The multilingual reality of the multinational workplace: language policy and language use

Abstract

In the multinational corporation (MNC) context the crossing of linguistic boundaries and the fast-paced change of linguistic ecologies due to market trends and new business activities is the rule rather than the exception. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to discuss language policy and language practice in one consortium of three multinational companies and to problematise the extent to which the dynamics of language use are reflected in the companies' language policy. The paper draws on interview and questionnaire data and discusses the employees' perceptions of language practices in their workplace context and the perceived implications of the companies' official policy. The analysis shows that the language policy in these MNCs is constructed as being flexible where both employees and managers typically take a ‘what works’ approach regarding language practice. Special attention is paid here to the use of local languages in relation to English which is the official working language. The analysis shows that employees construct multilingualism as a ‘given reality’ and as an ‘opportunity’ and foreground the social aspect of non-L1 language use in the workplace. The paper closes by problematising the concept of de jure language policy and its strategic (non)implementation in the case discussed here.

Keywords:

• de jure/de facto language policies
• multinational companies
• strategic ambiguity
• language competence

Notes

1. I avoid referring to ‘foreign’ languages here as what is foreign to whom is not a straightforward but rather a highly political issue which goes beyond the aims of this paper.

2. The three companies will be referred to as Andromeda, Carina and Lyra.

3. Self-assessment raises issues of ‘objectivity’ but is typically used in studies on linguistic auditing (Hagen 2005, 1998) and in addition all the participants had at least five years of working experience using English for work-related purposes. Important to note here is that the study was interested in the perceptions of employees rather than measuring language skills.

4. The term competence has a long history in applied/sociolinguistic research. It is often used however in a static way, something one has or not. The view taken is that ‘competence’ takes meaning in specific contexts and is dynamic and complex. A detailed discussion goes beyond the scope of the paper and will be developed further elsewhere.