This is one of the difficult interview questions: Do you know any foreign languages?
Yes, this is a difficult interview question, because it goes against the idea that you need to make yourself look like an amazing employee at all times. You may be asked if you know any foreign languages. Your answer must be “no” unless you are prepared to prove it.
We did an interview with a lovely young woman named Ellen. During the interview, she mentioned that an employer asked her if she spoke Spanish. She had taken a few classes in college, and was familiar with several Spanish words, so she said “yes.” Immediately, the interviewer decided to do the rest of the interview in Spanish to prove that she had that knowledge. Needless to say, she failed the interview, because although she did have some Spanish knowledge and could converse in a few basic sentences, she did not know nearly enough to handle an entire interview. Keep that in mind when answer this question.
Bad Answer:
“Yes. Um… Yo Hablo Español, Amigo.”
Good Answer:
“No.”
Acceptable Answer:
“I know some very basic Spanish, but not enough to hold an entire conversation.”
It’s okay to be a little rusty. No one is requiring you to know literally every word. But if you are not familiar with enough to handle at least a good amount of the job interview in the other language, you probably should not claim you “know” a foreign language. Only that you are familiar with some.
Take Away Interview Tips:
- Don’t claim you know it if you don’t truly know it
- You can say you are familiar with another language
