SMEs 'losing Business Due to Lack of Language Skills

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe are losing business due to a lack of "linguistic and intercultural skills" among their employees, EU Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban told business representatives this week (6 May).
English 'not business lingua franca'

"Sometimes people think that English is the lingua franca for business, but this is not true," Commissioner Orban told participants in a roundtable discussion on the importance of language skills for SMEs, held as part of the EU's SME Week .

"In terms of communication, English might be the lingua franca, but in addressing consumers everywhere in Europe and outside the EU, of course the company should develop linguistic and intercultural strategies," Orban said.

The commissioner was addressing a roundtable which focused on "practical tools" to help small countries improve their work with languages. Discussions focused on possible shortcuts to better multilingual communication, reaching out to new customers abroad, and "making better strategic use of language skills".

EU business 'losing competitiveness'

Referring to a Commission-backed report released by European business leaders last year, Orban said "the study clearly shows that small and medium-sized companies are losing business ,losing money ,due to the lack of linguistic and intercultural skills".

The report had warned that EU industry is at risk of losing competitiveness as other countries start outperforming the bloc in terms of language skills (EurActiv 14/07/08).

'Platform for dialogue'

Commissioner Orban announced that the EU executive was planning to set up a "permanent platform" to boost dialogue between business and "stakeholders from the linguistic scene," with the aim of helping companies to develop their use of foreign languages. 

In last summer's report, the Business Forum for Multilingualism warned that emerging economies, primarily in Asia and Latin America, are quickly acquiring the solid language skills necessary for successful competition and that Europe will have to promote formal and informal language learning more effectively if it wants to compete.

Positions:
Cassandra Oliver, accounts manager at UK firm Web Translations, said "we are always telling our clients at a very early stage of negotiations and talks with them that [languages are] a 'must' if they want to be taken seriously as an international company".

Companies "must use the linguistic and multicultural skills of the countries they want to target," she added.

"Europe is a big market and there are a lot of opportunities," said Thomas Meier, co-owner of Tischlerei Hencke und Meier, a German furniture company. "Bringing forward languages is an important advantage for the whole image of a craft company," he added.

Stressing the importance of apprentices for his company, Meier said "as a company working successfully in crafts, our young people enjoy working in foreign countries. They look for contacts abroad, they are very interested in the culture of the countries in which they work, and they are eager for knowledge".