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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1051

Part of Session 125: The legitimate speaker in a transforming political economy (Other abstracts in this session)

Evolving national economies, persistent language ideologies: Korean-based multinationals in the Czech Republic

Authors: Sherman, Tamah
Submitted by: Sherman, Tamah (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic)

In recent decades, the Czech Republic has come to be known in the global economy a “low-cost location”, meaning that highly skilled labor there is accessible for a lesser financial investment, among others, in the manufacturing industry. Since the 1990s, the country has thus been attractive to foreign multinational companies for the establishment of branches and plants, both short-term and long-term. This development, which has been highly significant for the national economy, is reflected in observable behavior toward language, particularly the national language, Czech.

Initially high-profile multinationals in the Czech Republic were largely German-based, but ever more capital is being invested by companies from Asia (Japan, Korea). This shift has led to a change in the dynamics of the languages present. This paper will focus on one of the most recent high-profile multinational projects in the Czech Republic. Based on data (ethnographic observation, recorded interactions, semi-structured interviews, written documents) collected in the Czech plant of a Korean automobile manufacturer as well as in its headquarters in Seoul, we will utilize the language management framework (Nekvapil & Nekula 2006, Nekvapil & Sherman 2009, Sherman et al 2010). This framework which focuses on the way in which  various phenomena are noted and evaluated against the background of perceived norms or expectations, and how adjustments are designed and implemented, also providing the means for the analysis of the interplay between the macro and micro levels of behavior toward language.

Through the investigation of the official company policy regarding language use, the teaching of languages in the plant, the use of English as a lingua franca, language knowledge as a condition of employment, the linguistic landscape of the plant, the acquisition management of the Korean employees and their families outside of the plant, the paper will focus on the ideologically based legitimatization of particular language management acts.

The case of multinationals in the Czech Republic demonstrates that a shift in focus from more or less regional language and power dynamics (Czech-German relations), to more declaredly globalized ones (Czech-Korean economic collaboration) does not necessarily lessen the national element that is brought into the relevant interactions. Emphasis will be placed on the issue of national languages, particularly Czech and Korean, and their constructed legitimacy as languages worthy of learning and use in economic activity.

References:

Nekvapil, J. & Nekula, M. (2006) On language management in multinational companies in the Czech Republic. Current Issues in Language Planning 7: 307-327.

Nekvapil, J. & Sherman, T. (2009) Pre-Interaction management in multinational companies in Central Europe. Current Issues in Language Planning 10: 181-198.

Sherman, T., Carl, J., Engelhardt, O., Balogh, E. & Balla, Á. T. (2010) The interaction of language schools and multinational companies in the management of multilingual practices. European Journal of Language Policy/Revue européenne de politique linguistique 2 (2): 229-250.