Want to obtain and keep precious export contracts? Taking the time to learn your customer’s language and customs may just help you do that. A report for the European Commission found that:
- Just over 10 percent of 2,000 small and medium sized firms in 29 European countries sampled in the study have lost export contracts because of lack of language skills.
- The picture is far more complex than the much-quoted view that English is the world language.
- Individual respondents mentioned that English might be used for initial market entry, but longer-term business partnerships depended upon relationship building and relationship-management and, to achieve this, cultural and linguistic knowledge of the target country were essential. Source - eitb24
The bottom line is always a good motivator and I’m sure continued reports like this will do wonders for new language acquisition in businesses.