Language Skills Help Build Capacity
Sudbury-based Prosynth, specialist manufacturers of organic intermediates for the pharmaceutical industry, appreciate the benefits to be gained from investing in language skills. Facing increasing sales opportunities overseas and restraints on capacity, the company has used its Spanish language skills to build a strong relationship with their Spanish partners.
Two of the companies’ directors took a Spanish business language course at West Suffolk College for two years and then continued with a private tutor, as they were conscious of the need to keep their language skills refreshed. We asked Clare Bonnar, Commercial Director of Prosynth, how they came to be involved with the Spanish: “Because we can only produce in-house from 10 grams to 200 kilos of materials and we getting involved in projects where demand was growing significantly, we were looking for partners with larger-scale manufacturing facilities. We subsequently found 2 companies in Spain who spoke excellent English, but felt embarrassed that we could only could say ‘hello’ in their own language.”
Undertaking a course of one afternoon requires commitment due to the demands on staff time, but the intensity of the course over 2 levels meant that they found it immensely useful as “it got you going quite quickly and was not like learning languages at school. It a very practical course geared for business, useful for introductions, booking hire cars & hotels, dealing over the phone, and making appointments.”
When the company informed their Spanish partners that they were learning, reactions were very positive, and they even offered the opportunities to “practice our Spanish on them all the time face to face or by e-mail. We were politely corrected when we made a mistake, and they very helpfully suggested alternative phrases, so we have learned quitea lot from them, and this has helped grow our relationship.”
In preparation for its trade mission to Shanghai and Suzhou in October 2006, 2 of the company’s sales staff attended the Chinese culture workshop organised by UKTI Essex. “It was immensely useful as it was our first trip to China and so we were soaking up the information before we went out there. Knowing the basics of the language and being able to use basic greetings in Chinese helped tremendously and the Chinese seemed to appreciate the effort.” The company has translated their 1-page flyer and business cards into Chinese to take with them on the mission.
Prosynth have also translated leaflets into German and French for their main markets. Although in the chemical industry English is widely spoken, the company “wanted to differentiate ourselves and we do try when we meet with new people to make it easier for them to do business with us.” Business with the Spanish has grown over the years, and knowing some Spanish has made our relationship with their partners easier, particularly in social contexts where there is the opportunity to developing closer relationships.