FINALLY someone is focusing on the lack of linguistic ability among businessmen in this country (The language barrier, Focus, last week). The essence of the article is in the last paragraph — employers do not rate language skills. And why? Because they don’t speak a foreign language and are unaware of the skills involved.

Some employment consultancies insist that their clients prefer product knowledge to linguistic ability for positions such as international sales. I can learn most products in a matter of weeks, but to speak a language properly takes years.

I work as European sales director of a Dublin manufacturing company and use French, German, Swiss German and Norwegian almost every day. It has taken me many years to learn these languages. Our contracts with European clients are all in the local language.

Put yourself in a purchasing manager’s position — you can either discuss your business in your own language with a company down the road or talk to someone in faraway Ireland using your schoolboy English. What would you do? We are part of Europe and to be successful we need to stay ahead of the competition and raise those language barriers.

Paul Cleary
Castleknock, Dublin

VITAL TONGUE: Some commentators argue that state policies should promote the extinction of the Irish language because teaching Irish is “expensive” and requires teaching time that could be spent in other ways. Yet the continued vitality of the Irish language is essential because many of the experiences and cultural characteristics of Irish people cannot be expressed in any other language.

English, though it brings advantages as a global lingua franca, represents a cultural product chiefly of England and the United States — reflecting the world view of dominant groups in those countries.

For continued gains in peace and prosperity, a thriving trade in different ideas and values will be essential, and therefore language diversity.

Ciaran Mac Fhearghusa
Irish language officer
Union of Students in Ireland

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