Transcending borders – bridging language boundaries in linguistically mixed teams

ABSTRACT

In the globalising business context, linguistic diversity emerges as one of the major challenges to the operations of companies operating across borders. A rather obvious question pertains not only to how members communicate, which languages are used, for which function and operation, but more specifically how to increase the satisfaction of such members in linguistically mixed teams. The aim of this article is to examine in what way people, with their varying degrees of intercultural empathy and understanding, meet with varying degrees of success in crossing language borders. The ambition here is to identify a link between the use of a lingua franca (practices), the multilingual capabilities (skills) and the intercultural awareness (attitudes) of individuals in bridging linguacultural gaps.

Dans le contexte de la globalisation des affaires, la diversité linguistique apparaît comme l’un des défis majeurs pour le fonctionnement des entreprises opérant à travers les frontières. Une question assez évidente concerne non seulement la façon dont les membres communiquent, quelles langues sont utilisées, pour quelle fonction et avec quel mode de fonctionnement, mais plus précisément comment augmenter la satisfaction de leurs membres dans des équipes linguistiquement mixtes. Le but de cet article est d’examiner la manière dont les interlocuteurs, avec leurs divers degrés d’empathie interculturelle et de compréhension, rencontrent des degrés de réussite variés dans le franchissement des frontières linguistiques. L’intérêt particulier repose sur les différentes stratégies de communication qu’emploient les locuteurs dont la langue première est la langue d’entreprise avec leurs collègues plurilingues pour assumer le rôle de « bâtisseurs de ponts », s’ils le désirent. L’ambition ici est d’identifier un lien entre l’usage d’une lingua franca (pratiques), les capacités plurilingues (compétences) et la conscience interculturelle (attitudes) des individus pour combler les lacunes linguistico-culturelles.

KEYWORDS:

• Language nodes/brokers
• boundary spanners
• border transcend-ers
• intercultural speakers/mediators
• cultural translators

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Patchareerat Yanaprasart is a lecturer in applied linguistics at the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne, where she gives courses and seminars in pragmatic linguistics, sociolinguistics, intercultural studies and French language pedagogy. She also teaches Executive MBA modules and supervises Master's Degree students at the Universities of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and at ESSCA Graduate School of Management in France. Her current research concerns language learning and teaching, the internationalisation process and language diversity management in Higher Education and multinational corporations, cross-cultural management and intercultural communication styles. Her publications include monographs, journal articles and edited volumes. Currently, she co-edited with Georges Lüdi and Katharina Höchle-Meier a volume entitled, Managing plurilingual and intercultural practices in the workplace. The case of multilingual Switzerland (John Benjamins, 2016).

Notes

1 Whilst recognising the definition of the Common European Framework of Reference (2001/2011), which makes the difference between multilingualism as a societal phenomenon and plurilingualism as an individual phenomenon, this paper opts for multilingual in English, which has the benefit of encompassing both individual and societal linguistic diversity (Weber & Horner, 2012).

2 ‘Exolingual’ is used to describe the communication between individuals who do not share a common language (Porquier, 1994).