speaker are a must to conduct business in those countries.
Majority of institutional clients are fluent in English, so nothing to worry about. However, we do have sales guys covering countries/areas where they speak the language.
Foreign Languages (Originally Posted: 10/04/2006)
Hello! So obviously foreign languages are an asset, especially Chinese etc. I am pretty fluent in German and I am planning on studying for two internationally recognized certificates (one issued by the German government) in Business German. Will having those certificates benefit me in any way down the road, or not really. For example, if one day some other person and I were up for promotion and all else were equal, would my certificates come to my help? How important are languages in Ibanking, even at the junior level?
English is the global supermacist language, fuck German and it's retarded three "the"s and four cases.
Wasting Time - coming on a little strong don't you think?
Salam Shpekov - in an increasingly global workplace, I think knowing more than one language (especially those of industrialized nations) can only be considered attractive. However, given that most big business/cross-border transactions are conducted in English these days, I'm not sure knowing more than one language will be beneficial when being compared to another potential hiree, unless of course it's for a position that will involve doing business with Germans (which is very possible).
When the day comes for a possible promotion many other factors besides foreign languages will be looked upon. These factors may include how you interact with clients (perhaps knowing multiple languages will have help build specific relationships, perhaps not), your project management skills, etc. While knowing many languages certainly provides you with a valuable asset, many other factors, perhaps more important, will come into play when vying for a promotion and/or hire. Best of luck.
English, and bad English
agreed!
Im not an IB but from the exposure Ive had I can already tell the prefered language is "do you produce" and that's what matters at promotion time.
English and Chinese. No-one needs European languages (other than English) any more.
No one needs Chinese, do you think White buisnessmen are going to go over to China and speak chitty chitty bang bang? I think not.
A friend of mine summered in London and they told him to learn a foreign language if he wanted to be considered for a full time job there. In NY, it only matters if you want to work in emerging mkts DCM or some other latam based group.
They expect you to speak 2 languages minimum, my experience over there is that most people I worked with (not in IB) could speak 4+ languages but they're all european languages. The business world is different there in the US it's english.
Yeah, I agree 2 languages is min. requirement. Still, English is No.1...
Mostly no one in England speaks a 2nd language, same as in the USA, I just saw a study on it. Anglophones don't give a fuck about other languages because we own the global economy.
Only speaking English will not prevent you from being successful... but speaking a few languages is an example of a soft skill that's important to deal-making that becomes important as you become more senior. It doesn't matter much if you're an analyst, though.
Foreign languages - have they helped? (Originally Posted: 01/21/2013)
A lot of us learn foreign languages thinking they'll help with our future careers - have they actually helped any of you in your job?
There are a few forms of yeses and many forms of nos.
Uh, it depends on what you do, what you want to do, and the languages you speak. I don't even really think this is worth elaborating on. Just pick your languages strategically. The one I took in high school is likely to remain useless to me but one of the others I speak almost certainly helped me get a job, and I'm currently scrambling to learn a couple others that I suspect will be very useful.
I take learning a new language more of a personal achievement than thinking about what it does for my career or what it does not.
some relevant posts: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/learning-chinese-mandarin-worth-it http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/dont-move-to-china-dont-study-man… http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/will-studying-mandarin-get-me-a-job… http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/multiple-languages http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/languages
[quote=AndyLouis]some relevant posts: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/learning-chinese-mandarin-worth-it http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/dont-move-to-china-dont-study-man… http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/will-studying-mandarin-get-me-a-job… http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/multiple-languages http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/languages[/quote] How long did it take you to become fluent in Spanish after moving to South America?
I have a solid foundation of 8 years of on/off advanced speaking, reading, writing, but don't "think" in Spanish. I probably never will if I don't immerse myself in the culture.
i guess i've always viewed it as a switch of effort i could turn on if I wanted to, and in ~6 mo's if i put in the extra work i could get there, someday maybe?
Native Spanish/Portuguese speaker here.
Fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan and Valencian.
In my opinion, the point when you know you've truly learned a language, is when you dream in that language. As a child, I learned English via the traditional methods (school, courses, tutoring) in addition to reading American encyclopedias, and watching documentaries in English. I started learning English when I first moved to the US, and felt I had mastered it (as best I could), 6 months later. What I am trying to say is that unless you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, you will not "feel" the language. Drive down to your local Mexican neighborhood (take a knife/gun, don't want to be caught with your pants down) and try to speak only in Spanish.
It depends on which language and which type of background you have. For example, if you’re a white guy from Connecticut and you studied Spanish (and you have an American accent) it might be completely useless, considering how many native speakers there are in the US that could do that job 100 times better than you. Then again, if you for example speak Arabic or Russian close to fluently, this may help you really stand out, but only in the industries that could make use of it…you just have to learn the language that could be the most marketable for you I guess and not the one that every other person has learned.
Are you planning to do a lot of business WITH (not the same as IN) Japan, or China, or Korea, or some other place where a lot of businesspeople don't speak English well?
If the answer is no, then a foreign language isn't really going to help you. It might, but on an ROI basis, it's probably not worth it.
Nobody says you can't do it for fun, though. I plan to pick up enough Spanish sometime within the next 30-40 years or so to allow me to retire to a quiet little South American city. Maybe Santiago.
If you want to become CEO of CBS, you need to major in Spanish.
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