The Language is Everything Challenge: is it possible to learn a language — well enough to carry out a basic telephone task — in 20 minutes?
The when and the where: the Thursday afternoon of Business Week 2009 at Goole College.
The languages: Arabic, Chinese Mandarin and Russian.
The contestants: Tim Sanders, bestselling American author; Fay Edwards, from KCFM 99.8; and Jessica Goulden, a language student from Vermuyden School in Goole.
The result: a success!
Yesterday afternoon at Business Week, three intrepid contestants received 20 minutes' professional coaching in a language they had never studied before. They then called a 'real life' place somewhere in the world, and attempted a basic telephone task.
"We had lots and lots of fun, and the whole thing was extremely successful," said Coco Zhao, one of our interpreters, who spent 20 minutes training Tim Sanders to speak and understand Chinese Mandarin. "Tim phoned a McDonald's in Beijing to ask what time they closed. He delivered the question in excellent Chinese, and he got the right answer — in Chinese."
Speaking later on KCFM 99.8, Carolyn Burgess (our chief exec) said it showed that investing a little time studying language can produce big results.
Business Week 2009 comes to an end today with the Yorkshire International Business Convention in Bridlington, starring John Cleese, Dave Stewart and 'Matt' Pritchett. Tim Sanders will also be appearing, and Carolyn will be on stage to talk about her recent trip to Cóte d'Ivoire.