English – the only language a candidate is evaluated upon

From the times of colonialism and industrialization, English has emerged as the second most spoken language in the world until now. Apart from that it is the most used language on internet and hence we all see new virtual species developing like SEO, content marketing and so on.

Which is the most spoken language in the world? Mandarin. China with the largest population in the world and Chinese crossing borders, Mandarin has emerged as the most spoken language in the world. Hindi, Spanish, Russian and Arabic following the list by popularity and usage.

With these statistics how far is it justified to judge a person’s COMMUNICATION SKILLS only based on English? This is what happens in most interviews in India. Here, interviews do not refer only to business and employee interviews. Even school interviews for children stress on the child’s English speaking abilities.

We have to decide if it is promising or sad to know that English speaking ability is a compelling parameter for a person to be recruited. A simple reason for this trend to be born is, for the interviewer to test the interviewee if he/she has the ability to communicate and present his idea with clarity.

Testing the communication and presentation skills could be done using any language. Why is an Indian language not used to make decisions in this area? Communication skills has become synonymous with ENGLISH in India and among Indian recruiters.

Is this a healthy trend?

It is for the trend setters and thinkers to react on this subject. Hindi is the third most spoken language and Bengali ranking seventh. With these statistics shouldn’t we pay more attention to Indian languages and allow candidates to be evaluated in these languages too?