Being bilingual essential in today's world

Azadeh Nafissi is from Iran and her first language is Persian. I first met her at University when she was doing post graduate studies. We became firm friends and I saw first-hand how difficult life is when you are not a native speaker of English. Not only was she dealing with a course that demanded scholarship and intellectual rigour but she began to think in English before producing assignments that made sense to her markers. It was a huge task and all credit to her she got through. She persisted because of her belief that if she was going to do well in her career (Writing and Film-making) she had to be bilingual. Her blog talks about the importance of being able to ‘convey your thoughts in several languages.’ http://www.thestorymint.com/blog/azadehn/writing-skills-2nd-language

She considers that this is not a choice but a necessity.  

Recently I went to a local language school and took a session with four students preparing to enter business school. Before they can do that they have to improve their mastery of English writing. We used the Style Guide™ and I demonstrated how, by changing a few words in the same sentence the style could go from being analytical to emotional or from descriptive to imaginative. We also identified where on the Style Guide™ grid certain pieces of writing should sit. For example a letter supporting a job application would land in one section towards the right where persuasive or sales writing sits. Describing an exciting destination would be written in a different style and would land somewhere else.

I also got the students to give me some words that would fit with the style the writer was aiming for. They agreed that this helps a writer to prepare scripts that will get a positive response from readers.

Our goal at the Language School is to measure the students’ writing competency now and then run the same test in a month’s time to see if by using the Style Guide™ the students have improved their  writing more than if they had not had access to the Style Guide™.

Azadeh expects that the results will support our argument: that using the Style Guide™ speeds up people’s writing mastery.

"The style guide is amazing, very helpful and fun. It encourages you to write several drafts and work on your particular voice." Azadeh Nafissi