Beyond the Business - The American Chamber of Commerce ...

Language
Matters
Interview by Natalie Gerhardstein
Gundula heyer-Piersanti, Managing Director of inlingua
Luxembourg, talks to AMChAM about language trends and the
benefits of corporate training and learning a foreign language.
What language trends have you noticed since you
started inlingua Luxembourg in 1993?
When we arrived in Luxembourg, there was not a lot of
competition. We were noticing, however, there was an
increasing demand to learn general english. Then, starting in
2000, the demand became more specific for business english.
More recently, those demands have become even more
specific—for example, people want to learn technical english
specific to their field, for example in medicine or logistics. As of
2003, we also noticed an explosion in the need for French and
especially Luxembourgish, due in part to the implementation of
the congé linguistique.
How is your organization handling those trends?
We tend to be reactive and respond to client requests,
34 Connexion Fall 2011 www.amcham.lu
corporate training being a good example. We distinguish
ourselves based on our pedagogical services—not only do
we have a real pedagogical department, we also have senior
trainers in all of the major languages. New trainers are required
to take a one-week intensive, on-site training, and they
additionally benefit from mentoring with more senior trainers
for a longer period. Online facilities and use of modern media
complete the service to our customers.
What specific benefits are offered through your
corporate training?
The international inlingua network has been handling corporate
training for approximately forty years. As part of this network,
we benefit from being able to share experiences with
colleagues in, for example, Dubai or New york. The real benefit
is realized when a company has done training in one location
and wants to implement that training in another location—we
are able to benefit from our network to see what training
arrangements have been made before.
There are many obvious benefits to learning a new
language, but what else do students gain by taking
a course?
even if Luxembourg is a multilingual country by nature,
language learning is unique in that you are able to meet other
people from other language backgrounds. It may seem banal,
but this is a wonderful mission. It’s wonderful being able to
really encounter people who have a different mother tongue.
This aspect of language learning is more than an acquired skill
or technique; it truly becomes a part of your personality later on
when you become bilingual or multilingual.