Learning a language can help you move on in your career or find new opportunities. In our ‘World of Work’ series, we speak to people who use languages every day in their job. In our first post, we spoke to Daniel, a hotel reception manager from Spain.
Hi busuu! At the moment, I’m a self-employed clothing, bed and bag designer for small pets. I work to satisfy the needs of both pets and their owners, and it’s a lot of fun.
Why are languages necessary for what you do?
I must often work from patterns in other languages, above all in English and sometimes in German. And in this technology-dominated, globalised world, it’s essential to learn new languages anyway.
Even if this seems like a difficult challenge, we must keep in mind that learning a language is very beneficial. It creates the prospect of a better future, whether finding a new job or communicating with other people.
Our mindset is largely determined by language. If you can talk the same language as the person you’re speaking to, you will be able to better understand how they think, which increases your chances of commercial success.
That’s one of the reason why I love busuu – as well as improving my English language skills, I learn more about English-speaking cultures, too, through the units and talking to native speakers.
Could you tell us about the languages you speak and how you learnt them?
Spanish is my mother tongue and I’m currently learning English with busuu. I’m amazed by the progress that I have made in such a short time with busuu’s online language-learning method.
I can also adapt my learning to my schedule, thanks to the flexibility busuu offers for studying languages, and the direct contact with native speakers is something that would otherwise be impossible here in Venezuela.
Which languages do you think are challenging to learn?
As well as learning to speak English fluently, I would like to learn German too. It has very difficult grammar, but if you know a language’s grammatical structure, everything becomes easier.
And which language do you think is easiest?
I think English is one of the easiest and most important languages to learn. It’s spread throughout the world and is the international language for not just business, but everything!
Which learning materials or methods have helped you most?
There’s no doubt that to correctly learn a language, it’s essential to understand its grammar because it makes comprehension simpler.
As well as books, learning tools such as ‘busuu-Talk‘ and voice recordings are very useful. They both enable me to practise my pronunciation by recording part of a dialogue, so that native English speakers in busuu’s community can correct me.
Marly, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to busuu!
What did you think of this interview? Let us know in the comments!
Are languages essential in your day-to-day work? Would you like to be considered for a World of Work interview? Then please send an email to pr@busuu.com (subject: ‘World of Work’) with just 2-3 short sentences telling us where you’re from, what you do and which languages you speak. Thanks!
