How will English help you in your career and future

For English Learners,

As an Indonesian university student or employee you may wonder how much English is going to help you with your career. Certainly if you have already been an employee for a while now you would know that in applying for jobs a lot of companies ask for great English skills and to find staff who speak English well is very difficult.

Even in India where the English speakers are proportionately a much larger number when compared to countries like Indonesia, the employee who can speak English well earns an average of 30% more that their non-English speaking counter parts. This is 30% extra for the entirety of their career. That is a big difference. Not only does it command a higher salary there but it also opens up more opportunities, somebody who speaks English well will be able to secure a position or promotion sooner, also they will be able to acquire different clients and make different connections than their non-English speaking counterparts.

Also for professional development English provides a competitive edge because all of the latest materials for your industry are probably released in English. In Indonesia, the case is even more impressive than that of India in that people of certain professions who can speak English can sometimes earn up to double their non-English speaking counterparts. This is for the same work, the same hours, having the same qualifications and the same experience. What a huge cutting edge English gives to your career!

If you're confused where to start in learning English don't be! If you already have a basic communicative ability in English you've already won half the battle. Perhaps as many as 90% of learners of a foreign language don't continue to be able to communicate in that language. Just take the graduates from High School around Indonesia as an example, how many of those that you went to school with can speak English well? How many of those that came from the local government high school can speak English well? You'll see that in Indonesia there is a huge skills shortage when it comes to English, which is why as in India people with English skills here command such great opportunities for themselves.

So as somebody who wants to go from being able to communicate to become fluent in English there has never been a better time to start than now! For those who cannot communicate confidently yet then for you also there is good news, to get from not being able to communicate to being able to communicate confidently will only take 6-12 Months of serious study, and for those who want to get from communicating to professional fluency you're looking at around 2-3 years.

How can you get started on your English journey? Well for the beginner the best thing to do is to start formally studying the language. If you have access to a good English course this is a great way to get started, but that by itself is not enough. You must also have a discipline routine to practice daily, so that you can improve steadily. For the person who is looking to get to an advanced fluency a lot of what you will do is self-study quite often structured courses will not take you exactly where you need to go because the more advanced you get in English the more tailor made the approach needs to be. The person who best knows your weaknesses and who best knows what more you need to learn are yourself and if you can a personal coach to assess your language needs.

 So the key phrase for people looking to reach advanced fluency is "guided learning". It is very useful to have somebody look at your individual situation and be there to mentor you and guide you as you progress on your language journey. For somebody who is looking to just reach communicative competence in the language the key phrase is "a structured course, with lots of practice in your own time". If you can commit to these things, set aside the money and the time needed I'm sure that you can reach your goal of getting better English for a better future.


 Don't forget that learning English can be fun, and if you relax and make a good habit out of it you'll learn much more easily. Okay I hope that this has helped you in your quest to continue your language journey and that you'll have the best of success with your English and in your life.

Kind regards,

-Hugh