Thread: Russian language skills for business

I am really excited because today I had the first opportunity to take advantage of my (VERY modest) skills in Russian for business.

Background: I've been taking some time off work, but I just started interviewing for my next role (and got my first job offer, today - hurrah!)
I work in IT project management.

Despite the other offer coming in, I decided to go along for another interview that had already been scheduled in, previously. The company that interviewed me were rolling out a new IT system across Europe and had experienced lots of problems in Moscow, in particular. (complicated localisation + language barriers)

The person who interviewed me said "You don't by any chance speak Russian, do you? That would be too good to be true..."
I thought "Oh, what I have got to lose?" and said "Yeah I do, actually, a bit.."
(everything is relative!!!) Then I said that I plan to take the TORFL test in March, however I didn't mention that I plan to take the basic level... LOL!

The people who interviewed me seemed quite impressed by this.
Also, later when I left the building I noticed that a guy was standing in the foyer speaking Russian on his mobile phone.

The point of this is:

1) Russian can be very useful for business purposes in Western Europe - including senior jobs.
2) It was completely by chance that they had a requirement for somebody who could speak Russian. If I had been able to say "Yes I am fluent in Russian" I probably would have knocked out all the competition for this role. Too bad it's not (yet) true. Incidentally this particular role was by far the best-paying one that I'd interviewed for.

Back to reality.... I think everybody who has seen my grammar questions realise that I cannot go to Moscow and start discussing IT issues right now!
But perhaps in 6 months it might be possible to have a simple conversation about it.

This was very motivational and inspiring for me!
Anyone else came across business needs for Russian?

Great story, I wonder if because many of the IT vocabulary words are new ones that have popped up over the years if they will be easier to catch on to. I am pretty much a total newb but I have found that words such as ТЕЛЕФОН, радио, and, компьютер are pretty easy to get.

That's awesome for you.I think you should be fully aware of you capability and knowledge and should have an absolute self confidence to be successful and efficient in your job.If i were you,i'd probably do the same.I wish you good luck in finding a proper job

всего хорошего

Congrats and good luck to you!

Russia has got a lot of potential in terms of business -- a lot of foreign companies are coming ino the Russian market. I know nothing of IT but in recent years various businesses have been coming even here in Siberia, like LeRoi Merlen and Ashan (sp?) malls... In any case, it's always a huge bonus if you speak a foreign language not many people know. I wish I could take up learning such a language, though I'm quite all right with English, job-wise. Chinese seems to be needed quite a lot here and sometimes I come across ads requiring knowledge of Turkish or Central Asian languages.

Originally Posted by Johanna

I think everybody who has seen my grammar questions realise that I cannot go to Moscow and start discussing IT issues right now!

Actually you can. Call it impudence (I prefer the term boldness), but I think you will be able to master your Russian pretty quickly if you do )))