Will My Broken English Kill My IB London Chances?
Non-native speaker here. Strong resume, target school, decent technicals — but I am not super fluent and pause sometimes when I speak / use poor vocab / make some errors. Difficulty appears particularly in casual chats, and I find it tough to speak fluently e.g. about movies.
London IB is international, sure, but does this actually fly in final rounds? Or am I toast next to fluent candidates?
Anyone been in the same boat and made it?
Depends. Do you speak any other European language? An accent or poor English usually only works against you if it affects how easily others can understand you or have a natural, engaging conversation with you. Ultimately, it's more about communication and ‘fit’ than the accent / language itself.
I do speak other European language. I have no trouble asking questions, but I find it harder to express my own thoughts in more depth. For example, instead of elaborating on why a movie was engaging: what happened, what I liked most, or which scene stood out to me, I might just say, “It was nice, I really liked it.”
And the issue lies solely in casual chats / small talk, while work-related topics seem straightforward
Given what you said, I don’t think this would be an issue, since most industry groups consist of Europeans whose first language isn’t English (such as German, Italian, or French). In addition, teams in EU tends to place a stronger emphasis on technical skills
Perferendis qui ad veritatis et. Et occaecati et similique unde aut.
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