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 ‘Mother Tongue’
You Can Speak your Customer’s Language and Win Business If you Wish
January 6th, 2010Learning French the Easy Way
January 1st, 2010Two years ago, I decided to learn a foreign language, and then I was puzzled, my mother tongue is English, so which language have I to learn? After I searched a lot on which one is most suitable, I decided to learn French. And before you wonder why, I’ll explain my reasonable point of view.
First of all, French is the official language in 28 countries. It is also – like English exactly- spoken in 5 continents, and considered the second global language, and it will support my career building, by allowing me to apply for a variety of positions which requires applicants to be fluent in French, both spoken and written.
Unfortunately, there were a huge problem, which is French language is not easy to learn or to speak at all, I had to learn tons of non familiar words, phrases, and pronunciations. I don’t even have a specified or structured method to learn and speak French. So you can imagine how much confused I was. In fact, difficulties in learning and speaking French made me –in the beginning steps of learning- very uncomforted, and I was about giving up.
The most difficult issue I faced, was the ‘ pronunciation’, it’s really so hard to be an English native speaker, and want to be completely fluent in French in the same time, although French is considered a musical language.
For example, the new sounds in French would make you crazy at first, as they are very confusing, the most obvious example for this, is the ‘French R’. Really it was my curse. Accents also will take efforts from you to expertise them, and to be familiar with.
In addition, you will also face difficulties in the liaisons and silent letters.
Verbs in French also were very hard to learn, each verb is changing in a different way, there’s nothing like (teach, taught, taught), or (speak, spoke, spoken), they all are like irregular verbs (go, went, gone), generally, grammar in French is not easy or clear as grammar in English.
Then it comes to understand spoken French, the best case is to have someone who deals with you in a daily base, so you could listen and speak to him frequently, otherwise, it’s really would take a lot of time and exercising from you.
From my experience in learning French, I can advise you to have your own expert guide, to facilitate the process of learning French as much as possible.
Finally, I found it very interesting as well as hard to be a ‘ French speaker’, it was really a good experience.
Learning Spanish From Scratch
December 27th, 2009I was half shocked, half amused reading all the stuff on the Internet about how learning Spanish is “easy” and how some guides teach you how to speak Spanish in 21 days. I always wanted to ask the people writing this kind of guides, exactly who they think they’re fooling. Spanish, just like any other language, takes time to learn. You’ll need constant exercise, you’ll need to focus on several parts of the language, such as the Spanish vocabulary, Spanish grammar and so forth. Of course, each person has a particular level of informational absorption that can help them (or hinder them if it’s low) in learning Spanish from scratch.
Obviously, it depends whether you want to learn Spanish for your next-week trip to Madrid, or if you intend to learn it for that job offer waiting for you there in 4 months. You may be able to grasp the basic language notions in a week, if you use one of those free language lessons that you can find online, but if you want to learn it properly and in-depth, you’ll be better off taking things slowly and chewing on what you learn instead of swallowing it as soon as you learn it.
During your first 2 weeks, take a child’s approach to learning Spanish. Learn what you would teach a child to know in English first: the colors, 0 to 20 numbers, helloes and goodbyes, seasons, months of the year, days of the week and all sorts of easy things that will help you get a taste of learning a new language as well as getting you accustomed to pronunciation and writing.
Once you’re at this point, go for a few grammar rules. Use a Spanish course if needed, or look up a Spanish grammar online lesson and try to find out differences and common points between Spanish and English (or your mother tongue if it’s not English of course). You’ll also work on your pronunciation, writing and understanding while going through the grammar rules.
Next up, assuming you already know the basic grammar rules and have a solid grip of the basic Spanish words, you’ll need to work hard to improve your vocabulary. Learning Spanish is just like playing with a jigsaw puzzle. You know that you want to get the bigger picture out of the small pieces, but before sticking them together you’ll need to start with the corners to give you a base (the “child” vocabulary mentioned above). After that, you need to understand the rules involved in sticking the pieces together (Spanish grammar) and finally, you will have to start picking the small pieces one by one and attach them to the forming picture (improve vocabulary).
Improving vocabulary in Spanish can be done in a number of ways. Probably the most common one is “relating objects”. That means that if you learn a new word from a specific category (fruits for example), you should expand your vocabulary in that particular category first, then move on to another related context.
For example, you learn the word “apple”, you move on to words like “pears”, “strawberries” and “peaches” then after you’re done with that distinct group of words, move on to bigger contexts in which you can use them such as “kitchen”, “farms” or “marketplace”. This will allow you to learn new words from the new bigger contexts and at the same time, re-use the words you had learnt in the smaller categories, which “fixes” them better in your memory.
I’m not saying this is THE only way of learning Spanish from scratch, but trust me, if you manage to follow these easy steps, you’ll soon have a solid and correct grasp of the Spanish language. There might be faster methods of learning a new language out there, but this old fashion step-by-step one practically restrains you from taking any huge leaps in the learning process and skipping some important stuff.
If you want to add some spice to your language learning process, you can try playing some word games, watching some Spanish shows on TV and last but not least, you could search the internet for some free language lessons online or even better, those free online “learn Spanish” videos that you can find all over the world wide web.
