Global Mobility: Facing the Ultimate Language Challenges?

The principle of free movement of people within Europe dates back to the creation of the European Union. The policies of the European Community strive to allow for seamlessly easy and efficient movement of people across borders, be it for holidays, studying or work. Indeed, going for a weekend trip to another EU member state has become as easy as just remembering to take your passport or identity card with you; and studying in another European university is nowadays as natural as choosing any local program at home. Consequently, we are free to work in any EU country, if we want to. That is exactly the vision of work mobility within European borders. However…is the unified labor market really as accessible as any national job market? Does it favor our employability by matching our skills with talent demands within EU member countries? Theoretically – yes. But practically, there is one major challenge to be accounted for – the language.

 

Moving where the jobs are, or where the language abilities allow you to?

Recent articles in The Associated Press and The Economist touch on this topic. The stories provided in these articles show that even faced with high unemployment rates in Southern Europe the young skilled labor force cannot really relocate for jobs to better-off markets because of language restrictions. For example, in Germany the unemployment rate is at a relatively low 8%, and there is a shortage of qualified workers, especially in the areas of engineering, IT and healthcare. So it seems like a perfect place to escape the job shortages in Spain and Greece – but only if one knows the German language. As stated by The Economist, ‘language has replaced work visas as the main barrier to mobility’. A recent study issued under the auspices of the Center for Economic Policy Research echoes this notion. Specifically, evaluating the EU integration progress over 21 years, Kevin Bartz and Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln conclude that the major permanent force that prevents labor market integration across borders in the European Union is language. As a result of such language multiplicity and complexity, Europe is also losing much of its top-level talent to emerging economies of Latin America, for example. Indeed, learning the Portuguese language may in fact be wiser than learning German, as the booming emerging market of Brazil seems to have a brighter future than European markets that are still in danger of further recession.

However, language posits barriers not only to self-initiated expatriates, but also to multinational organizations striving to internationalize their businesses.

 

Do global businesses face language barriers as well?

Exploring the topic of language in international business, Anne-Wil Harzing and her colleagues concludes that differences in languages is one of the first and ultimate barriers that companies face on the way to internationalization. Naturally, communication between headquarters and globally dispersed subsidiaries is a pre-requisite for success, and modern technologies that allow for global intranets, video-conferencing and workflow technologies contribute to effective management of geographical distance. However, even these advanced communication tools founder when it gets to language barriers. Of course, multinational companies may choose a language strategy to overcome these barriers. For example, companies may use a single working language, which in the majority of cases is English. Another option is to implement functional multilingualism, namely to rely on a mix of languages, pidgins and gestures to communicate. But, as Feely and Harzing (2003) note, both strategies have the same shortfalls of misinterpretations, getting some information lost in translation, being less able to express the thoughts and ideas to their fullest, and simply not understanding messages correctly. As a result, the researchers conclude that language barriers trigger a whole range of consequences for multinationals and their subsidiaries. To name a few, the researchers argue that language barriers breed uncertainty and suspicion, promote group divides, undermine trust, and lead to polarization of perspectives, perceptions and opinions.

 

Solutions to language barriers

Naturally, languages will remain different and distinctive across different national cultures. Hence, as the barrier cannot be removed, they should be managed. As simple as it is, the more languages we possess, the less barriers we face. Language proficiency has always been an asset for a working individual, and I would argue that this is only becoming more important in the future. As for multinational businesses, Feely and Harzing (2003) provide several suggestions:

• First of all, an obvious response to language barriers is to translate. Employing translators and interpreters, or implementing machine translation strategies, could take care of documentation flow across borders, at least.
• Secondly, as with any other skills shortage, employers can provide language training. Clearly, language training is costly and time-consuming, which is why companies that do it need to be realistic in their expectations and take care of program sustainability and its participants’ retention.
• Thirdly, as an alternative to teaching different languages, companies may still go with a single working language, but focus on recruiting employees, who fulfill the required standards of this corporate language. For example, having English as a working language, a company should make sure that all the employees hired for its Asian subsidiary are fluent in English.
• Another solution could be the so-called controlled language approach. In this case, a company imposes limits on vocabulary and syntax rules so as to make communication more easily comprehended by all members.
• Finally, companies can use international assignees, who are proficient in both the headquarters and subsidiary native languages. These expatriates or inpatriates can act as “language nodes’ linking the two entities, and hence easing the language barriers.

 

Further reading:

Feely, A.J., & Harzing, A.W. (2003). Language management in multinational companies. Cross-Cultural Management: An International Journal, 10(2),  37-52.