Research by the Regional Language Networks shows that 1 in 5 UK companies believe they have lost business as a result of language or cultural barriers. This is because more than 60% of our trade is with countries where over 82% of the population do not speak English as a mother tongue. In the light of this it’s surprising that language skills are given such a low priority. In fact most UK companies do not offer their employees the chance to learn languages. And there is strong evidence to suggest that they should.
A survey recently published by the British Chambers of Commerce showed a direct correlation between the value a company places on language skills and its annual turnover. Companies that were successful internationally were those that encouraged staff with language skills either through recruitment or training. So it seems that some of the best UK companies are using language skills successfully to win business.
So why are languages not taken seriously by more British companies? Perhaps it is because it requires you to be “in the know” like the large, sophisticated international firms. It may be that languages are deemed a bit “intellectual” and we don’t like too much cleverness. Talking football is more our cup of tea!
But the biggest problem we have with our attitude to foreign languages is really a historical hangover from The Empire when we taught the world to speak English and play cricket! We made life easy for ourselves. Now it’s a big culture shock to have to make our way in this big new global market full of other languages.
It is certainly not a problem of aptitude. In fact English speakers have a huge advantage. English contains 30-40% of the words in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Banish forever the idea that we have some inherent inability to learn languages. This is a myth. We can do it as well as other nations if we choose. Besides, many British diplomats, officers and business people have been excellent linguists.
If you really want to learn a language then you can. As a grown up your experience should be much nicer than it was at school. Now, with maturity on your side, you have the capacity to achieve far more. Motivated adults, taught by modern “communicative” techniques, can do very well. Using a professional training provider who knows what they are doing will also help. You may just find that it works and it’s fun!
Remember that language learning is a long-term commitment. Although benefits will be achieved as you progress with your training, language learning is an ongoing process and training is just the beginning. In order to become really proficient in a foreign language you need to get out there and use it.
To reach higher levels of language competence you will need to spend plenty of time living and working entirely in the target language. That’s why people talk about “sink or swim”. Learning to speak a foreign language is very much like swimming one day you will be able to do it without any armbands!
We all know in our heart of hearts that shouting loudly in English is not the right way to conduct our international business. On the other hand learning your customer’s language is widely recognised to be very good business practice and many companies are already reaping the benefits in their overseas trade.
It’s a fact: languages are good for your business! And, although you hadn’t realised it, as an English native you are already a budding linguist, at least as far as European languages are concerned. And Europe is where we do the most business. So, why not try language learning – you may surprise yourself!
Posts Tagged ‘English Speakers’
You Can Speak your Customer’s Language and Win Business If you Wish
January 6th, 2010Looking for the Best Spanish Language Software – Useful Tips!
January 4th, 2010Best Spanish language software is an advanced teaching method that helps us on achieving one goal: speak and understand one of the most important languages on the planet. Many English speakers, mostly Americans, already understand the importance of understanding Spanish as this is the second most-spoken language in the USA. If taking an evening course isn’t your preferred method of learning a new language but you still want to learn Spanish on your own – read the following review.
Some background
Best Spanish language software is a great Spanish teaching tool for anyone, especially because it enables you to hear how to pronounce words and entire sentences correctly. Who doesn’t like interactive multimedia. . ? Well, since most of us do, that is the reason why it is being used by this technology – it significantly helps us on memorizing words and phrases.
Learning how to speak fluent Spanish takes time, this advanced technology tries to shorten that process by using several techniques such as: correct pronunciation practice, multimedia based lesson plans, and audio lessons.
Quick advantages
Finally, when we look for the bottom line, let’s see what advantages we get by using this technology:
- Fun & enjoyable language learning method.
- Once you learn how to speak Spanish, you can easily learn other Latin-based languages such as French and Italian.
- Quick learning time when compared with conventional language learning methods.
There are plenty other advantages provided by this advanced technology, simply because Spanish rapidly becomes the second most important language in the United States for day-to-day communication and for doing business.
Compared with other languages Spanish is considered easy to learn and thanks to these computer-based learning tools, this task becomes fast and effective, offering us an opportunity to learn one of the most spoken languages on the planet.
Final words
Best Spanish language software slowly gains popularity as it enables us to quickly learn this important language. In our dynamic world, where almost 400 million people speak Spanish, it is undoubtedly important for us to learn and understand this language, the people who speak it, and their culture.
An Average Graduate KnowS Only 6000 Words In Chinese Language
January 3rd, 2010Is it really hard to learn Chinese as a foreign language?Is it true Chinese is difficult language to learn as a foreign language?Strictly speaking, it’s not so. Comparatively grammar in Chinese is much simpler than that of the European languages. At times, there is a complaint from English speakers that languages like Spanish have a perplexed grammar (masculine and feminine genders, verb conjugations, etc),, but the Chinese language has virtually no syllable structure or grammatical paradigms either to by heart. Each word has a fixed and single form: verbs do not take prefixes or suffixes showing the tense or the person, number, or gender of the subject. Nouns do not take prefixes or suffixes showing their number or their case. I do not mean that Chinese has no grammar; What I want to say is Chinese grammar is primarily concerned with arrangement of words to form meaningful sentences as they inflectional morphology. Plus each Chinese character pronounced in one syllable, that’s why when watching Chinese movies, you find that a few words can be translated into a syllable mapping in the English subtitle. Probably, you would say that the above is far from enough to convince you. Alright, there is another encouraging and definitive proof with me for you. A couple of days ago I fortunately came across one piece of inspiring news when reading Beijing Times. Now you can be allowed to read 90% of the current Chinese publication with less than 1,000 Chinese characters as per the survey conducted by the Education Ministry and Language Commission of China. The survey’s claim is based on 900 million characters used in more than 8. 9 million files selected from newspapers, magazines, the Internet and television. Nowadays, the Chinese media is using fewer characters, and to understand 90 percent of the content in publications, you need only to know about 900 of around 50,000 individual characters that are made up of Written Chinese. On the other hand, how many words are there in English? Nearly 100,000 and still increasing. There is one significant reason for this and that is Chinese characters focus on meaning, not pronunciation like in English, and further, many characters are primitive and a few are found only once in the entire history of the written language . Only about 6,000 are known by an average graduate of Chinese university. Now, would those all above relieve you a little bit in your Chinese language study? Hope so, but do not misinterpret this. I do not intend to convince you that Chinese is very easy to learn or other languages like English are much harder. What I mean is that Chinese is not as difficult as you imagined or heard about, but different from your mother tongue, but difference does not mean tough necessarily, Isn’t it?What it means is that Chinese is certainly simpler than you imagined or heard about, it’s just very dissimilar from your mother tongue, but dissimilar does not mean difficult necessarily, Doesn’t it? And that hard Chinese idea won’t be of any help in your study. Trust yourself, once that fear factor is overcome, the language is actually not that hard to learn. Wish you good luck with your Chinese language study.
