Symposium on multilingualism in Luxembourg What is the impact of multilingualism on the competitiveness of Luxembourg-based companies?
In April 2011, Quest, Berlitz and Luxembourg for Business initiated the research project “Multilingualism: driver of competitiveness?” It aims at assessing the current situation of Luxembourg as a multilingual country and business location. The results of the project will be presented at a public symposium on September 27, 2011 at the Chambre de Commerce, Luxembourg - Kirchberg.
The project is implemented through a combined approach of market research and the symposium. National and international decision makers were invited to participate in an electronic survey in May 2011. They were asked about the positive and negative impacts of multilingualism on their company. Indeed, a company which can do business in different languages has, for example, a quicker and easier access to foreign markets. But do the benefits outweigh the costs triggered by working in three or even more languages? What is the impact of multilingualism on communication, translation and equipment budgets? Furthermore, to what extend does multilingualism affect internal management and does it generate more time investment? Having employees from different countries and different cultures can have positive effects because they complement each other, but do the conflicts that sometimes occur put a strain on the efficiency of the company? These are only part of the questions asked to top managers in the country. The online survey also focused on the importance of multilingualism compared to other important assets of Luxembourg as a business location: its good connectivity to markets, its excellent infrastructure, its attractive tax climate as well as the favourable legal environment.
The results of the survey will be presented during a symposium which will take place on September 27, 2011 and will be organised in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce.
The podium speakers will be:
- Ms. Petra Buderus (Head of HR of KPMG);
- Ms. Hjoerdis Stahl (Executive Vice-President of LuxairCargo);
- Ms. Carole Tompers (General Secretary, Luxembourg for Business)
- Mr. Rolf Tarrach (Rector of the University of Luxembourg);
- Mr. Daniel Tesch (Director Automobile Club of Luxemboug)
This panel debate will bring together the different expert perspectives, the results of the study, as well as the experience of the participants. This event will be open to representatives of enterprises operating in Luxembourg and abroad who wish to (re)discover the assets of multilingualism on the competitiveness of their company.
If you are interested in the results of the project and in participating in the symposium, please contact Berlitz at symposium@berlitz.lu or call 00352 – 26 38 32 48.
About the initiators of the project:
It is the complementary aspects of their areas of expertise that brought the partners together. Berlitz has linguistic expertise for having taught languages in Luxembourg for almost a century. The global training company with over 600 locations in the world also has a large amount of experience in teaching intercultural and business skills. As a market research institute, Quest operates largely in the national and international business environment by providing companies with valuable information necessary to make strategic decisions. Luxembourg for Business was the natural third partner since it is the reference for business information in- and outside the country.
