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Executive courses in France
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Business language courses provide professionals with useful language training to help them operate within the multi-lingual corporate environment and language schools in France are expanding their course range in this area to meet demand.
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Languages are instrumental in today’s business world and, according to François Pfeiffer from Accord Langues in Paris, demand for language tuition with a specific business focus is on the increase. “The interest in business executive courses is growing as more and more the need for language training for business people is focused on special requests,” he says.
Many language schools in France offer tailor-made programmes to fit in with a business executive’s professional needs, including flexible start dates, as well as a choice of either intensive, one-to-one and, in some cases, mini-group tuition. Professionals can now effectively choose exactly the course they want.
One-to-one tuition or intensive language courses have often been the preferred – and only – choice for executive clients but many schools are noticing a real change in executive trends. Learning as part of a mini-group is proving to be extremely popular and Anne Serrat from Ecole de Langue Française pour Etrangers (ELFE) in Paris, believes this is because there is “a real need for people to share their experience of practising French at work with other students”. She reports that the introduction of business French in mini-groups two years ago was well received and that as part of a group, executives can benefit from things such as role-play. She explains, “This type of course was [only] available in the form of private tuition, then it became a mini-group programme. There are a lot of subjects that can be dealt with in a group, for instance, a company presentation – even how to make a phone call.”
Eleri Maitland from French in Normandy in Rouen reports that increased interest in executive language courses from students has led to the implementation of an intensive week-long course at the school. “We have recently launched a business mini-group [maximum of four candidates] on an intensive [course] of 30 hours [language tuition] a week to cater for recurring demands for professional group courses,” she says.
Schools are keen to remain flexible in terms of course content and Pfeiffer explains that many of their clients are now, “register[ing] for courses when they have a special event, [for instance] a presentation of their company to [foreign] business partners”. In such cases, courses need to be very tightly targeted and companies often forward material to the school that can be incorporated into the language lesson. Similarly, Maitland adds that many expatriates from the UK, now working in France, wish to improve their business linguistics and regularly make enquiries about courses on offer. She notes that often it is not just the executive seeking language training but the executive’s family as well, “We usually train the executive and their family/spouse to help them adapt to living in France so we have developed a whole family programme.”
Many schools see real promise in this niche sector, but Damien Renaux from Bordeaux Language Studies believes growth may be a little stilted. “We try to develop within the market but we have a few competitors in France and the market is rather small,” he says. However, he adds that the school still receives quite a good number of requests for executive programmes from both clients and agents.
Anna Clara from IS Aix-en-Provence is inclined to agree with Renaux, and has seen a decline in bookings for executive courses recently. “[Executive language courses] are getting less and less popular, since French people now speak more and more English,” she says, noting that professionals are more inclined to choose a combination course comprising of general French plus private tuition, breaking up the executive programming a little.
The executive course market is nonetheless still an important one for French language schools, and with the introduction of new courses for business professionals, schools are rising to the challenge of catering to this sector of the industry. ELFE for one will soon introduce a course combining both private and mini-group tuition, creating a more rounded way for executives to tweak their language skills. But perhaps, more importantly, it is the whole time factor that schools must be sure to get right. After all, as Pfieffer notes, “Time away from a company costs money and energy.”
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