Austrians pay a premium for native English speakers

By Katie Binns
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 19/01/2007


Here in Austria nobody bats an eyelid when they see I have a degree from a redbrick university that has a good reputation at home and abroad. Nor do they care that I studied languages. Nor does translating my CV and adapting it to the local style seem necessary. If I want prospective employers to look at me twice I reveal my greatest talent – that my mother tongue is English.

Being an English native speaker in Vienna offers job opportunities and a chance to earn money that is quite unbelievable. The education system is one sector where native speakers have an automatic advantage. Austrians love the idea of learning English from a native speaker. Indeed the native speaker is valued and revered above qualified Austrian language teachers to the extent that individuals are happy to pay between 40 and 60 euros at private institutes for the so-called "privilege" of one hour's conversation with someone from somewhere in the English-speaking world.

Language assistant positions in Austria's state schools carry much less responsibility and work than a qualified teacher position yet are paid nearly as well.

So finding English teaching jobs without qualifications is easy. But there are other opportunities, too. Certain university positions such as those assisting academics and editing academic publications come with a nice job title and a pay package, courtesy of the native speaker status.

Similar opportunities exist through various diplomatic missions, the United Nations office or other international organisations based here (such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) if you are a native speaker of English. One acquaintance openly admitted that the largest contributing factor to her getting her current job (at a NGO) was the fact that she was a native English speaker.


The United Nations office in Vienna, where many English speakers work whether or not they can use another language
Another acquaintance who works for the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN told me being a native speaker was a requirement for her position and that this is the case for many jobs where she works, and in other international organisations in Vienna. The main reason for this is that the language used for meetings and documents is English, so they hire native speakers to take care of these. Other languages are not a requirement, apparently, although of course they always come in "quite handy". So my four years at school and another four years at university dedicated to language learning in all its forms are, in the end, considered to be "quite handy". Great.

It seems the native speaker status is the standard to aspire to. However, this all flies in the face of recent research and the comments by Malcolm Grant, provost of University College London, that European students have better English. I dare not tell this to people here for fear of damaging their preconceptions - and affecting the bank balance of my fellow native speakers in Vienna.

Demand for English language learning is stronger than ever, but why are the least able to teach still held in such high esteem? Why does this demand for untrained native speaker teachers of English persist? Why are natives considered somehow better for dealing with the organisation of documents and meetings in English? It is especially mystifying as the reasons why these people, particularly these teachers, should not be employed are many.

Surely from a moral point of view, educational institutions should be under an obligation to ensure that students are not exposed to unqualified teachers? The requirement in many of these centres of learning that applicants "must like children" is more disconcerting than reassuring.

advertisementAnd there are also practical and pedagogical reasons why untrained native speakers should not be employed to teach. They are often more costly than trained local teachers and are likely to have little, if any, commitment to the institution where they are employed, as many are only in Vienna short term. Many of these untrained teachers are monolingual. Being monolingual is still seen by some as an advantage - the idea is that such teachers can only use English in the classroom and that this will eventually have learners spouting language similar to the Queen's. However, promoting language teachers on the grounds that they can speak just the one language is surely ridiculous. In what other profession would a lack of relevant knowledge and experience be considered an advantage?

Being monolingual is clearly a great disadvantage: teachers are not able to speak the language of their students and therefore are unable to clear up any misunderstandings that may arise. They also do not have the experience of learning a second language and consequently are unable to empathise with their students. They lack personal experience of bilingualism, although their students will be at least bilingual, with many in Vienna living in multilingual and multicultural environments.

Being monolingual often means they are likely to be monocultural. It is not always the case but I have noticed that many of these monocultural beings hang out in the Irish/British pubs and other expat organisations and make sweeping generalisations about their own culture as well as the culture in which they are living.

Maybe one reason why untrained native speakers remain in such demand is the general conviction that they speak some form of Standard English and are thus appropriate linguistic models for their students and colleagues. This is just an idealised norm that Austrians have signed up to and which native speakers, glorying in their regional variety of English, play along with.

I find the situation rather mind-boggling. At present I have been asked to recommend someone who can "sit and play games for an hour" with five youngsters for 40 euros. The person in question wants a native speaker ("a student or teenager who likes children"). Nice work if you can get it. It's more than I earned as a teenager for my Saturday job; an eight-hour day hopping, jumping and skipping after customers who couldn't decide between American maple and beech.

Who am I to question the system? Rather than shatter the dreams of the Austrians and the chance of making a living for my fellow native speakers, I find it best to keep schtum and remain forever bemused.



Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright