刚刚看了slow&fast2007在职场的帖子，我觉得对此很有感受。对新移民来说，英语交流上的困难是就业问题上的一个大障碍，这种困难有时还会带来被解雇的结果。
被解雇无疑是一个痛苦的经历，因为这样的经历对我们的自信心打击很大。有时，我们会由此而出现对自己的能力不信任的现象。通常，我们会需要一点时间，逐渐让这种创痛的记忆淡漠，然后自己才能够再恢复以前所拥有的自信心。
许多年以前，我也有过这种因为英语不好而遭解雇的经历。来加拿大的时候,我正好高中毕业，所以我的英语水平是属于国内高中的阶段。和许多刚出国的人一样，我在英语听和说上的程度比较差。唯一一个可以过关的是我的发音。
来加不久后我便开始上学，心里盘算着要打一份工来维持生活。这时，恰巧有一个朋友介绍了一份在温蒂快餐店的工作给我。这份工是在厨房里做的，活其实很容易，就是根据电脑上订单的显示把汉堡包准备好。报到的第一天，我首先接受了两个小时的训练，过后老板打电话来问我感觉如何，几句话谈下来，他已经觉察到我有限的英语水平。他接着问我是否能够读懂屏幕上的订单，我当时的听力实在差，他反复了几遍我都听不懂他问的是什么，无奈之中，他决定把我解雇。
当时，我为这解雇的经历觉得很羞耻和伤心。但同时我也意识到，除了继续努力学习英文外，我别无选择。刚来加拿大的时候我落脚于一个小城市，那时是九十年代初期。那个小城里面除了几家很久以前就从台山移民来的家庭以外，基本上是没有其它中国人了。诸如中国超市，亚洲购物中心，或者语言学校之类的东西在当时，当地根本不存在，没有英语是寸步难行。迫于我所在的这样的环境，我只能硬着头皮快速学习。万事开头难，但时间一长，我的英语也慢慢的开始有了进步。在学校里，我也开始结交了一些朋友。我由此而对自己的语言能力有了更高的自信心。
当一个人有了自信心的时候，心情就会变得开阔。放下心理包袱的我也就开始有胆量跟别人交流了，讲的机会越多，语言水平就更加容易提高，这就促成了一个很良性的循环。
五年后，当我离开那座城市的时候，英语对我来说已经不再是一种障碍物了。我搬到了一个大城市。搬家前夕，我写下了一个名单屡列数十个我准备求职的公司。到达新城市的第二天，我便开始积极的打电话给这些公司（当时还没有网络求职）。四天后，我在一个五百强的公司里找到了一份职位。那个时候我刚从学校毕业，有关的工作经验很少。但是因为我的英文水平已经有了提高，所以我在应试的时候表现很不错。我的老板由于觉得我有潜力，便决定在我身上赌博一下。数年后，他告诉我，他很为当年的决定而庆幸，我也为自己在职场上能够遇到这样的一位启蒙老师而高兴，我们至今还是朋友。
众所周知，语言能力，还有人际交流的能力是非常重要的，尤其是在职场上。对于我们中国人来说，和交流能力相比，技术专业上的能力反而是属于比较容易掌握的一部分。中国的教育体制一向是以刻苦勤学为楷模，所以勤学及至熟练掌握技能素来是我们的强项。
但是，我们必须意识到，我们也有自己的弱点，这个弱点主要表现在语言交流的方面，这个地方是一个我们还需要补课的区域。有时我们会有这样的观念，大家执著的认为只要技术上有实力，或者只要自己再去多拿一个学位，一个执照，或者每天闷头苦干，那么我们就会得到那些令自己梦寐以求的职位，升级，我们的老板就会更欣赏，器重我们。而当我们看见别人得到了自己所想要的职位，我们就会觉得百思不解或者愤愤不平。但是我们却并没有意识到，自己所缺陷的是交流能力，而不是技术能力。在这个时候继续对技术能力上进行提高或补习，就好比有人生病得了肺炎，遇到的却是一个不对症下药的医生，他不配给你抗生素而只给一些维他命，那么结果就可想而知了。
技术能力和语言交流能力是两个不同的区域。我们在技术上所下的种种苦功，是不能够弥补自己在语言交流上的缺陷。当然，我不是宣扬大家应该忽略技能发展，只是我们需要知道，努力的重心点该放在哪里，我们具体该在什么地方上下精力。大家可以下功夫学习专业知识，但我们必须下更多的工夫学习语言交流。人际交流能力是一种软性的能力，你可以带着它到处走，因为无论在什么场合，你都可以用到它。
语言交流和专业知识就好比一个天平秤两头秤盘里的砝码，保持这杆秤的平衡是非常重要的。技术能力强但表达能力弱，那么在职场上，我们是走不到多远的。反之，如果交流能力强但技术能力不过关，那么即使得到提拔，我们也得不到旁人的尊重。如果在这两方面大家都能够做得好，它们之间就会有互相衬应的效果。
被解雇是一件不幸的事，但这不幸也可以成为我们人生道路上的一个转折点。我们可以选择用不同的角度来看待这件事，把它看作一个可以使自己成长，发展的机遇。从被解雇而使我们更加看清自己需要完善的地方，那么下一步，就是要探索和学习以求巩固及加强自己的弱点。
在学习的过程中，持有下面几个态度会对我们学习的效益更有帮助。
首先，让我们自己变得更大胆，更有勇气，放下心理包袱，走出阴影，勇于尝试。不要害怕犯错误，有了错误才会学到东西。从错误中而学到新知识是一件好事，这种态度好过因为恐惧犯错误而不尝试的心态。
其次，我们还要有坚持不懈的精神，在一个人的职业道路上，被解雇可以说是这条路上的最低点，从这样的角度来看，这条路从现在开始就只能是上坡路。
还有一点，就是保持积极乐观的态度。做事情要学会用一种欣赏的心态来做，有了欣赏的心态，才能够保持积极乐观的态度。那么，什么是一种欣赏的心态呢？我用爬山来做一个比方，我们学习的目标就好比是一个要爬到的山顶，而学习的过程就是爬山的过程。有时在做事情的时候，我们脑子里想到的只是要完成任务，达到目标。于是在爬山的过程中，我们忽略了一路上周围的景色。其实那座山，从山脚到山顶都有着很美的景色，每一个高度看出来的景色都不同。但是因为我们没有这个欣赏的心态，导致自己错失了一路的美景。如果我们做事只顾着完成最终的目的，那么有时候，做事情的过程就会变得象做苦工一样，疲乏无味，时间长了，还会出现抵触情绪。人活着，不仅仅是机械性的去达到种种目标，也要学会欣赏。有了欣赏的心态，就更容易做到持之以恒，新学到的东西也会吸收得越多越快。
我希望有一天，当我们回首再看那被解雇的一天，大家会微笑的对自己说，那的的确确是一堂塞翁失马，焉知非福的好课。我们会以一种感恩的心情来看这个经历，因为从这个经历中我们收获太大。由于这个经历，我们变得更有勇气，更有恒心，我们把一件不幸的遭遇转变成了一个使自己收获丰富的机遇。
无论是语言能力，还是人际交流能力，它们都只不过是我们人生道路上的一种挑战。比这更重要的，是我们自己对处理这种挑战而做出的一种心态和精神上的选择。
(英文版）
I just read slow&fast2007’s post in 职场生涯 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.
(版权所有，未经洁心同意，请勿转载)
从帖中两种语言同述一个思维，确实非同小可，敬佩之余，更是羡慕。
相比之下，我入大学时，26个字母还没有认全，惭愧之至。