Businesses Urged To Seek Language Advice Before Embarking On International Trade
The provision of cultural support and language advice to businesses plays a vital role in international trade as well as ensuring safety and accord in multilingual workplaces back at home.
For example would you know how to charm your Japanese partners, settle a dispute in the workplace between non-English speaking employees or know how to react if your South African contacts invited you to a braai?
The Regional Language Network (RLN) helps West Midlands’ businesses to break down language and cultural barriers by providing language advice, signposting and access to language services and resources.
If, when visiting foreign countries, you are unsure what to say or how to respond to the local culture, the RLN can help you to learn some basic phrases and gain a better understanding of the culture with their range of free downloadable resources.
To help you avoid cultural misunderstandings and build better business relationships, the RLN provides PDF guides to over thirty countries including Brazil, China, Italy and Malaysia. These PDFs cover language advice, business etiquette and information on the geography and economy of each country. The culture of a country is often overlooked as businesses tend to concentrate on learning the language, but being aware of differences in business etiquette and knowing how to treat your overseas contacts with respect is just as important as being able to put your basic phrases into practise.
And it’s not only in international markets that problems may arise – cultural differences and language barriers in the workplace can stop your business from functioning effectively. Organisations like the RLN can help you deal with these issues through their language advice and support services.
Employers of multilingual staff or migrant workers should bear in mind that cultural and language barriers will prevent effective communication. To maintain a harmonious, happy and healthy workplace employers will need to make sure, for example, that health and safety information is displayed in the appropriate languages and that workers who cannot speak or understand English very well can work with an interpreter or mentor for important meetings or to discuss work-related matters.
Learn more about Language Advice at the RLN West Midlands website
