実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (6/28, 29)
NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。
Lesson 6のテーマは、‘21st-Century Skills’（21世紀スキル）でした。Vignetteによると、21世紀に「核となる」スキルは、批判的思考力、コミュニケーション力、協調性の3つだそうです。
“Talk the Talk”でも、これから必要なスキル、かつて必須とされていたスキルについて話されています。
★英文の終わりに語注をつけました。
21st-Century Skills
（S: 杉田敏先生 H: Heather Howardさん）
S: In our current vignette, the A&A staff talk about the kind of skills that are necessary in today’s job market and the skills that are no longer relevant.
They discuss the key soft skills, which are sometimes known as 21st-century skills.
Those soft skills can be intangible and tough to quantify but they are important to be successful in today’s business world.
And they may be as critical as quantifiable hard skills, if not more.
H: Absolutely.
I’ve worked with a few people who had strong hard skills but who sabotaged themselves one way or another due to a lack of soft skills.
Like the former colleague who was an excellent editor but was so hostile toward the rest of the staff, who treated people’s mistakes like crimes against humanity.
A team player, an effective communicator, she was not.
She was usually right when she pointed out various problems, but she was so abrasive in her manner no one wanted to listen.
She would’ve gotten a lot further with a more collaborative attitude.
I also had a colleague who erred in the opposite way
I think this person just meant to be friendly with the other staff, and energetic in their work, but in practice, they came across as too buddy-buddy right from the start and also too high-strung.
Again, their work was good, but that fact often got lost amid people’s irritation with the manner.
I shouldn’t be too critical, though.
I’ve also been criticized in the past for what I thought as cheerful enthusiasm but came across as flightiness.
S: In my line of business, which is public relations, abilities like writing, research and communications, and networking are essential.
And now, proficiency in areas like visual storytelling, analytics and measurement are becoming just as important.
H: I would absolutely require, if I could, that presentation skills be taught in schools from a young age.
The best ideas in the world will go nowhere if we can’t convey them effectively, and visual storytelling is especially important in today’s world of short attention spans and massive amounts of content competing for people’s attention.
S: Whenever I’m asked what it takes to be a successful public relations professional, I list high energy, hard work and a high tolerance for pain.
Beyond those, I’d say you need good problem-solving skills.
After all, the life of a manager is one problem after another and you have to be able to solve them to survive.
H: True. If I was doing job interviews, I’d ask all the candidates to describe a problem or dilemma they faced and how they solved it.
I’d also say, “Tell me about a time that you took the initiative to deal with a problem.”
Being proactive is absolutely vital in today’s world; we can’t wait for people to tell us what to do.
S: One of the obsolete skills mentioned in the vignette is writing in cursive.
H: I was shocked when I learned that cursive is no longer considered necessary.
Back in my day―you know, when we were all running around in animal skins hunting saber-tooth tigers―cursive was fundamental.
We’d be told, “Cursive is how grown-ups write. You can’t write in block letters like a little kid when you’re out in the big world.”
I know it’s true that we don’t write things by hand nearly as much as we used to, but there are still some occasions.
Like writing a message on a goodbye card or a holiday card―I think our words come across much better if they’re written in an elegant hand.
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Words and Expressions
abrasive: 不快な
high-strung: 興奮しやすい、神経過敏な
buddy-buddy: なれなれしい、とても親しい
proficiency: 習熟、能力、堪能
analytics and measurement: 分析と効果測定
tolerance for: ～に対する耐性
お疲れさまでした。お読みくださり、ありがとうございます♪
