{"id":153,"date":"2026-03-07T12:27:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/encorelanguages.wordpress.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2026-04-20T09:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T09:22:13","slug":"languages-skills-schmlanguage-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encoreservices.uk\/languages\/2026\/03\/07\/languages-skills-schmlanguage-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Languages Skills, Schmlanguage Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taking a couple of recent job adverts for positions in the North West, there seems to be a gap between how much languages are truly valued in the “market place” and the rhetoric about the “‘Alarming shortage’ of foreign language skills in UK<\/a>” and how much the “Language skills deficit is costing the UK (\u00a348bn a year?)<\/a>”<\/p>\n

What do I mean? Take a look at these 2 positions and the breakdown of the salary (You can see the full job specs at the end of this post to help you decide on the value)<\/p>\n

1. Bilingual Sales Support Administrator
\nSalary: \u00a317,000 \/ year which breaks down into an hourly rate of \u00a38.72 (gross) \/ \u00a37.37 (net)
\n(based on 5 days a week, 37.5 hours)<\/p>\n

2. French or German Speaking Business Travel Support Consultant
\nSalary: \u00a316,000-19,000 \/ year which breaks down into hourly gross\/net rates of
\n\u00a316000 \u00a38.21 \/ \u00a37.02
\n\u00a319000 \u00a39.74 \/ \u00a38.07
\n(based on 5 days a week, 37.5 hours)<\/p>\n

Given the training and experience required to answer the requirements for the positions, the applicant will in most cases will be a native-speaker or have studied to university level and had experience in the relevant country. Call it market-demand or whatever else, but show me an accountant or solicitor who would take anywhere near those hourly rates, which are between \u00a31.90 – \u00a33.43 above the UK minimum wage rate<\/a> (if you’re over 21).<\/p>\n

I’m not saying it’s all about the money, but if languages are to be valued and encouraged in the same way that STEM subjects<\/a> are, then the rewards of pursuing our passion need to be seriously looked at.<\/p>\n

So, come on CILT<\/a>, LanguagesWork<\/a> and Speak to the Future<\/a>, let’s ensure that employers are “making languages matter” and we do our bit to ensure that the world does not become populated with bean-counters and devil’s advocates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bilingual Sales Support Administrator<\/strong>
\nOur client based in Liverpool city centre is looking to recruit a German or French Speaking Sales Support Administrator on a permanent basis. You must speak business fluent German or French to apply for this role as well as be able to speak fluent English. They are looking for someone who has experience working within a sales or call centre environment previously although this is not essential. You will need to be someone who is experienced in dealing with people, somebody who is highly organised and be comfortable working to deadlines. The position also requires you to have ADVANCED EXCEL SKILLS as you will need to be comfortable producing reports using the more advanced features.
\nJob duties will include:
\n* Produce Sales reports – Regular use of Pivot tables, Formulas, V-lookups
\n* Produce monthly order statistics
\n* Processing bookings and purchase orders in relevant Client\/Internal Systems
\n* Ensuring contact details in CRM are accurate (extracting info from client systems \/ Google etc)
\n* Prepping daily call lists for sales team
\n* Dealing with emails
\n* Providing research, analysis and administrative support to assist in the sales process
\n* Faxing, filing, photocopying, typing
\n* Build, develop and administer reports (Internally & Externally)
\n* Extract, clean and format data
\n* Input data into various systems
\n* Generating sales quotations for customers, using various systems
\n* Completing bookings as a result of successful quotes\/sales.
\n* Ensuring the integrity of client information is maintained (Confidentiality & Proprietary information)
\n* Updating and managing Excel spreadsheets
\n* Dealing with external and internal queries in a professional, client orientated manner<\/p>\n

French or German Speaking Business Travel Support Consultant<\/strong>
\nWork for a leading business travel company, in their Manchester office, using your fluent French or German language skills! Be part of a business travel market leader, who offers an excellent salary and comprehensive benefits package. We are looking for candidates with travel industry experience, ideally business travel, and who can speak either fluent English and French, or fluent English and German. This is a varied role, dealing with this business travel company’s European offices, working on a variety of travel administration duties. Excellent business travel career opportunity!
\nJOB DESCRIPTION:
\n– Liaising in French or German with regional European offices
\n– Offering support to the offices, by assisting with administration and reservations
\n– Co-ordinating French or German client requests relating to hotel enquiries and other related services.
\n– To ensure a high degree of client care is maintained and delivered at all times.
\n– Ensuring all incoming calls are answered promptly, efficiently and dealing with them in an appropriate manner.
\n– The team is operational from 0830 to 1800. There are 2 shifts: 0830-1700 and 0930-1800 – with an hour for lunch. Monday to Friday – no weekends!
\nEXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
\nThe successful candidate will speak fluent French or German, and also fluent English. You will ideally work in the travel industry and have a knowledge of a GDS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking a couple of recent job adverts for positions in the North West, there seems to be a gap between how much languages are truly valued in the “market place” and the rhetoric about the “‘Alarming shortage’ of foreign language skills in UK” and how much the “Language skills deficit…<\/p>\n

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