level S：i am a good multinational organization c-suite level - 你說的不僅僅像native那樣好，還能玩語言政治。你給global executive 寫報告的時候，他們會覺得greater china的工作做得真心好，雖然有很多不足的地方，但這不是主流。
先肯定題主的觀察，是的，很多外企人的英文水平確實so so，甚至還有相當部分的英文慘不忍聽。 前面@劉煜晨的答案給外企員工的英文水平劃分了4個等級，那麼在我待的公司根據我的粗略觀察，大概有~80%的人處於Level D 和 Level C 這個程度。這個分布可能和本企業是研發企業的性質息息相關，具體說起來就是雖然英文在這裡是工作語言，然而實際情況是大部分研發人員只需要具有英文文檔閱讀能力，郵件撰寫能力以及勉強應付的聽力即可以應付90%的情況。我知道有些同事來了很久唯一開口的機會居然是面試的時候。當然，如果團隊中有外籍人士（幾率很小，原因你問我？），即使只有一個，對於英語口語的需求也會大大增加。
其實對於外企來說，大部分員工處於Level D 和Level C遠非一個理想的狀況，因為中國普遍啞巴英文（或者現在有改觀？）的狀況，這其實只是一個不得已的折衷。就我觀察到的情況，公司中其他非英文母語國家的分部雖然普通員工英文也一般，口音各種重，但是磕磕巴巴都能一直說下去，而中國人就會出現完全卡殼的情況。這還是在公司在面試時強調英文能力的結果，不強調的話還能看？ 中國人的英文能力其實直接影響了中國分部的visibility，往往給人的印象就是中國分部的人不夠活躍，不夠融入，溝通能力差，所以天花板也就尤其明顯。用屁股想也能想明白，連交流能力都不夠怎麼會被器重？
As a foreign CEO working in China, there are three key things I look at when considering if a person』s English level is good enough to work for me and our company. As I』ve said in other Zhihu responses about how I view the English proficiency of Chinese professionals, I don』t really care how a person sounds. It doesn』t matter to me so much how big your vocabulary is, how heavy your accent is, or how slowly you talk.
Instead, my assessment of a person』s English level is very practical and straightforward. Mainly, what I ask myself are these three things.
1) Can you reasonably express your ideas and thoughts to me? – Of course, there are going to be many instances where I need to know what you think about something. For instance, where I need your assessment about a situation, or how you plan to handle something. For you to share this with me, you need to be able to communicate your thoughts to me clearly and simply. You need to be able to share with me your logic sense and the reasons why what you』re telling me is a good idea, and how you plan to make it happen.
What I don』t want to do is to play 21 questions with you. I don』t want to have to put a lot of time and energy into pulling out what』s going through your mind. I need you to be able to tell me what』s going on with what you』re doing and what you』re thinking. So I』m okay if what you say doesn』t sound so smooth. As long as I can understand your key points.
A Good Tip: When expressing yourself in English, just keep what you want to say simple and straightforward. Don』t overthink your words and sentences, or try to make yourself sound more impressive. In business, keeping things simple and straightforward is always preferred, especially when you』re talking to senior managers and executives. In addition, as a professional, ultimately, it』s the quality of your thoughts that impresses others, not how you sound.
2) Can you accurately understand what I』m saying? – Perhaps even more critical than how well you can communicate your ideas and thoughts to me is how much you can understand what I say. I speak at a normal speed. And as an American, I don』t have a heavy accent. However, we have clients who speak with heavy French, Irish, Indian, and British accents. So if you can』t understand me very well, I have big concerns about your ability to understand and handle business with some of our clients well.
For me, if you can』t understand at least 80% of what I』m saying, then there』s going to be a lot of miscommunication. You』re going to miss important points of what I need you to know and details of what I need you to do. This will have a big impact on your ability to deliver high quality, accurate work for our company.
A Good Tip: In many of our company meetings, our people will record what I say in the meeting. I don』t mind this at all. In fact, I like it. It shows their professionalism and desire to catch all my key points, in case they can』t keep up with everything I say during the meeting. In addition, listening to what I』ve said later helps their English. While doing this takes more time, it will help you to do your job better and improve your English abilities.
3) Can you communicate clearly enough in writing? – Even if you don』t need to speak English often in your role in a foreign company, it』s likely that most, if not all, of your written communication will be in English. Even for technical and engineering professionals, you』ll need to often communicate by email with overseas colleagues.
So as part of our company』s interview process, we have candidates respond in writing to several open questions. This helps us assess their ability to express their thoughts in writing.
Fortunately, for most people, their written communication in English is much better than their spoken communication. In addition, communicating in writing is not a real time situation like spoken communication is. When communicating in writing, you have the time to think about exactly how you want to say things.
A Good Tip: These days, there are tools like spell check and grammar check that can help you. For some reason, however, many people don』t use them. But to eliminate and correct many basic mistakes, all you have to do is run what you write through these tools. The additional 2-3 minutes that this takes will help to make your written communication look and sound much better.
Ultimately, if you want to develop your career and achieve greater success in a foreign company, you need to invest in your English skills. The more senior your position, the more you need to interact with and communicate with other foreign executives from different departments, business units, and headquarters. As a result, the more solid your English communication needs to be.
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