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December 2, 2010

Learning A Language On The Company’s Dime

A language teacher once remarked that students she’s had who were going to class on corporate dime were some of the least motivated she’s ever had.   I told her I wasn’t surprised: I used to be one of those.

Why the bad attitude?  While I can’t speak for every single corporate attendee to every language classroom, my unspoken reasoning (and, I assume, a couple of the people I went with as well) is simple.  This class was a time off from work, not more work.  Hence, I just wasn’t going to put in the effort.

I knew all too well what cruising through that class meant for me — I wasn’t going to learn as much about the language as I probably needed.  This was an issue since, at the time, I needed some understanding of the language as it was the native tongue of one of our biggest clients whose projects I work on.  Yet, that wasn’t enough to motivate me.

After the class, I did learn some bits and pieces of the language, which I was able to leverage to learn further on my own using some savvy internet skills and a cheap but decent language training program that I paid for on my own.  Suffice to say, I ended up having to put more of my personal time into learning, making that decision to take the class lightly one of my dumber moments.

The lesson?  Evaluate your motivations before signing up for a language class.  Without doing so, you may end up wasting more of your own resources like I did.

August 6, 2010

Your Dream Job And Language Learning

Got a dream job? We all do. In order to land it, you’ll need to fulfill all the requirements and have the necessary skills. For some of those jobs, facility with a language other than your native tongue is mandatory.

When faced with such a job, you know what you’ll need to do: learn the foreign language. There are many avenues for doing that, although, we’re pretty partial to software-based language learning products. After all, we haven’t seen one that’s as effective and efficient, while maintaining overall costs quite low.

For language learners who intend to use it for their desired career, it might be a smart idea to focus on business-related skills. For the most part, that means formal speaking and listening abilities, paired with some level of writing capability.

There are some language software geared specifically for business learners, so that might be a good start. Don’t obsess over it, though. General-purpose language programs will also do. Just make sure to supplement it with some business-focused lessons later, after you’ve gone past the beginner stages.

The writing part is actually where it gets more difficult for most learners. We suggest finding out for certain whether developing writing skills can help you, as it will add a considerable amount of time to your overall studies.

July 18, 2009

Difficulties Of Learning A Language For Business

According to many experts who have studied various languages for very specific needs, business is probably the most difficult language to prepare for.  Not that business requires a more complex skill set than other industries, but because of the amount of localization that it usually requires.

Ever heard someone make fun of all the business buzzwords, doublespeaks and rather meaningless but lofty terms?  You probably have, as English-speaking media is teeming with them.  The bad news is, such mangling of the language for self-serving purposes happens in pretty much every country.

As such, there are always new variations of management-speak that evolves, with meanings that are usually miles apart from how you would normally perceive it if you translate the language in a literal manner.  If you are an English speaker, you will recognize this same characteristic in terms like “proactively manage the profit line,” “acceptable quality vector,” and “total quality processes”.  While those words probably mean something to people inside an office where it is used, they will do nothing but confuse beginner to intermediate language learners.  Hell, terms like those continue to confuse me and I grew up with the English language!

There’s really little you can do about the propensity of business language to branch into such a difficult mess.  For your part, the best thing you can do is be prepared for them.  Some language learning software and tools do include common business-speak with their lesson plans, but it really is difficult to account for everything you may encounter.  When you do stumble upon terms that don’t make sense to you during the actual course of business (such as negotiations), be brave enough to ask for clarifications.  Many native speakers will be so familiar with the way they use office-speak within their organizations that they usually take it for granted that others may not be privy to the same.

July 8, 2009

How To Learn A Foreign Language For Business

Need to pick up some bits of a foreign language for business purposes?  While you can study it much the same way as other people do, it’s usually wiser to approach the process from a different angle, combining both general language training with business-specific learning.

Study Your Language Lessons

Are you using a language learning software for your lessons?  Did you enroll in a class?  Have you bought a book?  Whatever method you’re employing to learn a language, keep doing that, completing the lessons and working on the exercises.  General language training, for the most part, is intended to lay the groundwork for your overall facility in the vernacular and should benefit you accordingly.

Business-Specific Learning

The problem with general language training is encapsulated in the term itself: it’s general.  That means, you’ll be learning things the way the average person will need to.  It doesn’t cater to your specific requirements, namely being able to use it for business.

While there’s nothing wrong with learning how to find the subway and barter at shops in Spanish, they are likely things that you have no need for (basically, prolonging your usable development).  As such, it is important to focus a good part of your language training strictly on business applications.

To do that, try to integrate the following things:

  • Pick out business-specific exercises (either from your language learning material or other sources) and focus your practice on them.
  • Subscribe to business and finance blogs on the language you are trying to learn, using them for your comprehension exercises.
  • Contact the consulate (or other organizations for that matter) for the country of the language you are studying and ask them to give business-specific recommendations.
  • Focus on business-specific vocabulary practice when you’re doing extra work.
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