Our task in the European Commission is to defend and promote the linguistic diversity in Europe. That means targeting mainly the official languages of the EU. So, we look less at languages like Latin or ancient Greek. But these languages, even though they are no longer tools of communication, can be useful in terms of personal development. So we are not against these languages. But we would encourage people to learn a large variety of European languages. There are so many languages -- for example, those of neighbouring countries in the EU, or of non-EU countries -- and people should choose whatever languages they want.
6) When you say people should learn two foreign languages, do you mean two EU languages?
No, Europeans should also learn the languages of non-EU countries. For example, there are more and more Chinese people who are learning European languages. But Europeans should also learn Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, Japanese and so on. This will help not only individuals but also our companies, and so help the Union to become more competitive.
7) But, surely, learning better English is still the priority for many EU employees.
Of course, we acknowledge that English is more or less a lingua franca for communication between companies. And we are talking about the need for good English, because very often people speak bad English. But when you are addressing consumers, it is a completely different story. English is not enough. You need to master the language of your consumers. For example, it has been shown that many people in Germany don't understand advertising slogans that are in English. And we are not only talking about language skills; we're talking about intercultural skills. Teaching a language doesn't mean just teaching grammar, pronunciation etc. It means teaching a culture, literature and so on. It means having access to the behaviour and attitudes of others. We need to understand that others may think in a different way. These are the sorts of skills that are needed to do business in other places. So, while English will continue to be important, companies should add other languages, and other abilities, in order to become more competitive.
8) Which, then, are the most important foreign languages for EU workers to learn apart from English?
That's not for us to say. It's up to every company to decide which language skills they need, according to their activities and plans. For example, some companies may target Mandarin as a priority. Others may target Hindi. We don't want to tell the companies what to do. We just want to tell them that languages are an important part of their performance, and that they should consider this seriously.
9) Don't firms solve their language needs pragmatically by, for example, hiring people from other countries who speak two other languages as well as their native tongue?
Yes, in many cases, companies do meet their language needs by finding the right people to employ. On the other hand, as politicians, we have to think about all European citizens and give them the chance to become more competitive and to find better jobs. It is also to the advantage of EU companies if they can find people in their own countries with the necessary language skills. And, as we say in our report, one of the main challenges facing multinational companies in the EU -- and society more generally -- is to integrate employees from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds into their workforces. And this means that the training of existing employees could be the best option.
3 Match each sentence 1-10 to the sentence a-j that should logically follow it.
1 EU companies can gain…
2 Only 28% of European citizens are able
3 Companies should invest more in
4 We propose a new European internet platform for
5 Our task in the European Community is
6 We acknowledge that English is more or less a
7 Teaching a language doesn't mean
8 While English will continue to be important,
9 It's up to every company to decide which language
10 One of the main challenges facing multinational companies in EU is
a) collecting and disseminating best practices on language strategies
b) lingua franca for communication between companies
c) a competitive advantage through foreign language skills
d) integrate employees from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds
e) companies should add other languages and other abilities in order to become more competitive
f) to speak at least two foreign languages
g) to promote the linguistic diversity
h) skills they need, according to their activities and plans
i) just teaching grammar and pronunciation, but also a culture, literature and so on
j) developing the abilities of their workers to deal with different languages
4 Read through the article, part two once more. Try to summarize in a sentence what each paragraph 1-9 is about
5 Read the questions which are the headings of the paragraphs 1-9. Answer the questions. Don't look into the text.
! Home assignment: get ready to speak about the problems of multilingualism in European community. For more information use the following sites:
For more information: Companies work better with languages -- the Business Forum for Multilingualism, European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/ education/languages/news/newsl669_ en. htm
Effects on the European Union Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise (ELAN), European Commission (2007): http://www.cilt.org.uk/research/projects/ empioyment/elan. htm
Europeans and Languages, Eurobarometer Report (2006), European Commission: for Europe, Conference Report (2008), British Council: http://www. britishcouncil. de/pdf/report08. pdf
ORGANIZATIONS
British Council: www.britishcouncil.org
CILT, the National Centre for Languages: www.cilt.org.uk European Commission (Multilingualism): http://ec.europa.eu/ education/languages/index__ en. Htm
Unit 2
WORK AND LIFE BALANCE
1 Many business people are facing the problem of how to keep a balance between their business career and private life. What priorities would you set up if dealing with the same problem?
2 Read and discuss three parts of the article by Vicki Sussens-Messerer"Fitting it all" in which she presenfthree different points on work-life balance ( Spotlight 6/2008).
FITTING IT ALL
PENNY FERGUSON, mother of six and owner of leadership-development company Penny Ferguson Limited, in Newbury, England.
Penny Ferguson is sitting in the log-cabin office in the garden of her country home in Newbury, in southern England. The 65-year-old British leadership specialist has just spent 20 minutes relaxing in an armchair. She arrived back from Canada the night before and was up early for a breakfast meeting with clients. She is tired and in a reflective mood. "I have consciously started to take more quality time for me," she says. " That is a big change because I chose to work pretty hard for the last ten years."
In fact, Ferguson has worked hard her whole life. She has six children, five grandchildren and four terriers, and started her company at the age of fifty. At one point, she had six small children, two step-children and nine dogs. "I used to go shopping with eight children," she says. "I had the three eldest pushing the youngest in the prams and I held the hands of the middle two".
Ferguson had her first child at 21 and her last at 29. In the middle, she married for the second time. "I laugh about this now, but when it came to the sixth child, I really didn't know how to fit him into the schedule." She had an eight-bedroom house, which she says she ran like clockwork. She had a mother's help, but not all the time. "I would get up at 5.30 a.m., have a bath and change before I did the baby's first feed of the day. I would make the children's beds as their feet touched the floor. I would take them downstairs and give them breakfast. Then I would drop the boys at their school and Lucy at nursery school. In total, I drove 92 miles (146 km) a day on school rounds. Between rounds, I did the washing, ironing, cooking and shopping. The last thing I did, before I fell into bed at night, was to put the washing in the machine."
But Ferguson doesn't think this is good time-management. "I fooled myself into believing that being efficient made me happy. But what was more important - keeping the house perfect or having quality time with children?" Between her second and third marriages, Ferguson was a single mother for six years, at one stage holding three jobs.
3 Sort out the statements below into TRUE or FALSE:
Penny Ferguson was married two times.
Penny has a dog.
Penny keeps her house perfect.
Penny's children attended schools which were quite a distance from her house/
Nobody helped Penny with her kids.
Penny had to do a lot of washing.
Penny is sure that being effective makes a person happy.
To make money enough, Penny had several jobs.
Penny Ferguson has never had much time for herself.
10 Penny had had six kids by the time she was 30.
CARY COOPER, author and professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School
Сагу Cooper, professor at Lancaster University Management School, is chaotic. The coauthor of Detox Your Desk, Declutter Your Life and Mind (Capstone Press, ISBN 978-1-84112-787-3) knows he has an interview at 7 p.m., but forgot that it was with us. When I phone at the agreed time, he is not there. But the guru on work-life balance is, surprisingly, always available. His answering machine greets me cheerfully and supplies several ways to find him. When he answers his mobile, he is in his car, stuck in a traffic jam. He promises to be home in 15 minutes, which he is.
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