3 key takeaways
- Your resume language skills describe your proficiency in writing and speaking different languages.
- Many employers show a preference for candidates who know multiple languages.
- Teal's Resume Builder can help you easily list your language abilities in your skills section, professional summary, work history, or all of the above.
When nine out of 10 employers say they rely on employees that speak a language other than English, including your language skills can be a competitive differentiator—provided you know how to list them levels on a resume.
This guide covers what language skills are, why it’s worth listing them on your resume, and how (and where) to include them on your document.
Struggling to land interviews? Try Teal’s free AI resume builder.
What are resume language skills?
Your resume language skills describe your proficiency in different languages—both spoken and written, highlighting your language fluency. On your resume, you’ll list:
1. The language
Example: German
2. Your level of language proficiency
Example: Professional proficiency
Listing your knowledge of foreign languages on your resume calls attention to your ability to communicate in multiple languages, which can be helpful in roles where you’ll interact with diverse clients, coworkers, vendors, or business partners.
How to list languages on your resume
With that groundwork in place, here’s a closer look at the steps to follow to write language skills on your resume:
1. Review the job description
When you’re figuring out how to make a resume, tailoring your document to a specific job description is the most important thing. Return to the job posting to review it with a fine-tooth comb and ask:
- Does the job description include language skills?
- If so, does it mention specific languages?
- Is the employer looking for a specific level of language proficiency?
If you don’t want to scan the job description yourself, Teal’s Matching Mode will surface important keywords and qualifications directly from the job posting so you have a better idea of what to include on your resume.
Your answers to the above questions will help you determine which languages to include and how to list them appropriately.
2. Identify your relevant language skills
After you review the job ad, determine which language abilities to include on your resume. With the job description as your guide, ask yourself:
- Do I speak and write the employer’s desired language(s)?
- Do I possess the desired proficiency level and language fluency?
If your answer to both of those questions is “yes,” then that language is worth listing on your resume.
If the job description says the employer is looking for bilingual employees or multilingual candidates but doesn’t mention a specific language, list all of your known languages and relevant proficiency levels to highlight your language skills.
3. Choose the appropriate resume section
Now for the big question: Where are you supposed to list languages on your resume?
You can include your languages in each of these resume sections:
Skills section
List your languages and proficiency level in your resume skills section along with your other hard skills and soft skills.
In the skill section of Teal’s Resume Builder, click to add a new skill. You can sort them in alphabetical order or turn off that toggle and click and drag your skills into the order you want them to appear.
Professional summary
If the employer specifically mentions being multilingual or a particular language, include your language skills in your resume summary so they’re featured prominently.
In Teal, click “Add Professional Summary” (or edit and existing one) to incorporate your language skills in your paragraph. Use the checkboxes to select which of your summaries to include on your resume.
Work experience
If you used your language skills heavily in a previous job, include that information with your work experience bullet points to show how you’ve applied your language learning in a professional context.
In Teal’s Work Experience section, click “Add Achievement” or edit an existing bullet point to incorporate your language skills. You can also click the “Write with AI” button to automatically generate your bullet points with AI.
Dedicated language skills section
If you speak more than two languages, you can create a languages skills section that’s dedicated to your language abilities and proficiency levels.
Use Skills Categories in Teal to create a category for languages and drag your language skills into that category so they’re grouped together on your resume.
If the employer takes the time to include language skills in the job posting, it’s also worth mentioning your language skills in your cover letter.
An easy way to do this is to match a full job title and description to your resume and Teal’s AI Cover Letter Generator will write a cover letter for you.
4. Write your language and skill level
Once you’ve figured out all of the above, knowing how to write language skills on your resume is pretty straightforward. When including languages in your skills section (whether it’s your resume skills section or a dedicated language section), you’ll list your language and proficiency level like this:
When listing languages in your professional summary or resume bullet points, you’ll need to provide a little more detail. You can see what that looks like in the examples included in the following section.
Resume language skills examples
Here are examples of how to list language skills in the four different resume sections mentioned earlier:
- Skills section
- Professional summary
- Work experience
- Language skills section
Resume language skills example: Skills section
Resume language skills example: Professional summary
TIP: If you’re struggling to write your own professional summary, Teal's Resume Summary Generator will automatically write a summary for you within seconds.
Resume language skills example: Work experience section
TIP: Teal’s Resume Bullet Point Generator will create impactful, metric-driven bullet points to highlight your biggest career achievements.
Resume language skills example: Language skill category
You can assign skill categories in Teal’s Resume Builder to group all of your skills by level, language, or any other category that makes sense.
Click “Add a Category” to create a new skills grouping and then drag your skills to the appropriate spot.
Should you include languages on your resume?
Here’s the short answer: yes. If you speak or write languages outside of your native language, those are helpful to include on your resume.
Benefits of including a foreign language (or languages) on your resume:
- Competitive advantage: While speaking a second or third language might seem natural to you, it’s not a skill many candidates possess. Your language abilities can help you stand out from other applicants.
- Cultural awareness: Particularly with more remote and hybrid work arrangements, work environments are becoming increasingly diverse. Comprehension of different languages demonstrates an understanding and appreciation of different cultures.
- Higher salary: 40% of multilingual employees say their language skills not only helped them land their jobs, but that they also led to earning 19% more than single-language speakers.
Which languages should you include on your resume?
There’s a lot to gain when you include language skills on your resume. But that doesn’t mean you should include Spanish or French just because you took a year of each in High School. At this point, those basic language courses won’t do much to benefit your career.
How to determine which languages to include on your resume:
- What is your language skill level? Including a foreign language on your resume indicates to the employer that you have current working proficiency with that language—meaning they’ll expect you can at least engage in basic written or verbal conversations. Only include a language if your skill level is proficient. You don’t need to be fluent, but you do need to be able to communicate at a basic level.
- How relevant are language skills to the job? Is speaking a second language pertinent to that position? Or does the position not require much foreign language use, communication with diverse groups, or people skills in general? Think about how pertinent your language skills are to the role.
- Does the job ask for specific languages? Similarly, take a close look at the job description (or use Teal to automate this for you) to see if the posting mentions several languages, desired foreign language levels, or specific languages the employer is looking for. If you possess what the company is specifically asking for, you can list language skills accordingly.
One more important thing to remember: You do not need to list the language your resume is written in, as your resume itself indicates you are fluent in that language. For example, if your resume is written in English, you don’t need to list English in your language skills section.
Understanding language proficiency levels
Noting your level of language proficiency on your resume helps employers understand how well you’re able to communicate in a specific language. But pinpointing your own level of proficiency can feel murky. Fortunately, you can refer to a language proficiency scale to determine your skill level.
Most popular language proficiency frameworks:
- Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
- American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
- Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR)
- Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB)
And while LinkedIn isn’t necessarily a formal language proficiency framework, it’s another common option people use when defining their language skills on their profiles. Here’s a quick comparison of the language proficiency levels in each of these scales:
Not sure how to choose which language proficiency framework to use on your resume? Your safest bet is to choose one that uses words instead of numbers to describe your skill level. A hiring manager might not understand what “B2” means for your proficiency level, while “professional working proficiency” is unmistakable.
That said, if the job description mentions a specific proficiency level using one of the other scales, default to that scale to define your own language skills on a resume.
How to determine your language proficiency level
The above scales are helpful for understanding each language level—but it can still be hard to determine where your own skills fall on the spectrum. How can you tell if you have professional working proficiency or full professional proficiency?
Strategies to define your proficiency with foreign languages:
- Take online assessments: Many of the proficiency scales also offer resources and assessments to help you. Check out the CEFR self-assessment grids or the ACTFL can-do statements to get a better idea of your skill level.
- Review detailed descriptions: The chart above was a quick overview of the different scales. Each one offers detailed descriptions of each proficiency level. Those are worth checking out to get a clearer idea of what’s required to satisfy each skill level.
- Practice with native speakers: You can also put yourself to the test by exchanging messages or engaging in a conversation with proficient or fluent speakers. That’ll give you a solid idea of how capable you are of applying your language skills in the “real world.”
Struggling to keep your skills (or languages) straight on your resume? You can assign skill categories in Teal’s Resume Builder to group all of your skills by level, language, or any other category that makes sense.
Common mistakes to avoid when listing languages on your resume
You’re ready to list language skills on your resume. As you do so, keep an eye out for these three common mistakes:
- Skipping proficiency level: It’s not enough to just list a language. Include your language level to let employers know your proficiency. Make sure to stick with a consistent scale too. It’s confusing to hiring managers when you describe your skill level as “Intermediate” with one language and “Limited Working Proficiency” with another.
- Overstating proficiency: Lies have no place on your resume—and that includes your language skills. Be honest about your proficiency with each foreign language.
- Using design elements: While some resume writers might recommend using fancy graphics or charts to show your skill level, those design elements are difficult for resume parsers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) to process. Stick with simple text instead.
Use Teal to highlight your language skills
Whether you’re fluent or a conversational speaker, listing language skills on your resume is a great way to stand out from other job seekers—especially if the role requires using more than one language.
Teal’s Resume Builder can help you clearly include language skills on your resume with:
- AI features to automatically generate your resume summary and your metric-driven achievements to include with your work history
- Skills categories to organize and list your hard skills, soft skills, and languages
- Matching Mode to compare your resume to the job description and identify other keywords (or languages) to include on your document
Ready to get started? Sign up for Teal.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you list language proficiency on a resume?
There are several common language proficiency scales you can reference to understand your skill level and list your actual proficiency, accordingly. You’ll list your proficiency right next to the language.
How do you put that you are bilingual on a resume?
You can mention you’re bilingual in your professional summary, skills section, or in your work experience bullet points. Make sure to get specific about the language(s) you know and your proficiency level with each.
What are the four levels of language proficiency?
Different proficiency scales use different levels. In general, you can use all the languages in following four levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and fluent.
What are resume language skills?
Your resume language skills describe your proficiency to speak and write in different languages.
What’s the best way to describe bilingual skills on a resume?
Choose a standard proficiency scale and then stick with that when describing your language skills on your resume. For example, you might describe yourself as conversational, intermediate, proficient, fluent, or a native speaker.
