Foreign Languages in Hungarian Business [antikvár]

Introduction ön the road to the European Community, Hungary is facing a series of challenges nőt only in generál economic policies and business strategies, bút alsó in educational policies, as a means of planning the future. These challenges concem among other things the developments in language use and language learning, and the reál and perceived föreign-language needs in business. It is these questions Ihat are addressed in this book, which presents empirical data derived from the Pécs Language Survey as to the foreign languages used in companies in the Southern part of Hungary, the problems these companies have in using foreign languages, and the way senior staff members in these firms see future developments regarding the use of foreign languages in their own companies and in Hungary in generál. The findings reported here are based on personal interviews of executives in a large number of companies in and around Pécs, Hungary. They were interviewed in 1995 on various subjects connected with the overall use of foreign languages in their companies and the needs of individual employees of these firms. In addition, they were asked questions about their own command of foreign languages. The Pécs Language Survey (hereafter PLS) resulted from a joint project of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Janus Pannonius University, Pécs, Hungary, which was launched in the framework of the Dutch-Hungarian cultural agreement. In connection with one of the subprogrammes of the project - setting up a language centre which was to provide courses fór people in trade and industry - it was deemed necessary to find out what sort of foreign language courses were needed. This required finding out what foreign language needs and shortcomings there were in the business community. The project was supported by the CEF-World Bank project at Pécs University.