Are language skills critical to Midland firms targeting overseas markets, or is English still the only tongue needed for global commerce? Ian Halstead and Kurt Jacobs find out.
An unfortunate blend of colonial arrogance and instinctive apathy has long made Britons reluctant to acquire language skills.
Maps of the globe may no longer be encircled in swathes of pink, but centuries of xenophobia are proving much harder to eradicate.
"Why bother learning their language when they already speak ours?" has been the traditional approach for so many exporters.
Intriguingly though, a perception is now evolving that learning about a target country's culture is at least as beneficial as basic language skills.
Andrew Shipley, a litigation partner with Leicester-based lawyer Nelsons, is certainly well placed to judge, as both a regular visitor to his firm's associates in India and a board member of the East Midlands International Trade Association (Emita).
The latter Nottingham-based body - sponsored by East Midlands Development Agency (Emda), UK Trade & Investment, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tenon and Nelsons - aims to address such issues as language, business etiquette, grant support and market research for would-be exporters.
"English is still the lingua franca of business, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to avoid learning foreign languages," says Shipley.
"However, I think it is possible to overplay the importance of language, and to scare people from looking at getting into new markets."
Shipley turns the traditional argument - that knowledge of overseas languages and customs is essential for exporters - neatly on its head.
"How many executives or managers would we expect to meet from, say, China or India, who understand much about European culture and would we be mortally offended if they got something wrong?" he asks.
"I think when we look at what we need to offer, we should also consider what the people we plan to meet will be expecting. Simply being sensitive and aware counts for a lot."
Given its growing volume of work relating to India, Nelsons considered recruiting an experienced lawyer from the sub-continent to work in Leicester. Interestingly, their associates in India reckoned the appointment wouldn"t make a practical difference, a view which was accepted after a lengthy internal debate.
At the upper end of the corporate scale, Shipley says a wide array of language services is now on offer, either via the Regional Language Network, or through private interpreter or translation agencies.
For companies unwilling to take that route he suggests stocking up on a few good books.
"If you don't wish to invest in language skills, you should certainly learn about the country's culture. Reading two or three good guide books will make you more sensitive to issues about which you might not have thought."
The point is underlined by consultant Chris Siegl, who has criss-crossed the globe heading major projects in the oil, gas, chemical, petro-chemical and transport sectors, since reading philosophy and modern languages at the Sorbonne in the mid-1960s.
He is now putting his accumulated expertise to use advising Russian clients about project finance.
Siegl believes that learning just a few phrases of a potential customer's language is always wise, but says placing negotiations within both a corporate and national perspective is even more important.
"You must never forget that each transaction is different, as individuals will have their own personal dynamics. It's also vital to understand just how each company operates, before negotiations begin, to know what makes their buyer tick," he says.
"You should also bone up on the country concerned and learn something about its history, its culture and its political system. You also need at least passing knowledge about current affairs. It all helps you get closer to the potential customer and to understand their background and mindset."
Siegl believes that many British exporters are found wanting against their international rivals, particularly at the smaller business level.
"British companies have never been good as considering language skills as an asset, but it goes deeper than that. My experience is that most of our smaller businesses are woefully inadequate in their commercial focus on overseas markets, compared to their peers from Germany or Italy," he says.
"The British firms often have wonderful technical products, but haven't considered how to sell themselves properly, or even stopped to understand the financial implications of dealing with new overseas customers."
Siegl pays tribute to the work done at corporate level by the Institute of Export, but believes the failings of British management are often more fundamental.
"When I meet overseas engineers, they have a much more commercial mindset. Here, I don't think we pay sufficient attention, right from school level upward, to understanding risk," he says.
"When attempting to enter new markets, it's not enough just to have a good idea or a good product. The art is to mitigate the risks involved."
It's a depressing thought that British smaller businesses are missing export orders because their management teams simply aren't doing their homework.
Mindful that some clients needed more than a helping hand to venture overseas, the Birmingham office of Yorkshire Bank recently appointed former Institute of Export (IoE) director Mark Runiewicz, as international business partner.
Before returning to the banking sector, he'd helped compile the annual IoE international trade survey for 14 successive years, so his take on what British firms do - or don't - do overseas is certainly worth hearing.
It's often suggested that much of the UK's latest successes in export markets is down to such regionally-led networks as British Midlands; the chain of international offices established by Advantage West Midlands and the East Midlands Development Agency.
Runiewicz isn't challenging their achievements, but fears their presence can be confusing.
"The Great British marque was very well established overseas, but now we are seeing several regional development agencies attending the same trade fairs," he says.
Runiewicz also sees little sign in most British companies of the need for even basic language skills, when targeting new export markets.
"Because we are an island nation and because English remains the trading language of the world, we are lazy at such matters."
Runiewicz says UK Trade & Investment has an impressive range of services to offer would-be exporters, but successive IoE surveys suggest that only around half of UK firms take advantage.
"You can't force such companies to become proactive, but I wonder what they would think if a potential business partner came to this country and didn't speak a word of English?
"I suspect they'd be irritated - at best - but do any of them then think how they look, when they go overseas and haven't bothered to learn a word of the language? I suspect not."
However, one of the UK's leading recruitment boutiques is optimistic that a growing number of British companies - and particularly hard-pressed Midland manufacturers - are developing a genuinely international mindset.
For Stephen Kingswell, an account director with Alvechurch-based Lord Search & Selection, the relevance of language skills is finally being noted.
The agency specialises in finding senior board-room executives and is increasingly used by Midland-based manufacturers, looking to outsource supply chains to Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, south-east Asia and even South America.
Kingswell says such companies typically move through three phases.
"When they first look overseas they'll send a manager in from the UK. As it becomes more established, they'll typically take on an expatriate manager. Finally, they'll be willing to take on local people - who are often better educated and more qualified than the previous recruits."
Unfortunately, Kingswell finds that a significant number of manufacturers come unstuck during the first phase of such overseas ventures.
"They set up their production plant and try to run it from the UK, with a senior manager going over maybe once a fortnight. Unfortunately, they haven't put the right controls and processes in place and by the time they realise something is going wrong, it's usually too late."
Like Siegl, Kingswell sees British companies failing to do sufficient research before looking overseas.
"The only way to succeed is to break down a project into small phases and to communicate each element in a clear and concise fashion to the people with whom you are working," he says.
"When such ventures go wrong, the British company will typically blame other people, but the fault usually lies within."
Kingswell says the increasing focus on China has seen an unexpected change in companies' requirements for language skills though.
"I've worked in maybe 20 countries and, just about everywhere, English remains the lingua franca. However, we are being asked by a growing number of British companies to find senior directors with a working knowledge of Mandarin."
As if life in ultra-competitive export markets wasn't tough enough.