Lack of language skills costs business billions
29 November 2007
According to a new report from Cardiff Business School, the UK is missing out on at least £9 billion a year through its lack of investment in language learning, reports Overseas Trade, the UK Trade & Investment journal.
The report's author, Professor James Foreman-Peck, found that raising UK language competence to the same standard as the rest of the world would be the economic equivalent of a tax reduction on exports of at least 3 per cent.
Language skills are shown to be closely related to the export ability of both firms and economies as a whole. Underinvestment in languages leaves the UK and its businesses at a disadvantage.
Factors that contribute to this failure to operate efficiently include over-estimation of the economic advantages of speaking English, barriers to accessing information about foreign markets and the fixed cost of language investment, particularly for small firms.
Professor Foreman-Peck said: "Language complacency has a significant negative effect on UK exports. The propensity of other nations to learn English is not enough to compensate for our own underinvestment in language skills."
Full details of the report, entitled 'ELAN: Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Language Skills in Enterprise' can be found on the EU website.
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