English language studied by NBS officials in order to improve professional skills

Several employees of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had the opportunity to improve their knowledge and communication skills in English, thanks to an organised English language course within the project "Technical assistance to Support the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova" (Parstat), funded by the European Union. The course was provided online twice a week by certificated English teachers from the Republic of Moldova.

In the opinion of the course trainees, the language skills acquired are extremely useful, since a relevant number of the documents and software used on a daily basis are available in the English version only. According to Pavel Țîţu, head of the Geographic Information Systems Service at the NBS, the improved language skills will help him to consult effectively the online documentation in his statistical domain. "We are using software that is only in English, and in order to strengthen our knowledge and professional skills we have to consult materials published in English language. Unfortunately,  there are no materials available in Romanian for our field of expertise, therefore it is imperative that we know English language”, specified Pavel Țîțu.

Larisa Chirița, senior consultant in the Department of Education, Science and Culture Statistics shares the same opinion.  „We are working with documents, strategies data provided by Eurostat, UNESCO and other international organisations that are often available only in English language. We used to attend online courses organised by Eurostat. That is why becoming literate in English will help us a lot in our daily activity. This course has helped me a lot to improve my ability to communicate in English”, said Larisa Chirița.

A more advanced knowledge of English will allow NBS staff to access the main sources and reference documents for the further alignment of official national statistics with the acquis communautaire.