Being fluent in a foreign language opens up potential job opportunities. On the down side you'll be facing stiff competition from native speakers who are living here and as the rise in samba nights and wine bars attests to, there's no shortage of those.

You have a much better chance of securing a multilingual position if you have worked in that country previously. It's unlikely you'll get a job that involves speaking French or German all day if you only studied it in school or college, says Michael Kennedy, head of financial recruitment at 1-800 People Recruitment.

It would generally be natives of a country or people who have worked there for several years who would do those jobs, " he says. To be on the phone all day you need a working knowledge of the language. You have to be at native level even if you're not a native."

Kennedy says there are multilingual jobs out there for people and they always get filled, although some take longer than others. The mainstays are the old European languages , , French, German, Italian and to a lesser extent Spanish , , as well as the Scandinavian languages. Recruitment companies are not being asked to source Polish multilingual staff, due partly to the easy availability of Polish workers in the country at the moment. Also, Poland is not a major market for global companies, so few if any have Polish-speaking divisions here.

Some companies will look for Japanese or Chinese but very few, " he adds.

The ones we have difficulty sourcing are Dutch and Flemish, " says Kennedy.

Danish is another language that's prized highly as there are not many Danes in Ireland because their own economy is doing well.

The higher up the position the more difficult it becomes to fill, he says. ?We can fill every place a company asks us to fill with varying degrees of difficulty and the higher up you go, the harder it is to get people. If you're looking for, say, a telesales manager with Danish, it could be difficult because you're talking about a very experienced person with a specific language.

Regina Spollen, regional manager with Collins McNicholas Recruitment and Training Group, believes the next challenge facing industry is to ensure foreign language speakers stay in Ireland for the long term. At present, many only stay for six months to a year.

TALK THE TALK

If you fancy learning a foreign language, there are some specialist schools in Ireland, most of which are in Dublin. But remember that if you're looking to secure a multilingual role , your best bet is to spend time in foreign climes. That is, after all, the best reason to learn a language in the first place.

Instituto Cervantes, Spanish Embassy Cultural Services, 58 Northumberland Road, Dublin 4.

Tel: 01 6682024. Email: cendub@cervantes. es.

The Instituto Cervantes offers part-time Spanish courses during the summer at all levels. Courses typically last from four to eight weeks. There are also classes for leaving cert preparation and for tourists.

Goethe-Institut Dublin,37 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

Tel: 01 6611155.

The Goethe-Institut runs 16-week courses in German, usually of about three hours per week, during the autumn and spring semesters. During the summer it organises intensive twoweek courses of 15 hours per week.

Italian Cultural Institute, 11 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2.

Tel: 01 6620509/01 6621507.

The institute offers courses that cater for all levels of Italian from beginner up to the level required to study in Italian universities. Some of the courses consist of 30 hours of lessons and others 60 hours.

Alliance-Francaise, 1 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 6761732.

The Alliance-Francaise runs beginner, intermediate and advanced classes in French, normally involving 32 or 64 hours of learning. There is also higher intermediate, higher advanced, business French, legal French and classes aimed at teenagers.

Trinity College Dublin offers a part-time course covering basic spoken Chinese and some aspects of Chinese culture.

For language courses in your area, see www. nightcourses. com.