Invest in languages, firms urged

From http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXqiT5lH5LJGtxkpe9MCYnXfEV1Q :

31 January

Invest in languages, firms urged

One in four firms has lost business contracts because their staff cannot speak a foreign language, according to a report.

A survey of more than 500 UK companies also found that one in 10 had to pay to have documents translated because no-one in their organisation had the necessary language skills.

Manufacturing, catering and leisure firms were most in need of workers who had learned another language, according to the study by the publishers of the Teach Yourself Business Languages series.

The books' author, Sarah Carroll, said: "China is one of the fastest growing global markets and the demand for UK Mandarin Chinese speakers is increasing.

"Mandarin Chinese is quickly becoming one of the most useful languages to know in business, and Spanish may well end up rivalling English as a global business language in the Americas by 2050.

"Businesses need to be aware of this and invest in foreign language speakers so they are able to compete in the global market."

One in five firms said they would be willing to pay higher salaries to staff with language skills.

Interesting!