When Monolingual Makes Sense
If you were under the impression that academics know what’s best for business when it comes to the issue of language, then think again says the Financial Times.
State examination results in the UK show that young people are running for the door when it comes to opting for languages in school, and the business sector supports them:
A survey of leading companies last year by the Association of Graduate Recruiters found the law firms, banks and consumer goods groups involved were more interested in graduates able to work as a team and solve problems. Of the 19 skills surveyed, competence in a foreign tongue was the only one employers deemed unimportant.
This conflicts with the well-worn adage that “foreign” language options in high school and college should always be mandatory and that we all need them, especially if a career in business is desired. And the kicker:
Business knows that if it needs people fluent in both English and Mandarin it will find no shortage in China.
Two points:
1) One of the main drivers for Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland since 1957 has not been the workforce’s proficiency in French, Spanish, or German, but the fact that Irish people spoke English (there are others factors too - check out John O’Hagan’s Economy of Ireland if you are interested). Now, that competitive edge is gone as English becomes a commonly spoken language amongst Europe’s young people in the ever-expanding EU.
2) It justifies my argument for removing the language requirement we often see as “mandatory” or “preferred” for localization project management jobs. Why this obsession with language proficiency for PMs? They’d be better off understanding how technology deals with language if any real value-add is the true goal of this function.
The Irish Government’s concern about Irish students’ lack of interest in technology courses would seem to bear out the UK business argument too.
When it comes to deciding on language options in education, economics should be the main driver.
I have to disagree with your comment about multilingual project managers. Having a multilingual team is incredibly important to us as it allows us to trouble shoot linguistic issues quickly without having to rely on off-site freelancers. At Eriksen Translations, most of our project managers are actually trained linguists, which also comes in very handy for final QA.
Finally, having a facility with language isn’t only about being able to speak two or more languages; being multilingual also builds flexible thinking skills, which are indispensable when dealing with gigantic projects with lots of challenges.
I fully agree that PMs should be well-versed in the latest technologies, but in the end our business is language and our clients are grateful that we are all language experts.
Posted by Alexandra Farkas on 08/27 at 01:13 PMI agree with Alexandra that only the ability to speak two or more languages enables us to discuss intended and perceived meanings. Learning a foreign language also gives a better awareness and understanding of the structure of language in general, but also of the culture or sign system of the people who’s mother tongue it is. Localization is not like making just another copy of a product but about adapting and tailoring.
If it is enough for everyone to speak just one language - how are we going to communicate in these days? Or does it just imply that everyone who’s first language is not English should learn it? Lets hope China and Latin America do not have the same attitude - otherwise information, literature, scientific discoveries would be inaccessible for non Chinese-/Spanish speakers.
Posted by on 08/27 at 01:47 PMInteresting suggestion.
I agree that it is not necessary for localization managers to be proficient in many languages. But, they do need to be *aware* of how languages other than English tick: they need to understand what inflection is, they need to know about polysemy, they need to understand the importance of context in translation. Only then can they make the right decisions.
I have spent many years working in the localization business and, disappointingly enough, I have had my fair share of encounters with English monoglots in management positions who don’t know their grave accents from their elbows.
In fact, it is unrealistic to expect that a monolingual speaker who has never even attempted to learn another language will have the right level of linguistic awareness that you need to be a good localization manager.
Posted by Michal Boleslav Měchura on 08/28 at 10:19 AMI agree that LPMs need to know how technology deals with language: basics about tokenization, concatenation, text expansion, basic rendering, context and character sets, and process-wise how software is developed. Those are the skills that need most attention in the LPM sector.
Posted by Ultan on 08/30 at 12:28 AMIf I had to pick between a project manager who was multi-lingual and someone who was technologically savvy, I would take technology any day.
I’m a localization manager who speaks only English fluently. That said, I’ve studied a couple of languages and could tell you the basic grammatical structure of at least 15 others. But a lot of that I got by osmosis and I think if you’re in this job - you likely ended up here because of some romantic idea about language - so if there isn’t always ability there is rarely disinterest.Posted by on 08/30 at 10:15 AM
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