剛剛看了slow&fast2007在職場的帖子，我覺得對此很有感受。對新移民來說，英語交流上的困難是就業問題上的一個大障礙，這種困難有時還會帶來被解雇的結果。
被解雇無疑是一個痛苦的經曆，因為這樣的經曆對我們的自信心打擊很大。有時，我們會由此而出現對自己的能力不信任的現象。通常，我們會需要一點時間，逐漸讓這種創痛的記憶淡漠，然後自己才能夠再恢複以前所擁有的自信心。
許多年以前，我也有過這種因為英語不好而遭解雇的經曆。來加拿大的時候,我正好高中畢業，所以我的英語水平是屬於國內高中的階段。和許多剛出國的人一樣，我在英語聽和說上的程度比較差。唯一一個可以過關的是我的發音。
來加不久後我便開始上學，心裏盤算著要打一份工來維持生活。這時，恰巧有一個朋友介紹了一份在溫蒂快餐店的工作給我。這份工是在廚房裏做的，活其實很容易，就是根據電腦上訂單的顯示把漢堡包準備好。報到的第一天，我首先接受了兩個小時的訓練，過後老板打電話來問我感覺如何，幾句話談下來，他已經覺察到我有限的英語水平。他接著問我是否能夠讀懂屏幕上的訂單，我當時的聽力實在差，他反複了幾遍我都聽不懂他問的是什麽，無奈之中，他決定把我解雇。
當時，我為這解雇的經曆覺得很羞恥和傷心。但同時我也意識到，除了繼續努力學習英文外，我別無選擇。剛來加拿大的時候我落腳於一個小城市，那時是九十年代初期。那個小城裏麵除了幾家很久以前就從台山移民來的家庭以外，基本上是沒有其它中國人了。諸如中國超市，亞洲購物中心，或者語言學校之類的東西在當時，當地根本不存在，沒有英語是寸步難行。迫於我所在的這樣的環境，我隻能硬著頭皮快速學習。萬事開頭難，但時間一長，我的英語也慢慢的開始有了進步。在學校裏，我也開始結交了一些朋友。我由此而對自己的語言能力有了更高的自信心。
當一個人有了自信心的時候，心情就會變得開闊。放下心理包袱的我也就開始有膽量跟別人交流了，講的機會越多，語言水平就更加容易提高，這就促成了一個很良性的循環。
五年後，當我離開那座城市的時候，英語對我來說已經不再是一種障礙物了。我搬到了一個大城市。搬家前夕，我寫下了一個名單屢列數十個我準備求職的公司。到達新城市的第二天，我便開始積極的打電話給這些公司（當時還沒有網絡求職）。四天後，我在一個五百強的公司裏找到了一份職位。那個時候我剛從學校畢業，有關的工作經驗很少。但是因為我的英文水平已經有了提高，所以我在應試的時候表現很不錯。我的老板由於覺得我有潛力，便決定在我身上賭博一下。數年後，他告訴我，他很為當年的決定而慶幸，我也為自己在職場上能夠遇到這樣的一位啟蒙老師而高興，我們至今還是朋友。
眾所周知，語言能力，還有人際交流的能力是非常重要的，尤其是在職場上。對於我們中國人來說，和交流能力相比，技術專業上的能力反而是屬於比較容易掌握的一部分。中國的教育體製一向是以刻苦勤學為楷模，所以勤學及至熟練掌握技能素來是我們的強項。
但是，我們必須意識到，我們也有自己的弱點，這個弱點主要表現在語言交流的方麵，這個地方是一個我們還需要補課的區域。有時我們會有這樣的觀念，大家執著的認為隻要技術上有實力，或者隻要自己再去多拿一個學位，一個執照，或者每天悶頭苦幹，那麽我們就會得到那些令自己夢寐以求的職位，升級，我們的老板就會更欣賞，器重我們。而當我們看見別人得到了自己所想要的職位，我們就會覺得百思不解或者憤憤不平。但是我們卻並沒有意識到，自己所缺陷的是交流能力，而不是技術能力。在這個時候繼續對技術能力上進行提高或補習，就好比有人生病得了肺炎，遇到的卻是一個不對症下藥的醫生，他不配給你抗生素而隻給一些維他命，那麽結果就可想而知了。
技術能力和語言交流能力是兩個不同的區域。我們在技術上所下的種種苦功，是不能夠彌補自己在語言交流上的缺陷。當然，我不是宣揚大家應該忽略技能發展，隻是我們需要知道，努力的重心點該放在哪裏，我們具體該在什麽地方上下精力。大家可以下功夫學習專業知識，但我們必須下更多的工夫學習語言交流。人際交流能力是一種軟性的能力，你可以帶著它到處走，因為無論在什麽場合，你都可以用到它。
語言交流和專業知識就好比一個天平秤兩頭秤盤裏的砝碼，保持這杆秤的平衡是非常重要的。技術能力強但表達能力弱，那麽在職場上，我們是走不到多遠的。反之，如果交流能力強但技術能力不過關，那麽即使得到提拔，我們也得不到旁人的尊重。如果在這兩方麵大家都能夠做得好，它們之間就會有互相襯應的效果。
被解雇是一件不幸的事，但這不幸也可以成為我們人生道路上的一個轉折點。我們可以選擇用不同的角度來看待這件事，把它看作一個可以使自己成長，發展的機遇。從被解雇而使我們更加看清自己需要完善的地方，那麽下一步，就是要探索和學習以求鞏固及加強自己的弱點。
在學習的過程中，持有下麵幾個態度會對我們學習的效益更有幫助。
首先，讓我們自己變得更大膽，更有勇氣，放下心理包袱，走出陰影，勇於嚐試。不要害怕犯錯誤，有了錯誤才會學到東西。從錯誤中而學到新知識是一件好事，這種態度好過因為恐懼犯錯誤而不嚐試的心態。
其次，我們還要有堅持不懈的精神，在一個人的職業道路上，被解雇可以說是這條路上的最低點，從這樣的角度來看，這條路從現在開始就隻能是上坡路。
還有一點，就是保持積極樂觀的態度。做事情要學會用一種欣賞的心態來做，有了欣賞的心態，才能夠保持積極樂觀的態度。那麽，什麽是一種欣賞的心態呢？我用爬山來做一個比方，我們學習的目標就好比是一個要爬到的山頂，而學習的過程就是爬山的過程。有時在做事情的時候，我們腦子裏想到的隻是要完成任務，達到目標。於是在爬山的過程中，我們忽略了一路上周圍的景色。其實那座山，從山腳到山頂都有著很美的景色，每一個高度看出來的景色都不同。但是因為我們沒有這個欣賞的心態，導致自己錯失了一路的美景。如果我們做事隻顧著完成最終的目的，那麽有時候，做事情的過程就會變得象做苦工一樣，疲乏無味，時間長了，還會出現抵觸情緒。人活著，不僅僅是機械性的去達到種種目標，也要學會欣賞。有了欣賞的心態，就更容易做到持之以恒，新學到的東西也會吸收得越多越快。
我希望有一天，當我們回首再看那被解雇的一天，大家會微笑的對自己說，那的的確確是一堂塞翁失馬，焉知非福的好課。我們會以一種感恩的心情來看這個經曆，因為從這個經曆中我們收獲太大。由於這個經曆，我們變得更有勇氣，更有恒心，我們把一件不幸的遭遇轉變成了一個使自己收獲豐富的機遇。
無論是語言能力，還是人際交流能力，它們都隻不過是我們人生道路上的一種挑戰。比這更重要的，是我們自己對處理這種挑戰而做出的一種心態和精神上的選擇。
(英文版）
I just read slow&fast2007’s post in 職場生涯 and it has triggered some thoughts in me. The issue of being let go due to communication/language barrier is a common issue new immigrants sometimes encounter when they step into the workplace.
Being let go is no doubt a very painful experience for anyone, because for most of us, our self confidence takes a big blow from something like that. We start to have self doubts about ourselves and our abilities. It may take awhile before we have the courage and focus to pick up the pieces and brave the storm again.
Years ago when I first came to
I was looking for a job in order to support myself while going through school, so a family friend used his connection and got me a job working in the back kitchen of Wendy’s Restaurant. My job was to get the burgers ready when the orders came through on the computer screen. After a couple of hours of on-the-job training with a co-worker, the boss called me on the phone and asked how I was doing and so on, he sensed that my English was very limited after the conversation. He proceeded to ask me whether I was able to read and understand the orders on the computer screen. I had no problem with reading the orders, but for the life of me, I couldn’t understand what he was asking, that was how limited my English was. He had to let me go because I couldn’t communicate with him.
I can’t tell you how humiliated and sad I felt afterwards and it took me a few days to get over it. But I realized that there was no other choice but to keep going and learn the language. I lived in a small city at the time and this was in the early 90’s, so there really weren’t many Chinese people in town other than a few Cantonese speaking families who’d been there for a long time. Everywhere I went I had to speak English, there was none of the Asian malls, Chinese supermarkets or language schools, none of the perks new immigrants in large urban centres enjoy nowadays. It was very hard in the beginning, but the circumstances I was in forced me to learn, and the more I learned, the more confident I became, I even started making friends in school which helped to build my confidence even more. When I look back at that period of my life, all I can feel was gratitude, for because it was difficult, I was able to learn rapidly and reap the reward thereafter.
By the time I left that place 5 years later, English was no longer a barrier for me. I left it for a large city in
From my personal experience, I can not stress how important communication skills are. The technical part, be it accounting, IT or any other professional skills, in comparison, is the easy part. Especially for those who’d been let go because of communication skills. I have no doubt having gone through the Chinese education system, that for most of us, we are very proficient with the technical skills required to do our jobs, we also have the dedication and the focus needed to do a good job as well. That is our strong suit, that is our comfort zone.
At the same time, we must realize that our weak spot is our language and communication skills, that is one area we really need to do catch up work on. Don’t’ be misled into thinking that if only we had more technical skills, or if only we had this certificate, that designation or degree, we’d be able to find a job, or get that promotion or resolve interpersonal difficulties at work. It is not going to, because we’d be like taking the wrong medicine to cure an illness for which the medicine wasn’t meant to cure.
The time we spend in beefing up our comfort zone in the technical skill area isn’t going to make up for the shortcoming we have in our communication skills. This is not to say that we completely ignore our technical skills, rather it is more of a reminder that we set our priority straight and know where to spend our time and effort on. We can still take the time and upgrade our technical skills, but spend more time on improving our communication skills and interpersonal skills.
It is always about maintaining the balance, on the one hand there is the technical skills, on the other hand there is the communication skills, make sure that you are not lopsided on either one. Having strong technical skills but not the ability to communicate will not get us far, being able to communicate but not the knowledge to do the work will not get us the respect (even if we do go far to a certain point). Maintaining the balance is important; both sides need to be strong and thereby becoming complementary to each other.
Being let go or fired is a painful thing, but it can also become a turning point of our life when we learn something from it. We can choose to view this as an opportunity to grow and expand ourselves, we’ve already identified what our weak spot is, the next step is to go ahead and learn to strengthen that weakness.
We need to learn to be bold and be courageous, take chances and come out of our shells, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, applaud our mistakes, for it is through mistakes we learn. It is better making mistakes and learn from it than not doing anything while remain frozen in the fear of making mistakes. Be resilient and bounce back, there is not too many things worse than being fired in one’s career, so the road from this point on can only go up. Be positive and optimistic, learning comes from the process of getting to an end objective, not the end objective itself, so enjoy the learning process, and the only way to enjoy the process is to maintain a positive and optimistic attitude.
As people often say, this too shall pass. I hope one day when we look back on this day (the day of being fired), we can look at it as a blessing in disguise, we can look at it with an attitude of gratitude that because of this day, we’ve learned so much more about our life, because of this day, we’ve become someone we’re proud of, someone who is courageous, someone who perseveres in the face of adversity, someone who’s turned a negative event into a positive learning opportunity.
At the end of the day, this is not just about our language skills, or our communication skills, it is more about our attitude, how we deal with what comes our way, good or bad.
(版權所有，未經潔心同意，請勿轉載)
從帖中兩種語言同述一個思維，確實非同小可，敬佩之餘，更是羨慕。
相比之下，我入大學時，26個字母還沒有認全，慚愧之至。