Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Why speaking the right language is important

by Shaun

The recent GCSE results highlighted the decline in pupils studying foreign languages. From a business point of view this is very worrying and, as David Cameron travels the world urging countries to “Buy British”, could prove to be detrimental to the economy as a whole.

Having studied languages, I realise how difficult they can be, and I’m sure many young people can find easier things to study. However, I believe that foreign language qualifications can really benefit a person’s career and I think young people should be encouraged to learn at least one foreign language to GCSE level, if not further. Of course, this also implies that schools should be able to teach foreign languages to the required standard and it is disappointing that some can’t.

These days, it is easy to assume everyone speaks English, and in my experience many business people from other countries have excellent English language skills. However, it is wrong to assume that this means English speakers don’t need to learn other languages and if, as a country, we want to sell our wares abroad, we need to make an effort to communicate in other languages.

As the world gets smaller, more and more businesses are inevitably working with companies and organisations overseas and, for British companies, I am sure there are many opportunities on our doorstep in Europe, if we have the language skills to exploit them.

At Ethos, we have international companies as clients and we work with international organisations on behalf of British clients, which makes the knowledge of foreign languages very valuable. Luckily we have French and German speakers in our team.

Even if you don’t use your foreign language skills on a day to day basis, having the skills in the first place can open the door to job opportunities and the skills are there when you need them. Knowing another language can help to break down barriers and increase your standing in the eyes of other nationalities. Besides, if you have studied languages, it also opens your mind to the challenges involved, making it easier to empathise with people who have learnt English and to appreciate the trouble they have taken to learn it.

Over the years, in many of the jobs I have had, including at Ethos, we have sometimes struggled to find suitably qualified people with language skills. So I would urge young people to stick with a foreign language at school, however hard it may seem, as the British economy of the future could depend upon it…

Posted at 9:33am on 6^th September 2010