Bilingual Engineering 1

[EngWade]

So I have long had an interest in learning a second language, and have finally decided to take the plunge and make a go for it. I'd like to know if anyone here is bilingual or knows someone who is (that practices in engineering), and how they apply it to their profession. I am still a young engineer, with most of my career still ahead of me, and have had recurring aspirations of partnering my technical background in engineering with an ability to bridge language gaps.

Any experience/ideas/advice would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[concretemasonry]

Some comments based on about 40 different countries and dealing with designers, codes/standards and and contractors, but obviously a basic routine understanding of the metric systems and conversions to the inch-pound system is a given:

English/American is a very universal language is most developed countries because of the standards that were adopted as a part of the local codes and standards. In India, for example, the official language is Hindi, but is English/American for technical applications and it is used in all schools and codes/standards.

Because of the differences in the alphabet and sentence structure languages that are based on the Cyrillic alphabet can be difficult (Russian and Greek are examples). The oriental languages Chinese versions, Japanese, Korean and other Asian languages are also unique and require more time to be able generally read documents and speaking can be longer, although some newer systems developed in the last 20 years have sped up the time frame for speaking. Unless you are dedicated to working in that area, it is best to develop a basic understanding, but rely upon a local professional.

The European languages (Spanish/Portuguese, French, Italian, and German) are common in many countries because of historic immigration. Of those, German could be the best additional language, depending on what part of the globe you might concentrate on.

In much of Europe or areas of South Africa, German could be the best second language.

I have been startled by the ways languages are combined and used. I was on a site in Brazil where about 20 loadbearing masonry buildings (10 to 15 stories) using 6" loadbearing walls was under concurrently undergoing construction. After looking at the drawing that were a work of art in accurately and practicality for quality construction on a minimum number of sheets that were updated every two days and color coded to differentiate (and eliminate language problems) the block strengths (4 different block strengths color coded by strength in a general site inventory). I struggled when taking to the site superintendent that really spoke Spanish/Portuguese but understood some English/American. when the engineer showed up, I asked him what code the buildings were built according to, he replied "They are built according to you codes, but better and use TV to monitor representative core conditions to enforce a general standard. We learned from buildings in southern California and have used the more recent different American(ACI 530) updates to do it better". - They do it better than in the U.S.!

If you had to choose 1 second language to learn, it would depend on where you think or want to become involved. As a general tool, for technical, German would be good today, but the world in shrinking.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[HgTX]

I'm with Dick--it really depends on what you want to do.

In Texas, Spanish might have been useful but not having it was never an issue.

If you wanted to be able to work in Canada, French helps; sometimes there are bilingual requirements for certain jobs.

I ended up learning some Italian on the job because we did business with an Italian company for a while.

You may want to look to reasons outside of engineering for choosing what language to pursue.

Hg

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[EngWade]

Thanks for the posts. I guess my initial thinking (possibly misinformed thinking) is that employers or perhaps companies looking to be competitive globally would look at my resume and think "Wow, technical expertise as well as bilingual! We'd be crazy not to interview this guy!"

Perhaps my ideal situation would be to get hired in a management position for a company that deals with both english (and say spanish) speaking clients/consultants/employees/etc, and then have the ability to see things from a technical standpoint and also be able to accurately communicate in another person/entity's native tongue.

I have always assumed this would be a tremendously valuable ability, but maybe I place a higher importance on this than the rest of the world?

 

[HgTX]

I speak several languages. No one cares.

I have well-above-average ability to pick up what I need in a language even if I don't really know it. I have found that skill to be very useful, but still no one seemed to be particularly impressed. I'm not sure if that in itself is a learnable skill, but I imagine the more languages you know the easier it is to pick up new ones.

As a civil engineer in the U.S. you really don't need other languages, professionally. For the most part, educated people from around the world speak English, and their English will be better than your whatever-it-is.

I don't think you can anticipate a particular language need. You may find yourself dealing with subcontractors in China, Korea, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Venezuela...or with building sites in Dubai, Singapore, Jerusalem, Malaysia...In general Spanish is useful in the US. In general French can be a necessity in Canada. In general, "Chinese" is good from a global perspective, but should it be Mandarin, Cantonese, or something else? Arabic wouldn't hurt if you're going to get into the "building fancy structures" business considering what the UAE likes to build. Etc.

Maybe pick out one or two dream companies that you'd really like to work for and see who their international partners tend to be?

Hg


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[concretemasonry]

A second language is always great on a resume since iy shows and interest in other countries anf that you have the ability to adapt or learn others easier than the previuos language.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[EngWade]

Thanks for the responses. Hg, I must admit, what you say is more than a little discouraging. I will have to hope that your situation is an isolated one, and not the norm.

If anyone else has any other experiences, I'd love to hear them.

 

[HgTX]

It is not my intention to discourage.

I am in the minority of civil engineers working in the U.S. in that I actually did have cause to use a foreign language on the job; most will never do so. But the language I faced turned out not to be one of the three foreign languages I'd already studied--you just can't predict these things! So I picked up a new language, enough to have a clue and to speed up communication. It impressed (and probably irritated) our foreign supplier. But it didn't make much of a difference with my colleagues & boss because none of them bothered learning said language and they did just fine. And that is how it will go with most American engineers peripherally touching foreign concerns. You think the top structural engineers in the country, designing wondrous things that go all over the world, worry about whether they speak the local language? Nope, they just shut up and keep creating modern marvels.

I'm not saying don't study a second language. I think you absolutely should study a second language, and when you think you've gotten as far as you can with that one, study a different one, preferably from a different language family. I think everyone should have at least two languages if not more. I don't understand why studying a second language isn't a requirement in U.S. early childhood education, since waiting till high school means missing the time when your brain is best prepared to be acquiring language.

I'm just saying I don't think you'll find the magic language that will get you that job. And that for the most part it isn't considered either a necessity or a big deal. Having other languages on the resume is a little tiny plus, like showing that you've been a judge at the local student bridge competition. I forgot to take my list of languages off my resume after applying to an international company, and the American company I wound up with found it an entertaining little tidbit about me, something to gossip about with regard to the new applicant. It's a human interest thing that shows you do more than sit at your desk running calculations--and *maybe* by coincidence it might correspond to a place where the company you're interviewing with does business. But remember that requirements for American engineers are tailored to Americans, and Americans for the most part aren't the most linguistically well-rounded people on the planet. We count on everyone else knowing English and accommodating us.

So pick a language you like, pick a language you think you might get to practice locally because of linguistic minorities in your community (which would also help you in communicating with the local labor force if you end up in a direct supervisory relationship with the local labor force, though for engineers that's also less likely), pick a language because you've always wanted to visit that country, but don't pick a language because you think it might get you a job. There are too many to choose from and it doesn't make enough of a difference. But, by all means, pick a language. It's good for your brain, it's good for your social relationship with the rest of the world. And it won't hurt your career, though it will be no magic bullet. And then, when you get a one-year assignment to go to some country where no one speaks the language you spent so much time studying, it'll be that much easier to pick up the third language.

Hg

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[hokie66]

I wouldn't bother with learning languages for work until I had mastered English, which will probably never happen for most of us. Having a basic knowledge of some other languages is good to have though, as we should all strive to travel. Being able to be understood in Italian or Spanish can really make travel experiences special. I'm not going to try Greek, Russian, Japanese...

 

[francesca]

Being bilingual and having international experience hasn't helped me one iota in the US. Maybe in New York or California someone would care, but in the South and Midwest it just meant I had less local experience and that's the only kind they like.

I would say that if you want to do engineering and learn a foreign language then volunteer for Engineers without Borders, RedR or the Peace Corps. That way you can spend time learning a language fluently while getting fast feed-back on your design and construction skills.