Partner Article

The growing importance of language learning

Last week was the 15th anniversary of the European Day of Languages. Organised by the Council of Europe, the day aimed to raise awareness of the lack of language skills across Europe, despite the fact that travelling and working across countries has never been easier.

“The day is a great way of raising awareness of the importance language learning has to play in today’s working world,” said Panos Kraniotis, regional director of Europe at Rosetta Stone. “As suppliers, partners and customers increasingly span country boundaries, language skills among employees has never been more important. Indeed, for companies with a global outlook, a multi-lingual workforce could mean the difference between a customer win or losing out to a competitor with better communication skills. The ability to speak in different languages often leads to stronger relationships, which, in turn, results in more sales, increased productivity and more successful working relationships.

Kraniotis continued: “It’s essential that organisations ensure that their employees are equipped with the training they need to communicate across language barriers. Language learning is not necessarily a new concept within a global business, however traditional learning programmes have often been inflexible and difficult to ascertain a ROI. Nowadays, however, businesses can invest in digital learning programmes that adapt to each individual’s ability and fully enhance the learner experience. Furthermore, these programmes can measure and report on learner progress so that business leaders and administrators can track performance, proficiency gains, and usage across learners and languages.

“Language is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a ‘need to have’ and it’s important that global businesses implement language learning programmes that adjust to their business needs, close the language skills gap and, ultimately, improve the bottom line,” concluded Kraniotis.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rosetta Stone .