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20 Jun 2007 15:53:22
Hundreds of businesses in the East Midlands have benefited from a Language and Culture for Business (LCB) project ran by the University of Bedfordshire.
The final seminar of the project took place at the Clifton Campus of Nottingham Trent University on Monday 19 June. It was aimed at SMEs in the area and included information on business and culture in France, plus a language taster session, to boost trade with their European counterparts.
Launched in January 2006, the University’s LCB project was jointly funded by the Learning and Skills Council and the European Social Fund and has exceeded its aim of reaching 300 people in 150 businesses across the region, having trained delegates from over 220 companies.
Project Manager Liz Littler said: “Our overall objective was to upgrade the language and cultural skills for companies in the East Midlands to help them to export or communicate effectively with potential customers and suppliers.”
The project was delivered at universities, specialist language colleges and further education providers at centres in Nottingham, Northamptonshire, Loughborough and Derbyshire. Languages covered were French, Spanish, Chinese, German and Italian.
Two happy customers included Kettering couple Christa and David Liggins, who have run ‘Ocarina Workshop’ for 24 years. The couple make plastic versions of the South American-inspired instrument, publish books on how to play the ocarina, and teach the instrument in schools.
They attended a course to study Spanish, as they wanted to improve their language skills in order to do even more business in Spanish-speaking countries.
Christa said: “The teacher was tremendous. What she taught us was over and above what we expected to learn on the course.
“We had numerous contacts in Spain but could speak only a limited amount of Spanish. We know how important it is to speak to people in their own language, and that was reinforced by the course which looks at both business language and culture.”
Materials for the course were written by an academic team at the University of Bedfordshire and companies taking part represented a wide range of market sectors, including technology food and clothing.
For further information about similar programmes or other business related courses at the University, contact 0800 328 5334 or visit www.beds.ac.uk/knowledgehub
Latest news» 2007» June» Language project helps hundreds of businesses
