The competitive advantage of foreign language in business
Katherine Hughes
Director
CESA Languages Abroad
As more and more of Britain's young people shun foreign languages, Katherine Hughes of CESA Languages Abroad tells us just why a second language can secure a real competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.
Emperor Charles V (the Hapsburg ruler, whose territories included vast chunks of the Iberian Peninsular, the Netherlands, Austria and parts of Italy, in the 1500s) is understood to have said, “I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse”. As he was second to no one, in terms of power in his era, it’s interesting to think that even he felt there was much to be gained from using the right language, in the right situation.
Some 500 years later on, it seems incredible, and something of a pity that we should need to “educate” people on the importance and relevance of language ability. Surely attitudes have moved on over the last five centuries? We all ought to be wise enough to appreciate the importance of communication without language barriers, in our 21st century global community. A community that is bound together in so many ways; the internet, mobile phones, TV, the ease of long distance travel, in fact a global community that has been brought closer together today, than in any previous century.
The British business community has the same access to these facilities as other nations and surely an advantage to boot, in that English (albeit simplified or American English, rather than the British English of old) is seen as the lingua franca of the 21st century? Well maybe, but maybe not. There is a growing awareness in Britain that whilst English is the perceived lingua franca, up to 75%* of the world doesn’t speak any English at all, and we need to get our act together. Let’s be honest, whether the people you wish to communicate with speak English or not, if you are the one that’s seeking to secure a sales, you give yourself and your business a distinct competitive advantage by being able to speak the language of the client.
In European business terms, French, German, Spanish and Italian are the core languages in demand. With the recently enlarged European Union, anyone with knowledge of the new countries’ languages will steal an advantage over their competitors. On a global level there is a need for Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin/Cantonese, Portuguese and Russian. There is anecdotal evidence from UK recruitment agencies that salary benefit for those using languages at work can be anything from 8% to 20% improved over mono-linguists. Whether you work in Sales, Marketing, Finance, Technology or Law etc, you still need to be fully qualified in your own field, but enhancing your prospects for a better wage, through promotion, new responsibilities, or winning an overseas placement is greatly improved if you have an effective working knowledge of a foreign language relevant to your organisation or job.
No one can deny it takes effort to hone language skills and undoubtedly the best time of your life to do this, is whilst at school or college. Sadly though many students are not taking advantage of school, college or University offered linguistic opportunities. Only 46% of all school pupils in England were taking at least one language at GCSE in summer 2007, a total of 301,400 pupils. This includes both maintained and independent schools. In truth, the proportion of all pupils taking languages at GCSE has been decreasing dramatically in recent years. In fact 78% of all pupils were taking a language in 2001, 68% in 2004, 59% in 2005, 51% in 2006 and then the recent drop to 46% that occurred in 2007.
At University level the picture also makes for bleak reading, as the number of first-degree language undergraduates in UK higher education suffered large decreases at the end of the 1990s. These decreases are still apparent but have slowed down and started to level out in recent years. However, the picture varies depending on the language under discussion, so it isn’t all bad news. Spanish and Portuguese student numbers have actually been constantly increasing over the past 8 years. Chinese and Japanese have both experienced increases in student numbers in recent years, since 2002/3. Modern Middle Eastern studies students have also been rising since 2003/4, however this dropped in the period 2005/6. Unfortunately Italian student numbers have been constantly decreasing over the past 8 years and French and German suffered large decreases in student numbers at the close of the decade. These decreases are still apparent, but such haemorrhaging has thankfully slowed in recent years.
Fluency in foreign language undoubtedly gives employees (and their employers) a real advantage. Just because your student days are behind you, all is most certainly not lost. Students or employees can follow evening classes at a local college, try self-study packages such as books, CD-Roms or online courses at home, sign up to a course with a nearby university language centre or enrol on a group or individual tuition programme with a private language course provider in the UK or abroad. Even basic ability in other languages is in demand. Communication with customers, whether by breaking the ice with a few phrases over the phone, on a visit or in a meeting can be a great starting point and further linguistic enrichment can only benefit the individual and their employer. One of the joys of language learning in the 21st century is that there are as many ways to achieve linguistic success, as there are people striving for the goal.
If Charles V, (back to the Hapsburg Emperor) realised that to achieve his wishes, German worked best for the horse and the ladies in his life responded well to Italian, surely we too, can learn the wisdom of speaking the language most pleasing to our clients, business partners, customers or indeed (should we have one) our horse. After all it’s in our best interests to do so! Though I confess why God should prefer Spanish still eludes me, maybe it was a 16th century/Catholic monarch thing.
Language learning has always been hailed as one of the great bugbears of British business by our media. The conclusions we draw, as ever depend greatly on the perceptions of the person analysing the information to hand. Are you a person who believes the glass is half full or half empty? When it comes to the on-going battle of how good or bad the British are at addressing the country’s language learning requirements, yes, there is still work to be done. However, there are a wealth of options, to suit all language needs and aspirations.
Katherine Hughes Director
CESA Languages Abroad
w. www.cesalanguages.com
CESA Languages arranges language courses, starting in business in 1980. Katherine Hughes has been a Director since 1989. They cater for business language course needs, personal language needs and academic student needs with courses ranging in duration from one to 48+ weeks