Meet a Language Superhero: Gina Ridulfo

magazine cover Gina RidulfoThis month’s language superhero tells a story of challenges, determination, and grit. Gina Ridulfo lost her ability to speak and write at the age of 8. She worked hard to regain her abilities and prove to everyone she was capable of a lot more than she was given credit for. Now, Gina is a teacher, self-taught speaker of Italian, and American Sign Language interpreter.

Read her story: Language-Superpower-Magazine-Gina-Ridulfo

Watch Gina’s videos:

Stepping out of your comfort zone to get language certified

Reasons to get language certified

Why you should get your language certification

Regaining my language (video in American Sign Language)

What it means to be “languageless” (video in American Sign Language)

Exploring a World of Opportunities in the Hospitality Sector with Your Language Skills

The hospitality industry is designed for individuals who enjoy interacting with different people every day. The different businesses within this sector—hotels, resorts, restaurants, and more—require professionals with certain essential skills to run a successful enterprise. If you are looking for a job or pursuing a career in a field where you can apply your language skills and benefit from them in the long-term, there is a wide range of roles you can set your eyes on in the hospitality sector.

As featured in Indeed.com’s article What is the Hospitality Industry? Job titles & Skill Sets, the hospitality industry consists of the provision of a variety of services in five prime categories such as: tourism, transportation, lodging, events, and food and beverage. It also includes services offered in cruises, sporting events, and entertainment. This industry can provide employees with different benefits and countless opportunities for growth and requires a culturally diverse workforce.

Competitive Advantage of Multilingualism in the Hospitality Industry

Daily 24/7 interactions take place with multicultural customers seeking the best service experience, including its delivery in the language of their preference. Being bilingual or multilingual can make you stand out from other job seekers. This is a significant competitive edge in the hospitality field, where there is a broad-spectrum of companies focused on serving guests who want to enjoy their spare time with family and friends, and who understand that there is no room for language barriers and misunderstandings that can create unpleasant experiences.

As stated in a 2018 survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for ACTFL, most employers are reporting higher demand for foreign language skills than in previous years. The survey highlights that the top two departments in businesses that require employees with additional language capabilities are customer service and sales.

Commanding more than one language has an enormous impact in the hospitality industry, according to industry experts. The use of languages has different purposes in the industry such as:

  • assisting incoming tourists that do not necessarily understand the language of the country they are visiting, from scheduling activities to navigating local cities.
  • opportunities to work abroad in non-English speaking countries.
  • providing effective communication with international colleagues and customers.
  • ability to understand cultural nuances and close the communication gap.

Due to the high demand for multilingual employees, language training is now also becoming increasingly important in the workplace, globally.

The hospitality field offers its employees the opportunity of being exposed to different environments and the development of new skillsets each day. Whether you choose to work as a hotel manager or as a server in a restaurant, there are numerous possibilities to move up in the industry.

If you are a bilingual or multilingual professional seeking a role in the hospitality industry and would like to demonstrate your language skills to prospective employers, get certified! Language Testing International (LTI), an exclusive licensee of ACTFL and authority in language assessments offers valid language credentials in over 120 languages. All language proficiency assessments are remotely proctored, so you can take them at any time and anywhere. Scheduling your tests is easy and can be done on the LTI website.

 

References

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Lead with Languages Campaign commissioned Ipsos Public Affairs, with the support of Pearson LLC and Language Testing International. (2019). “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers.” https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/report

“Foreign Language in the Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay.” Ukessays.com 11 2018. UKEssays. 06 2022. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/tourism/foreign-language-in-the-hospitality-industry-tourism-essay.php

“What is the Hospitality Industry? Job Titles & Skill Sets.” Indeed for Employers. 2022. https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/what-is-the-hospitality-industry-job-titles-skill-sets

BEWARE: A Claim of Language Fluency on a Resume Isn’t Enough

I have lost count of the times that I reviewed resumes for colleagues, friends, or family members who are applying for a job and asked me for feedback. At the bottom of each resume, under the “SKILLS” category and immediately after mentioning command of a variety of software programs, I often see written these three words: “Fluent in Spanish.” The first time this happened I had to pause, take a deep breath, and figure out how to address the importance of revising this statement on a resume. I found myself tiptoeing around the conversation of language fluency because I didn’t want to hurt the feelings of a person I care for; much less insinuate they were lying. However, I soon realized that because I really cared I had to tell them – “Darling, you are not fluent in Spanish.”

The Collins English Dictionary defines a person who is fluent as one that “can speak the language easily and correctly.” When a person proclaims that they are fluent in a particular language on their resume, it means (to me) that they can perform the job they are applying for with ease and accuracy in that language. This includes reading, listening, speaking, and writing with the proper terminology for the industry, and use of grammatical and punctuation rules. Unfortunately, language fluency is consistently hard to gauge as a person’s perception of his/her proficiency might not match what his/her true proficiency is when measured with a language proficiency assessment. A recent survey has shown that it’s easy to overstate one’s proficiency, and almost 60% of job applicants do so on their resumes, including their language proficiency.

Therefore, it’s very important for companies to assess their current employees’ and prospective employees’ language skills because it’s too risky not to do so. Through language proficiency certification, businesses can ensure proficiency and the ability to mitigate risks such as the following, to name a few:

  • Complying with laws and regulations that require culturally and linguistically clear communication and understanding that will prevent accidents in the workplace (i.e., hospitals, construction sites, travel industry).
  • Lackluster year-to-year revenue growth due to inability to adequately expand into diverse markets.
  • Unsatisfactory non-English speaking customer experiences that will tarnish the company’s reputation and chances of building customer loyalty.
  • Loss of valuable bilingual or multilingual talent that may decide to secure a better opportunity where their language skills are appreciated and incentivized.

It’s not enough or acceptable these days to simply believe what people put on their resumes regarding their language proficiency. Language Testing International (LTI) administers ACTFL language proficiency assessments—the gold standard in language testing—and a trusted, validated, and accredited remote proctoring process. For the past 30 years, LTI has assessed the language proficiency of over 5 million people around the world reliably and accurately. People that are bilingual, multilingual, or at any stage of their language learning journey are also able to retest periodically to qualify how much they have progressed in terms of their fluency. This can be done internally at any organization as part of its regular talent pool assessment process.

Language proficiency assessments also ascertain what type of tasks employees can perform at work based on their measured language skills. Our team of experts can help you determine the minimum levels of proficiency required for multilingual roles. Through an understanding of your goals, LTI develops the best language assessment plan to meet your assessment and reporting needs. We do this through our Task Analysis procedure to establish the minimum level of language proficiency recommendation to qualify talent for the multilingual role(s).

This can be instrumental as businesses grow their product offerings into global markets or incorporate new target audiences into their prospective clientele. The bottom line is that the multilingual capabilities of your staff and the accurate assessment of their language proficiency skills directly impacts the company’s outcomes. So, if a potential candidate or current employee says they are fluent in any language, mitigate possible risk as soon as possible with the help of LTI.

Interested in starting language proficiency testing at your company? Learn more here and contact us to get started.

Hiring, Retaining, and Rewarding Multilingual Employees Is Good for Business

Are you actively recruiting bilingual employees to meet the needs of your diverse customers? According to the 2020 Census results, nearly 9% of the U.S. population has limited English proficiency, and 22% of the total population speaks a language other than English at home. With the U.S. population being more and more diverse and multicultural, providing services to customers in their preferred language to meet their needs and ensure your company’s success becomes a necessity.

Benefits of hiring multilingual talent

In the past few years, there has been a steadily growing need for a multilingual workforce. The demand for multilingual employees more than doubled between 2010 and 2015. The workforce has continued to evolve since then, particularly as a consequence of the Covid pandemic: as of 2021, there has been a 30% increase in bilingual remote jobs. Bilingual and multilingual employees bring a lot to the table, from establishing deeper connections with non-English speaking customers to helping build a culturally diverse workforce. Here are a few specific benefits of hiring multilingual talent.

Better connection to customers domestically and internationally

There are millions of people in the U.S. who prefer to communicate in a language other than English. In fact, 76% of customers said they’re more likely to purchase a product if information is available in their own language. When your employees can communicate with non-English speaking customers in their preferred language, they build deeper and longer lasting relationships. Hiring multilingual employees is a must when you’re looking to expand your business globally. They can not only communicate easily with your global customers but can also understand and interpret cultural details and nuances that influence customer decisions.

Saving money

Hiring employees who are highly proficient in other languages can save you money as they can translate documents and engage in conversations with customers and business partners without the need to hire outside translators or interpreters. Your multilingual employees can also assist with drafting and/or proofreading marketing or sales copy in other languages, further saving you time and money.

Multilinguals are better multitaskers and problem solvers

There are multiple studies that show cognitive advantages of multilingualism. For example, a study done by the National Institute of Health shows that multilinguals are much better and faster at switching tasks than their monolingual counterparts. In a corporate environment where flexibility and the ability to pivot quickly is important, multilingual employees can be a great asset. Another study has found that multilingual speakers process information faster and more efficiently than their monolingual colleagues, making them excellent problem solvers and quick thinkers.

professional woman engaged in conversationHiring and retaining the best multilingual talent

To ensure your current and prospective employees have the right level of proficiency in another language, make language assessment a part of your recruitment process. Validated and certified language proficiency testing can offer an accurate measurement of language level and eliminate the guesswork on whether a candidate truly possesses the language skills required for the job.

To attract and retain the best multilingual talent, consider offering a language pay differential for employees who demonstrate a required level of proficiency. Language pay differential (also known as FLIP—foreign language incentive pay) recognizes the value multilingual employees bring to a company and helps businesses stay competitive in the rapidly changing global economy. Pay differentials are common in government agencies and healthcare, but more and more companies offer additional pay for language skills. On average, multilingual employees make 5%-20% more per hour.

Determining the minimum level of language proficiency

Hiring and retaining multilingual talent and ensuring they possess the required language proficiency might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.

Language Testing International (LTI), an exclusive licensee of ACTFL, can help you determine the minimal level of proficiency required for multilingual roles. Through an understanding of your goals, LTI develops the best language assessment plan to meet the assessment and reporting needs of each client and specific job roles. We do this through LTI’s Task Analysis procedure to establish the minimum level of language proficiency recommendation to qualify talent for the multilingual role(s).

Task Analysis is performed with subject matter experts (SMEs), each of whom represents a particular field or profession. They participate in a language needs analysis to identify the proficiency level required to perform job-related communication tasks, establish clear language training goals, and identify specific “training gaps.” SMEs are asked the following questions:

  • What are the routine tasks that need to be performed? Are there non-routine tasks?
  • What content knowledge is needed to perform the task?
  • What is the context/situation of the task?
  • Who is the targeted listener?
  • What is the impact of miscommunication?
  • How well does the employee need to speak to successfully perform the language task?

Decades of language needs analyses and language testing have produced the data presented in Oral Proficiency in the Workplace. This chart aligns minimal ACTFL levels of spoken language proficiency with corresponding workplace positions as determined by SMEs. In addition, there are examples of speaker profiles that are likely to perform at those levels.

Ready to get started with language proficiency assessment? Contact us.

As the global leader in language proficiency testing, Language Testing International (LTI) conducts almost one million language proficiency tests every year in 120+ languages. We partner with Fortune 500 companies as well as small business, academic institutions, and government agencies to verify and certify language skills of multilingual speakers. As the exclusive licensee of ACTFL, we offer the highest level of client service as well as convenient online test scheduling and reporting over secure client networks.