How Companies Really Handle the Language Issue: Evidence from Qualitative Case Studies

Eva Lavric

Innsbruck

„English only“ or „Language of the client“?

• “Nowadays everybody in international business speaks English, therefore language doesn’t constitute a real problem anymore.” (Standardization thesis)

• “In business you always have to speak the language of your client, otherwise you can’t sell anything.” (Adaptation thesis)

• “When buying you simply use your mother tongue.” (Non-adaptation thesis)

„English only“ or „Language of the client“?

• Contexts and factors• The mix• The measures

• Language needs research (quantitative, statistic), versus

• Research on a qualitative, case-study level

• Internal communication• Distribution channels

Projects, workshops, seminars and theses

• A department of Romance languages

• Code choice factors:

• „natural choice“• „language practice“• „prestige“• „compliance“

Projects, workshops, seminars and theses

• A seminar (2003) at the Wirtschafts-universität Wien (9 case studies)

• Bäck‘s 2004 PhD thesis (3 case st.)– macro-, meso- and micro-level

• Mrázová‘s 2005 master‘s thesis (1 c.s.)

• A workshop (2005) at the Austrian Congress of Linguists

• A project seminar (2005/06) at the Innsbruck University (16 case studies)

15 theses about business language choices

1. Language issues are often dealt with through the organization of distribution channels.

Austrian exporter

Sales agentor

Distribution subsidiary

orDirect contact

Customer

Customer

Customer

Customer

15 theses about business language choices

2. Under certain circumstances it is possible to be successful with “English only”. (But this also depends on the distribution policy.)

15 theses about business language choices

3. Linguistic adaptation (“Language-of-the-client”) is an important success factor, especially in certain branches (above all, but not only, tourism).

15 theses about business language choices

4. Language needs are always subject to cost-benefit considerations with their corresponding trade-offs.

15 theses about business language choices

5. Language competences do (up to a certain point) create their own market opportunities.

15 theses about business language choices

6. There are some language competences in companies which are simply not taken into account.

15 theses about business language choices

7. Professional interpreting and translation competences are rarely used and problematic because of the special terminologies.

15 theses about business language choices

8. Negotiations will often take place in a lingua franca, which gives equal opportunities to both parties involved; but complying linguistically with your partner during the small talk phases is very much appreciated.

15 theses about business language choices

9. Language competences are generally present with sales managers and secretaries, but they are much rarer and would often be really required among technical staff.

15 theses about business language choices

10. Language competences in employees hardly ever pay in terms of salary, but they might be decisive for getting the job.

15 theses about business language choices

11. Every (successful) manager thinks, the way he himself addresses the language issue is the best. I.e.: there are language freaks and others, everybody is convinced he’s right. (And: the boss often doesn’t know it all.)

15 theses about business language choices

12. There seem to be products and businesses that are so successful that they sell whatever the language strategy (and the webpage, etc.) might be.

15 theses about business language choices

13. The language issue is much less consciously seen in buying, but it can be a trump.

15 theses about business language choices

14. In internal communication, “English only” doesn’t work between people with the same mother tongue.

15 theses about business language choices

15. Some companies rather provide language competences for external communication at the expense of internal communication possibilities.

Linguistic sociogram or „logogram“ (Mrázová 2005)

Tradersà

Francfort

Secrétariatà Paris

Clients de SW en AutricheA, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O

Traders à

Paris

Tradersswap

à Paris

Autres collègues

à Paris (Syndication)

Rechercheà Paris

VendeuseSW

VendeuseSW

Back et

Middle office

à Paris

all

fr

frfr

fr

Collègues de Vente internationale

(Paris, Francfort, Londres, Tokyo)*

allfr

fr

fr

an

Code choice in business settings

• a well proven methodological tool kit

• a broader empirical basis

• a solid base for comparisons

• a series of guiding questions