안녕하세요, 영어 강사 Josh 입니다.

이제 한해가 끝나가면서 ‘내년에는 영어 열심히 공부해야지!' 라고 생각하시는 분도 계실 거라 생각합니다. ‘영어를 잘하고 싶다'는 욕망은 좋은데 구체적으로 영어를 가지고 무엇을 할 수 있을지 염두에 두면 더 좋을 것 같아요.

그래서 이 새로운 동영상에서 저 Josh의 나름 생각을 나누었습니다. 만약에 제가 영어가 안 되었으면 하지 못했던 일들 등, 제 경험도 공유합니다.

Today I’m going to talk about the benefits of speaking English fluently. Many learners have this ambition and dream to be able to speak English very fluently, and I think that’s commendable.

So here are some of the things that my students and I have experienced from being able to speak English fluently.

Watch the video or read the blog post below

#1 Career Opportunities

You’ll have more choices in your career options and you’ll be given interesting and challenging tasks at work. Since this video is intended for a Korean audience, I'm going to talk about the Korean job market. In general, the ability to speak English makes you a more attractive job candidate. Even though you might not have much experience in some industries, companies often do look for job candidates who can communicate in English.

Sometimes big corporations establish service centers and branch offices worldwide, and they want to hire someone who is willing to relocate.
Even SMEs, which stands for small and medium-sized enterprises, might be looking to add team members who speak English. They might already be partnering with other businesses overseas or trying to expand to the global market.

My students work in various fields. Sometimes their boss asks them to do an interesting and challenging task that involves English. For example, they might go on an overseas business trip or give a presentation to stakeholders.

Just because I speak English, Japanese, and some Korean, I get job offers every now and then from industries that have nothing to do with my college major, or what I'm doing here on YouTube.

When I used to work for an agency, being able to speak English helped us keep our overhead low. We were working on a client project and we got stuck on designing one specific feature for a software we were developing.

Instead of hiring a Korean contractor to solve this problem, we hired a Romanian contractor. I’m not saying that Korean contractors are worse. They were both technically skilled. It’s just that the Romanian developer was much more affordable for us, probably because of where he lived. If I didn’t speak English, and if he didn’t speak English, we might not have been able to do business together.

#2 Network

Being able to speak English enables you to expand your network.

I might go to conferences and meet smart, interesting people whom I would have never met had I stayed in my existing circle of friends.

When I get stuck in my line of work, I can reach out to experts to get specific advice to solve my problem.

Sometimes they gave me advice for free; other times I pay for their time. We have an email exchange and we get on Skype or talk on the phone.

#3 Perspectives

When you know a foreign language, it lets you see things from a different perspective. A language is a lens through which you can observe and understand the world.

People express their emotions and thoughts in different ways. Compare Korean humor to American or British humor. Even the sense of humor is different.

When you know multiple languages, you’ll get to laugh more, because you understand more jokes.

Access to Information

Another benefit of speaking English well is that you get access to a wide, vast range of information and opinions.

You can read or watch the news in English, and you can try to understand the reactions of people to social and political issues outside your home country.

If you want to learn a specific vocational skill, like programming, design, or learning a musical instrument, you might be able to find better resources in English than in your mother language! There are so many books in English that I wish were translated and made available in Japanese and Korean!

Being able to speak English well enables you to contribute and participate in a larger discussion on the issues that you care about.

Travel

There’s one thing I didn’t talk about, and it’s travel. I heard people say that they are studying English because they want to travel. In my opinion, if you are traveling to a non-English speaking country, I think English does not really matter. You just need to know enough English to get through customs at the airport.

Once you step outside of the airport, you’re stumbling your way through the local scenery. To me, that’s also a part of the joy of travel. So for me personally, I don’t think being able to speak English fluently necessarily makes travels more enjoyable. But it certainly is helpful to know some languages, in case you get into trouble, and you need to figure out a way to get out of that situation. Always stay safe when traveling!

What do you think?

So those are my thoughts on the benefits of speaking English fluently. You get more career options, and you get to do more interesting work. You will expand your network and get to learn from many people. And lastly, it helps you expand your perspective of the world.

What do you think? How did English benefit you? Share your thoughts below.