Modern
Phoenicians
An address at
the General Meeting
of the Canadian
Association of Private Language Schools
Hon. David
Kilgour, P.C., M.P.
Secretary of
State (Asia-Pacific) & Member of Parliament (Edmonton-Southeast)
Fairmont
Palliser Hotel
, Calgary, AB
21 November 2003
Check
against delivery
Calgary
is a very appropriate city to be hosting this meeting.
It has the highest percentage of post-secondary educated residents (over
60%) in Canada. It also has the
highest per capita concentration of engineers and scientists -
twice the national average with 44 out of every 1000 Calgarians.
Half of Calgarians fall within the core working age group of 25-54 years
of age, making this the highest employment-to-population ratio in Canada.
In other words, this is a prime example of a truly dynamic city where
international students can learn a second language and more importantly, learn
what modern Canada is all about.
The Canadian
Language Experience
There's
actually a close personal link between my office and the private language school
experience. The mother of someone
who works with me provides home-stay services for students studying English in
Montreal. It's been a wonderful
experience for everyone involved.
My
colleague's mother (who is widowed), his teenage brother and two students live
together. So far, they have hosted
people from Korea, Japan, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and France. In
addition to providing a regular source of income, the students bring with them
their cultures and their views of the world.
They've also brought their culinary skills, as each is asked once a week
to prepare a meal from home for everyone.
This has had a profoundly positive effect on the young teenager living at
home.
Similarly,
these students experience first hand what it means to live in a Canadian
household. In this case, the family
is of Polish heritage. Their
neighbours are French-Canadians, Canadians of origin in China; in India; and
just about everywhere. What
more quintessential Canadian experience than to live in a community where people
of all backgrounds live peacefully side-by-side?
Modern
Phoenicians
This
example indicates why the entire private language school community is a rapidly
growing sector that is gaining recognition it deserves as a valuable provider of
education services. You are a
prime example of why Canadian business people are "modern
Phoenicians."
The
Phoenicians lived between three and five thousand years ago in what is
today Syria and Lebanon. They were arguably the world's first global traders,
establishing outposts throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa.
Their trading skills, coupled with their maritime abilities, made them
one of history's most important nations. Their
influence is felt to this day in art and culture. For instance, in their quest for new markets, they developed
a simplified alphabet consisting of single letters to catalogue their business
dealings. From this alphabet were
derived the Greek, Egyptian and our own alphabets.
If
Canadians are modern Phoenicians, it's for a number of reasons: first and
foremost, we are some of the world's most prolific traders.
In the case of your schools, you provide a product of exceptional quality
and have an intimate knowledge of the international markets you target.
Many of you have been doing this for a long time.
Schools like Berlitz have been providing English, French and other
language services for over thirty five years.
Not
only are you traders in language services, but in ideas and ideals - Canadian
ideas and ideals. Canadian language
schools have a strong advantage in representing a prosperous, sophisticated,
advanced society that speaks many languages and is open and welcoming.
Much like the Phoenicians of yester-year, the students who attend your
schools will go back to their homes - in
South Korea, in Japan, in Mexico - with a little piece of Canada in their hearts
and minds.
Students
return home able to work more effectively in the global community and as
ambassadors for Canada. We
cannot overestimate this benefit. If
any of you saw Bono's remarkable speech at last week's Liberal convention,
you'll have heard him quote Chapter's/Indigo's sales line that "the world
needs more Canada." Our
private language schools do precisely that: they give the world more Canada.
The
role of private language schools in the provision of an important learning
service and in branding Canada to foreign students deserves broader recognition
and a higher profile. It's one of
the reasons why I am here: to salute your key role in Canada's language
industry.
Reaping
the rewards of globalization relies on effective communication skills.
The Phoenicians certainly knew this; as I mentioned before, they created
an alphabet of 22, phonetic sounding letters, down from some 550,
in order to catalogue their sales and purchases.
Throughout history, similar attempts at simplifying language have
occurred; the ill-fated Esperanto is case in point.
Canada's
Language Industry
Today's
globalization involves selling and communicating in many languages, investing as
widely as possible in e-commerce, working with tight deadlines, and handling
increasingly complex customer requests. Canada's
language industry occupies a position of choice in the fiercely competitive
international marketplace.
The
products and services generated by your industry extend far beyond the
translation of text. The industry
is recognized for the quality of its translation, interpretation and training
services, supported by cutting edge technology.
Consider these three "Ts" of the language industry:
translation, training and technology.
While
Canada is home to only 0.5 percent of the world's population, we pack a punch in
the translation industry, with revenues of some $450 million, or about
6 percent of the world market.
The
Canadian language training market, where many of you specialize, is estimated at
$300 million -- about 10 to 12
percent of the world share. This is
not to mention our expertise, leadership and revenue generation in the language
technologies sector. All these sectors are expected to increase in size by 4 to
5 percent a year. Some Canadian
companies, like Edmonton-born Babel Fish, bring together successfully all three
aspects of the industry. Consider the company's mission statement (I own no
shares in Babel Fish, by the way and any shares I own are in a blind trust),
"The
Babel Fish Corporation provides expert translation, localization, globalization,
language training and other multilingual services with the benefit of online
convenience."
There
you have it: Canadian expertise in translation, training and technology, all at
one's fingertips.
In
the global marketplace, however, one cannot underestimate the fierce competition
among language industries. Our 10
to 12 percent of world share in English language training still ranks us fourth
behind the United States, the UK and Australia. Our language industry could experience the erosion of its
linguistic capacity over time due to a shortage of qualified staff or inadequate
technological innovation. We can't
afford this at precisely the time when business opportunities are evolving
rapidly here and around the world.
AILIA
Building
on Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages (March 2003), in September the
Government of Canada announced that it would contribute to Canada's first
Language Industry Association (AILIA), as well as the marketing and branding of
Canada's language industry at home and abroad.
Ten million dollars will be used over the next five years to create the
Language Technologies Research Centre. The
Centre will house an R&D program to work with the private sector.
These initiatives show Canada's commitment to making innovation a
priority for our language industry; and ensuring that it's equipped to attract
new language graduates and professionals, creating jobs new jobs and
opportunities for all Canadians.
CAPLS
picked up that funds that have been ear-marked to brand and market Canada's
language industry overseas. Foreign
Affairs publicizes and promotes CAPLS and its member schools as offering
high-quality second language programs. Public
affairs officers in our missions play important roles in promotional activities,
whether it be arranging education fairs or speaking to prospective students
individually. The Canadian
Education Centres Network arranges a number of recruitment fairs and does
recruitment market studies in countries where it has offices.
Our
public affairs officers and trade commissioners overseas and the market studies
division within DFAIT annually do a number of studies on the general education
and student recruitment market in a range of countries.
This information is available to CAPLS and its members.
We are trying to help you know your markets better.
Challenges
We
must and can do a lot better. Put
bluntly, our challenge is to overcome the tendency to "stove-pipe" by
the key players: federal/provincial departments, educational institutions,
associations. Let's try to knock
all the stove pipes down. It's a
great credit to CAPLS that you've invited officials from a range of federal and
provincial departments to speak at your roundtables. The Education Marketing Advisory Board (EMAB), which was
convened on December 9th last year, is also meant to work to improving
integration between partners in the education industry.
Evidently, none of us has not followed up effectively enough on that
meeting. A body like EMAB should
have a key role to play in partnering with an association such as AILIA.
Many
of you feel there is much room for improvement as regards visas.
Immigration Canada has introduced new regulations that permit foreign
students to study here for up to
six months. This will facilitate an
increased flow of second language students to private schools.
This nevertheless does not help you access the world's most lucrative
language market: China. Chinese
students completing secondary education are not prohibited from studying English
or French in Canada, although it is evidently more difficult for them to obtain
the necessary visas. Facilitating visas for prospective students from China is
the decision of the Minster of Immigration; I can bring your serious concerns on
this subject to his attention.
The
private language school community is a rapidly growing sector in Canada and is a
very important player in our country's language industry.
CAPLS, representing 72 schools and about 60,000 students has a very
important role to play as well. Like
the Phoenicians, you are all bringing our country and its values to the world,
and bringing the world to Canada.
Thank
you. Merci.
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