how companies really handle the language issue: evidence from qualitative case studies eva lavric...
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How Companies Really Handle the Language Issue: Evidence from Qualitative Case Studies
Eva Lavric
Innsbruck
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„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)
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„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
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Projects, workshops, seminars and theses
• A department of Romance languages
• Code choice factors:
• „natural choice“• „language practice“• „prestige“• „compliance“
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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)
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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
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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.)
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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).
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15 theses about business language choices
4. Language needs are always subject to cost-benefit considerations with their corresponding trade-offs.
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15 theses about business language choices
5. Language competences do (up to a certain point) create their own market opportunities.
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15 theses about business language choices
6. There are some language competences in companies which are simply not taken into account.
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15 theses about business language choices
7. Professional interpreting and translation competences are rarely used and problematic because of the special terminologies.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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15 theses about business language choices
13. The language issue is much less consciously seen in buying, but it can be a trump.
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15 theses about business language choices
14. In internal communication, “English only” doesn’t work between people with the same mother tongue.
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15 theses about business language choices
15. Some companies rather provide language competences for external communication at the expense of internal communication possibilities.
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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
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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