L & B: Mr. Mathews, you've joined a national and a European task force to foster multilingualism. How do you view your role in this effort?
Peter Mathews: For my own company, as well as in the role of chairman for the world recycling conference until about eighteen months ago, I’ve travelled all over the world to meet with business associates or senior recycling industry people for sustainability. This gave me good insights into the needs for languages – probably a wider perspective than people have who only trade within Germany, France or the UK and who do not go abroad. It is also quite interesting for me to give my colleagues, academics, civil servants or more mature British people like myself a practical view of these issues.
L & B: How has the European landscape - with regard to the language skills needed in the business and economic context - changed in recent years?
Peter Mathews: It has changed, fortunately or unfortunately. English has virtually become the lingua franca language in Europe and the world in the last few years. However, the need for second and third-language skills is still there.
It is interesting: The smaller the country, the more people concentrate on the need for language skills for their economy and also for their personal use – look at, for example, Luxembourg, Malta or even the Netherlands. People in these countries speak at least three languages. But when you look at countries like France, Germany, Spain or the UK, people seem to be rather reluctant.
L & B: How can people overcome their complacency regarding language acquisition?
Peter Mathews: There is a complacency, especially in the UK, because English is the common commercial language. In spite of that, if you are a German or a British person selling a commodity in Spain and you do not speak Spanish, but say a Polish supplier does, the business will go to him. It is a matter of fact: He will have an advantage over the person who does not speak the customer’s language. Business is all about people. That means you have to know how to create an atmosphere where you can communicate better.
L & B: On a practical basis, what can be done?
Peter Mathews: We have got to raise a profile of the need for foreign languages as a tool for business. Using your business partner’s language should become quite natural on all levels of business communication. It is very important from the European point of view for us to realize that we are in a global market, not just a European one. We really have to adapt to languages from outside Europe: Mandarin, for example.
Look, for example, at the Chinese. We did some homework on China in my multilingualism group, and the results were very interesting.
There are approximately 90,000 thousand Chinese students in the UK. There are also tens of thousands of Chinese students in Germany and other European countries taking degrees at universities in the local language; we reckon the total to be more than a quarter of a million. But we have hardly any German or British nationals going to China to do the same thing. Only a few hundred Europeans are in China learning Mandarin or Cantonese, a very small number compared to the Chinese here in Europe. This gives the Chinese a big advantage, of course; the more so when they get older and become managers in the national and global market.
L & B: Governments are making efforts to support multilingualism, but what can companies do to drive foreign-language acquisition?
Peter Mathews: What is needed is that we raise the profile. We need to make the trade associations, chambers of commerce, the schools and regional governments aware of their responsibility to make the facilities for learning languages available.
And we also have to set a good example by applying good practises and emphasizing the advantages a company with language skills has over those that don’t. Currently, we do not deliver language teaching properly at all. In Germany, you do better than in most other countries.
Companies really need to create a working and learning environment for staff by offering them the opportunity to go abroad, work there and attend a language school every evening. My firm started doing this in Hungary, and we need to do it in China next; we’ve already had an exchange with a Chinese firm. In addition, some of our people will go to Mexico next year in response to our commitment to that market.
Moreover, firms need to be given an example of where a foreign language can be of a benefit. We have not measured these benefits yet in economic terms, but there is a definite improvement in business if you have a language skill. For example, we had a problem in France last week. I phoned them up and talked about the problem with them in French; we solved it immediately.
I believe language learning should be fun; it should not be just an academic process. It should be interesting and enjoyable. We want to engender that sort of enthusiasm, too.
Mr. Mathews, thank you very much for your time!
French, Dutch, Greek and a little Mandarin: possessing at least elementary knowledge of these foreign languages, Peter Mathews’s credentials as a genuine supporter and promoter of multilingualism can hardly be doubted.
Quick Links
