The need for foreign language skills is rising thanks to globalisation and internationalisation. Companies are increasing their business across borders, but does this work if you don't speak the same language? And we are not talking about French, English or German. What if you start doing business with China? What if you soon open a branch in the Middle East? Or if a Swedish firm decides to set up a subsidiary in Belgium? More exotic languages are also coming closer and closer to home, including for Tessenderlo Group NV.
Tessenderlo recently invested in a language training course in Brazilian Portuguese for their employee Eric Mangelschots. He will soon start a new position in Brazil. Since the Tessenderlo factory is located in an area where Brazilian Portuguese is almost exclusively spoken, Eric wanted to master the language as soon as possible.
Currently, Eric is still waiting for his work permit before he can leave for Brazil. But that doesn't stop him from already using the language he learned on the job. Quite the contrary! Thanks to his language training at BLCC, Eric is already corresponding with his Brazilian colleagues from Belgium, in Portuguese! "I receive e-mails in Portuguese every day, which I in turn also answer in that language. We also have telephone contact several times a week where I ask to speak slowly so that I understand the conversation and can already participate in the conversation somewhat, in Portuguese!", says Eric.
"I couldn't have imagined a better training. I received a wealth of information in a very short time, both in terms of grammar and vocabulary. It is quite an effort to process everything but the way the information is delivered makes it an enjoyable effort. A structured challenging approach that gives quick results."
Do you also wish to take language training for a less common language?
From Chinese to Arabic to Finnish? You can come to BLCC for it!