On November 22, the LMU Center for International Business Education and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures presented a webinar titled “Foreign Language Use in 21st Century Business and Organizations: New Skill Sets for New Scenarios” featuring Terence Mughan, Ph.D., foreign business language researcher and former professor of international management at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK, and Jaime Punishill, chief marketing officer at Lionbridge. Véronique Flambard-Weisbart, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures moderated.
CBA Dean Dayle Smith provided opening remarks and set the tone for the event by offering a quote from Nelson Mandela: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”
Dr. Mughan’s presentation focused on the importance of merging language, culture and business. He highlighted the fact that in the New York metropolitan area, at least 192 languages are spoken and that 38% of the population speaks a language other than English at home. In contrast, there has been a decline in foreign language learning over the past two decades, while technology and migration, and language interaction across the globe has increased at an exponential rate. This has consequences for business. “Language is a key construct in organizational identity and in individual identity within organizations,” said Mughan. “One of the clearest ways you can see this is to understand the importance of language as a dimension of diversity, equity and inclusiveness.” He emphasized that while individuals can continue to be monolingual, organizations can no longer be. “Language as an international business is key as organizations are becoming endemically multilingual,” he said. “Language is an international business.”
In his presentation, Punishill explained that there are four big challenges with languages in business: 1) how to deliver exceptional customer experience; 2) how to accelerate digital transformation; 3) how to build the frictionless path to purchase expected by buyers; and 4) how to transform the workforce experience which includes managing, motivating and supporting a multilingual and multicultural workforce in the new realities of remote/hybrid work. “The digital transformation is paramount,” said Punishill. In today’s workplaces where platforms like Teams, Zoom and Slack are the prime interface, the challenge is figuring out how to work in a multilingual, multicultural universe. Punishill suggested that lingua franca situations start to break down in the digital/remote workforce universe. “This will become a real challenge for organizations and how they manage the global workforce, content and experiences,” he said. In addition, Punishill discussed how language affects the quality of customer service which is reliant on personal connections. Punishill suggested that one should aspire to learn a customer’s language and culture as it enhances the service. By way of example, he emphasized that statistics demonstrate the slowing down of traffic on the websites of companies that have their sites only in English.
Moderator Dr. Flambard-Weisbart added her thoughts on the value of language proficiency and its effect on creating a professional versatility that enhances one’s professional communication and success. She also suggested that understanding the value of being multilingual and multicultural results is globalization of a product. Using Coca-Cola as an example, she pointed out that the recipe is different in different countries, suggesting that the product is made in the language of the country. This is an example of increasing customer utility not just through language translation on a product but adapting to culture. “It’s not about the translation,” said Flambard-Weisbart. “It’s about the person feeling as good as connected to the brand in every country.”
LMU Center for International Business Education extends its appreciation to the U.S. Department of Education and the Title VI grant for their support.
