Finally... 

 

 Creating this blog was actually an assignment, but I cannot deny that I liked writing in it almost every week. I especially liked talking about my passion, linguistics, and designing the blog to fit the theme of linguistics.

 

From: https://www.froggyz.com/en/blogroll-top-25-blogs/

 The course that I took, that required me to make a blog, taught me a lot of things. First of all, I learned to write a blog. I have never written a blog before, I read some blogs but never thought that I would want to start mine simply because I was not interested and I was afraid of sounding boring. However, this blog taught me not to be shy about voicing my opinion and writing about topics that I am interested in. My first blog post was about introducing myself and my dream job, which is related to my major. I admit that the first blog post was the hardest because I kept thinking “what if I sound boring,” but as the semester went on I found myself writing without such thoughts. I believe that the blog assignment was the reason to go beyond this fear.

 The second thing that the course had taught me and got me interested in is soft skills. Before taking this course I didn’t know soft skills and I didn’t know their importance in my career life. But, turns out I already am working on developing some of them without knowing. My interest in the emotional intelligence has helped me develop some of the soft skills and made me more interested in searching more about them. In addition, I developed my written and spoken communication skills in the course by writing business letters, memos, etc. and by doing presentations in front of class.

What is my next step?

From: http://reviste.in/careers/liberation-of-knowledge/

  Next semester will be my final semester at the university. I would say that I made a good decision by choosing my major and minor because I enjoyed taking classes and doing assignments related to my interests. My next step after this term is over is to keep gaining knowledge through reading more and experiencing more. Also I will continue learning my languages that I love, English, Arabic, Korean, and French. I will continue developing my soft skills and small talk skills because I know that I will need them.  

  Next semester also is my capstone semester, where I will use my developed written and spoken communication skills. I know that I write even more than now and that I will present in front of more people, which is nerve-wrecking, but I am glad that I developed my communication skills this semester, thus I believe that I will be fine.

 After university I would definitely have developed lots of skills, like communication skills, and lots of knowledge related to my major and minor. I will take all this and use them in my master’s years, where I will gain more knowledge, do more research papers, and talk more in front of people I do not know. 

  

“The end of one chapter is just the beginning of another. Read on…the best is yet to come.”

                                                                                                              -Susan Gale 

Economic development and Qatar 2030 vision

In this blog post I will talk about one of the four pillars of Qatar 2030 vision is the economic development. I will also give brief information about a big project and a big company that are helping with Qatar’s economy and the 2030 vision.

The economic development sector deals with three main sections that are shown below:

· Sound economic management:

-Qatar aims to have ‘reasonable’ economic development rate where it can catch the attention of international investments, and be able to keep up with the dynamic and changing world.

· Responsible exploitation of oil and gas:

-In this section of the sector the country aims to use petrol and gas to help develop the human resources. Also Qatar aims to have a well-established gas industry that produces clean energy to the country.

·  Suitable economic diversification:

-         Qatar wants to enlarge the national economy by reducing the use of hydrocarbon industries and to rely more on the private sector. Also, the country wants to enlarge the industries that can use the knowledge gained from hydrocarbon industries, and to use such industries to maintain a suitable economic diversification.  

Lusail city:                             

    According to Lusail city’s website, the city is considered one of the largest sustainable cities in the country. The city provides schools, mosques, medical facilities, and more, also it provides jobs for around 170,000 people. All this will enable Qataris and non-Qatari residents to live there without worries. In addition, the city will provide a theme park, two marinas, and two golf courses to let the residents to enjoy the luxury.

 Qatar is trying to develop its economy using Lusail city, but how? Lusail city is a large city that enables people to work and live in it. And this will result in attracting employees and investors from all over the world, which will bring profits to the government and help the economic growth.

       Baladna:

 Baladna is a large private agricultural company in Qatar that produces dairy products. The company raises its own livestock in its farm that is located at the north of Qatar and provides the suitable environment for the livestock to live and produce milk. Baladna helps the economy of Qatar by working to achieve one of its goals, which is self-sufficiency in dairy products. Self-sustainability is one of the goals of the 2030 vision, where Qatar wants to depend less on importing products but to produce them using its resources. Baladna became more well-known after the blockade because it used the blockade as a chance to enhance its performance and to produce the sufficient dairy products for the people of Qatar.  After the blockade Baladna imported 4000 cows from US, Australia, Germany, and Netherlands to produce more milk because the main source of milk was cut. Also it expanded its area to 2.4 million square meters. And as a result of this, Baladna now produces 30 to 35% of dairy products in Qatar, which is definitely helping Qatar to achieve its goal of self-sustainability, at least in dairy production.

 Overall, I think that Qatar is working to achieve its 2030 vision even if the process in this time is slow. Local companies and farms are spreading over the country to help achieve the self-sustainability goal of the country, which in my opinion is a great way for the people who live in this country to contribute to the vision.

And to end this blog post, I would like to suggest reading more about the topic from the websites below. I used these websites to talk about the Qatar 2030 vision.

Qatar 2030 vision

Lusail city website

Your food is made in Qatar

Small Talk

 Have you ever wondered how some people get jobs right away? “What’s their secret!” is a question that you may have asked yourself in such situations. You are not alone! That is why in this blog post I will be giving you one of the secrets that can help you get a job a bit faster.

 I will talk about something that you might have heard of, which is ‘small talk.’ What is small talk, and how important it is for the business world, are the questions that I will answer in this post.

What are small talks?

Small talk is a “short, friendly conversation” that break the ice between the participants in the conversation. Normally the conversation is about certain topics like the weather, sports, or hobbies. Small talks help the person be friendlier towards other people and helps give a good first impression.

 
How to start small talks?

How to start a small talk is an important question that should be asked and answered. I am not an expert in small talks but from my experience, the first thing that you can do to start a small talk is to smile, and show the other person that you are interested in engaging in a conversation with her. Then you can start by asking “how are you?” and introducing yourself.

 After doing these steps you can start talking about something that you know about instead of talking about a topic that you might not nothing about. For example, you can ask “open-ended questions” (Frost, 2018), like asking about hobbies, food and restaurants, or sports. It is better to ask such questions because, first there are more possible answers, and second they can lead to other questions.

Another important tip that Frost focused on is, practicing active listening. What is active listening you ask, it is listening and engaging in the conversation. To clarify, while listening to the other person, ask related questions. This will help the conversation go on, and you will seem interested in what the other person is saying.

How is small talk important in career life?

You might not believe that small talk can actually facilitate the processes of getting a job, or getting a promotion, or help with the career life in general. But here are some reasons to why small talk is important.

·        First impression: small talk can definitely let the person you are talking to form a certain first impression of you. First impression is extremely important, especially if you are doing an interview or preparing for one. The employer will form her positive or negative first impression of you during the interview, because this is where she will meet you. Thus, you need to present yourself in the most positive way, and small talk will help you.

·        Makes you focus more: because of small talk you learn to be an active listener, you learn to focus on the other person and what is she saying. Small talk will teach you to understand others and listen to them and be more empathetic toward them.

·        Confidence: in small talk you will talk about yourself undoubtedly. You will be asked to talk about, for example, your hobbies or your interests, and the more you practice talking about yourself, the more comfortable and confident you will be. Thus, small talk helps you to gain confidence.

And finally, to end this post I would like to suggest visiting the blogs below to know more about small talk.   

The Ultimate Guide to Small Talk: Conversation Starters, Powerful Questions, & More

48 Questions That'll Make Awkward Small Talk So Much Easier

Soft Skills vs. Hard Skills

Hello everyone and welcome back!

 This blog post will be about soft skills and hard skills. I already talked about soft skills in a post before briefly, but this time I’ll elaborate and I will talk about hard skills. But before I start, watch this video below to get an idea about the two skills.

Soft skills

  I talked before in one of my posts about soft skills, and I related them to the emotional intelligence. But just to recap, soft skills are interpersonal skills that make up a good employee. For example, communication skills, good listening, and team-working skills are considered soft skills.

Hard skills:

On the other hand, hard skills are skills specific for a certain job. For example if you want to be a professional soccer player then you should know how to play soccer. Other examples of hard skills or that show that you have hard skills are, a degree (bachelor, masters, etc...), language skills, and computer skills.

Advantages of soft skills and hard skills:

• Soft skills:

1.     If you learn soft skills then you will have the necessary people skills that will help you when you interact with others, like when you do an interview for a job. They will help you get the job.

2.     If you learn soft skills then you will develop 'leader-ship' skills. Developing soft skills will make you be an effective communicator, and leaders must be good at communicating with their team or group members. And because of good communicating skills you, as a leader, will be able to lead your team without negative feelings, like jealousy and hatred.

3.     If you learn soft skills you will be surprised at how good your  body language will be. Body language will be one of the first indicators that tell about a person, and learning to control them or use them properly is important. Soft skills are all about communication skills, and body language is also a communication tool. Learning soft skills will make you a better communicator, and being a good communicator will help you use effective body language.

• Hard skills

 1.     Hard skills will let you have the necessary skills that are needed for the job you are applying. For example, computer skills for a computer engineering job.

2.     Hard skills are easier to develop than soft skills. For instance, you just need to learn about computers, like programming, if you want to be a computer engineer.  

3.     Hard skills are easier to measure than soft skills. Having a degree, resume, and a cover letter will measure your hard skills.

  Disadvantages of soft and hard skills:

• Soft skills

  Generally there are no disadvantages of soft skills but they are harder to develop than hard skills, they need more practice and interaction with people. 

Also, they are harder to measure than hard skills. The employer for example, will need to interview the candidate for the job to be able to figure out if he or she has soft skills.

• Hard skills

Hard skills also do not have disadvantages, but relying on them and disregarding soft skills will not be of help to get a job.

Bottom line is, you cannot regard only one them, you need them both to succeed.

From: http://shubhamtechnicalinstitute.in/soft-skills-training/

Qatar and soft and hard skills:

The education system here focuses a lot on hard skills because I believe that we still live in the era where “getting a degree is all that matters to get a job.” That is why, and it is my assumption, teachers who work at public schools are not fully aware of soft skills. And thus cannot transmit this knowledge and its importance to the students. I believe that the education system should be more aware of soft skills, and not disregard them and focus only on hard skills. Because it is important to teach students to have a  balance between the two skills in order to succeed in life.

What about me?

What about me? Which of the skills I think I am strong at? The answer is, both. I have developed my hard skills greatly because of my school and university, thus I think I have strong hard skills. However, as I mentioned in one of my posts, I am highly interested in the emotional intelligence, and I know and are interested in the relationship between it and soft skills. Thus, I am learning and developing the EQ and my soft skills for about three years (and counting). That is why I think that I have a good foundation in soft skills.

And finally I would suggest visiting the links bellow for more information about soft and hard skills

7 soft skills that will make or break your career

Top 10 hard skills that employers love

Ted talk: A Country with No Water.

By Fahad Al-Attiya

January 2013

Doha, Qatar

 In this blog post I will comment on the Ted talk by Fahad Al-Attiya, where he talked about water in Qatar. To summarize, Fahad Al-Attiya spoke about the one essential resource for life that Qatar did not have, which is water. He spoke about how having access to fresh water changed the life of people living in Qatar, and how having fresh water helped the people fulfill their everyday needs. Then he talked about how overpopulation has a negative effect on insufficient water resources, as people do not have sufficient water to satisfy their daily needs because industries use water too.

Why is this TED talk important?

I chose to talk about this talk because of the importance of water. Qatar used to be a country with no water, which made it an under developed country. But, after having access to water the country developed incredibly. This shows that water is definitely an essential source for living. In addition, the talk emphasized on the importance of taking care of water and not wasting it. And how industrial practices can have an effect on the sufficiency of fresh water. Fahad Al-Attiya sent an implicit message to the whole world and not only the residents in Qatar, and that is, water needs to be conserved.

 The problem and solution presented in this Ted talk

 The main problem that Fahad Al-Attiya spoke about was the insufficient water supply in Qatar. After oil was found in Qatar, Qatar developed and the population grew. And as a result, the new technology called desalination made it possible for this country to have clean water. However, there is a problem, growing population and a country with no water or insufficient water supply in Qatar. The situation in Qatar that Al-Attiya presented in this talk is that this country imports 90% of the food and cultivates only 1% of land. Also the number of farms have declined to -30%. This happened as a result of the open market policy. This is a problem because it affects the sustainability of this country. It is an issue for agriculture.

 The solution presented was using the renewable energy (sun) to produce water, and the water will help farmers to farm. And because of that the country will consume the food that is directly coming from the farms. Thus, Qatar will maintain its sustainability.

My thoughts:

I believe that this talk is important because it highlights important matters that need to be looked at in consideration. For example, water and how countries without water can get clean water, by using renewable energy that doesn’t hurt the environment. 

Also, this Ted Talk showed how Qatar is moving forward towards its goal to achieve the 2030 vision, in relation to the environmental sector of the vision. Qatar cares about the environment and wants to develop environmental friendly technologies that could help the country grow, and this talk by Fahad Al-Attiya shows how the country views environment as an important that needs to be taken care of.