What’s a single skill that will set today’s business graduates apart and prepare them for jobs anywhere in the world? We believe it’s a facility with language.

Furthermore, in global companies where managers don’t possess deep language skills, we believe there will be severe negative economic impacts. Research shows that language barriers cost companies more than the money required to pay interpreters or translate documents. The real cost of the language barrier is that it “distorts and damages relationships,” according to a 2003 article by A.J. Feely and A.W. Harzing in Cross Cultural Management. Miscommunication can cause companies to lose potential clients or fail to deliver products and services.

Other experts also cite the impact of language skills in the workplace. “Addressing business issues from multiple perspectives has become a critical mandate in business education,” says Yuwei Shi, Dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. “Language is essential to cross-cultural and cross-sector understanding.”

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What’s a single skill that will set today’s
business graduates apart and pre-
pare them for jobs anywhere in the
world? We believe it’s a facility with
language.
Furthermore, in global companies
where managers don’t possess deep
language skills, we believe there
will be severe negative economic
impacts. Research shows that lan-
guage barriers cost companies more
than the money required to pay
interpreters or translate documents.
The real cost of the language bar-
rier is that it “distorts and damages
relationships,” according to a 2003
article by A.J. Feely and A.W. Har-
zing in Cross Cultural Management.
Miscommunication can cause com-
panies to lose potential clients or fail
to deliver products and services.
Other experts also cite the impact
of language skills in the workplace.
“Addressing business issues from
multiple perspectives has become
a critical mandate in business edu-
cation,” says Yuwei Shi, Dean of
the Graduate School of Interna-
tional Policy and Management at the
Monterey Institute of International
Studies in California. “Language is
essential to cross-cultural and cross-
sector understanding.”