speaking spanish a plus?

[TRLpilot]

As an aspiring professional pilot I would like to know if speaking spanish helps to make a resume stand out. My wife is from Monterrey, Mexico, and my spanish ability is fairly conversant. My question is if that is a skill that certain corporate or charter or any company for that matter look for? I have read of pilots experiencing Mexico beaurocracy and dealing with the comandates which I have dealt with many times while driving around Mexico. I would appreciate any feedback on the spanish matter but do not care to hear anyone's opinion about not going into the aviation field. I'm a 31 year old career changer and have an accounting degree to fall back on, which I hope also helps in finding a corporate flying gig someday.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

wont hurt, wont help.

 

[FL000]

Flight experience and record is always tops, but I think it will absolutely help if you are neck and neck with another candidate. Your resume is a place that it's okay to brag, and being multilingual is something to brag about.

Allow me to recommend a book that will help your Spanish. It's called "Spanish: Verbs & Essentials of Grammar/A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Spanish" by Ina W. Ramboz. It's both compact and comprehensive and can take you from conversational to fluent. It doesn't miss a thing except deep vocabulary. You'll have to supplement with a dictionary, though it has many essential words. If I could have just one book, this would be it. This series of books is available in many other languages also.

 

[falcondriver]

Being able to speak spanish is a good thing these days. I would put it on my resume.
FD

 

[YaMama]

I bet the Spanish will help you more than an accounting degree. From time to time there are job posts that mention Spanish as a plus, or even a requirement (i.e. CFI in Texas, or commuter t-prop in Puerto Rico). Believe I've seen it mentioned for some corporate stuff too, in southern California. Where do you plan on living? I'm sure it matters more in El Paso than Minneapolis.

Americans are spoiled by living in a huge, English-speaking country, but with aviation being global in nature speaking a second language is always a plus. Might even help you avoid a "misunderstanding" like the one that got that AA pilot in Brazil in hot water.

 

[Jump Pilot]

Mas cerveza por favor.

Donde esta el banjo?

Soy un piloto de avión. Hago mucho dinero, también.

Usted tiene pechos grandes.

Mi hotel está cerca.

Listos?

 

[davis]

Por el amor de Dios, claro que no, cierto que no!

Spanish can prove useful. I've actually had a foot in the door with it before, and I've used it in situations where I never thought I would. Seems like it crops up all the time. I even ended up getting designated the spokesman to do television interviews in Mexico once, because I was the only crewmember who spoke Spanish. As it turned out, my Spanish was never that good, and I probably told them we were infiltrating the country for the CIA, or something to that effect.

The Mexicans are going to hit you for payola no matter what you speak. They can just be a little clearer about it with you if you speak Spanish. Most folks there speak English, anyway.

I also speak Neomelenesian, and that's something that always gets questions on a resume. I've had employers call me just t ask me what the heck that funny language is that they can't pronounce, and where it's spoken.

I have no idea who logged into the computer...but this is avbug. Who ever you are, don't forget to log out next time...

 

[LJDRVR]

Won't help you get a job, but it will make your life easier if you do any flying south of the border.

My spanish is limited to: "Yo queiro tres cinco litros de turbosina con prist por lado, por favor."

Good luck on your career change. Have fun.

 

[davis]

Okay, Davis. Don't forget to log out next time.

 

[Gulfstreamlover]

I met a guy at simcom that was flying a Lear 35 with only 200 hours because he was the only bi-lingual person that applied, so I'd imagine that it helps in some cases.