Many UK businesses fail to train their staff to speak foreign languages, a survey has revealed. Researchers rang 113 UK head offices of international companies and asked in French or German for their postal address and the name of the HR manager.

Only 2 per cent of respondents were able to answer effectively while most were confused, unable to reply or simply hung up. When the same researchers called 40 companies in Germany and France, they found that 97 per cent of the respondents spoke excellent English. This does not surprise Steve Shacklock, director of Euro London Appointments, the recruitment company behind the survey: “More emphasis is placed on speaking English on the Continent as it is seen as the primary business language.”

Matthias Kulke, director of institutional business at Henderson Global Investors, in Frankfurt, says: “If we want to do international business we have to speak English, but if a UK company wants to do business abroad it is not essential for its staff to speak another language.”

But according to Shacklock, employing staff with linguistic skills is crucial for any UK business that wants to operate internationally. “There is a misconception that just because a company is based in the UK it isn’t necessary to speak a foreign language. Many may have multilingual staff in key areas such as sales but forget the support staff — yet often they are the first point of contact.”

Alden Zecha, chief financial officer of PrivatSea, an exclusive yacht club, says: “Even if our clients speak English they are more comfortable speaking their native language. We prefer staff who can accommodate that.”

PrivatSea has members all over the world. It employs ten people, most of whom speak a second language. Employees with basic knowledge in a language are encouraged to improve their skills by conversing with others in the office.

Those companies that did not do well in the survey should offer their employees language training, says Shacklock. They should also ask for linguistic skills when recruiting new support staff.

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