Employability

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• Employability Languages
• Isabella Moore
• Director of CILT,
• National Centre for Languages

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Background

• Over 25 years in the translation and
• interpreting industry
• Wide range of clients in the UK and
• Europe
• Every sector of Industry

• Mechanical Engineering
• Petrochemical
• Banking
• Marketing
• Automotive
• Mining/coal extraction

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What do we do?

• Promoting languages
• Teacher training and professional development
• Business skills and services
• Information provision and library
• Regional support
• Publications
• Careers information (Languages Work)
• European Day of Languages
• Business Language Champions
• Further information at www.cilt.org.uk

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Importance of Languages to the European economy

• Social cohesion, personal development Creating an
  effective internal market
• Skills and adaptability of the workforce
• Promoting mobility of labour and professions
• Removing barriers to growth
• Stimulating job creation and enterprise
• Innovation, research and development

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ELAN research study

• Do businesses have access to the language skills
  they need?
• What is the impact on their competitiveness?
• What is the macro-economic impact on the EU
  economy?
• Recommendations for policy-makers and business

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Macroeconomic modelling

• Four factors clearly associated with
  successful export performance
• Having a language strategy
• Appointing native speakers
• Recruiting staff with languages skills
• Using interpreters and translators

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Quote

• We have been employing for two years a Chinese
  speaking trainee. It is essential for us because
  she can contact people directly and help us to
  stay in touch in China

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Barriers
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Managing language skills

• 48 of businesses have language strategies
• 40 specifically recruit staff with language
  skills
• 22 recruit native speakers
• 62 adapt websites
• Varied practice in use of translators and
  interpreters
• 31 use local agents

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Staff training

• Many keep records of staff language skills
• 48 claim to offer language training to staff
• 35 have actually provided training
• Smaller SMEs have the greatest difficulties in
  providing training
• All companies prefer to recruit staff who already
  have language skills

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• Types of job with languages
• Customer service (46)
• IT (22)
• Accountancy, banking and finance (19)
• Secretarial and administration (9)
• Also marketing, advertising, creative and
  media, general graduate
• Translating and interpreting (3)

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• Understanding what employers want
• an international dimension
• ability to build relationships
• awareness of cultural differences
• team-working, oral communication,
  problem-solving
• commercial awareness
• discipline, work ethic, effectiveness

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Quote

• Personal contact with the foreign customer is
  necessary for every method of trade. It is not
  just a question of the language capabilities of
  negotiators, but also of the technical support of
  the product

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Large companies

• Higher incidence of recruitment of staff with
  language skills
• English important, but demand for skills in other
  languages greater than demand for English
• Policy and practice re corporate language

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AstraZeneca Commercial
Florian German National English Spanish
Justine French National German English

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Examples of Recent Recruits
Francisco Mexican National Spanish English
French
Yvonne Chinese National Mandarin English
Extensive Travellers
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Languages and Business

• Employees with language skills are definitely
  more marketable and have a greater worth in the
  labour market
• Bob Shankley, HR Director, BMW

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Findings from SME survey

• 11 had lost contracts through lack of language
  skills
• Value on average 325,000 per business
• If repeated across whole sector, 945,000 business
  may be losing out
• 10 billion per annum losses to the EU economy

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We buy more than we sell..
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Which languages?

• Frequent use of English
• But other languages also used as linguae francae
• Recognition that linguistic and cultural
  knowledge needed for relationship-building

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Not Just Language Cultural Considerations -
Colours
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Poland Topics to talk about and to treat
sensitively

• TALK ABOUT
• EU membership
• Culture and artistic achievement
• TREAT SENSITIVELY
• Soviet Russia and Germany to the older
  generation. Young people not so sensitive
• Current relations with Russia
• Hand-kissing
• Dont try to speak Russian!

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Large company language needs
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Languages SMEs need in next 3 years
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UK Profile
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Conclusions

• Losses are occurring through lack of language
  skills
• There will be increasing in demand for language
  skills in the next few years
• English is important but so are other languages
• Smaller SMEs in particular lack resources to
  invest in languages

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Global Excellence

• If I can choose between a graduate with
  language skills or without
• one who has experienced other cultures, or
  not

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Interpreting as a Career

• Simultaneous/consecutive interpreting
• Conference interpreting
• Court interpreting and legal interpreting
• Community/Public Service interpreting
• Ad Hoc Interpreting

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