Industry Trade Group Touts Power of Language Skills

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Back-to-school season is the ideal time for leaders to learn a lesson in the benefits of multilingual competency.  

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According to Hans Fenstermacher, CEO of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA),  multilingual employees earn a premium in the marketplace, and the language industry is growing up to four times the rate of the global economy overall. But thousands of jobs worldwide go unfilled due to the lack of language competency in the workforce.

To raise awareness of the critical need for multilingual skills, GALA is pursuing four major initiatives worldwide to educate government policymakers, business leaders and academic experts on how linguistic competency helps drive economic growth and corporate profitability. GALA's four initiatives include:

STEM Advocacy. GALA has prepared a position paper and co-launched the language industry's first lobbying group to explain why government policies should treat language skills as a core science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competency, and why cutbacks in language education funding are detrimental to economic growth.

EU Representation. GALA represents the language industry to the European Union (EU), which invests millions of euros in next-generation infrastructure for a multilingual Europe. Initiatives include improved language technology and tools, such as QTLaunchPad and LT Advisor; fueling the growth potential of the language sector; developing better qualifications for linguists; and improving certification standards for translators.

Collaborative Research, Innovation and Standards Program (CRISP). GALA has created an industry-wide platform for innovative language problem-solving, and is active in global standards bodies like ISO, ASTM, W3C, OASIS and more. GALA also conducts specialty research projects with third parties to improve language industry best practices.

Global Talent Program. The association is launching a partnership between educators, policymakers, and industry executives to help close the gap in worldwide workforce language skills.

"The global gap between the growing need for linguistic skills among companies today and the lack of talent available to satisfy demand is at a near-crisis level," Fenstermacher said. "GALA's goal isn't just to raise awareness of how serious the situation is; it's also to help business and government leaders make more informed decisions related to language. The time to act is now."

About GALA
GALA is the world's largest language industry trade association. www.gala-global.org.

SOURCE Globalization and Localization Association (GALA)