New Zealand beats Japan for worst in the 1st World

[Taro Toporific]

Bosses lacking linguistic skills
Aug 3 2004 / The Western Mail
The Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey 2004 found that only 36% of businesses in Wales and the South West employ executives with the language skills necessary to negotiate in a second language....
Worldwide, an average of 59% of executives are proficient in a second language. The poll was led by Hong Kong, where an exceptionally high proportion of the population is bilingual. This is reflected in the 100% positive response, followed by Singapore with 97%. At the other end of the scale, only three countries registered scores below that of the UK - Australia (33%), Japan (27%) and New Zealand (24%).
...See the actual survey here in PDF [US executives lied and rank in the middle of the survey]...

[kansaiboy]

see, thats why if i ever went back to Australia I would be over qualified for...ah every bloody job I could think of.... lets see..

The interviewer would say..."So tell me about your work history..?"...My reply would describe living and working in the US, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Philippines, Korea, and Japan as well as travelling to about 20 other countries in the course of my work... ( ok so in Kuwait I was a flight attendant which allows me to cheat a little..)..

"How many languages do you speak..?" well English kinda, but my Tagalog rocks and my Japanese is coming along nicely...arigato

The interview would end and would get a phone call a week later saying that they regreted to inform me I didnt get the job because "English language proficency was a prerequisit"e...