With the UK’s economic future looking brighter than expected, it’s time for a reality check of the country’s workforce skills. I was interested to read about the Prime Minister’s recent announcement of a new governmental body called "Reshore UK". To me, this really reflected the improvement of the UK’s economy. The aim of this initiative is to bring home skills and positions which, at another time, would have been outsourced to India and China to keep expenses down. With staff costs in Asia rising in recent years, offshoring jobs isn’t as attractive as it used to be. Furthermore, locating jobs back within the UK will boost the nation’s job market and help to drive the economic growth. The burning question is, are our talent resources ready to be reshored? As I’m sure many of our readers have experienced one of the first things companies tend to cut back on during tough economic times are organisational learning and development. This manoeuvre may help to save costs in the short term, but will create significant problems in the long run: The glaring gap between what we want our workforce to achieve and the skills they actually possess to get there. Shortage of language skills According to a recent survey , businesses across the UK are struggling to find talent for over a fifth (22 percent) of their vacancies. This skills shortage will be damaging to the recovering economy if schools, universities and organisations fail to take action. The main skills employers found to be lacking among their candidates were technical, job-specific skills (accounting for 63 percent), followed by foreign language skills (17 percent). Similarly, universities across the UK have experienced a significant drop in Modern Language degrees in recent years. Two issues come to mind when we talk about lack of language skills in the UK. On the one hand, there are about 800,000 people in England and Wales with little or no English language skills. Sadly, the majority of these people have no job. This situation may even deteriorate if the government decides to go through with the plan of offering careers and benefits services in English only, as announced last month . This is a missed opportunity when it comes to tapping into new sources of talent. Immigrants living in the UK may well be able to fill the vacancies demanding specialist technical skills mentioned above, but lack the language skills to get information on these vacancies in the first place. If careers centres help them grasp a working knowledge of English and they are then taken on by a company with an online language learning solution embedded in their work plan from day one, they will boost their linguistic abilities while they work. They will also become integrated in the organisation and can start to support it with skills their employer might otherwise not have been able to find in-house. Today’s technology allows for language and business communication training to be seamlessly integrated in a daily work schedule. In Germany, for example, the Federal Employment Agency offers free online language courses to all registered job seekers. That’s more than four million people. In fact, language training has the highest user adoption rates among all skill development tools on offer within the "Lernbörse" platform. The e-learning system is completely integrated into the agency’s learning management system. This way, job seekers are encouraged to actively improve their skills, and thereby, their career prospects, while searching for new positions through the agency. See the full post via Training Journal.

I went to an e-learning industry meeting in London last week. I hadn’t joined for a couple of sessions and everybody told me it was about time to meet my peers face to face instead of just virtually. It was obvious to me that I had missed out on a lot of informal information exchange and communication so I went over to the UK. Around 30 elearning professionals from different countries attended what turned out to be a most useful and productive event. I got a great update on what is moving the industry and met loads of people new to the interest group. And as a non-native speaker of English, I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to pick up on new industry vocab or general phrases and terms - that´s the one thing that even our online language training service might not always be better at. So, even though it costs more time, money and effort to arrange for it, nothing beats good old face to face communication, does it? Not quite. One thing that stood out to me throughout the event is how little time people actually spend talking to one another nowadays. And that’s not only happening in the UK of course. It travel a lot and it`s the same everywhere. Of course, we’re all physically present, but do the people and discussions in the room actually have our full attention? Conversations appear to take place at short, sporadic intervals in between working on our tablets or sending texts from our phones. We might be speaking to someone face to face, but nervously feeling for our phones at the same time, occasionally even excusing ourselves and interrupting the dialogue to finish sending something.  The same thing happens - probably even more so - while somebody is presenting something in a meeting room. Here, the temptation to take a sneaky glance at our mobile is even greater, as it’s not a one-to-one conversation and we don’t feel quite as directly addressed. At the event in London and annoyingly for me, with a German carrier I had no signal in the room so I actually had to leave the building to call my kids for a brief good night chat - I’m guilty as well, you see. It’s hard to imagine a time when we had no electronic devices whatsoever and could become completely immersed in a business meeting.  Just have a look at this: According to Morgan Stanley, more than 90% of all U.S. citizens have their mobile device within reach 24/7. It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. It takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message.  UNISYS found that it takes 26 hours for the average person to report a lost wallet.  It takes 68 minutes for them to report a lost phone. Makes me wonder how they actually reported the lost phone - without a phone. However, our 2014 Speexx Exchange survey shows that 67% of corporations allow mobile at work but only 27% use mobile learning. We´ve been wondering about this result and mainly put it down to issues with instructional design and content availability. But lately I´ve been thinking that mobile might also be stigmatized because we often experience it as a distraction rather than as a tool for learning. If this is true we´d have to discuss a code of conduct for the use of mobile devices in business before we can even think of increasing the adoption of mobile in elearning or blended learning environments. Sometimes I think it helps to go back to basics and make the most of these rare opportunities where we get to meet our peers and talk to them in person. All the things that are largely lost through digital communications - tone of voice, body language, facial expressions - are at play here and it’s important to be able to pick up on these subtle details. This will result in fruitful discussions and an exchange for some great new ideas. And by adhering to this rather simple code of communication conduct we might even back the long term adoption of mobile learning. What do you think?

When considering a candidate in a job interview, how important is past job performance? Many HR professionals believe that previous job performance is a good indicator of future performance, but a new research study shows that even experienced evaluators like recruiters or university admissions officers regularly make snap decisions and therefore fail to consider all of the variables when it comes to deciding who’s in and who’s out during a job interview - often with unpleasant consequences. Thin-slicing with snap decisions Everyone makes snap decisions. In early times, being able to quickly determine if aperceived danger was real or not was a matter of life or death. These days, when a well-dressed business woman enters the boardroom, it is assumed she is competent and intelligent while a job candidate with dirty fingernails probably won’t get the job as sales clerk because he is assumed to be careless and untidy. Snap decisions based on physical appearance, while not necessarily incorrect, can’t take every factor into consideration. But what about snap decisions regarding a candidate’s previous experience? In today’s job market, where HR professionals often have dozens of resumes to evaluate for one job, snap decisions mean that good candidates often get rejected before they can even show up in person to make a good impression. Reading between the lines The problem often lies in the details: Candidates with less-than-perfect performance records are rejected without any consideration of why they didn’t perform well, even if they are a perfect match in every other way. A recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE asserts that even highly-trained people-evaluators regularly make ‘fundamental attribution errors’ - that is, snap decisions - when it comes to hiring. The report, entitled ‘Inflated Applicants: Attribution Errors in Performance Evaluation by Professionals,’  considers how businesses often inadvertently promote or hire less-qualified managers and how universities weaken their reputations by admitting inferior students. The consequence, according to the report, is that people are admitted who shouldn’t be, while others are rejected who shouldn’t be. The study set out to determine if people who are paid to have unclouded judgment, such as recruiters, really were able to make unbiased decisions about selection and admissions. Harsh to lenient The first part of the study focused on university admissions officers. They were asked to evaluate nine fictional candidates whose qualifications were nearly identical. However, the grading standards of the candidates’ schools varied from harsh to lenient. As predicted, the admissions officers consistently chose the fictional candidates with the highest grade point averages, regardless of the leniency of the grading policy. The result was similar in a study of business executives asked to consider twelve fictional candidates for promotion. Some of the candidates had performed extremely well at an easy job (managing a quiet airport) while others had performed less well at a more difficult job (managing a busier airport). Again, the executives consistently selected the candidates who had performed well at easier tasks. Even experts were likely to favor employees whose performance was enhanced by an easier situation. While some job applicants might view this positively, the outcome might be disastrous for the employer, since other studies have shown that an employee’s success consistently drops when different or more difficult working conditions are imposed. A silver lining While the results of the study are overall quite discouraging for job seekers and employers alike, there is hope: recognizing the danger of making snap decisions might result in experts taking a little more time in the decision making process, thus eliminating the worst consequences of our hard-wired responses. Want to get more HR content? Join our free webinar series for HR and L&D professionals and learn to communicate in proper Business English. ________________________________________________________________________________ Many thanks to Holly for your input!

We’re happy to announce that we have been selected as the preferred language training provider for Spain’s Labor Foundation for Construction. In this project, we’ll be helping to build the Foundation’s new online language training platform. The Labor Foundation for Construction is a reference entity for the entire construction sector. Its main focus points are the prevention of health and safety risks in the workplace, as well as education, innovation, sustainability and new technologies. With over 400 different educational offers, the Foundation has now added online language training to its portfolio. This is a significant step in the Foundation’s implementation of cloud-based learning solutions for communication skills training. The primary languages offered via the new language training platform will be English, French and German. The goal of the foreign language and communication courses is to support professionals who need to improve their skills in a flexible way. Students choose from a variety of options which are suited to their individual learning needs. The course modules include online courseware, personalized coaching and live communication skills training via virtual classroom or telephone sessions. This way, students boost their communicative skills in a real-life business situation. Professional Speexx language trainers are also available to give guidance and support throughout the course. The language training platform will allow students to learn at their own pace, while enabling HR Managers to compare and measure learning results. "The current economic climate and high-speed globalization have created an intensified internationalization process for organizations and businesses of this sector", explains David de Teresa, Commercial Director of the Foundation. "The quest for business opportunities beyond borders affects organizations of all sizes. In order to adapt to this change, we have decided to boost our language training offer for employees of the construction sector as well as similar industries". Elena Giménez, Head of Speexx Spain, comments, "The construction industry is key to our country’s economy, and Spanish companies represent a leading example of this sector. This partnership between the Foundation and Speexx will give professionals access to a high quality language training solution, anytime and anywhere. A strong knowledge of Business English and other languages is key to professional learning and development, both within and beyond Spain’s borders." To learn more, connect with Speexx on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. Read the Spanish article about the new project and language training platform via Compromiso RSE.

Savvy organizations know that business agility needs to be driven from the ground up and that better communication removes language silos in a multinational and speeds up the time required to achieve a competitive advantage and drive results. Is your talent pool ready to go global? By breaking down communication barriers, skilled staff can be easily identified in the global talent pool and moved into different areas of the organization. This also creates greater career mobility for highly skilled staff. For instance, an employee working for a Swedish company with specialist IT skills might be transferred to fill a vacancy in the company’s French subsidiary - providing he has the right language skills. Such ‘local heroes’, who work in a particular subsidiary and are top performers in their field, need to be empowered with communication skills. This allows them to be elevated to a level where their knowledge can be leveraged across the entire organization. In our recent Speexx Exchange Survey, 49 percent of respondents said that they were ‘e-enabling’ foreign language learning. More than half were also using e-learning to improve general business and customer service skills. Interestingly, 54 percent of those respondents considered their organizations to be multinational and multilingual. A further 89 percent believed that "business communication and foreign language skills were critical in determining organizational success". Looking beyond the statistics, it’s clear to see that organizations are starting to understand that open communications will improve commercial success. To learn more, check out our free White Paper resources. Leap frogging the competition It has also been widely reported that China is now overtaking the US in terms of exports - this is an interesting area because Speexx works closely with several organizations including Beijing University in China to improve their learners’ command of English - the same could be applied to the UK by improving the command of French, German or Italian. A recent visit to China, showed me that a hunger to learn and export is still thriving. However, some businesses have a long way to go before they can tap into the profit potential of a multilingual culture. Real progress and a competitive advantage can only be achieved if businesses, large and small, develop creative and target-driven learning strategies from the ground up; strategies which are adapted to the individual needs of each organization. It all starts with inclusion Reaping the rewards of multilingual learning begins with a culture of inclusion. By taking time to understand the latest learning tools available, organizations can create an overarching attitude of learning. Companies can take stock of existing language skills among staff and use these to their advantage, while ensuring the consistent development of new ways of learning that are both motivating and compatible with the demands of the workforce. Recruitment policies, training strategies and business plans can be reviewed to ensure language learning becomes an integral part of the organization’s culture. In a rapidly changing workforce, language skills provide the key to communicating across borders and operating more efficiently and profitably. Long-term, this will lead to a real competitive advtantage in today’s market. Individuals and organizations now have greater flexibility on how linguistic skills are delivered and effective results can be achieved regardless of skill, nationality or age. Organizations wishing to gain a competitive advantage will need to upskill staff in order to be better placed to reach out to new target markets and build lasting, strategic relationships. The opportunity for business growth is real - and there is no better time than now to seize it than now.

Recently, there’s been a lot of discussion about the overwhelmed employee, as well as organizations’ failure to really engage their workforce. According to Gallup research, only 13 per cent of employees worldwide feel engaged in their job. Bersin by Deloitte showed that a 78 per cent of business and learning leaders consider engagement an urgent or important issue. This poses a significant risk to organisations when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. It got me thinking about where we’ve gone wrong. Today, we’re expected to invest more time and brain power in our professions than ever before. Skill requirements and the nature of work have changed, just as our own expectations have. Employees now want to identify with their work and feel passionate about it. To me, engagement means that you’re intrinsically motivated, believe in what your company is doing and are prepared to go that extra mile because you care, not just because of the pay check at the end of the month. But how many of us are really being fulfilled? New communication channels This isn’t the only thing that has changed. The way work reaches us has, too. Most of us don’t clock in and out or work anymore - in fact, most can’t. With the rise of the internet and mobile devices, work has become fluid and flexible. We’re available 24/7 - even during evenings, weekends or while on holiday, and we can’t just forget about work once the office door closes. I’ve lost count of the number of communication channels through which people and information reach me, for both private and work-related matters. There’s a whole stream of updates and messages filling my displays every day, including emails, text messages, LinkedIn, XING, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Skype notifications. Then for the younger general, including my kids, there’s WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat. Next, Flipboard and Twitter for my daily news feed. And of course, web conferences for discussing business matters. And I almost forgot - the good old telephone call! It’s almost impossible to separate our work and private lives in the modern world, where communication channels have silently blended into each other. One of my favourite lines coming from both friends and colleagues is: "I just sent you something, did you get it?" My automatic response is simply "Where?" The overwhelmed learner Learning in organizations is undergoing a similar change. With the progress of technology, employees are increasingly expected to study in a flexible, self-paced learning environment which they can access anytime, anywhere and from any device. But let’s face it, if left to their own (mobile) devices and with all that other communication coming through around the clock, they’re more likely to lag behind, watching funny videos or reading messages from their friends than actually learning something work-related. The constant flow of information is making it difficult for us to pick out the really important information and to use new skills and knowledge to our advantage. In fact, many organizations haven’t even clocked on to the mobile learning revolution yet. The Speexx Exchange 2013-14 Survey shows that, while 76 per cent of organizations have a BYOD strategy only 35 per cent use mobile devices for training. For a mobile learning strategy to work, content needs to be easily accessible, relevant and compelling - and it also needs to beat that funny viral YouTube video that may be competing for the employee’s already overwhelmed attention. Going back to basics But even the best technology won’t keep a learner engaged long-term. At Speexx, we’ve found that something as simple as contact with a human being can make all the difference. According to our internal data, 95 per cent of learners who receive personalised email coaching on top of their e-learning content complete their course successfully. 85 per cent of temporarily inactive students are put back on track with their communication skills training after a simple phone call from their trainer. It’s about adding a human touch to all the screens and pixels. Managers play an equally important role in informing their workforce about new learning and development strategies. Engagement needs to become an issue in its own rights with a designated manager taking responsibility for it. Today’s employees are empowered and informed - they want to know why they need to acquire a new skill. They want to understand their role in the company’s overall mission. Which brings us back to basic communication: A corporate mission needs to be communicated concisely and transparently with employees of all levels and across all regions with no exceptions. This is the first step towards building true engagement for your workforce instead of letting them be overwhelmed with unnecessary information. Only the right combination of compelling technology, human collaboration and clear communication will result in an engaging environment where employees will feel motivated to drive real business.

When was the last time you chose to raise a tricky topic by email rather than face to face? Just now? Yesterday? We’ve all been there…  The reality is that we just don’t talk like we used to anymore. And this is symptomatic of wider workplace and societal trends away from direct verbal contact. While there may be time and efficiency savings for a business, there’s a negative impact, too. Moving away from rich, candid discussions with our direct reports could be more damaging than we realise. The modern manager Managers today don’t get an easy ride. How many times have you wondered, "Am I a coach now? A counsellor? An agony aunt?" Managers have more responsibility than ever, as HR responsibilities spill over into the boardroom. ‘Having courageous conversations’ shouldn’t be pitched as just another item to add to managers’ already overflowing in-trays. Rather, the ability to initiate (and successfully execute) courageous conversations should make managers’ lives easier, and become part of the day to day. Where are courageous conversations needed? Not an exhaustive list, but a flavour of potential opportunities for a courageous conversation to make a difference: Addressing poor performance - rather than hiding behind an appraisal, performance scorecard or decisions made by a committee elsewhere, managers should be more proactive in speaking about a declining level of performance, before it becomes a bigger issue. Correcting undesirable behaviour - there’s probably a judgement call here about whether this is an ‘HR issue’, but for minor misdemeanours, this could be manager territory. Such an intervention could nip the behaviour in the bud before it becomes a more serious issue. Discussing pay reviews - another notoriously prickly topic for managers to contend with, but it needn’t be. Be open and honest. If there’s a reason an employee isn’t receiving the pay increase they’d hoped for, explain the reasons and what they should focus on going forward to change this. Fear of feedback We avoid difficult conversations as we expect they’ll be uncomfortable. We know that they could lead to an emotional response, clouding what people actually hear and making our jobs even trickier. This issue is further convoluted when we’re communicating in a foreign language. In the increasingly globalised workplace, it is not uncommon for a manager or their employee to be speaking in a language which is not their mother tongue. Here, there is an even greater chance for misinterpretations or worries of being misunderstood, making the conversation uncomfortable at times. It’s far easier to bury our head in the sand; ignore issues and avoid taking action. Guess what though? Nothing changes. I call this the "Ostrich effect". Failing to act in these situations may mean you’re holding back your reports from achieving their full potential. The scenarios outlined above are part of organisational life. They’re not going anywhere. Managers must therefore be better prepared (and supported) for such scenarios. This will ensure they handle them with confidence and achieve positive results. The more routine these conversations become, the more the behaviour and communication becomes embedded in the business, and the less daunting they’ll seem. Technology: help or hindrance? Organisations spend up to hundreds of thousands of pounds each year on development programmes such as 360 degree feedback. Such programmes are undoubtedly of value to participants as they’re given a wealth of rich feedback to learn from. Ultimately though, it’s what is done with these tools which determines just how valuable they are for the individual and for their company. The point is that online appraisals, 360 degree feedback and other HR tools shouldn’t replace a manager-employee conversation, they should better enable them. Such conversations can be incredibly powerful in creating positive behavioural change, so it’s sad that many of us are avoiding having them. Advice on having a courageous conversation The first thing to say is: don’t overcomplicate things. A simple approach will serve you best: Have a clear purpose - be clear about the issues you’re raising before you speak with the person concerned and state your intentions up-front to avoid any ambiguity. If either of you is not speaking in your native language, choose your words wisely and don’t leave room for misinterpretations. You could also double-check with the other person whether anything requires repetition or further explanation. We tend to assume the unknown is an "enemy" and to adopt a defensive or aggressive mind-set, which can derail a conversation before it has started. The way you frame this conversation before it begins is vital to its ability to effect change. Stick to the facts - everyone has an opinion and they may well differ so they’re largely irrelevant here. Discuss your perceptions, and ask your report about theirs. Investigate intentions - Unfortunately we rarely explore intention in relation to our behaviour, and therefore don’t get to the crux of the matter. Whatever the intention, this is the driver. Find out what they are trying to achieve; what is the end goal? Look forward, not back - don’t dwell on past mistakes. Outline the behaviour that you would like to see - discuss your own examples, tell your own story, and coach alternative behaviours. Just having an awareness of current behaviour won’t lead to change. The onus is on you to provoke a SHIFT in thinking to generate positive, more beneficial alternatives. Agree actions - what should change as a result of the points raised (and by when)? Make a concrete plan to support favourable behaviour and provide appropriate levels of support. What’s the outcome of more courageous communication? Having managers who are willing (and able) to initiate courageous conversations offers companies a clear competitive advantage. The ability to challenge an individual’s thinking and then to support them in effecting change should be in every manager’s toolkit. Supporting managers to do this consistently will benefit the individual, their team and the organisation. This is because managers will be able to better harness individuals’ ability, handle employee concerns or issues and, ultimately, deliver a higher level of performance. The key is to keep communication constructive, holistic and developmental in nature. Managers doing this well could unleash more potential in their people than they realise. Author biography Deborah Cobb is a business psychologist working for UK-based HR consultancy ETS. Find out more via https://www.etsplc.com/. ETS are experts in employee engagement, assessment and development working with companies including Vodafone, PepsiCo and RBS.

When you drive from one American coast to the other, you’ll spend most of your time driving in a straight line. But why? It all goes back to the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the dream of expanding America’s borders. There’s a fairly wide-spread belief that between the Rockies and the Mississippi there’s nothing but grass. That’s not precisely true, of course: While the prairies are sparsely settled (less than 50 people per square mile) there are also rolling hills, unusual animals and land formations, and roads so poker-straight that they would have made Thomas Jefferson a very happy man. In addition to being America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson was also a farmer and a strong supporter of the Land Ordinance of 1785. He believed the future of America lay in farming and land ownership, not in building cities. He championed the idea that all land west of the Appalachians should be surveyed and divided into parcels of one square mile each, which could later be sold to anyone who wanted to settle there. An important aspect of the Land Ordinance was that it determined how America would be measured, and consequently influenced the measurement system used in America today. In fact, surveyors are at least partially to blame for America’s resistence to the metric system. The new system used something called ‘survey miles’ and ‘acres’ rather than the more traditional ‘metes and bounds’ method. With survey miles, a piece of land is measured out into township sections (usually 36 square miles) and then further subdivided into plots of one square mile each. One square mile equals 640 acres. Metes and bounds, on the other hand, uses landmarks and geographical features to determine boundaries, and relies on the surveyor ‘pacing out’ the ground. While the system worked perfectly well, it was agreed that landmarks could change over time and therefore a new system was needed for the new nation. The Land Ordinance set the foundation for land policy - surveying, selling and settling of the land - for the next 100 years. A quick glance at the map of nearly any state will reveal rectangular counties and unswervingly straight borders, especially west of the Appalachians. As people moved west, the grid system went with them. Whole states appear mapped out in evenly spaced rectangles, which certainly made it easier to parcel out for homesteading purposes. Not surprisingly, the most ambitious city planners gleefully adopted the grid system too, arguing that cities with wide, parallel avenues would not only look impressive but also intimidate the nation’s enemies. Washington D.C., for example, was planned with that goal in mind. The organic growth of cities that one sees in Europe - where cities are centuries old and grew outward naturally as the city grew - is almost non-existent in America. Only the oldest neighborhoods in the eastern cities, such as New York or Boston, have these maze-like sections. And the roads? Since roads were usually built with state money, they tended to follow the survey markings, which meant they followed the straight lines on the map rather than following the landscape. When interstate highways were added after World War II, they usually plotted a straight line between cities. Consequently, a good many of the interstates either repeat the grid design or intersect it. In the end, it all comes down to wide open spaces. America is big, bigger than even Thomas Jefferson had imagined. And when you’re in a hurry, the shortest distance between two plotted points is a straight line, right? _____________________________ A big thanks goes to Holly for her input on this one!

With the European elections around the corner, it’s time to take a closer look at our politicians’ communication and foreign language skills. In fact, their conversations in a foreign language always manage to spark some sort of reaction in the media. When it turns out they speak another language well, it gets in the news. But if they speak it badly, it’s even bigger news and they become subject to viral videos and quotes circulating the internet. In general, politicians have never been all too famous for their foreign language skills, often reflecting their own countries’ skills in this respect. In Spain, for example, people are lagging behind when it comes to speaking good English. Remember the last Eurobarometer, which showed that only 22% of Spaniards actually speak English, while the overall European average was 38%? What skills does a politician need? Politicians are expected to have a number of skills in their repertoire, including verbal and non-verbal communication skills, leadership skills, as well as the ability to manage and negotiate. There is no need for any type of degree, though. The candidate simply represents an electoral program (which is the first step towards proving their communication skills) and is then either elected or not, without any need for proof of skills. It is essential to have citizens who are prepared to defend public interest, whether or not they have an education. But when it comes to certain positions in national or international politics, shouldn’t we expect a little more? Shouldn’t they have a range of skills, as well as proven prior experience? Let’s not forget that certain key roles in society, including education, health or safety require a whole lot of education and preparation. In terms of foreign language skills, there’s always been a debate about how indispensible they really are. Some people believe that the above mentioned skills are enough to work in parliament and that there is no need for foreign language skills. I personally disagree on this one. Speaking another language, as well as the ability to understand other cultures, should be a key requirement for politicians. A multilingual person will always be able to communicate better and be at an advantage in negotiations compared to a monolingual person. Real discussions happen between meetings Anyone representing us on a political level in Europe will have to defend our interests in front of people from other countries. And many of these issues end up being discussed between politicians over a meal, in the corridor or in the cafeteria. Of course, a politician can always have an interpreter at their side, but these informal conversations flow a lot more naturally when they’re held in a one-to-one situation.  A command of the specific vocabulary in the foreign language is also necessary for these types of negotiations. Culture is another key issue here. A Greek person doesn’t do business as an English person would. Neither, in turn, deal with things quite as a Norwegian might. Their timings, expectations and strategies are all different. Furthermore, the vocabulary used to describe cultural concepts is often difficult to translate into other languages. After all, the language we speak influences our thought process, just as our habits are closely linked to our culture and our mother tongue. For example, we could argue that the most important words for native speakers of English are "please" and "thank you". They use them much more often than Spaniards do! I therefore believe that anyone aiming to represent us in politics needs to have the ability to communicate well in a foreign language. Let’s not forget that these elections will serve to choose the politicians that are meant to take us out of the crisis and will define economic politics to a large extent for Spain. Shining examples of foreign language skills Let’s take a look at some of the candidates at the upcoming elections on May 25th. Miguel Arias Cañete, the current minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment and candidate of Spain’s Partido Popular, speaks English and French fluently, as well as Italian and German (and apparently he’s learning Chinese, too!). Elena Valenciano of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, speaks English and French. Willy Meyer (Izquierda Unida) speaks perfect German, and Francisco Sosa Wagner (UPyD) speaks English, German and French. The good news therefore seems to be that candidates for the European election do tend to have a good knowledge of foreign languages, and are exceptions to the rule. However, let’s not forget about national, autonomous and local politicians. Despite admirable exceptions of representatives who speak one or several languages fluently (think of historical figures, such as Fraga or Pujol, or more contemporary ones such as Moratinos or Aguirre), the general tendency seems to be a lack of foreign language skills. Should good foreign language skills become compulsory for politicians?  It’s time to open up the debate.

Brighten up your Friday with our lovely new video of the Speexx Virtual Classroom. Freshly produced by our very own Tim.