Your CV, together with your cover letter, is often the first impression a potential employer has of you. It includes key details about your background, skills, and experience—helping recruiters understand who you are and what you bring to the table.
Among these details, language skills often play an important role. But when should you include your language proficiency on your CV, and how can you present it clearly and professionally? In this article, we’ll explain exactly how to do it.
What parts does a CV have?
A CV contains all the data on yourself that are important for a potential new employer. You are, as it were, subtly selling yourself, with strengths being highlighted and any shortcomings being pushed somewhat into the background. Because this is a personal document, all CV´s are different. They do, however, contain a number of fixed parts that come up in every one, such as personal details and education.
Skills: Another part on a CV that you often see, is a section headed "skills". Here you don´t specify the education you’ve had or the work experience you’ve already acquired, but extra advantages that don’t fall under these denominators. Think here e.g. of courses and earned certificates, knowledge of specific software packages and publications in various media.
Language knowledge: Another example of a skill that an employer might be interested in is language knowledge. By this we mean a mention of the (foreign) languages that you can speak and write. Specifying this knowledge is very important for e.g. international applications, but given the ever-increasing economic globalisation it is recommended in any event to mention the languages you know on your curriculum vitae.
How do I mention language knowledge on CV´s?
The best way to indicate language knowledge on a CV´s is by using a table or diagram. This way, the reader immediately sees which languages you can use and which you can't. In doing so, distinguish between the following three aspects of language competence:
Speaking : The ability to speak a language is the most important for employers. For example, if you can speak German well, the employer knows that he could use you in countries where this language is spoken, or in a joint venture with someone else who speaks it.
Writing : Writing a language generally means going a step further than just speaking it. It is often more difficult, because you to have to be able to properly conjugate verbs and so on. If you can write another language perfectly, this definitely should be mentioned on your CV.
Reading: The extent to which you can read a language also says something about your level of understanding of this language. For the employer, this can be a real reason to choose your CV over someone else’s.
What different standards do I cite?
There exist different criteria to indicate how well you have mastered a language. If you come from Flanders, then you'll probably speak fluent Dutch. We then use the term ´mother tongue´. Do you speak French well, but it isn´t the language you grew up with in your family? Then you can use the assessment ´Fluent´ or ´Good´. All in all we distinguish amongst the following terms for indicating how well you command a language:
Mother tongue
Fluent
Good
Satisfactory
Rudimentary
Another possibility is to mention the international standards that apply for language proficiency. A distinction is made here between Level A (the basics), level B (a higher level) or level C (an excellent command).
Download our cv template for free and increase your chances of a job interview
Browse our open jobs
The curriculum vitae or cv determines the first impression a potential employer has of you. Be sure to pay enough attention to the content and the format of it.
Download our free cv template and increase your chances of a job interview.
Download the example as a Word file
Enter your details
Export in the .docx format
Mail your brand new resume along with your motivation letter to companies
Print it and take it with you to your first interview
Don't hesitate to send in your resume to Robert Half, we are happy to help you with your job search
