Sprachenpolitik und Sprachenmanagement in Unternehmen: Problemaufriss und Perspektiven für die Forschung und für die Unternehmenspraxis

Communication is a fundamental element of potentially every busi- ness. As language is the most important tool of communication, it is omnipresent in all business activities and at every level; indeed, a company’s economic success also depends on the quality and efficiency of its use of language. In an increasingly globalised economy, there is also the need to manage multilingualism within the company and to provide lan- guage skills for communication with international markets. In this context, language is viewed as a means of production, as a product and also as an instrument of distribution policy. This article assumes that language and languages are so ubiquitous and systemically rele- vant in everyday corporate life that considerations of language policy should be an indis- pensable component of a company’s strategically oriented communication policy. It distin- guishes between language design and language management and uses selected examples to illustrate that companies sometimes find exemplary solutions to language-related prob- lems. However, it also shows that – particularly in the area of language management – there is still considerable need for improvement; that systematic reflection on language policy issues and a coherent strategic direction for language policy remain a desideratum in many companies; and that the language policy expertise of linguists is under-represent- ed in these discussions. For the latter, this also provides starting points for research. Using a number of examples, this article outlines issues and problem areas in corporate language policy and addresses some starting points for the design of such strategies. It also examines the value of different languages from a business perspective.