This document summarizes a presentation on multilingualism given at a conference. The presentation was given by two hosts, Michael Nord and Claudia Vaccarone, who have both lived in multiple countries and are fluent in several languages. They discussed their personal experiences with multilingualism. They also provided facts about multilingualism, including that over 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide and many countries and regions have more than one official language. Additionally, they presented several business cases that demonstrated the importance of multilingualism in global companies and projects. Finally, they offered five pieces of advice for managing multilingual projects effectively.

1. MULTILINGUALISM
A key skill enabling successful
international communication
June 8, 2016
Communication Skills Track Sponsor
@claudia_v_
@mnordNL
#MULTILINGUALISM
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

2. MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16
YOUR MULTILINGUAL HOSTS FOR TODAY
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Michael Nord
Principal
The Fifth Business
THE NETHERLANDS
Claudia Vaccarone
Head of Market Research & CX
Eutelsat SA
FRANCE

3. MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

4. AGENDA
1. Introduction: the (brief) story of our lives
2. Some facts about multilingualism
3. Multilingualism at work: business cases
4. Five pieces of advise when managing multilingual projects
5. Q&A
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CLAUDIA VACCARONE

6. MONFERRATO (Northern Italy)

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South Orange, NJ (USA)
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GOING WEST…
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BACK “HOME” IN ROME
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THE CITY OF LIGHTS
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• 1 000 collaborators from 37
nationalities
• HQ in France, offices in 19 countries
• Clients from 80 countries
• 6000 TV channels over 40 satellites
• Head of Market Research and
Customer Experience
• Work actively in 3 languages (Italian,
French, English)
MY JOB

14. MARKET
RESEARCH
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
• Leading CX
implementation
• Digital Transformation
• Alignment
• Personalization
• Linguistic and cultural
adaptation
• Across markets
• Across business units
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

15. MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16
TODAY
• 4 LANGUAGES AND ½
• 3 COUNTRIES, 6 CITIES
• MOVED 13 times
• 1 HUSBAND
• 2 QUADRILINGUAL KIDS
Italy USA France

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MICHAEL NORD

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From Denmark to Europe
• Grew up with multilingual parents who traveled a lot
• Mother worked in Paris and Greenland (before I was born)
• Father built hotel in Italy for employees of large company
• Went to school with focus on languages
• (English, German, French, Latin)
• Self-taught Swedish from watching
Pippi Longstocking on Swedish TV
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Facts about Denmark
• One of Europes oldest and smallest
kingdoms (oldest national flag)
• Faroe Islands and Greenland part of the
kingdom
• +5.5M people speak Danish
• Denmark was once a major power in
Europe
• Today high standard of living, Danish
design and food known all over the world
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My work life
• First 'job' as Airforce Private (technical English)
• First 'real job' as technical marketing assistant
for EMENA
• Agency experiences (Pan-Nordic and global)
• Worked in local, regional and international
organizations (plus sat on numerous boards
and committees)
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My career: from DK to the world
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Working with multilinguals
across the world
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MY JOB
• Communicator, facilitator, trainer, strategic
advisor
• Mostly work in English and Dutch, sometimes in
Danish
• Focus on internal communications for large
international clients, project management of
global projects and teams, advising on alignment
of internal and external strategy
• Use language and cultural awareness as ice-
breaker or door opener
• Biggest challenge: working with dialects!!!!
• Biggest asset: assimilate
• @fifthbusiness
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MY LIFE
• Living in Amsterdam
• International context: Danish, Dutch, English,
Italian, Spanish, Brazilian, and American friends
• Married to an Italian, but speak Dutch at home
(I love my Italian mother-in-law's cooking)
Fun facts about Amsterdam:
• Founded in 1275
• 825,000 inhabitants
• Home to a large number of
multinational companies
• People from 170 countries

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TODAY
• 5 LANGUAGES (& 1 ON ITS WAY…)
• 3 COUNTRIES (plus the ocean), 3 CITIES
• 1 HUSBAND
• Fun Fact:
wear different color socks every day!
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AGENDA
1. Introduction: the (brief) story of our lives
2. Some facts about multilingualism
3. Multilingualism at work: business cases
4. Five pieces of advise when managing multilingual projects
5. Q&A
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26. 7 000+ LANGUAGES
SPOKEN IN THE WORLD
• Canada
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• India
• Philippines
• Belgium
• Luxemburg
• Switzerland
• Spain
?
2 or more
official
languages
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

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28. LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN THE USA
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

29. 200K French-speaking population in Louisiana today!
MERCI! CONTINUEZ!
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

30. IC Professionals and language
• VMA Group Europe -2016 survey of Internal
Communications professionals:
9.4% speaks 1 language
49% master 2 languages
41.7% master 3+ languages
9 out of 10 IC professionals in Europe
speak more than 2 languages
2
3
1
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

31. WHEN DO WE LEARN HOW TO SPEAK?

32. HOW DO WE LEARN LANGUAGES?
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

33. HOW DO WE LEARN LANGUAGES?
1st WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
0-6 months
Vs. LEARNING AS AN ADULT
• Different brain repository
• Self-consciousness
• Muscles formed, causing accents
Sources: Raising Multilingual Children by T. Takuma-Espinoza
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

34. 10 key factors in multilingualism success
1. Timing: window of opportunites
2. Aptitude
3. Motivation
4. Strategy
5. Consistency
6. Opportunity & support, environmental exposure
7. Relationship between languages
8. Rank with siblings
9. Gender
10. Left/right handed
11. …???
Sources: Raising Multilingual Children by T. Takuma-EspinozaMULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

35. DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES
Illustration:emaze.com

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AGENDA
1. Introduction: the (brief) story of our lives
2. Some facts about multilingualism
3. Multilingualism at work: business cases
4. Five pieces of advise when managing multilingual projects
5. Q&A
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BUILDING A MULTILINGUAL TEAM
• Asked to lead a multinational team as Project
Manager for a SharePoint migration project in
large energy company
• 2 British, 2 Dutch, 1 Caribbean
• English as common language
• Building rapport with team, using their languages
• Ended up with strong cohesive team, resilient to
take on the tasks and issues ahead
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FROM FINLAND TO POLAND
• SAP migration project
• Communications Manager
• 11 European countries (12 languages)
• Irish cement company
• South African/Portuguese Director
• From Finland to Poland

40. MULTICULTURAL ADVERTISING
• Global Works: boutique Agency in NY
• Clients: Nike, ALL STATE, AT&T, J.C. Penney, Citibank
• Cultural adaptation for ethnic domestic markets

41. CONTENT LOCALIZATION for
international markets
• Eutelsat TV Observatory - annual research study
• 51 Markets in Europe and MENA
• Presentations in: EUROPE, MENA, USA
• Deployment offline and online in 3 languages
• Linguistic skills support quality check and strong ties with local
teams, clients and press
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

42. LARGE EVENTS ABROAD
SPONSORSHIP

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AGENDA
1. Introduction: the (brief) story of our lives
2. Some facts about multilingualism
3. Multilingualism at work: business cases
4. Five pieces of advise when managing multilingual projects
5. Q&A
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5 PIECES OF ADVICE
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1. BE FLUENT: cultivate fluency
2. Show cultural sensitivity (it is not just ‘google-
translate’!)

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46. It does not always sound like it should…
SCHIFO
SKY PHONE
What they meant: What it sounded like:
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16
DISGUST

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5 PIECES OF ADVICE
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1. BE FLUENT: cultivate fluency
2. Cultural sensitivity (don’t just google-translate!)
3. Beware of stereotypes, colloquialism & humor
nuances

48. STEREOTYPES
We set expectations based on experience and culture
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

49. COLLOQUIALISM
• The full 9 yards
• Going the extra mile
• Between the devil and the deep blue sea
• Raining cats and dogs
• Hungry as a wolf
• Pushing the envelope

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5 PIECES OF ADVICE
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1. BE FLUENT: cultivate fluency
2. Show cultural sensitivity (don’t just google-translate!)
3. Beware of stereotypes, bias & humor nuances
4. Beware of acronyms!

51. MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16
5 PIECES OF ADVICE
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1. BE FLUENT: cultivate fluency
2. Show cultural sensitivity (don’t just google-
translate!)
3. Beware of stereotypes, bias & humor nuances
4. Beware of acronyms!
5. Reach out to experts & always test with natives

52. When creative neologisms go wrong…
Incubator inculator+ accelerator =
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

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55. Q&A
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16

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THANK YOU! DANKU! GRAZIE!
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Michael Nord
Principal
The Fifth Business
THE NETHERLANDS
mnordnl@gmail.com
@mnordnl
Claudia Vaccarone
Head of Market Research & CX
Eutelsat SA
FRANCE
vaccarone@yahoo.com
@claudia_v_

57. This session was sponsored by
MULTILINGUALISM AT #IABC16