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Overseas update


goldendesign
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8 minutes ago, goldendesign said:

So attention has stalled on Denmark for the time being. I have been offered a 1-year executive training program within my current company. I'd do my current role and responsibilities and be groomed (is that still PC to say?) for a senior management role within the company. They asked if relocation is possible and were super excited when I said I prefer it, especially to the EU, we have 22 offices in EU and rapidly expanding. One of my ideal countries, Germany, has a very big development in both broadcast mediums (Linear and Digital) and I have plenty of domain knowledge in both. 

Where do I send my resume for the German (or any EU) office :D  

Interesting on the B2 piece.  I sort of feel you could get to that level in 2022 if you have an ear for language.  I think my wife could. Me?  Likely not. I have 2 yrs HS and 2 year college German and still stink. My Latin was useless except for SAT type stuff. My French and Spanish is like so-so reading, but when the all important spoken - and hearing fast paced native speakers - is atrocious :(  I stink at pronunciation of American words!

Keep working on it, though, as it really seems it starts to come together the more you focus on it.

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8 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

My Latin was useless except for SAT type stuff.

Took Latin in high school because the nuns said I needed it for college. Well I didn't go to college right after high school and when I did, I didn't need Latin. Instead I moved to New Mexico where taking Spanish lessons in high school would have been a much better idea.

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Just now, JerrySTL said:

Took Latin in high school because the nuns said I needed it for college. Well I didn't go to college right after high school and when I did, I didn't need Latin. Instead I moved to New Mexico where taking Spanish lessons in high school would have been a much better idea.

Darn nuns!  We had Jesuits, so "brothers" I guess.  It was Latin, then Greek, then a modern foreign language.  We moved before I got stuck learning Greek, but ended up still having a modern language requirement.  My HS German teacher definitely had her hands full with me those two years.  

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15 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Interesting on the B2 piece.  I sort of feel you could get to that level in 2022 if you have an ear for language.

I most decidedly do not. Been married 14 years to a fluent Turkish speaker and her entire family speaks maybe 20 words of English. Yet I know maybe 50 words and phrases.

I would need dedicated time with an instructor and course work. I do not have that right now so it is not a possibility to become fluent-adjacent in anything other than the needs of living in a new area/economy/social structure/job and more in that first year.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Where do I send my resume for the German (or any EU) office :D  

Interesting on the B2 piece.  I sort of feel you could get to that level in 2022 if you have an ear for language.  I think my wife could. Me?  Likely not. I have 2 yrs HS and 2 year college German and still stink. My Latin was useless except for SAT type stuff. My French and Spanish is like so-so reading, but when the all important spoken - and hearing fast paced native speakers - is atrocious :(  I stink at pronunciation of American words!

Keep working on it, though, as it really seems it starts to come together the more you focus on it.

I took 2 years of Spanish at a Cont-Ed school. Year two, I could speak & read it pretty well, I just couldn't ever hear it. I took French from 7-11 grades, the structure was very similar, as were a lot of the vocab. I made old business cards into flash cards that I could read & flip thru while driving. I'd make up stupid sentences to get into the verbal flow (Look at the big, green dog in the yellow tree.)

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1 hour ago, goldendesign said:

I most decidedly do not.

WRONG!  That designation seems most attainable.  You will be immersed in the culture, a little interacting with the locals and an hour a day of television in that language with a dictionary and phrase book handy will have you functionally fluent in a few months at most.  I don't care what language you are talking about, Danish, mandarin, klingon, doesn't matter.  Apply yourself a tiny bit and don't make excuses and you can easily do it.

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2 hours ago, goldendesign said:

Been awhile since I updated you all. I made it all the way to hiring package negotiations with that first Danish company. It unfortunately broke down from there. The compensation was well within the acceptable zone that I had figured for moving there. They even went so far as offering to pay for a single shipping container for the relocation which was nice but that was where things became unreasonable. 
They know their hiring a non-citizen person. They'd pay for my visa and help with relocation, they require a fluent English speaker for the role. But then they also came back with requiring me to be also B2 level in Danish before the year was out (2022). 
So not only would I have to relocate my family and home, start a new position that would require me to build a whole lot of processes from the ground up, I also would have to within a year somehow become highly proficient in Danish?
 

B2 Classification:

Spoken interaction You can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible. You can take an active part in discussion in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining your views.

Spoken production You can present clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects related to your field of interest. You can explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

 

That just wasn't a feasible option. Most language classes claim I can become A2 to B1 with about 18 months of study. An they wanted a 33% time improvement and another classification higher!

So attention has stalled on Denmark for the time being. I have been offered a 1-year executive training program within my current company. I'd do my current role and responsibilities and be groomed (is that still PC to say?) for a senior management role within the company. They asked if relocation is possible and were super excited when I said I prefer it, especially to the EU, we have 22 offices in EU and rapidly expanding. One of my ideal countries, Germany, has a very big development in both broadcast mediums (Linear and Digital) and I have plenty of domain knowledge in both. 

I just might be able to have my cake and eat it too. Stay working for a company that's been very good to my career and move to a European country with a solid foundation for a future for my family. We shall see what the future holds.

Hope this 2nd path works out golden design for existing firm and maybe Germany. 

I can see why this company would administer a language fluency test for B2 level.  However it is a bit strange you were not informed as an international applicant near beginning of screening process.

For some Canadian federal bilingual govn't jobs, they advertise directly on the public web site on the specific job  ad, the level of English and French fluency for desired applicants. AA BBB or BB or CCC, etc. They will state required fluency rating for written vs. verbal communication in French for allophones (other than English) and Anglophones.  I did undergo French language testing when shortlisted for a fed. govn't job competition. I studied abit (not alot) for this 2 wks. in advance ....since my Iast French course in university was 25 yrs. prior to job competition.  

I actually passed the basic level for reading French,  but not for oral.  So I amazed myself. It might show that I took basic French courses several times over time.. since teens.  During  high school I took 3 years of Latin.. only value for verb conjugation and male/female pronoun concepts and English root of words.

(Yes, I am more comfortable  travelling linguistically in France vs...ie. Germany, Greece or even Italy.)

Testing was around 2 hrs. I think or a bit less. 

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I need to learn French. I keep saying that...but.  I originally went with Latin in high school. I college took German. In Florida, Spanish would have been more appropriate but that was at the time of the Cuban influx and suddenly had native speakers speakers with the same language credit requirement taking Spanish as a cript course. I wasn't going to compete in that class curve. Then after a year, dropped the language requirement for degree, so just one year of German.

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When I was in Catholic School, we were taught French in 8th Grade because one of the nuns was from Quebec.

So when I got to high school I figured I'd have a leg up sticking with French.

I didn't know it until I got to college, but in the pre-computer-translator days American Chemistry Majors were required to pass a fluency test (or a 202-level college class) in French, German, or Russian so there would be a pool of chemists who could translate articles in the main 3 foreign languages od chemistry journals.

So I lucked out.

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