Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
Education
Foreign language: Scope and opportunities in India
Excerpts from article by Sanjeev Rawat, published in India Today
Language is an essence of communication which can remove the boundaries of two different people who belongs to different countries, culture, states, religion.
Now, it’s becoming essential, globally, to know each other’s languages for communication and even for job opportunities. The scope in foreign languages is increasing internationally. So, there is a great way to make your future bright by choosing a career in foreign languages.
Career prospects
The future of careers in foreign languages is at an all time high. A person fluent in foreign languages can think of becoming a foreign language specialist, interpreter and translator or get a job in a multinational company.
Choosing the right language
French
French is the official language in 29 countries and is spoken by over 220 million people most of who live in Western Europe and Africa. It’s the working language of international organisations, such as the UN, UNESCO, NATO, FIFA or the WHO. The Olympic Games use French as one of their official languages and the EU has chosen it as one of their procedural languages. On a lighter note, let’s not forget that French is also the language of high-end fashion!
Spanish
Similar to French, Spanish is also one of the official languages of a lot of international organisations, and it’s one of the most widely used languages of the internet. Additionally, if you plan to work in a medical field or do social work, Spanish can be a great choice. It is the second most common language in the U.S.
German
Germany’s economy is the largest and strongest in Europe. Combining your German studies with a career in science, finance/banking, literature/publishing, and engineering can put you on the right path.
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin Chinese is the mother tongue of over 800 million people in the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, and the language is also used in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Mongolia, and the Philippines. Mandarin Chinese as a second language is a great combination with a degree in business or tourism. It can also boost your CV when working in manufacturing.
Russian
The Russian language is popular in India for a very long time. It is spoken by over 300 million people around the world. Due to the historical and friendly relationship between India and Russia, it brings a myriad of opportunities in engineering, science & technology, oil & gas, defense sector, etc.
Italian
Knowing Italian can improve your employment prospects when pursuing a career in the arts, fashion, design, (classical) music, luxury goods, and anything culinary.
Japanese
Despite the country’s size, Japan is one of the world’s biggest and most innovative economies, especially famous for both its consumer electronic and automobile industries. Anything that has to do with manufacturing, engineering or research and development goes well with Japanese language skills. Since the country exports and imports a lot of goods, there are plenty of opportunities to be in touch with a Japanese company and impress them with your Japanese skills.
Eligibility
Candidate must have cleared 10+2 with any recognised board. After this, he/she can do a Bachelor’s course in any foreign language (duration of UG is mostly three years). For a Master’s degree in any foreign language, the candidate should have pursued graduation in it (duration of PG is usually two years).
Salaries
A translator can expect to get anything from Rs 15000 to Rs 20000, as starting salary. After gaining some on-job experience, one can earn Rs 30000-plus per month. A top interpreter may get more than 10 to 12 lakhs per annum. Through freelancing, a person can earn 50k to 60k per assignment.
Career
3 reasons companies need intrapreneurship
Excerpts from article by Sara Caroline Sabin, published in Entrepreneur India
Most of us are familiar with the concept of being an entrepreneur. It can be a challenging path, and understandably, not everyone wants to take on that responsibility. But what if we could encourage that entrepreneurial spirit in our employees? The situation is potentially win-win – for the employee and for the company.
Intrapreneurship is the system wherein the principles of entrepreneurship are practised within the boundaries of a firm. An intrapreneur is a person who takes on the responsibility to innovate new ideas, products and processes or any new invention within the organisation.
Here are three reasons why intrapreneurship is important to long-term business success:
1. Employee engagement
In Gallup’s 2016 Meta-Analysis Report, the results showed that employee engagement consistently affects key performance outcomes like company profitability, regardless of the company’s industry.
Jim Harter, Ph.D., Gallup’s chief scientist of employee engagement and wellbeing, says “Employee engagement continues to be an important predictor of company performance even in a tough economy. When you ask people about their intentions during a recession, it’s pretty clear that disengaged workers are just waiting around to see what happens. Engaged workers, though, have bought into what the organisation is about and are trying to make a difference.”
2. Continuous idea flow to remain competitive
If only a few people within an organisation, such as the senior leaders and C-Suite, are able to come up with ideas and implement them, this severely limits the potential for innovation that a company has. In many cases, senior leadership is far removed from the end user and their wants and needs.
Intrapreneurship draws on a larger pool of ideas consistently. Innovation, rather than being a process that happens one to two times per year, needs to be a way of life in order to really reap the rewards. In order to make it work, a focused approach to innovation needs to be taken. There needs to be a system in place to assess the ideas, and budget and time allocated to employees developing them.
3. Crucial to long-term sustainability
Companies often learn the hard way about the importance of this. Complacency or staying in your comfort zone is not something any business can afford these days. This is even more important nowadays as technology exponentially increases the pace of change.
It is time that companies really asked themselves the question of what they are doing to encourage intrapreneurship. And more importantly, what is the lost opportunity cost of not encouraging it?
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
Like this post? For more such helpful articles, click on the button below and subscribe FREE to our blog.
Download our mobile app, ICS Career GPS, a one-stop career guidance platform.
