More than 9 in 10 corporate Romanians communicate well in foreign languages

Some 94% of the people audited by organizations in Romania have good or very good knowledge of foreign languages, according to the results of an analysis performed by language service company Eucom, part of Ascendis Group. Most of them can communicate in English, French, or German. “In 2015, Eucom consultants reviewed over 4,500 young professionals who were put through a series of tests to determine their actual level of foreign language knowledge. The results of the evaluations show that 69% of the people assessed are independent users of a foreign language, meaning that they can communicate accurately and use various vocabulary terms coherently, on familiar or more challenging topics,” said Eucom partner Delia Dragomir. Moreover, a quarter of those evaluated are experienced users, which means that they can easily take part in conferences or business meetings held in the respective foreign language. Companies usually require language audit services during recruitment procedures, but they also test the employees before promotions or before awarding them performance bonuses. “The languages for which our linguistic audit services have been most frequently in demand were English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Out of the total assessments made last year, 31% were for English, 22% for French, 18% - German, 11% - Spanish, and 6% -Italian,” said Delia Dragomir. More than 10,000 employees participated in Eucom language courses last year. According to the Common European Reference Framework for Languages, comprehension, speaking and writing skills in a foreign language can be classified into six levels: A1, A2 (elementary users, who understand and know basic notions), B1 and B2 (independent users, who show a high level of understanding and use complex structures in a foreign language), C1 and C2 (experienced users, who have no difficulties in understanding, speaking and writing in a foreign language). Eucom is a language service company established in 2002 by Silviu and Delia Dragomir. The company has been part of Ascendis Group since 2013. Almost all Romanian secondary school pupils study two foreign languages Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com