English might be all right for some situations, including buying, but will it give you the competitive edge when you are trying to sell your goods abroad? Do you currently lose business because the switchboard can't cope with incoming calls in foreign languages? How dependent are you at the moment on the home market? Should you at least be aware of your company's potential abroad?

General guidelines

• Think about how you are currently set up to deal with foreign language communication in the broadest sense and try to assess what your key needs are likely to be.
• Identify which of your business operations can be carried out effectively in English and which will need specialised knowledge of another language.
• Decide which markets you want to tackle first - and therefore which languages will be needed.
• Find out what help is available.
• Consider doing a language review.

Business Language Review

A language review is designed to assist you in developing a realistic and reliable action plan to acquire or develop language skills and cultural awareness. A language review can help you assess if, where and how it is worth investing time and money. A language review should cover the following options:

• identification of objectives
• identification of what services can be bought in, e.g. translation
• interpreting, foreign language publicity and advertising
• the pros and cons of buying in people, e.g. export agents in the target country.
• recruiting UK staff with language skills
• training existing staff - costs involved, length of time needed
• or even advice on whether to defer a decision

You can expect to have recommendations about where to go to buy the services you need. From this you will be able to determine your own course of action, both short and long term. Any consultant used to assist with such a review should offer advice independently of training. The DTI provides assistance for UK exporting companies wishing to undertake a language review.

Ask about:

1. The Language and Export Advisory Scheme - LEXAS
2. Communicado - The Language Strategy Disk.

See also the DTI's National Languages for Export Campaign and Awards Scheme.

Language training

As a provider of language learning materials, BBC Education can offer you some general guidelines about language learning and training, although this is only one aspect of developing export potential.

Language training is one way of increasing your company's effectiveness in non-English speaking markets. How much you do, how you organise and pay for it, who has access and how long it takes to be effective and impact on company performance are all factors to be taken into account when evaluating its potential.

How much training will be needed?

Much depends on previous experience of learning a language and on motivation. A short, targeted course of about 20 hours will cover the basics, such as saying who you are and answering the telephone. For a more general, basic level competence you will need to allow about 60-80 hours. This should be enough to enable learners to reach NVQ Level 1 or GCSE basic level. To achieve reasonable fluency, you may need about 200 hours of study. Specialist language, such as that needed for product presentations, can be added to the general training at the appropriate point.

Not all of this has to be with a tutor. There are many self-study packages around (including BBC courses), designed to be used by individuals studying alone or in a group. A combination of self-study and access to a tutor with group interaction can be particulary effective.

Organisation and costs

Organising and paying for this depends on numbers involved and methods used, plus facilities available. Some companies offer training after hours in the workplace, while others prefer individuals to study at home in their own time, or will subsidise an evening class at the local college. The most expensive option is one-to-one tuition, which may be appropriate for a senior manager about to go abroad.

If you approach a college, company or consultant for training, ensure you are given adequate information in advance about costs and outcomes.

Who should be trained?

Again, this may depend on resources available. Try to plan out a language training strategy, determining who needs training first and how many employees in the company might benefit from it. Make it part of an on-going staff development programme. You don't always know who is going to be good at languages until you've given them some training. Experience suggests that benefits can be observed at many different levels within the company, from switchboard to shop floor to export manager level.

How long will it take to impact on company success?

Results have been known to be immediate, for example in the companies who were not aware of new business approaches because the calls didn't get through to the right person in the first place. Most effective is a combined language strategy involving training and other approaches, while employees get up to speed in the foreign language. Establishing relationships with customers or suppliers by speaking to them in their language is very helpful and can often oil the wheels of business. Confidence and experience of the language and culture abroad lead in turn to an increased ability to seek out new markets and new business.

Translating and Interpreting

Translating technical documents is a fairly specialised skill and can be done most effectively by skilled translators. Contracts, legal documents and official procedures relating to exporting/importing need to be understood in detail - failure to do so can have serious repercussions. However, in the day to day handling of office communications such as letters and faxes you may just need to understand the gist of what is being said to be able to respond appropriately.

For foreign language publicity and advertising you need to ensure accuracy and effectiveness and be aware of cultural differences. A straightforward translation into the language may not work at all well. We smile at the airport translation 'we take your baggage and send it in all directions', but it wouldn't bring in any new business.

Interpreting is done by specialists who are completely fluent in or are native speakers of the foreign language and English. Useful if you become involved in meetings, trade delegations and product launches, the service can be bought in on an hourly or daily rate. Nowadays, some interpreters will offer a three-way telephone call service with you and your client.

Translators and interpreters are trained to a high professional standard and often work on an individual basis. They are also available in non-European languages such as Hindi or Gujarati and as interpreters to the deaf or hard of hearing community.

For information on the range of language service providers for business - including those for Translators and Interpreters linked to the G/NVQ framework, contact the Languages National Training Organisation.

Further help and points of contact

Business Link Support services such as Business Link provide a one stop access to the full range of business information, advice and support services to help companies develop and grow, build better business partnerships and improve their competitive edge.

For further information, telephone the following helpline numbers:

England
The Business Link signpost hotline: 0345 567765

Scotland
The Business Shop Network: 0800 787878

Wales
Business Connect Wales: 0345 969798

Northern Ireland
The Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland: 01232 233233