Language is Everything

Business Week 2009: five days to go

There are just five days to go until the launch of Business Week 2009, a celebration of the Humber region's can-do spirit, sponsored by Language is Everything.

Carolyn Burgess, our chief exec, will be kicking things off at the Bondholders' Breakfast on Monday morning, and the week will come to a spectacular close when John Cleese tops the bill at the Yorkshire International Business Convention (YIBC) on the Friday.

You can read more about our involvement with Business Week in our 2009 annual report, which was published earlier this month.

Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF, 700KB)

One of the most eagerly anticipated events at Business Week will be 'The Language is Everything Challenge', which takes place on the Thursday afternoon at Goole College. Three contestants will receive 20 minutes' intensive coaching in a new language from a professional linguist. They will then attempt a basic telephone task — without using any English — such as phoning a library in Latvia and asking what time it closes.

The three languages that have been chosen are being kept a closely guarded secret until the day. However, we can announce the line-up of contestants, who come from the worlds of business, the media and education.

Tim Sanders is a best-selling author on business trends and social responsibility. He is the keynote speaker at two events organised by Language is Everything on the Thursday (download an interactive PDF here), and he will also be on stage at the YIBC on the Friday. Fay Edwards is part of the news team at KCFM 99.8, the Hull and East Yorkshire radio station. And Jessica Goulden is a language student from Vermuyden School in Goole.

"This is shaping up to be a fascinating event," said Carolyn Burgess. "Is it possible to learn a language — from scratch — in 20 minutes well enough to complete a basic telephone task? We're going to find out very soon!"

Other Business Week highlights include Tony Benn on the Monday, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on the Tuesday and Alistair Campbell on the Wednesday. Also appearing at the YIBC will be Dave Stewart, 'Matt' Pritchett, Tracy Edwards and Tim Smit.

Language is Everything in francophone Africa

Carolyn Burgess (our chief exec) has returned from a fact-finding mission to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

One of Carolyn's key issues was international trade — how can the UK's business links with francophone Africa be developed? — and she held talks with Mamadou Sarr, director-general of the Ivorian Chamber of Commerce, and Idrissa Fofana, chief of staff at the ministry of industry.

Healthcare was another area of focus — Language is Everything supports AfrOx, which focuses on cancer prevention and control in Africa — and Carolyn met with Professor Danho Simplice Anongba, director-general of the health ministry, and Dr Amalado Ayemou, head of the national cancer programme.

Carolyn also met Rachel Gogoua, president of National Organisation for the Child, the Woman and the Family (an NGO that has been one of the driving forces behind the Victoria Climbié School), and Philippe Delanne, the Côte d’Ivoire representative for the United Nations Population Fund.

You can read more about the background to Carolyn's trip in our annual report, which was published earlier this month.

Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF, 700KB)

Award-winning Language is Everything launches annual report

At a packed presentation ceremony held last night at Bridlington Spa, Language is Everything won the prestigious Chairman's Award for enhancing the economy of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Chairman's Awards are presented by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, with nominations coming from both the public and from council employees.

The news comes as we launch our annual report for 2009, which includes special features on international trade, our forthcoming fact-finding mission to Côte d'Ivoire, the future of languages in the digital age and our sponsorship of Business Week 2009.

Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF, 700KB)

Carolyn Burgess (our chief exec) will be talking about all this and more when she appears as Rob Langley's special guest on KCFM 99.8 later this morning.

Business Week 2009: one month to go

There are just 31 days to go until the launch of Business Week 2009, sponsored by Language is Everything.

Business Week is one of the biggest festivals of business in the UK, and the line up of speakers for this year's event includes John Cleese, Dave Stewart, Alistair Campbell and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

Language is Everything will be involved with proceedings throughout the week, and on the Thursday we're holding two events headlined by Tim Sanders. After making his name at Yahoo!, where he created a futuristic in-house think-tank called the ValueLab, Tim has become a best-selling author and compelling speaker on business trends and social responsibility.

Download Interactive PDF

We'll also be finding out the answer to the following question: is it possible to learn a language well enough to have a basic telephone conversation in 20 minutes?

The Language is Everything Challenge will see three contestants given 20 minutes to prepare for a basic telephone task. The tasks will be kept secret until the day, but they will be something like phoning a library to find out what time it closes.

The catch is that the library will be in somewhere like Latvia, and the contestants will not be allowed to use any English.

As part of their 20 minutes' preparation time, each contestant will receive intensive language coaching from a professional linguist.

The three languages that have been chosen will be kept secret until the day. All we know is that they will be from 'off the beaten track' of language learning: French, German and Spanish will not be included.

Carolyn Burgess (our chief exec) said:

"The theme of this year's Business Week is 'can-do', and this one of the ultimate can-do challenges.

"Can it be done? Yes, it can. A lot of people say that we're no good at learning languages in this country, but we'll hopefully prove that this is simply not true.

"Will anyone do it? That's a good question. The exciting thing here is that things could go terribly wrong. This is not something that will be taking place in a 'controlled environment'. It will be taking place, via telephone, all over the world. We're not saying where yet, but it could be Cairo, St Petersburg, São Paulo ... or anywhere."

The line up of contestants will be announced later this month.