English Language Skills for Better Job Opportunities- Skill 1

 Since my schooling, we have grown by remembering the fear of the English language. In general, students struggle with English. As one approached graduation, master's and research English became essential, yet one still found it difficult to communicate and only managed to do so by speaking without using grammar.

Bollywood and English Speaking

The line, "I can talk in English, I can walk in English, I can laugh in English, I can run in English because English is such a funny language," is one that I recall hearing Shri Amitabh Buchan say in the Namak Halal movie as Arjun Singh. Our confidence grew as a result of this dialogue.

Similarly, Movie English Vinglish defines the significance of English. The film centres on a married woman who struggles with her English and is constantly made fun of by her spouse, daughter, and other family members. Afterward, she decides to study it and gives everyone who made fun of her for not speaking English fluently a lesson. In a similar tone, non-English speaking faces carrying insults and humiliation impact opportunities

To put it another way, since we are all connected to the world, knowing a language improves your significance, employability, and business chances. For example, we can sell anything from anywhere in the world from our place of work in India, and we can apply for employment anywhere in the world. Speaking English well is therefore crucial to increasing one's employability and commercial prospects. Although the second-largest English-speaking population in the world is found in India

Story of Author

After finishing my master's, I find it difficult to write English applications for jobs. I travelled to Mumbai for an interview. I had never been to the as big city of Mumbai before. Ipca Laboratories, Pvt Ltd was the place of my first interview. I went inside and turned to face the receptionist. She spoke English quite well, but I did not, and that's when I started to lose confidence. I then waited for a call for an interview in the waiting area. I don't know when I lost confidence, but I suddenly turned to face the people who were already in line for the interview and they were speaking English fluently while discussing a variety of topics.

Their sense of style, confidence, understanding, and sincerity were excellent; I don't know when I started to lose confidence. After a while, the conversation began when I received an interview invitation. They had a lot of questions. I'm aware of the response, but my limited command of English prevented me from responding. Regretfully, I failed to convince them that I was a suitable candidate for the position, and I ultimately lost trust in myself. This is the true story of the beginning of my career. I left the company because the interviewer's face appeared questionable

I spent the entire evening thinking about why I wasn't very good at English and, regrettably, didn't consider how to strengthen my areas of weakness. Many of my beloved students are experiencing the same thing, but no one is attempting to speak English more fluently.

Heavyweight on mark seat

I was an outstanding student, a hard worker, and a heavyweight on my mark seat, but I had poor English speaking skills. That's the main cause of my frequent confidence losses. I would have a green card holder in the United States or Europe if I were confident. Although it's believed that language shouldn't stand in the way of your development, English is the second language that counts most in business and corporate settings.

I studied in Marathi for my elementary, middle school, and upper secondary education. Speaking English has always been a weakness of mine, even after I graduated. However, after I started working in the professional world, I realized how important it was to communicate in English. Similarly, millions of undergraduate, graduate, and research students have stories similar to this. According to a survey by India skill.com 2024, pronunciation issues with English are the main cause, although many students struggle with speaking the language, this is a major obstacle to completing work-related tasks and impairs their capacity for effective communication.

Over the past 23 years, I have witnessed several students succeed academically yet struggle to get accepted into multinational corporations because of their weak communication and English-speaking abilities. This is the most crucial factor to take into account while trying to improve students' employability.

English-medium schools have popped up everywhere in recent years, from rural to urban areas, but once more, concerns about quality remain. Students learning English as a second language are unable to comprehend matra bhasha and pronounce English correctly. This suggests that children are under pressure due to the language barrier and continue to be confused (in my opinion).

Communication skills at the Institute

The natural narrative differs in that professional courses require a semester-long engagement in improving speaking and understanding of English through practical application. The issue is whether educational institutions take learning a language seriously enough, given that many lack the computers, software, infrastructure, and committed staff needed to teach students. At the institute, communication skills are still defined as a subject for home examinations and are only ever taught on paper. The most crucial component of a student's development and employability—communication skills—seems to be taken lightly by educational institutions, instructors, and students alike. This is the reason it is generally claimed that a student's career is greatly impacted by their misunderstanding of the most fundamental concepts.

Story of student

I'll use the story of one of the students as an example. Following graduation, he began looking for employment and applied to several companies; however, what I have witnessed since is the interview process and the time he submitted his application. I have seen students who are unable to write a proper application in English, in some way, they manage to. Nevertheless, he managed to enter the process, but his inability to communicate effectively due to their limited command of the English language caused him to lose confidence. After much effort, he was able to join the company, but as soon as he did, communication issues arose. Imagine that my student is hired by a South Base company where the majority of employees speak English or their native tongue. The issue arises from the student's weak communication abilities in English and knowledge of the local tongue, which contributes to the industry's dominating factor.

Ignorance towards basic fundamental

Their chances for advancement and, most crucially, their confidence will suffer as a result. I have numerous students' feedback.  A person's life can be changed by minor adjustments, learning, and smart work; ignorance of small matters will cost a person greatly in the future. As a teacher, I have always observed that students never pay attention to the foundations that support their exploration of their personalities, self-confidence, determination, and personal development.

Efforts of The Government of India

The Indian government has shown commitment to skilling, reskilling, and upskilling by investigating the worldwide situation. Globalization, rapidly advancing technology, industrial automation, scientific and technological revolution, evolving consumer expectations and demands, and paradigm shifts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and chat GPT are all part of this period. Basic essential abilities, such as communication skills, are required of students.

" बोलणाऱ्याची माती विकते न बोलणाऱ्याचं सोनं विकत नाही".

A popular Marathi proverb goes, "बोलणाऱ्याचं माती विकते न बोलणाऱ्याचं सोनं विकत नाही”. It takes practice and knowledge of the importance of communication to convince others to be excellent communicators. Since birth, we have tried to communicate with our parents, brothers, teachers, shopkeepers, conductors, doctors, and a host of other individuals who are in our immediate environment. We are still having trouble communicating when it comes to attitude toward learning. Effective interpersonal communication is a true skill. If you take a day off and observe the people around you, you will see that everyone is trying to persuade one another through appropriate communication techniques. Simply visit a market and see how they interact with their customers. Despite their lack of training or qualifications, these individuals pick up skills as a result of having to work to support their families. You just stated that development is born out of necessity. Why not you, if they can?

The solutions to the problem

1.  Spend 30 minutes a day reading an English-language newspaper, watching English-language movies and TV shows, and conversing in English with colleagues, classmates, roommates, and teachers. Whether you are correct or incorrect, it doesn't matter—just keep trying. Don't worry about what other people think.
2. Choose a topic of your choice (ideally something very basic and personal to you), write a paragraph about it, speak it loudly, record it, examine it to see where you made a mistake, record it again, and repeat the process until you feel confident. 
3.  Walking in your free time, moving for dinner, choosing any topic, and chatting about it all the time will make you more comfortable speaking and pronouncing words correctly in English. 
4.  Participate actively in college activities, conferences, workshops, seminars, alumni reunions, cultural gatherings, and webinars. You can also host, speak, or serve as the master of ceremonies at these events. Speaking in front of various audiences or crowds on the dice will become easier for you with the support of this.
5. Students who are interested in improving their English-speaking abilities should form a group and gradually begin conversing with one another.
6. When participating in webinars, conferences, and seminars, make an effort to ask questions and present the information in English. Students who are competent in the subject but fear speaking and communicating in English hesitate to ask questions.
7. Your English speaking skills will improve if you take part in group discussions, debate competitions, essay contests, or allocation competitions whenever you have the chance.
8. Look into how individuals write, talk, pronounce, and use content on social media platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube. Take advantage of the numerous free YouTube tutorials to improve your English.
9. Enrol in one of the many paid or free courses available to help you get better at speaking English. You can also ask your principal for permission to hire an English teacher for a class of children.
10. Although there are some basic grammar books and English-speaking books available, CDs in the simplest language might help you improve your proficiency.
11. Try to watch speeches given at events like TEDx, National Youth Parliament Festivals, Bhartiya Chatra Sansad, Word Champion of Public Speaking, and talks by business people, actors, politicians (who don't speak to get votes), businessmen, and motivational speakers.
12. Try speaking in front of a mirror while repeating what you know and seeing how your expressions alter when you talk to others.

            I'll end my blog post by saying that practice makes perfect and that English is merely a language, Keep on practicing.

Dr Surendra G Gattani 

Professor, School of Pharmacy

S.R.T.M.University, Nanded