AWARDS THAT SPEAK VOLUMES FOR LANGUAGE SKILLS

29 Apr 2004 01:15 PM

Today, for their excellence in developing language and cultural skills in cultivating international markets, nine UK organisations - including businesses, schools and colleges, were acknowledged by UK Trade & Investment, the Government organisation that promotes trade and investment.

Speaking at The 2003 National Languages for Export Awards held at Manchester City Stadium, Group Director of International Trade Development, David Warren said: "By 2006, it is estimated that whilst the number of English-speaking internet users will rise by 60%, the number of non-English speaking users will rise by 150%. We are going to see increasing numbers of multilingual websites targeting a global market where ideas and goods - especially services - can cross geographical barriers in an instant. With global e-commerce the opportunities for export are now greater than ever. And so too is the need to understand the levers of buying for the overseas consumer."

The awards are designed to promote awareness of the importance of developing overseas communication skills to overcome language and cultural barriers. They are given to companies who have shown success in improving export sales as a result of implementing strategic language programmes, as well as to educational establishments who can demonstrate effective initiatives to help students communicate and develop relationships with non-English speaking communities around the world.

Continuing, Warren said: "Understanding the language, general knowledge and diplomacy of foreign markets is vital for UK companies seeking to develop their prospects overseas. These awards and the organisations who we are honouring today, provide the best practice that will inspire others to adopt language and cultural strategies as a fundamental part of their future export initiatives."

AWARD WINNERS

The 2003 National Languages for Export winners are:

Category - Large Companies: AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca is a major health care company with 7000 employees at its Cheshire sites. For its comprehensive language strategy involving a web-based translation site for employees, language and cultural training, specifically in Japanese and Swedish, the company is awarded the Large Companies' Prize. Many employee citations speak of the success of the programme, though the most persuasive evidence is the company's bottom-line: the Company's product launch in Japan (led by its Japanese-trained employees) yielded a 20% share of the $800 million Japanese market.

Category - Medium Business Award: Nikwax (London).
Nikwax Waterproofing is a leading aftercare manufacturer of outdoor clothing and footwear. It receives this award particularly for its well-developed communication strategy covering websites, exhibitions, sales literature and fairs. Thanks to a team comprising speakers of French, German, Spanish and Arabic it has built up a formidable global business with its sales in Western Europe increasing by 4% over the last year and its Pacific Rim trade growing by an impressive 55%. Overall increases in export sales have reached 69% over the last five years. Language and culture have been fully integrated and have become part of everyday life in the firm.

Category - Small Business Award: Clantex Ltd (Leeds).
Clantex is an exporter of the 'supercrease' system for clothing. It has won the Small Business Award for its well developed and comprehensive communication strategy. All personnel involved in export receive training; language students are regularly employed on placements in the company and a Spanish MBA graduate has recently been taken on. Before the strategy was implemented, the company exported only to the USA. As a result of the strategy, Clantex now exports across the world. Sales revenues increased by 18% in 2002-3 and are set to grow by a further 19% in the current year.

Category - New Technologies: HPD Software Ltd (London)
HPD Software is a leading international supplier of software systems to the secured asset finance industry and trades in 75 countries across 5 continents. Its multilingual approach to languages has been apparent since its early days when the company produced one piece of software for clients enabling them to switch country specifics, today it is awarded the New Technologies Prize for its innovative development of 'Soft Screen Technology' - which places their clients in the linguistic driving seat so they can modify their software screens to local languages and house-styles.

Category - Language Trainer Award: University of Luton. For its extensive exemplar training programmes and innovative use of technology this year's Language Trainer award goes to 'Language and Culture for Business' (LCB) Programme at Luton University. The judges were particularly impressed by the range of different language and culture training programmes on offer to business, such as 'Languages for e-business' and the recent programme 'Languages for
Competitiveness', each focussing closely on business needs. As a result, LCB has developed 13,960 pages of original training material over a 5-year period. The success of the programmes is evident in the strength of customer support.

Category - National Standards: Solihull College.
Solihull College is a Further Education College in the heart of the West Midlands. The award is made for the College's use of the standards in collaboration with Peugeot (PSA) in developing a flexible system of student assessment and target-setting for their in-house business students and Peugeot employees. The College has successfully collaborated with PSA in developing an accredited programme responsive to the Company's needs. The innovation in the use of the standards has taken place at the self-assessment stage of the process and in the development of 'Individual Learning Champions' as a record of progress.

Category - Schools: Joint Winners - (1) Calday Grange Grammar School (North West), and

(2) Belfast Education & Library Board (Northern Ireland).

(1) Calday Grange Grammar School for its highly innovative and enthusiastic development of a comprehensive Chinese curriculum at the school is the first joint winner in this category. The school first introduced Chinese for its 11 year olds in 1998. Since then, it has set up exchange visits to China for both pupils and teachers. In 2003 it 'bravely' entered its first cohort of pupils for GCSE in Chinese which included UK pupils without a Chinese background.

And for its Welcome Europe Programme the School award also goes to the Belfast Education and Library Board. The Board offers customer care training in six languages (French, German, Irish, Italian and Spanish) to Belfast secondary schools in a curriculum designed to ensure children are equipped to exceed the expectations of the European customer or visitor - both in simple communication skills and cultural awareness. This is the first vocational award of the Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum and Examinations Assessment.

Category - Language Colleges: Frederick Gough School (Scunthorpe) Frederick Gough School is commended for the scale of its languages for business teaching. The school has focused very clearly and with determination on introducing business Spanish to every pupil in years 10 and 11 (a total of 450 students), which is in addition to GCSE languages. The process has achieved excellent results; in the first year 92% of pupils gained OCR entry level.

Category - Adult, Further and Higher Education: Newcastle Under Lyme College Newcastle Under Lyme College has developed a broad-based programme with a four- year record of success in language training for exporters, language teaching for vocational students and language promotion in schools. The judges were impressed with the breadth of activity in linking vocational qualifications with language training and for the innovation in the way they communicate the employment benefit of language skills to students. The judges acknowledged the College's strong commitment to developing the future international workforce and were impressed by the exemplar range of self-developed language material.

The 2003 National Languages for Export Awards are an initiative of UK Trade and Investment, the Government organisation that supports companies in the UK trading overseas and were presented by guest speaker David Mellor and David Warren, Group Director of International Trade Development.

ENDS

Notes To Editors

UK Trade & Investment, the new name for British Trade International and its operating arms, Trade Partners UK and Invest.UK is the United Kingdom Government's lead organisation for supporting UK Companies in overseas business, and attracting inward investment. UK Trade & Investment has staff in over 200 locations worldwide and more than 40 offices throughout the UK. Its parent departments are the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry. For more information visit the web site www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk.