Bozen – English is the language of the internet and international trade. If you can speak English, it means that you are saved the time, effort and expense of having to learn the local languages spoken in potential markets around the globe. Although these are the assumptions made by native English speakers, curiously, these are also the assumptions made by many who speak English as an additional language. Yet it was Willy Brandt who once said ‘If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen!’. This is a very different idea.
In a fairly recent research paper, published by sens-public.org, Ingela Bel Habib looked at multilingualism and access to emerging markets. It makes it very interesting reading. Bel Habib manages to dispel some of the myths related to English. For example, in 2000 English accounted for 51 % of global business communication. By 2009, this figure had shrunk to just 29 %. Chinese, on other hand, had grown from 5 % to 20 % over the same period. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rise and fall of languages mirrors the rise and fall of economies.
Bel Habib also found a close link between multilingualism and economic competitiveness across Europe, comparing firms in Sweden, France, Denmark and Germany. She found that the more firms adopted multilingualism as a strategy, especially in seeking exports to emerging markets, the less they reported losing out on export contracts. Supporting this, the University of Geneva has been studying the economics of multilingualism since the early 1990s and found that Switzerland’s linguistic diversity accounts for 9 % of the country’s GDP. The particular relevance to South Tyrol is that Bel Habib’s research focused on small and medium-sized enterprises.
So how can a small or medium-sized enterprise evaluate and meet its language needs to gain access to profitable emerging markets? Especially in times of economic difficulty, when containing costs is as essential as generating new business, this is an important question to answer. One way to do this is to look at what is happening in other parts of the world, to see how other countries are responding. Canada provides an excellent example. Here we see a country which has contextual factors comparable to South Tyrol. Historically we see linguistic minorities, periods of ethnic/linguistic tension, with local economies traditionally based on primary industries. Yet there are other factors in the present. In common with South Tyrol we can see a highly trained workforce and innovative and outward-looking businesses eager to tap into new markets.
The Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC), a government-funded organisation in the French-speaking Quebec and Chaudière-Appalaches regions of Canada, aims to help local firms identify, assess, and prepare to act on social, cultural, and economic development opportunities. They have various initiatives and resources, many of which can be viewed on-line (see www.cedec.ca). Specifically for language they have developed a practical guide for company managers who are responsible for Human Resources, Training and Development. The Linguistic Audit: A Strategic Tool (see Infobox) aims to equip managers in developing and implementing plans to improve the language skills within a company, thereby boosting a company’s competitive edge.
So multilingualism may already now be seen as the new English. Anyone with an interest in tapping into emerging markets may want to evaluate the suggestions. After looking at what is involved, in terms of the time and costs, an immediate question might be ‘Can I afford this?’. But a more fitting question would probably be ‘Can you afford not to?’.
The author: Peter Brannick is a sociolinguist and language trainer with a strong interest in multilingualism and globalisation, especially within the context of multilingual regions in Europe. He has extensive experience in language research and training in Europe and Latin America. He lives in South Tyrol.
