Germany-based language training company Learnship has unveiled its newest expedited English-learning program for logistics professionals: Sprint.
For any international company, language barriers can consume countless hours, as well as much-needed revenue. Learnship’s new Sprint course seeks to close the language gap in as little as five weeks.
The Sprint program walks learners through five weeks of industry-specific language to reduce issues caused by interlingual communication. Now, the program offers a course tailored to logistics professionals.
“We basically teach languages and intercultural skills through digital and blended training,” Learnship Vice President Robert Szabó said. “Precision learning is about targeting the training exactly where they need it.”
According to Szabó, Learnship now offers courses in 17 languages — including a notable number of customers in China and Japan. Szabó hopes to bring Learnship to more companies in the Americas.
“It’s scalable, it’s affordable, it’s targeted and it’s been effective for us in multiple world geographies. We think that the U.S. logistics scene could benefit from it.”
Learnship’s demand in the logistics industry grew during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many professionals transitioned to remote positions. As a result, many professionals worked from around the world, which meant a larger variation in English-speaking competencies.
Szabó emphasized that Sprint is not a “hybrid” course. Instead, Sprint is classified as a “blended” course. That learning model includes both synchronous and asynchronous online training, as well as one-on-one interaction with highly skilled instructors.
Learnship’s programs allow learners to choose among self-paced, instructor-led and next-generation blended courses.
In addition to the language barriers already present in physical workspaces, barriers have proved difficult to overcome within videoconferencing and other collaboration softwares. According to Szabó, the Sprint program accounts for that hurdle.
“There’s some language which has emerged from the pandemic that’s necessary to efficiently conduct business in this way,” he said.
Whether it’s navigating the interface of a Zoom meeting or simply alerting participants that their mics are muted during a call, Learnship recognizes those seemingly small issues and targets the material that employees can immediately utilize daily.
“We’re very careful about the quality of [the] translation, because you can easily fall into confusing people if you skimp on the translation quality,” Szabó said.
Since 2009, Learnship has worked alongside DP DHL, the German postal service and global shipper, to great success. According to Learnship, DP DHL employees saved an average of two hours per week of productivity thanks to improved communication skills.
“We’re doing things once instead of twice,” Szabó said.