When Recruiters Talk About Language Skills: Research Challenges of Comparing “Folk” Concepts in Different Languages

In job interviews, recruiters, as gatekeepers, make decisions about applicants’ employability, also regarding their language skills. An analysis of recruiters’ beliefs and attitudes towards linguistic and communicative competence, therefore, helps us understand the concepts underlying their decisions. However, the way recruiters discuss these skills and concepts is influenced by the language they use. For this reason, when investigating recruiters’ perceptions, the language of research must be closely aligned with the language of the target group. This article examines the challenges of conducting multilingual research on recruiters’ beliefs and attitudes towards the language skills of job applicants in Austria and France. The study is based on a three‐stage research design, comprising an exploratory analysis of job advertisements, an online survey (𝑛 = 277), and focus group interviews (𝑛 = 12) conducted in both German and French. This article draws on data and methodological considerations to describe comparability and translatability issues with respect to expressions related to the concept of linguistic competence that recruiters use as linguistic folk. The challenges encountered pertain to the utilization of a multilingual questionnaire and the interpretation and analysis of the resulting data. They also extend to the dissemination of results, which requires translation into English.