Unlocking skills

Every autumn, freshmen will have a collective attack of confusion. In the past few days, several younger brothers and sisters have come to ask, Spanish is so difficult and employment is so difficult. Do you want to change careers? Do you want to change careers? Do you want to change careers?

Calm down, students ... as a ronin with crooked skills, I will systematically talk about my understanding and experience, and welcome everyone to add.

I am a bachelor of Spanish-a master of communication in western countries-a reporter returning from a newspaper-the editor-in-chief of an Internet company. Six years after graduation, I peeled three layers of skin twice and felt sour. I sorted out the common puzzles in the transformation of small languages, and let's talk about them from the following five aspects:

-Has the Spanish market failed in recent years?

-Is learning a language a limitation of career choice?

-What is the basis of interdisciplinary research/career transformation?

-How to quickly accumulate interdisciplinary knowledge?

-How to develop minority language skills after changing careers?

Reading reminder: Today is another long story with pictures. The reading time is about 7 minutes. If you can't finish reading it at once, you can collect it first.

Spanish students have the opportunity to work for thousands of dollars a day, to follow the leaders of various ministries in their early twenties, and to see the colorful and splendid Latin American world. This is the bright side of this industry and an opportunity that other industries can't meet.

In the past, middle-level Spanish students could settle down and make a living by freelance translation, tour guide and other entry-level Spanish jobs, but now the salary of such jobs has shrunk. An intuitive indicator is that the price of freelance translators in western language translation has dropped from 150 to 100/ thousand words, which tends to fall below 100. There are several reasons for this situation: the price of student interpreters has been low year after year, the number of employees has been increasing, and the economy of Spanish-speaking countries is in recession.

However, posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, local foreign affairs offices, state-owned enterprises, large western enterprises and university teachers are still needed. Even now, there is still a chance to miss more money.

According to my observation, at present, the Spanish market is saturated, and the profit margin of the practitioners at the bottom of the pyramid has been greatly compressed. However, because Spanish has certain technical barriers, it still has market value, and the return is still higher than that of most liberal arts majors. Said nothing good, just compared with my annual salary 10w when I graduated.

Small languages themselves are small shops in the mass market. The classic scenes of Spanish homework are: salted duck going out, Gai Lou, a naked duck, making wine in Chile, the Committee digging for oil, Brazil watching a ball game, and Mexico exploding.

In addition, as far as I am concerned, our classmates are now scattered in their careers. Other jobs that make money directly in Spanish include: trade with the West, teaching, tour guide, and jobs that make money by Spanish peripheral products include: teaching Flamenco, teaching guitar, purchasing, immigration investment consulting, and studying abroad agency. About 1/3 changed careers and engaged in various occupations unrelated to Spanish. It seems that no one will be limited by language.

As far as I know, in some non-small language jobs, small languages will become an advantage. At least I have read some recruitment requirements of new media and art design, and knowing a foreign language will add points. If you want to transform, you can look in these directions.

What needs to be realized as soon as possible is that a lot of work can't be done by a trained person. Of course, you must figure out how to use your language skills. On the other hand, any job requires skills outside the scope of this major. The accompanying translator may have to wait on the host, the expatriate may have to keep accounts, and the teacher may have to make plans. ...

If these challenges can be chewed well, they may be close to the professional level. For example, mechanical engineering translation may be more knowledgeable than mechanical undergraduates after two years.

In addition, many old birds in the workplace will not tell students that it takes some luck to find a job. In addition to professional strength, the timing of recruitment and eye contact with the interviewer will affect the results. Ha, just like a blind date.

For example, the bureau seat is from a small language. It is said that Peking University recruited him because he was still Zhou Zheng ... So he inexplicably learned Arabic, and was later sent to Arabia, and gradually grew into a military expert. You are familiar with all the following stories ~

At that time, there were few small language talents, and all small language skills could be opened. Now the world is obviously more cruel (but the attention to Yan value has not changed until now ... crying). Back to the topic, of course, the transformation mainly depends on the preparation and strength. Let's talk about the transformation steps I have explored.

First, determine your interests. Dangdang, Amazon should search the collection of essays on this subject, yes, look at the papers. This is a way to test whether you are suitable to be a graduate student in a subject. If you are not afraid of technical terms and feel deeply attracted, congratulations, God set up this interface when he created you.

Second, try to get a relatively high level of certification from the original major. After the trans-major transformation, this is the final conclusion representing your original professional level and the proof of your academic ability. Therefore, for students who are studying, it is better to pass TEM-8 and DELEB2, and C 1.

I passed DELEB2 in my junior year, and I am going to practice abroad in my senior year. In fact, it is no problem for Spanish undergraduate students to apply for a Spanish master's degree directly. Why bother? On the one hand, it is familiar with the idea of Spanish examination, which is convenient for postgraduate courses, on the other hand, it is international certification.

When I was a master, I began to work as a part-time reporter after getting relatively stable results in the first year. Considering the quality of my graduation thesis and the lack of social experience, I applied for an extension at the end of the second year.

International students hope to get their diplomas early and start making money. When the department received my application for extension of graduation, they were surprised. I had a heart-to-heart talk with the dean. I hope that in addition to exams, I can use more practical experience to increase the accumulated thickness, and I don't have to worry about graduating after one year. Then in the third year, I worked while doing my thesis, traveled to 20 cities in Europe and made many interesting interviews.

Similarly, when I was a reporter, I also did some award-winning projects. Students who want to transform, don't take the award-winning experience as vanity, do it in a down-to-earth manner and leave in a down-to-earth manner. In this way, every transformation is a blessing, not an escape that can't be mixed.

One thing you need to remind students is that your efforts to change careers are likely to exceed your efforts to be admitted to DELEC 1, and it is no problem to find a job directly after being admitted to DELEC 1. Then you can make money and better understand the industry that suits you.

Third, weigh the pros and cons, which is the most difficult. Spanish has opened my international vision, new communication has cultivated my independent perspective, and the Internet has inspired my business thinking. They gave me better understanding and adaptability. I can find a job in at least three industries, and I can also apply for a position with multiple skills.

But at the same time, it has dispersed a lot of time costs, lacked in-depth contacts, and had no in-depth understanding of each industry. Although my foreign and business Spanish students have reached the upper limit of promotion, they have already bought a house in a first-tier city, and I'm going to stay in a motel on business …

In a word, there is no worry about choosing a small and refined skill route to make money, but you have to go where you need it. Choosing a multi-skill parallel route has a long payback period and many initial stages. If you don't persist, it's easy to get lost, but the risk of unemployment in the future is small.

Students who want to cross-major exams/change careers need to examine their competitive advantages in the target major, including but not limited to interests, skills, personality, contacts, regions, opportunities, and awareness of the industry. Also, is the target professional lifestyle what you expect and suit?

When I was a reporter, I really loved the front line of news, but later my physical strength was not good and my salary could not keep up with the demand, so I had to consider the transformation again. But because I have experienced this intensity, every time I talk to overloaded doctors at work, I can personally understand their feelings.

From Spanish to media, I really want to die in the first year. From media to internet medical care, it seems to span a lot, but because I figured out how to quickly enter a strange field, the transition is much smoother.

1. Register for a mooc course, finish it and sort out the technical terms. It will take about two or three weeks to get started.

2. Participate in the activities of leading enterprises in this field, get in touch with this industry face to face, observe and think about its operation process, what role can I play here, and what skills do I lack? It will take about a month or two, and then we will have a deeper understanding of this industry, so as to facilitate targeted accumulation in the future.

If a friend is an insider, I will ask him with my mind at this moment. If not, I will ask questions to practitioners through doing business, answering questions and Zhihu, and pay attention to identifying the level of practitioners.

After changing careers, I tried angrily to tear off the Spanish label that others put on me, but outsiders wouldn't care if you went back to China for a few years and learned a small language or English. Colleagues will let me see the American Haitao tax bill. ...

Of course, my spoken English has deteriorated because I haven't spoken Spanish for a long time, but the advantage of being trained is that I know how to get it back. How to improve oral Spanish? Please refer to my previous article: Unlocking Skills | From tongue curling to advanced language skills-

In my conscience, no matter what career I changed, the experience of studying in Spanish can still bring me continuous and extensive gains. Vision and understanding, coupled with the confidence of "take a few translations if you are short of money", I have the confidence to enter the hard-working industry. After a long time, these experiences will flow out by themselves. I wrote a Spanish-related column for the official WeChat account, and now I have opened an official WeChat account myself. I can't help it People who are gnawing at the present and watching RTVE come over can't quit.

To sum up, my suggestions are as follows:

Today, I picked the books in the first picture of P.S. from the bookshelf, from modern Spanish to El Cambio Tecnológico, to Kunqu Diary and to Union Medical College. They are the epitome of my transformation route, and I will encourage you together.