'The Importance of Good Communication'

Good communication is essential to success in all areas of life - it helps us to develop strong relationships with friends and neighbours, and to form effective partnerships in our communities and in business.

And what is the key to good communication? The ability to talk to others in a way that they understand, and to get your message across simply and effectively.

Good communication in industry often means the ability to talk to other businessmen in a language that they understand - often not a language of business jargon and technical terms, but a foreign language such as French or German.

The North East is developing a new entrepreneurial culture, but our success is still founded on our manufacturing strength, particularly here in South Shields. Around 80% of the products that we manufacture are exported overseas, so it is vital that our businesses can communicate effectively with their overseas partners o maximise their profitability. And it's not just our large, well established companies who need to be able to communicate in foreign languages. Our smaller companies can also benefit from developing the language skills of their workforce.

Recently I was interested to meet the staff of the Regional Language Network, who aim to do just that - help our companies to develop the ability to talk to overseas business partners in their own languages.

But why bother to take the time and effort to learn a foreign language when everyone world-wide, from the business man in Japan, to the barman in Spain and the waitress in France speaks English, and is only too happy to demonstrate their skills at any opportunity?

The answer to that is simple - being able to address people in their own language - even if it is just a simple greeting - demonstrates to the world the practical, positive, can do attitude of the people of South Tyneside. It shows the commitment of our businesses to growing and developing to secure the future of a prosperous South Shields, and demonstrates the friendly, welcoming nature of our people to the rest of the world.

Most people think that you have to be fluent or word perfect to speak to a foreigner in their own language, but that's not true. Even a few simple words or phrases will work wonders, and it really is one situation where it's the thought that counts, and making a mistake really doesn't matter.

Our families and children can also benefit from language and communication skills too. Being able to speak another language helps children to do more than just communicate. It also helps to broaden their horizons and raise their expectations, which can only be good for the future of South Shields.

I am glad to see that our communities are already leading the way in working towards improving language skills - our schools and colleges offer language courses to young people and adults alike. Children as young as nine in South Shields are learning to speak French at school, and to understand French society and culture. I think we should be proud that we can offer our children the opportunity to learn about the diversity of our world from their doorstep here in South Shields.