Companies say that in many cases, the benefits of foreign-language knowl

游客2023-10-16 29

问题       Companies say that in many cases, the benefits of foreign-language knowledge can lie outside the specific realm of business.That’ s one reason why the programs are optional.Mayer says that the benefits are more to help each employee adjust to his or her new surroundings and to promote the company’ s policy of being a good neighbor and becoming integrated into local communities than to help the executive conduct actual business.
      At IBM, company-subsidized foreign-language training is provided on a case-by-case basis, says Mia Vanstraelen, director of human resources for learning in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.If employees need foreign-language skills to do their job properly—for example, an expatriate manager who functions as the point person between an overseas operation and headquarters or a sales employee who deals with clients on the ground overseas—the company will provide financial support.In addition, company support is often available for employees seeking business-related skills to further their own careers within the company.
      A less-than-aggressive attitude toward foreign-language acquisition at the corporate level is typical, some experts say, and the reasons range from high cost to a lack of necessity.English, the language of business, the language of technology, the language of Hollywood, is the language to know in global business even for traditionally non-English-speaking countries.
      While Americans have to decide which second language might be most useful for their business careers according to their areas of interest, potential business professionals in other countries whose native language is not English have a clear answer to that question.And as more students worldwide learn to conduct business in English, its position as the language of commerce solidifies.
      Even multinationals that are headquartered in other countries are using English as the language of business, Van Someren says.He cites Sony’ s Berlin headquarters as an example.In that office, which has about 400 employees, there are 45 different nationalities and almost as many languages, he says."So the cost and effort associated with trying to teach everyone German when a lot of them will be moving on to other assignments in a matter of months probably doesn’ t make a lot of sense, " he says.Language acquisition can be a slow process, and companies that need someone who speaks a foreign language can’ t wait years for the right employee to gain the skills.When knowledge of a foreign language is what is specifically required, that’ s the skill set human resources looks for.Lieberthal says that in many ways, training high-level employees in a foreign language such as Chinese simply doesn’ t make good business sense."It’ s a large investment with high front-end costs." Top executives could harm their careers by taking time off to study a language.In addition, he says, even if an executive were willing to put in the time to learn a language, the training just doesn’ t make economic sense.An employer would have to not only cover the cost of language training as well as the executive’ s salary, but also absorb whatever financial burden results from lost productivity.An executive sitting in the classroom memorizing vocabulary could be an investment in the future, but it would be a very costly one, Lieberthal says, and one that might not produce great returns.
      Some companies believe that foreign-language ability plays an unimportant role in 【R1】________, but it does help their employees become【R2】________ into a foreign environment.IBM offers 【R3】________ to employees who need foreign language skills to do their job well.Because of the high cost and lack of necessity, corporations do not think training executives in a foreign language makes 【R4】________ and believe it may not generate 【R5】________. [br] 【R5】

选项

答案 great returns

解析空缺处所在句意：……并且（公司）相信它（给经理人培训一门外语）不会产生_______。根据文中最后一段最后一句话“……and one that might not produce great returns.”可知不会产生巨大的回报（great returns）。空缺处前为generate,与produce同义，故本空填“great returns”。

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