A Second Language Can Be Your Hidden Asset

Outside of looking for a job, you’ll find that many current jobseekers won’t have the same educational backgrounds, industry experience or job descriptions. However, approximately two-thirds of them do have one thing in common.

Over 31% of jobseekers speak two languages, according to a poll of over 12,000 visitors to the Korn/Ferry International website. An additional 20% speak three languages, 9% speak four languages and 4% speak more than four. Whether companies are conducting business overseas or trying to obtain a larger market share locally, employers are increasingly seeking out bilingual employees, or people with the ability to speak and communicate in more than one language. In fact, a recent CareerBuilder.com keyword search turned up more than 6,000 job postings seeking bilingual applicants.
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Connecting With The Hispanic Market Through Language & Culture

Corporate America has awakened to the monumental importance of the Hispanic consumer and their growing purchasing power, which by end of this year is estimated to reach between $1-$1.5 trillion dollars. Companies are realizing this is a market that can’t be ignored and that if they don’t act now the chance to capture it may be lost. Those who’ve succeeded, went well beyond simply translating English copy into their native language on their website and marketing collateral. These companies expanded their strategy from merely targeting the Hispanic consumer to exploring the cultural characteristics and values that would drive them to trust their brand.
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The Importance of a Writing Proficiency Assessment

Are your employees or potential candidates in need of a writing proficiency assessment? Many candidates come to corporations offering language skills in multiple languages. How do you know, however, if those skills will match the needs of your company? Competing in a global market place – or even just domestically – requires that your employees have the best language skills possible and those skills may even vary from position to position within your company. You may need call center employees with excellent verbal and listening skills. You may also require technical writers that have a strong grasp of English or even other languages for translation abilities. Of the many language skills that employers feel they need to test for employee proficiency, writing is often considered one of the most important and also the hardest to assess. Even proficient language speakers may not be as proficient in the written word as they are verbally and so the writing proficiency assessment can be vitally important.
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Speaking Proficiency Tests

Countless organizations benefit greatly from having multilingual employees. However, there is only one tried and true method of ensuring that your employees have the language skills you need to stand out – Language Testing International’s speaking proficiency tests. As the only company to be licensed by the world-renowned American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), only we at LTI possess the combination of decades of experience and cutting-edge technology to provide the most accurate and reliable speaking proficiency tests you can find.
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Spanish Proficiency Tests Can Help you Correctly Place your Employees

Are you looking to certify that your employees speak a much needed language? Spanish proficiency tests with Language Testing International can help. Being multilingual is a valuable skill for modern employees, particularly as the prevalence of other native languages within our own borders increases and particularly as the need to compete in a global market rises. One of the most commonly needed second languages is Spanish, but while many employees will note an ability to speak Spanish on their resumes, you must be certain that your employees can use the language appropriately and competently to ensure your business image. Spanish proficiency tests with Language Testing International are a way to screen your employees or potential candidates for their language abilities both in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
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Spanish Language Tests that Measure Ability Rather than Surface Knowledge

Multilingual employees are a great asset to any company or institution today. Spanish language tests to verify proficiency in Spanish are one way that you can ensure that your employees are suitably proficient for professional use of Spanish in your group or company. Particularly with the rise of Spanish-speaking citizens in the United States, and with consistent interaction in a global market, organizations and corporations are under more pressure than ever to ensure that not only are their employees multi-lingual, but that they are proficiently multi-lingual. Employees may be tempted, in this competitive market, to note that they are proficient in a language because of conversational or basic language knowledge. However, professional competency is a far cry from knowing several words or phrases in a language and it is vital that companies be able to place their candidates and employees accurately. Spanish language tests, and other language tests, from Language Testing International can help both you and your employees assess language skills for the best placements and job practices.
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Spanish Language Assessments

If you want Spanish language assessments that are second to none, look no further than Language Testing International. As the exclusive licensee of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, you can be sure that our credibility, along with the validity and accuracy of our tests, is unparalleled.

Our Spanish language assessments essentially center around two main concepts in language proficiency – the verbal and the visual. The verbal sections of the test assess an individual’s ability to speak and listen in Spanish. One of the most common pitfalls of those who have acquired Spanish as a second language is that they are unable to think spontaneously in it, and instead translate in their head when placed in situations that require them to speak or understand Spanish. Our tests are the most reliable way to assess just how fluent a candidate is in Spanish, and whether they can truly function as a fluent speaker.
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Reading and Writing Test

If you are looking for a reading and writing test for any kind of foreign language, look no further than LTI’s variety of options across a multitude of languages. As the primary developer of secondary language texts for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, you can trust to the credibility and competency of the test makers for any kind of secondary of tertiary language. This can be useful for many types of companies, such as those who want to offer second language services or who need to correspond and communicate with other countries in the course of their business.
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Reading Ability Test

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), has created reliable tests delivered by Language Testing International (LTI), that measure a subject’s ability to achieve various measures of proficiency when reading in a second language. Second language acquisition usually entails much more than simply studying another language for a few years on one’s own or in a classroom. To attain high levels of native-like competence in reading can sometimes require years of complete immersion in both the culture and the language itself. This allows an individual to not only understand standard versions of the language, but also to understand the more colloquial aspects of language that native speakers use in their vernacular. To live, study, or work in a target culture successfully, it is imperative to be literate in that target language.
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Real World Perspective on Language Proficiency

With the number of non-English speaking households in the United States continuing to grow exponentially, schools throughout the nation have witnessed a commensurate increase in the number of students attending English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Many school districts nationwide have struggled to accommodate the needs of children who often enter the educational system with limited or non-existent English.

While we have existing means to measure progress in school, primarily grades, there is ample evidence that exists to support the notion that grades alone do not necessarily indicate proficiency (or lack thereof) in a subject, and language learning is no exception. Standardized testing is yet another existing method to evaluate student learning and readiness for subsequent grade levels, but this to has been widely criticized as inadequate and inaccurate as a true measure of ability. In both cases, grades and standardized testing only provide a very small glimpse into what students can do, and they are not an effective means of getting a comprehensive view of overall proficiency.
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