The ability to speak a foreign language is becoming increasingly important in many professions, and it’s often a prerequisite for a successful career. Even for trainees, solid foreign language skills are an absolute essential. They improve one’s career prospects and open the door for international employment.
However, for companies that wish to offer their trainees language training, there are a few things that must be kept in mind. Below is a summary of the most important points that companies should consider when searching for a language training provider, in particular for trainees.
Needs assessment
When choosing a language course provider, it’s important that the provider specialises in company training and has the necessary experience in conducting subject- and industry-specific courses that are tailored to participants’ needs. This ensures that trainees don’t acquire merely general language skills, but also the skills required to help them excel in their specific company or profession. A placement test helps to determine trainees’ language levels and to make sure courses are in line with their needs.
Trainer qualifications
Trainer qualifications are an important factor when choosing a language service provider. Trainers should possess outstanding teaching as well as language skills. They must be able to adapt the language training to the individual needs and level of the trainees so that they can reach their learning goals. It’s crucial that trainers have relevant experience in teaching young people as well as excellent communication skills in order to motivate participants and to lead them to success.
The right learning material
Suitable learning material is another crucial factor when choosing the right language provider. It should cover the needs of the trainees and the company and be oriented towards their language level. In addition to everyday communication, the curriculum should also handle work instructions and technical terms and texts from the relevant industry, thus guaranteeing clear communication at work and ensuring that technical contexts and processes can be understood and explained. It’s important that the learning material is practical, varied as well as interesting in order to strengthen the trainees’ motivation and success in learning.
Flexibility of the learning formats
The flexibility of the learning formats is also extremely important as trainees often have a very busy schedule. It can be difficult to integrate language training into trainees’ daily work routine. That’s why it’s important that flexible solutions are also provided, e.g. e-learning, online modules, live training online or evening courses, so that trainees can easily include the training in their everyday routine.
Course consistency
It’s important that courses be offered regularly, and this should be considered when choosing a language service provider. Consistent training is necessary in order to make progress and to retain what’s learned in class. The provider should thus guarantee regularly occurring courses and ensure that trainees have ample time for their training.
Measuring success
Language training should also include some form of training metrics. This allows trainees to track their progress and to improve their skills. It’s crucial to regularly review progress so as to continuously optimise and adapt the training.
Funding opportunities
There are several ways to offer language training at a lower price or even for free. Subsidised language courses are usually offered by certified educational institutions as part of language qualification programmes with funds from the federated states of Germany, or via AVGS, training vouchers or further education grants.
To summarise, the search for the right provider of foreign language training for trainees is a decisive factor for the success of the language training. Companies should pay particular attention to tailored, subject- and industry specific language training, needs-based learning material and placement tests, as well as flexibility and success metrics. This is the only way to ensure that trainees acquire the specific and professional language skills indispensable to today’s working world. Taking these factors into account when choosing a provider will enable trainees to learn languages effectively and successfully, which in turn will undoubtedly have a positive impact on their future career paths.