Is this a double standard? - Straight Dope Message Board

As others have pointed out, it's not really an isolated variable. If English is the only language I speak and I can't speak it well, it doesn't bode well for my general intelligence. If English is not the only language I speak, and I can't speak it well, it doesn't necessarily imply the same thing. I'm a computer scientist, so many jobs treat language skills as secondary under technical knowledge and ability and I've seen some people get hired with poor language skills as a result. But that's not really any different that some sort of a manual labor job, like I had in undergrad, where language skills only mattered enough to communicate what task someone had to do, and they would also hire with little regard to language skills.

That said, I think it's unfortunate that a lot of technical jobs underemphasize language skills. It may not be important to be fluent in English to be a decent programmer, but a large part of many programmers' jobs is to be able to effectively communicate with coworkers, document, understand requirements, all that sort of stuff. In graduate school I met a number of non-Americans who were good coders but were terrible writers and, rightfully, it did affect their grades because, at that level, you're no longer just trying to be a coder but really getting involved in developing complex designs and ideas, which requires good communication skills. In my current job, it would be impossible for anyone without excellent communication skills to do, even if they were twice the coder I am, simply because they wouldn't be able to do that half of the job.

So, I guess my answer is that it might be a double standard sometimes or it might not, it really depends on the job requirements. Regardless, I think a lot of employers underestimate the importance of communication skills in some jobs.

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