November 2003

The Business of Language is a monthly guide on language and cultural issues affecting businesses.

German Ambassador's visit to the Region

German Ambassador, Thomas Matussek, undertook a whirlwind tour of the North East recently. The Ambassador and the Lord Mayor of Newcastle were VIP guests at a dinner organised by the German-British Chamber of Commerce, One NorthEast and Siemens UK, which was attended by German subsidiaries in the region as well as local companies trading with Germany. His visit included meetings with key regional leaders and business representatives and inaugurating a new facility built by the German company, Draeger Safety UK Ltd, bringing 70 jobs to the region. He also visited Monkseaton High Language Specialist College, which is delivering an innovative language learning programme, and unveiled the Open University's new online German course. During his visit, he met with Zélie Guérin, Manager of the Regional Language Network North East, where they discussed the importance of maximising international communication skills in the workplace to increase the region's competitiveness in international markets. The Ambassador emphasized the significance of languages for employment. Jo Chexal, Acting Head of the Business Team of One NorthEast, said "at the end of the Ambassador's visit, he commented positively on the region's awareness of European issues. He also promised to visit us again in the New Year and I am confident that he will be tremendously supportive of the work of the RLN North East."

BLIS Jobs - Talk your customer's language

We have 171 candidates currently registered on the BLIS Jobs database with language skills. Click here to advertise your vacancies. This is a FREE service to both employers and candidates. Register now!

The Regional Language Network team is meeting with students at the region's universities to encourage them to utilise BLIS Jobs. Discussions were held at the Employment Information Fair at the University of Durham in October 2003, promoting BLIS Jobs, the jobsite for people with language skills. A further event is planned at the Work Experience Fair, organised by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne's Careers Advisory Service on 13 November 2003.

Recent Government research has shown that a linguist is potentially 8% more employable than someone without a language skill.

BLIS Professionals

Remember, businesses who are more culturally aware and who employ staff with languages can give their company the edge over competitors and can also gain respect from their foreign customers. If you are a company that would benefit from having a language trainer, translator, interpreter or cultural awareness trainer made available to you, why not contact Lynne Davies on 0191 229 6348 to discuss this further, or why not register your details directly on BLIS Professionals: www.blis.org.uk/ne.

European Day of Languages - Guten Tag Pet Events

From left to right: Eileen Cordy, Lynne Davies, Charlotte Carpenter, Roy Bloxham, Zélie Guérin, Barbara Pidgeon and Jim Cunningham.

The Regional Language Network North East staged four business events in Alnwick, Durham, Yarm and Sunderland in September 2003, to celebrate the European Day of Languages. Participants were asked to submit entries into a competition with questions on a German theme. The winners were each presented with Language Packs of their choice by Zélie Guérin, Manager of the Regional Language Network North East. Congratulations go to Eileen Cordy of Bison Bede, Roy Bloxham of Maxway Foods, Charlotte Carpenter of One NorthEast, John Dobie of Griersons and Jim Cunningham of BHK UK who answered the questions correctly. We look forward to hearing how they're progressing, with perhaps a mutual exchange of newly acquired linguistic talent!

Cultural dos and don'ts in Holland

Over the past few weeks, in the Cultural Awareness Section of our website we've been building upon our existing information resource for businesses and are pleased to announce the addition of a Cultural dos and don'ts page when conducting business in Holland. Click on the link for further information. If you can think of any further hints or tips which we can add to any of these sections, please contact us at rln-northeast@onenortheast.co.uk.

Let us know what you think of the newsletter and what sort of information you would like to see. Email: rln-northeast@onenortheast.co.uk.

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