Coimbatore may have earned the reputation of being an educational hub, but the fact remains that students are finding it difficult to get jobs when they step out of the college. Experts say that lack of communication skills is one of the reasons for this sad state.

“Last year, I read somewhere that out of the several lakh students who had passed out, not even five percent were employable. This was based on their ability to speak, read, and write in English,” Sivakumar Palaniappan says.

Students on the other hand say that they are unaware that they are making mistakes while conversing in English. Arthy, D., a retired soft-skill and English language trainer, shares that despite being knowledgeable, most students do not get placed with reputed companies simply because they lack basic communication skills.

“One of the major problems with these students is that their foundation in English language is not strong. Secondly, the students are very comfortable with communicating in their vernacular language. So, they verbatim translate their thoughts from the vernacular language to English. This is how they make mistakes without even realizing that they are doing so.” Arthy says.

Her suggestion? “Get your basics with this language right. Rest of the aspects like sentence formation and flow of sentences will automatically happen,” says the retired trainer.

Amritha Shivdas, originally from one of the neighbouring states, is very conscious of the strong Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) in her English accent. She tells us that she is working hard on getting over this. “I listen to talks and watch a lot of videos. Thanks to YouTube, a lot of learning materiel is available for free online. I spend an hour everyday on this,” Amritha reveals.

Rajeshwari Pillai also remembers being a victim of the same MTI trouble. “I read a paragraph from one of the leading dailies and recorded my voice. When I listened to it, I was so embarrassed that I made up my mind to improve. I joined an English crash course at an institute in Coimbatore. After a lot of hard work, touch wood, I speak without the MTI, and I’m confident too,” Rajeshwari says.

In order to lend a helping hand to professionals and students to master the art of communicating in English, several city-based centres host regular crash courses and workshops. Apart from being taught by a trainer, regularly communicating in English, improve one’s fluency in this language.