The overarching goal of most leadership teams looking to implement corporate language training is to enhance communication and collaboration, and accelerate business growth. This guide explains more of the ways in which language training can help your organization reach these objectives, and outlines some of the things to consider as you get started. Corporate language training can be approached in multiple ways, but a few key steps to identifying your organization’s needs, goals, and key measurements can ensure the effectiveness of your initiatives. As you define the optimal learning experience for your employees, our experienced consultants are always on hand to answer questions and offer further guidance.
Analyze your corporate language training needs
An important first step to introducing corporate language training is defining your aims and objectives. Language training solutions vary immensely in terms of methodology, scalability, scope and cost, so it’s important to be clear about what you’re aiming to achieve.
While freemium learning apps are convenient for casual independent study, many are limited in terms of the languages, levels, and structured learning experience they provide. Rosetta Stone for Enterprise, on the other hand, is a fully supported subscription model which delivers multi-level courses in 24 languages, with assessments and reporting tools to track learner proficiency, optional access to unlimited Live Tutoring, and a customizable curriculum to match the specific requirements of employees across specific industries and professions.
Corporate language training is usually offered for one of two reasons. It is either introduced as an added benefit for employees, or as a means to improve corporate communication. The success of your language training programs hinges upon defining an optimal training model and provider to best match the needs and schedules of your employees.
Employee benefit programs
Offering language training as an employee benefit improves retention rates and boost employee satisfaction. While language training always brings value to your employees and business, there may not always be an immediate business use in mind for these skills. Employees will likely be free to select their own language and to determine the level of intensity with which they choose to study. With employee benefit programs, providing equitable access to training for employees in multiple locations and offering a good range of language options are important factors.
Web and app based training is most practical, but it’s important to select a program that integrates with your existing LMS. This simplifies access for employees across multiple regions and relieves the burden of user and password management from your internal support teams. If you have employees in different areas of the world, you should also check that content is accessible in those same regions. Lastly, check on the multilingual support available for users and make sure that your program administrators will receive full guidance and training through implementation and beyond.
To improve engagement, course content for independent learners should be well structured, engaging, and clear to follow. The more languages you offer, the greater the perceived value will be for your employees. Local interface languages within the program are important, so that multilingual employees can navigate their way through the material. This is especially true if you’re extending this benefit to global or remote employees.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise can support users in multiple regions of the world. We prioritize customer success, providing multilingual technical support and a dedicated account manager to provide guidance and training through implementation, rostering and beyond.
Learning and development programs
Most organizations introduce corporate language training to overcome corporate communication gaps. Whether the overall objective is to improve communication between multilingual coworkers, to provide support for customers in emerging markets, or to support global mobility, employee language skills can add immense value to your employees and customers.
Wherever your needs are most prominent, training will be most successful if it incorporates the language skills and vocabulary that every employee needs to successfully operate at work. The ways in which employees are required to communicate on a daily basis depend heavily on the role they fulfill within the organization. While some need informal language, others require advanced technical vocabulary in order to do their job in another language. Rosetta Stone for Enterprise covers a full spectrum of language content with courses adapted for these varied business communication needs. Certain higher-level courses contain custom content for specific professions, or those working in specific industries, including Manufacturing & Automotive Engineering, Air travel, Fuel & Energy, IT & Telecoms, Engineering, Travel and Hospitality, Healthcare & EMS, Banking, Accounting & Finance, and Insurance.
Organizations aiming to develop employee language skills need to measure results and prove the value of language training. The efficient user management and assessment tools in Rosetta Stone for Enterprise enable leadership teams to track learner engagement and ensure the desired growth in employee proficiency.
Enhance the overall performance of your organization by improving employee language skills
Since effective communication is key to sustaining a successful business, there are several ways in which employee language training can benefit your organization. Rosetta Stone for Enterprise has partnered with over 12,000+ global organizations to improve productivity rates and overall business performance. We know through experience, that language training produces improvements in the following areas:
Better internal collaboration
International corporations often have an official corporate language. As they expand into territories where other languages are spoken, it’s important that new employees be familiar with that corporate language and able to contribute fully to the success of their company. Corporate language training enhances internal communication and builds stronger connections between coworkers and customers in different regions of the world. As well as maximizing productivity, the inclusive employer brand that it helps to nurture, will enable you to attract top global talent, boost employee satisfaction and improve rates of retention.
Growth and expansion
Emerging niche markets give rise to new opportunities. By implementing language training, your employees are better placed to expand their business network and leverage opportunities overseas.
Enhanced customer service
Your customers are the backbone of your business. In order to sustain the growth of your organization, it’s important to understand market needs, and be able to access customers from diverse backgrounds. Language training helps your employees to understand and communicate clearly with more customers and in doing so to ensure the sustained growth of your business.
Improved global mobility success
An estimated 40% of corporate relocations end in failure or employee resignation. Lack of integration is a common reason for such failures. A good knowledge of the local language can improve global mobility success by helping employees to settle into their new environment and enabling them to forge supportive networks, both at work and within the local community. Effective corporate language training has been proven to reduce significant financial loss through wasted relocation expenses and recurring recruitment costs.
Find the best learning experience for your employees
In order to maximize the impact of employee language learning, it’s important to choose the most appropriate training approach for YOUR employees. There are three main options here:
1. In-person training
The model of face-to-face training will never become outdated in and of itself. A fantastic teacher can work magic with a room of engaged learners. However, it’s a learning model that’s increasingly impractical in corporate settings. Not only is it expensive and challenging to source a good teacher with appropriate business knowledge, but the shift towards remote and hybrid work models has made it difficult to align employee schedules and find a learning space that suits everyone, every week. This inevitably leads to inequitable training opportunities for remote vs. office-based employees and penalizes those who often travel or have full work or meeting schedules.
Effective online and hybrid learning solutions have steered many larger organizations away from this traditional in-person language training experience in an effort to democratize training, save money, and simplify logistics.
2. Online and mobile learning apps
Web and app-based training solutions are an ideal way to accommodate employee language training around variable schedules.
The market is saturated with app-based learning options, but only very few offer the advanced language skills and robust learning methods needed to serve learners in a corporate setting. While many cover generic vocabulary and basic everyday phrases, consumer-focused language learning apps are often less effective when it comes to truly building proficiency and teaching the specific language needed in a professional setting. This is why some Apps fall short when it comes to corporate language training.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise offers multi-level courses in 24 languages. The flexible learning model enables your employees to access training anytime, anywhere, and to tailor language learning to their personal communication needs and professional objectives. Once they’ve mastered the basics, employees select from learning modules that cover advanced business skills and meet the specific requirements of their industry or profession.
While employees have the flexibility and freedom to learn in their own time, the reporting tools available through Rosetta Stone for Enterprise offer accountability and oversight to those running corporate language training programs.
3. Blended learning (online, apps and live tutoring)
A blended learning experience for corporate language training offers the best of both worlds. It balances the convenience of web and app-based learning with the opportunity to practice speaking in real-time.
For organizations wanting to offer this optimal corporate language training experience, Rosetta Stone for Enterprise offers unlimited Live Tutoring to Silver and Gold level customers. Live Tutoring strengthens spoken proficiency and reinforces your employees’ confidence to communicate in meetings, on phone calls, and in person. Rosetta Stone’s tutors are expert native speakers who provide practice and guidance. For learners in Rosetta Stone Foundations (pre-A1-B1 levels) Live Tutoring lessons are aligned to each lesson, while advanced learners in Fluency Builder (B1-C1+ levels) can select a discussion topic that appeals to their personal or professional interests.
Rosetta Stone offers a range of Enterprise solutions
| KEY FEATURES | ROSETTA STONE ® for individual use | ROSETTA STONE ® ENTERPRISE – BRONZE | ROSETTA STONE ® ENTERPRISE – SILVER | ROSETTA STONE ® ENTERPRISE – GOLD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access to 24 languages Customizable options for Enterprise users | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Live group tutoring* with expert native language tutors. | ✔ + | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Live individual tutoring* | ✔ | |||
| Multiple user management Assign and transfer licenses as required. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Learner progress tracking | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Extended contend for advanced learners (B1 – C1+) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Business area and industry-specific content. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| CEFR-based assessments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Dedicated Account Manager for ongoing support and guidance | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Key
+ limited Live Tutoring sessions can be purchased
* General and business topics. For A1-B1 learners, live tutoring sessions are aligned with course content, while more advanced learners can select a discussion topic that matches their personal / professional interests.
Ensure support for your program administrators and users
In order to ensure the success of your language learning programs, it’s important for both leadership and learners to feel fully supported and engaged at all times. If you have employees overseas, verify that content is accessible in the regions where they’re located and check that there is a dedicated technical support team to handle inquiries in that regional timezone. This removes the burden from your internal IT support teams allowing program administrators to focus on setting and measuring learning objectives, and tracking the growth of your learners.
At Rosetta Stone for Enterprise, we provide a dedicated Account Manager who supports the implementation and rostering process and will offer guidance and support where needed to make sure that your language training experience meets the expectations of your employees to fuel the success of your organization.
Ready to explore corporate language training opportunities for your employees?
to book a consultation and live demonstration of Rosetta Stone for Enterprise.
