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Cross-border
economic
development
72
Cross-cutting themes in cross-border economic development
Languages, cultures and
adapting training to the
needs of the market
Notwithstanding the advantages related to cross-border professional
mobility and the incentive and information programmes, one other
decisive factor still needs to be examined: the linguistic and intercultural
aspect.
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The French territories bordering Flanders, Germany and
German-speaking Switzerland
are characterised by declining
proficiency in the language of the neighbouring country, which
is a major obstacle to the movement of workers and trainees to
territories where there is a real need for labour. Finding candidates
for cross-border apprenticeships is particularly difficult. Unskilled
workers, who filled manufacturing jobs in the industrial areas in
Flanders, Baden and the Basel region, have not been able to adapt
to the increasing complexity of jobs in recent decades and have
become less competitive, despite their geographical proximity,
than highly-skilled workers from southern Europe.
Improving the cross-border employability of these populations
necessarily requires the strengthening of language skills and a better
correlation between training provided and the needs of the cross-
border labour market.
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Regarding languages, the Land of Lower Austria
has
implemented a project to enable children to access the languages
of neighbouring countries right from nursery school. This initiative
was replicated first of all by the neighbouring Länder, then by the
bordering countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary).
Exposure to the language and culture of the neighbouring country
at a very young age is considered to be an asset for establishing
cross-border economic cooperation and employment areas.
As competence with respect to education and languages is not
decentralised in France, the involvement of France’s national Ministry
of Education is a prerequisite for developing widespread instruction of
the language of the neighbouring country in the educational system.
Language learning in the Land of Lower Austria