Breaking the Language Barrier

At a recent business dinner a chief executive was extolling the export achievements of his UK support services group. When China was mentioned, with regard to business, he looked askance at the very word. "God no," he said. "They don't even try to speak the language there."

Although there is some evidence of a growing awareness among UK companies of the importance of understanding other languages, their linguistic prowess still lags far behind that of European competitors.

Stephen Hagen, languages professor at the University of Wolverhampton and adviser to the UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), says, compared with its European partners, the UK is "the bottom of the pile of language ability."

Professor Hagen believes Europe's linguistic and cultural barriers are proving harder to break down than trade blocks. "There is a legal framework to enable us to export easily," he says. "The only thing that's preventing us from going further is that we don't have the cultural and linguistic competence to cope. "

A European Union-funded (financed) survey of exporters, conducted in July, suggests that 49 per cent of companies have experienced language barriers. The survey of firms with up to 500 employees found a further 20 per cent which had encountered cultural barriers and 12 per cent which had lost business because of these barriers.

The survey also found that only 13 per cent of the companies had formulated any languages strategy to deal with the problem. Most — 83 per cent — used translators.

Several studies concur in the growing importance of cultural competence. Professor Hagen says, "When you ask exporters whether they need to learn German, they say no. When you ask whether they need to understand how the German mind works, they all say yes." The problem is that "in this country we don't link languages with culture enough."

However, there is evidence of improvement. With 60 per cent of the UK's exports going to non-English speaking countries, Robert Holkham, at the UK Department of Trade and Industry says: "There is a growing awareness that learning a customer's language and culture increases the chance of doing business overseas. "

A benchmark survey of 500 small to medium-sized companies conducted by the DTI in each of the past three years has found that while 34 per cent said they had no language proficiency two years ago, the figure had dropped to 30 per cent in 1996.

The campaign highlights the kinds of problems communication difficulties can cause. These range from the tale of receivers finding a large order written in German left unread in a collapsed company in the UK, to the non-English airline which boasted that it would "send your luggage in all directions."

Studies suggest linguistic proficiency is related to company size, with those employing fewer than 250 suffering the most problems. Companies less than five years old with young managing directors are also more likely to employ linguists.

Many in the industry feel they have an uphill task. John Fergusson at the Association for Language Learning, says that with English considered a world language "there's a feeling that one doesn't need to put oneself out too much."

He puts part of the blame on an education system which, until recently, made just three years of language training compulsory until the age of 14.

He believes that the national curriculum, adopted in England and Wales in 1988, will improve matters, but only gradually. He also feels it did not go far enough — it should introduce language learning in primary schools, he said.

Комментарии

to extoll = to praise, boast of;

support services group = зд. consulting firm;

to look askance — смотреть искоса; зд. скривился, сделал гримасу;

awareness — зд. осознание;

prowess = proficiency, skills (навыки);

lags far behind — далеко отстает от...;

lost business — зд. потеряли выгодные сделки;

concur in — зд. указывают на...;

benchmark survey — рейтинговое исследование;

receivers — зд. судебные исполнители collapsed = bankrupt, ruined;

uphill = very difficult, hopeless;

to put oneself out — зд. прилагать усилия, «напрягаться»;

national curriculum — национальная программа обучения;

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