ICSME, Promoting Intercultural Communication Skills in the Multilingual Europe, is a dissemination project with the aim of disseminating three products developed under the Leonardo da Vinci programme. The products are Plurilingua (a comprehensive language training programme designed for managerial staff in 29 different language combinations), Startrader ( a updated version of this practical programme designed for the business seeting up export links with France and Spain) and CEReS ( an intercultural curriculum designed for universities and other training institutions). The project is due to finish in September 2008.
ECLAT, European Communication and Language Audit Training Scheme, offers the business person and entrepreneur an innovative way of trading internationally by using a business manual specifically designed for the exporting industry. The scheme that ECLAT is now implementing in Portugal, Bulgaria and Latvia, is currently operating and expanding in Hungary, Iceland, Poland, Spain, and United Kingdom, and was already tested in Portugal. It is expected to become implemented in other European countries to facilitate and increase the annual turnover of SMEs in the European Union. The project is due to end in November 2008.
ELAN, Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise is the most comprehensive survey undertaken in European business in recent years. It studied approximately 2000 companies in 2005-2006 in 29 countries with the objective to map the use of language skills by SMEs, and the impact lack of foreign language skills and the existence of intercultural barriers had on business performance.
EURICA, European International Communication Audits, is a business language audit programme which aims to develop the successful outcomes of the Protocol project to new countries, specifically in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. It aims to build and adapt upon these successes and implement a localised audit scheme in Hungary, Poland and Spain, integrating the importance of language and culture in trade at a very early stage into the accession countries’ business support strategies. The project will also incorporate ideas and processes from these new countries to enhance the scheme in the UK and Iceland.
The Leonardo da Vinci supported project started on 1st October 2004 and is due for completion on 30th September 2006.
The creation of a Europe of open borders with a mobile labour force faces linguistic and cultural barriers. The CEReS, A Cross Cultural Curriculum for European Regions and their Students, project addresses this need by initiating a new internationalised business language curriculum for young people at universities in the target countries of Bulgaria, England, Iceland, Poland, and Sweden. CEReS aims at introducing new teaching approaches and teaching methods in the field of cross-cultural training and education for trade and mobility.
The Leonardo da Vinci supported project started on 1st October 2004 and was completed on 31th October 2006.
Multi-lingual communication needs for (technical) managerial staff. Research has shown that (technical) managerial staff often face linguistic and cultural challenges when in contact with foreign clients. A good command of foreign languages is no longer enough. Businessmen must understand how to speak foreign languages and have a solid grounding in and understanding of foreign cultures. In fulfilment of these requirements, 29 dedicated intercultural communication CD-ROM have been devised. The CD-ROMs were developed in conjunction with technical managerial staff from seven European countries and based on autonomous and self-directed learning principles. They are entitled “Intercultural Communication for (Technical) Managerial Staff”.
The project entitled International Communication Skills for Enhanced Mobility and Trade aims to re-develop, adapt and disseminate the results of the SOLVIT Project in four western Atlantic nations of Europe: Ireland, Portugal, UK and Iceland. The objective is to raise the awareness of SMEs in the target countries of the economic and added cultural value of using the customer's language and culture in international trade, assisting companies to develop communication strategies, that cross linguistic and cultural barriers, and introducing them to export procedures in the three other target markets. The project will include a production of a CD-Rom (and/or DVD) Training Tool.
The Leonardo da Vinci supported project was completed on 19th March 2005.
PROTOCOL II
Programme and Materials for the Training of Language and Communication Auditors of European SMEs - Stage 2 is a development and multiplication of the PROTOCOL Project, which sets out to enhance the competitiveness of international SMEs within 4 countries by assisting them to set up a communication audit scheme offering a consultancy service to international SMEs leading to recommendations with a range of costed solutions. The scheme provides for independent customised advice to address the difficulties faced by SMEs entering markets with language and cultural barriers. Currently, the UK Export Communications Review (ECR) is the only country to offer such a scheme in Europe.
The Leonardo da Vinci supported project was completed at the end of 2004.
The STREAM, Strategic Training in Recruitment & Retention of Employees and Managers, project will report on the Human Resource strategies and the training methods of organisations in the hospitality sector to aid successful recruitment and retention of employees and managers. STREAM will identify best practice examples of organisations within the sector in Ireland, UK, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia.
The Leonardo da Vinci supported project was completed on 19th March 2005.
A transnational initiative running over a two-year period to promote the economic and mobility value of acquiring linguistic competence. The project is co-funded by the Leonardo da Vinci programme and is designed to specifically support European objectives of improving competitiveness in European companies by reviewing and measuring language and cultural needs, competencies and deficiencies in the UK, Ireland, Poland and Portugal. Finishing in November 2002, REFLECT has developed an interactive on-line tool, EasyTrader, to assist companies with the development of their own language strategies tailored to their needs.
STARTRADE
Provides practical vocational training materials on a CD-ROM, offering specific guidance on how to deal with linguistic, cultural and procedural issues facing UK companies looking to trade in close markets, France and Spain, and who may lack experience in the field. Similarly, the French version will assist French exporters to be more effective in the UK and Spanish markets and the Spanish version will offer advice on how Spanish companies can enter and expand in the French and UK markets. This Project was supported by Leonardo da Vinci.
PROTOCOL
Offering independent analysis and advice, the Protocol Communications Audit scheme helps export SMEs to address and deal with communications needs in the target countries of France, UK, Iceland and the Netherlands. The audit or Review assesses customers' own language needs and addresses the issues of cultural differences and barriers that may be encountered by the company when dealing with some or all of their international customers.
European Language & International Strategy Development in SMEs, was a research study that replicated the highly successful ELUCIDATE project, which was the first comprehensive cross-border research study of Foreign Language Use and Training Needs across Europe. The Project led to the production of a video of best practice case studies with other dissemination activity via the Web. The Project led to a range of paper-based and audio-visual outputs for export managers, vocational language curriculum designers and telematics system managers.
A Multilingual Information Society (MLIS) Project which led to the production of a CD-ROM Guide on Overcoming Cultural Barriers. One of the major objectives was to address the need for export companies to develop a communication or language strategy as part of their export plan. It was supported by the Leonardo da Vinci programme and has since been updated in web format by CILT, the National Centre for Languages in collaboration with Interact International, and can be accessed from the link on the right.
The project was the most comprehensive survey of language usage in European industry undertaken in recent years. It also entailed reviewing international business communication and language needs across Europe. The project was partly funded by Leonardo da Vinci.
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