Using linguistic diversity as an opportunity
After a corona-related break, an SKO LeaderCircle was held again for the first time on September 16, 2020. The topic was "Language and cultural diversity in Switzerland - what we can learn from each other". The four talk guests made clear how valuable the multilingualism of our country is, also for the economy.
Switzerland functions more as a nation of purpose than of will: With this often quoted thesis, SKO Managing Director Jürg Eggenberger introduced the Feierabend event at the SIX Convention Point in Zurich. Often, the four national languages in Switzerland are perceived more side by side than together. Is this really the case? And to what extent is Switzerland's cultural and linguistic diversity also a management issue in companies?
Learning languages to get ahead economically
The four talk guests - interviewed by Stefan Barmettler, editor-in-chief of the Handelszeitung - answered these questions one after the other. Former German Chancellor Corina Casanova, who grew up in the Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking Lower Engadin, shared, among other things, her experience of how she had to learn German very quickly after her mother tongue. "We have to learn other languages to get ahead economically," Casanova said. She sees linguistic and cultural diversity as the cement of our society and appeals to managers to be aware of other languages and to be open to other cultures.
Putting linguistic diversity into practice
Virginie Borel, head of Forum Bilingualism from Biel, Switzerland's only officially bilingual city, also encouraged managers to be more aware of employees' language skills. "It is better to communicate with errors in a foreign language than to remain silent without errors," was her appeal to the audience. One's own language competence is too often underestimated.
Something that Antoinette Hunziker-Ebneter, CEO Forma Futura Invest AG and Chairman of the Board of Berner Kantonalbank BEKB, was also able to emphasize. Bilingualism (German and French) is central there. It pains her every time bankers from Zurich and bankers from Geneva end up talking in English, she admitted.
SRG as the linguistic image of Switzerland?
Finally, Bakel Walden, Director of Development and Offerings at SRG, reported on how Swiss radio and television fulfills its mandate to cover all national languages with broadcasts. Linguistic diversity at SRG is becoming increasingly important, Walden said. So to speak, the former SRG claim "idée suisse" is to be taken quite literally. With the "Play Suisse" project, a streaming platform to be launched in November 2020, the aim is to achieve more exchange between the language regions. Thanks to advanced digital technology, foreign-language programs will be available with subtitles.
Languages as an integrating element - and an educational mission
In the panel discussion that followed, the importance of our multilingualism was emphasized once again. "Migrants have shown us how to adapt quickly," said Virginie Borel. SMEs could also make much better use of the language potential of migrants, she added. Bakel Walden, on the other hand, notes that among the younger generation, English language competence is higher than that for another national language. Perhaps more countermeasures should be taken in this regard. A task for the education system, as was also evident from a few audience votes: Why not increase the exchange of students and teachers between the language regions?
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