Bilingual Enough?

I think it depends on the job - the kind of language skills you need as a hotel clerk is different than the kind of skills you need to work as a financial analyst. Can you complete all the listening, speaking, reading and writing tasks the job requires in Spanish? If you can, then you're bilingual. If you can't, then spend some time acquiring those skills and then apply for the job.

Just apply. If they've any sense they'll test your Spanish at the interview, if you get one.

#1 - Of course that makes complete sense, I guess I was just feeling a little nervous because I've never applied for a job where I had to be bilingual.

#2 - I did apply and that's what I figured. Let's hope I get an interview and pass the test!

Thanks again.

I am a former translator and here is my standard though it may be a pretty high one. You should be able to perform any task in the other language that you can in your first language. I've worked in these bilingual business environments and it was excellent for my language skills.

can you talk about complicated things (business transaction s etc) without problems to an unsympathetic, impatient stranger on the phone!? ( where you can't use your arms , hands , pencil and notes to get your point across.)

my ex-company almost always had a native speaker (if availble ) doing part of the interview, just took a couple seconds to determine if the applicant lied or not

Good luck - if it helps, I once had a job based on claiming to speak German. They tested me at the interview and I still got the job though my German is by no means fluent. But they didn't have any better applicants so I got it. My crap German was never an issue once I started the job.

There's always more to learn! I am also a translator, so my standards for "fluency" are high, as alexander said. When I got a job in Germany, I was "fluent" but because I learned the language mostly academically, I still had to learn the common expressions to use on the phone and around the office. That didn't hinder me from doing my job, though. Can you understand and talk about (and possibly write about) most of the subjects that would come up at your job in your other language? If so, you should be fine. As everyone else said, the interview will be the deciding factor.

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for the great advice, I feel much better now. Yes, I can discuss and even write about things in Spanish. It may not be absolutely perfect, but with time it'll only get better. I'm going to buy some reading material directly related to my job and start brushing up on some random things that I may not have ever run across before.

Yes concentrate on acquiring the relevant vocab - being fluent in budget travel Spanish isn't the same as being fluent in mineral exploration Spanish I found!