Second Language Skills on the Labour Market (Identification of Export and Import Terms. Cognate and Distance Pairs). Part I

Abstract

When experts evaluate the costs of investment in second languages as elements of human capital there arises a number of difficulties. Individuals getting an education usually endure some costs: these are connected with expenditure on books, tuition, video films, etc., and naturally – with forgone expenditures. The first type of cost involves direct expenditure on school materials, though not nil, being relatively minor and can be assumed away (that meanwhile would not result in a major difference in the estimating rates of return in the nearest or in the remotest future). The second cost that concerns forgone expenditures, in the terms of the cost for second language skills tend to zero for learners under legal working age.