Languages of opportunity for software professionals

Rosemary Arackaparambil

MUMBAI: The only language skills Indian IT professionals really needed till

recently were those which helped them write software programs. Not any more.

Because their employers are now pursuing business in non-English speaking

countries to help offset a slowdown in the US market, Indian computer

programmers and engineers are being pushed to sprechen sie Deutsch, parler

francais and hablar espanol.

"Language training is as vital to growth as Java training was a year

ago," Vivek Paul, vice-chairman of Wipro Ltd., India's largest software

company by market value, recently told analysts. "Knowing German and French

are new priorities."

(Java, a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems Inc, is popular

with developers as it can run on almost any computer system.)

Till recently the vast majority of overseas assignments landed India's

software engineers in the United States, which still accounts for over 60 per

cent of India's software service export revenue. It also meant no great effort

to adapt because the United States is a melting pot of cultures and the national

language is English, which most educated Indians speak like a mother tongue.

That business was key to helping the Indian software service industry double

revenue annually in recent years. But this year growth has suddenly slowed to a

forecast 30 per cent, prompting Indian companies to look elsewhere for business.

Howdya say...



Europe is a primary focus.

Europe currently accounts for about 24 per cent of India's software service

revenue, much derived from contracts with multinational English-speaking

clients. Now Indian companies are trying to tap business from local European

companies, creating the need for language training.

"Nearly 98 percent of the corporate language training courses we have

held are for software companies," said Sirtaj Siddiqui, a manager at the

Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore, which offers German language training.

"Many companies who come to us have strong German parentage, but

increasingly many Indian firms are also seeking training". The result: the

institute is now teaching German to employees from 20 companies, up from

three-four companies some years ago.

Germany last year announced a Green Card scheme to attract 20,000 computer

specialists, and two weeks ago Chancellor Gerhard Schroder was in Bangalore

urging Indian specialists to apply.

"Not only are Indian companies seeking business in Europe, but we are

seeing many European companies also looking toward India," said Sangeeta

Gupta, vice-president of National Association of Software and Service Companies

(Nasscom).

To promote that process, Nasscom, which has played a key role in nurturing

the explosive growth of the Indian software industry, last month conducted an IT

summit in London and plans to hold a seminar in Europe every year.

La langua del opportunidad



Back home several Indian companies are gearing up to train staff to speak and
understand the new languages of opportunity. Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer

Services, which has offices in Amsterdam, France and Germany, plans to start

providing courses in European languages soon.

"Our business from Europe is growing and we are training people to adapt

there," a company spokesman said, adding 500 associates were already

working on several projects in Europe.

"Programs in Dutch, French and German are being planned...maybe 40 to 50

people per batch. The idea is to teach them the language, culture and way of

life there".

Bangalore-based Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter, has been

providing instruction in German and French for over a year. Infosys Technologies

has been conducting German and French classes for two years, and recently

started Swedish classes, a spokeswoman for India's largest listed software

service exporter said.

She said over 500 Infoscions have undergone German and French training which

ranges from crash courses to advanced instruction.

And privately held i-flex Solutions Ltd., whose revenue spread does not show

any geographical bias, has started teaching Spanish, which is spoken by an

estimated 300 million people.

"Earlier we used to send students for language training rather

sporadically, depending on projects," said a i-flex Solutions spokesman.

"But since March we have institutionalised language training. Classes are

held thrice a week, on our premises, for Spanish, French and Japanese language

training," he said.

Mumbai-based Mastek Ltd. -- which has European subsidiaries in Germany, the

United Kingdom and Belgium -- has been training its professionals in German for

the past 3-4 years.

(C) Reuters Limited.