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Why suddenly you may ask? It is not a sudden topic though. I have been observing that we, the Tamils, generally tend to neglect soft skills. I don't want to make any comparison in this topic. But I want to make sure that we understand the veracity of the problem and react to it. Why are the soft skills very important in Tamils case? Yes, it is as important as hard skills. Most Tamils tend to take pride in their mother tongue which is a laudable act because we want to preserve our language and pass it on to the next generation but this pride is self destructive in some sense.
This is the right time that all Tamils should embrace English and master it because it will pave ways for us to improve our communication with other Indians and also with the International community. Communication skills are the most important skill in the business arena. If we are good at the skills i.e. particularly English, we can build business relationships with many people and also spread Tamil as a business language. This will help Tamil survive forever with minimal effort.
I may be wrong in pointing out that we lack soft skills, so I would like to invite active participation in debating on this topic. I think we should once again rekindle our language learning spirits. Btw, I understand soft skills is not only the Language ability but there are lots more to it.
This is the right time that all Tamils should embrace English and master it because it will pave ways for us to improve our communication with other Indians and also with the International community. Communication skills are the most important skill in the business arena. If we are good at the skills i.e. particularly English, we can build business relationships with many people and also spread Tamil as a business language. This will help Tamil survive forever with minimal effort.
I may be wrong in pointing out that we lack soft skills, so I would like to invite active participation in debating on this topic. I think we should once again rekindle our language learning spirits. Btw, I understand soft skills is not only the Language ability but there are lots more to it.
I'm not going to comment on the tamil bit, but in general i'd definitely say that soft-skills are a must, whoever you are. It is a skill to be able to speak and present in a manner that captures your audience and their attention, and while a stong vocabulary may be useful, it isnt always necessary. It's your confidence, diction, articulation and conviction that shine through. More often than not, people are impressed when you can put across profound ideas in the simplest of words.
ReplyDeleteThinking out of the box is a soft skill. Thinking instinctively (yet purposefully) is a skill. Humor is a skill! Having an eye for details is a skill, and one may I add, that few value. For me it's a personal peeve when people don't take enough time to make sure the details of a presentation, a project, a submission, anything, has not been looked in to.
On a separate note: just as how overly embracing your mother tongue and not having a solid grasp of the English language is destructive, abandoning your mother tongue for another is just as detrimental. Every language in itself is a skill. You will not find a job application that only asks you about your English proficiency; bilingualism and multilingualism are favored tremendously. So a hearty word :D to any Tamils here on Spotalks who are stuck midway between the banks of forgotten-mother-tongue and trying-to-master-English -> times have changed. No longer does the saying go "Jack of All Trades, Master of None". In this day and age, if you want to be alongside, if not ahead, of the competition, you'll have to change the saying to "Jack of All Trades, Master of All".
In the pursuit of mastering one language, don't let the other fade away :) This would also apply to their respective cultures!
I apologize that my comment is longer than your post ;)
ReplyDelete"apologize that my comment is longer than your post" - ROFL
ReplyDeleteWell articulated thoughts kiran, even though its an actual post disguised as a comment.
you better change your theme to multilingual rather focusing on one language.......
ReplyDeleteyou better change your theme to multilingual rather focusing on the one language.........
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_skills
ReplyDeletei agree with guru. i am of the opinion that soft skill is something that is region or language independent. again, i dont know, no statistical backing. :)
@ sat- good post- really nice and I agree with most of the points you make
ReplyDelete@ kiran- yeah, but while talking of corporate etiquette, English does play a major role in most countries. Of course customs of each area varies and that does play into soft skills; but generally agree that conversational skills are but a subset (see what I did there, Gautam :P) of the entire soft skills package
@guru- fair argument
@gautam- I knew this would happen! :D
P.S I am grammar nazi-ing myself and it should be "customs of each area vary" and not "varies".
ReplyDeleteI live a sad life.....