Are You “Lying” About Your Languages on your CV?

Have you “lied” about the languages you know on your CV?  Exaggeration of language ability is pretty common, but can it ever cross the line?  Came across this gem on the BBC and needed to share.  Here’s an excerpt:

Several years ago, Facebook started allowing users to add ‘languages spoken’ to their profiles.

One thing became abundantly clear: I had, apparently, been living a life populated with polyglots.

All at once, everyone I knew started claiming to be multilingual – despite the fact that I had never heard these people mutter even a word of a foreign language before. (My favourites were the people who said they spoke both US English and UK English.)

This trend doesn’t end with Facebook profiles either. The embellishment seeps into the workplace, surfacing when people apply for jobs. On LinkedIn and in job applications, many people don’t think twice about slapping down a greatly exaggerated foreign language ability.

But can this backfire?

Read the rest of the story here.