Are we speaking their language?

WHEN Paddy Jordan arrived in Paris in 1968 to take over the management of the Irish Trade Board office he hadn't got a word of French. He subsequently picked up the language, joined Courtaulds where he discovered at first hand the importance of being able to use your customer's language.

"Courtaulds took me on because I spoke French," Jordan recalls. "I had no difficulty flogging towels in France and Belgium, but I couldn't sell the product in Germany. I'd go into a meeting and speak in English. My interpreter would repeat my sentences in German. The person at the other side of the table would be fed up after 15 minutes."

Since then he has devoted much energy to spreading the linguistic gospel. In the 1970s Jordan worked for the European Commission before joining the Confederation of Irish Industry, now part of IBEC. Acutely aware of the need to build up a corps of people combining business and languages skills with practical experience of overseas markets, he set up the European Orientation Programme in 1983.

To date 700 have participated in the programme which places people in companies overseas. Our object is not to help people, but rather to assist companies," Jordan insists. Last year 83 people took part in the programme at a cost of £11,100 each. Half the cost is met by sponsoring companies, the rest by seven state agencies. These include the IDA, the Trade Board, Udaras na Gaeltachta, SFADCO, Bord Failte and Bord Bia.

The two full time programme co ordinators, Caroline Nash and Sibeal Byrne, are based at IBEC's head office. "Our phone bill is the highest in the whole building," says Nash. "The cost of running the programme compares favourably with the eight month programme run by the Northern Ireland Training and Employment Agency which amounts to £22,000 per person."

The programme has three components. There is a three month induction period in a company followed in most cases by three months abroad learning the relevant language before the candidate begins a six month placement overseas.

"We keep tracks on all but around 20 people," says Jordan. "Between 150 and 160 are permanently abroad. The vast majority are working for Irish firms and about half are working in the food industry."

Originally participants were sent to France and Germany, but this was soon expanded to include Spain and Italy. "We've now had people in Hungary, Poland, Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark."

At times, Jordan admits, it was a struggle to get the project moving. Winning over firms was difficult at first. "I thought that the programme would grow at a quicker rate," he says. "We had to fight hard to get it accepted in the tourism business, for example." The programme has branched out into electronics, engineering and textiles. Currently the plan is that between 15 and 20 participants each year should work in the financial services area.

"The idea is that a graduate with a B Comm, or a qualification in finance or accounting, would go and work in, or close to the stock market in Frankfurt, Paris, Berlin or Brussels."

Since the programme was inaugurated, the profile of the people taking part has changed. "During the first couple of years, we were under terrific pressure to take in a minimum number of females," Jordan recalls, "but we resisted this." Initially, almost everyone had to take part in the three month languages course, but between 30 and 40 per cent now skip this, going straight to take up a position with a firm.

THE programme was recently completed by Maureen Daly and Ciaran O'Neill. Daly, who has a chemistry degree, works for Schloetter, a Kildare pharmaceuticals company. Accepted into the programme in 1994, she attended a course in Mainz in Germany before taking up a position with the Schloetter head office in Stuttgart.

She got the usual £833 monthly bursary which was topped up by Schloetter who paid for her accommodation. Many firms top up the participants' relatively meagre allowance.

The ability to adapt to local conditions is important and she believes the period spent in Germany has helped her to build up social skills while strengthening contacts in the parent company. "Language was no problem as I already had the basics, having studied German at school."

O'Neill did a business studies degree at UL and now works for the IAWS as a junior commodities trader. The company had originally planned to send him to Poland, although he wanted to go to France. He ended up in Spain.

"I came into Madrid not knowing any Spanish. I used sign language. The school I was sent to at Salamanca had a Spanish only policy. It took me around a fortnight to pick the language up. It was a case of sink or swim.

O'Neill was placed with the meat processing company, Kepak, in its Spanish sales division, as the IAWS at the time didn't have a Spanish operation although it had been eyeing the South American market.

O'Neill believes that the main benefit has been on his self confidence: "The fact that I could successfully sell beef in Spanish gave me a big buzz. The biggest problem Irish people have is in getting over the language barrier. Hardly anyone among my peers can even say `hello' in another language. The attitude is that since English is the language everyone wants to speak, so why should we learn another one?"

About 400 candidates are now being interviewed for the 1997/98 programme. In Nash's view, the quality of the applicants has risen since she first became involved six years ago. "You still have to spoon feed some people. I prefer it when people are definite and have ideas of their own.

"The third level college careers people are now more clued in and the gap between the technical and linguistic worlds has narrowed, though there is still progress to be made, particularly on the technical side."