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The Wave of the Future: Modern Language Training in Moscow comes from Belgium

By Ian Mitchell

Special to BSR

ElaN Languages a leading European language training school/center in Moscow, is a branch of the ElaN Holding which was started in Belgium in 1990, and now has a consolidated turnover of nearly Euro 7 million (with 3 schools/centers in Belgium but also in France and Russia).

In Moscow ElaN Languages operates out of smart, modern offices in a business park which is centrally situated amidst the picturesque dereliction behind the Byelorusskaya railway station. This location is not used for training purposes as all the courses and seminars are held on customers premises or, when appropriate, in (hotel) conference facilities.

The Manager of the Moscow branch, who has lived here for eight years, and speaks Russian fluently, is Johan Verbeeck. He studied Russian at university then worked in transportation, in the promotions world, in recruitment and in journalism. He now uses his wide business experience to make a success of the training operations of Elan Languages in Mosсow. Currently, twelve experienced trainers are working for the language training school/center.

ElaN Languages offers both general and tailor-made corporate language trainings and also specialised language-based courses in which specific business skills are stressed along with the requirements for particular ways of using the language. These include making effective presentations, running productive meetings and seminars and writing persuasive and concise emails, letters, memoranda and reports.

Another speciality of ElaN Languages is legal English. ElaN Languages’ courses include contract drafting as well as legal English for both lawyers and legal secretaries.

How does ElaN Languages operate? “The first thing we do is a full needs analysis,” Verbeeck says. “We take this very seriously because it is vital if we start to plan tailor-made training. Then we agree on a focus for a course. Is it to be oral, written or telephone? Do you need it for sales, for internal communication, for a call centre, or what?”

What is unique about ElaN Languages ? Verbeeck’s answer is clear, it is the ability of the customer to monitor all courses and make sure that value for money is being delivered week-to-week. This is obviously vital for cash-strapped Human Resources Departments in times of economic stringency (let’s not say “crisis” anymore!). ElaN Languages does this in a unique way.

“One thing we offer,” Verbeeck says, “which not a lot of other people do, is a high level of accountability and reporting. We have a database system on the internet by which every customer can follow every student and every course, on-line, at any time. They can sign in and see what has been done, who attended the class and who did not, what was taught and any particular remarks that the tutor feels should be made.

“This is all on–line. Nobody has to call us. It is all there, including evaluations and ground covered. Customers also have the opportunity to evaluate us, which I think is unique. Thus we are very transparent. Customers see things moving, and we see things moving. It is interactive and mutually re-enforcing.”

“Most language training schools/centers have quarterly or occasionally monthly reporting. With ElaN Languages it is on-line and updated every week. So HR can relax and monitor the progress of what they are buying. We developed this system in Belgium and have just introduced it here in Moscow.”

ElaN Languages also does translations, for which they have a European quality certification (EN 15038), and interpreting. Next year they are piloting a full e-learning scheme whereby professional and business (!) English can be studied through the internet. An general English version is already in operation. ElaN Languages is also one of the few companies in Moscow that administers the TOEIC test, the international standard for measuring competency in professional English.

What will be the main challenges for ElaN Languages?

“Apart form simply expanding what we do now, and increasing our customer base, I think we are going to concentrate on building a reputation for delivering business-skills training courses. We see language much more than just words, grammar and sentences. What we want to do is to create a platform on which a network of skilled trainers can perform the ultimate function in language training, which is to get the student to become origin-invisible in a foreign commercial environment. We want to remove any disadvantage they might feel when doing business abroad in English.”

For further details, contact:

Johan Verbeeck

Elan Languages, Moscow

Ul. Nizhnyaya 14, str 1, office 28

125040 Moscow - Russia

+7 495 627 5734

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.elanlanguages.ru

If ever you find yourself heading off for a coffee with Brian Erickson of ID Fabrika then its well worth your while to catch the metro. Because if you are meeting him anywhere near his office this will entail a trip through Moscow ‘s recently refurbished Mayakovskaya Metro. In addition to savouring the delights of the landmark, doing so will enable anyone to get themselves into thinking about design and its meaning, both before and after the meeting. Below ground you are disgorged into a cavernous chamber where trains load and unload commuters, up the escalators and you pass into a subtle ensemble of pink marble walls and stainless steel columns – chic, distinctive, and exuding a style of Moscow which has been toasted in generations past and is now playing its part in the city’s renaissance. And thinking about design, style and image and their part in everyday lives is what Brian is about.