Abstract:

This paper contributes to our knowledge in the area of international management and presents perceptions of future managers (university students of business and management). The main aim of the empirical research was to map the language proficiency as a key part of their managerial competence among students of business and management in the Czech Republic. The main questions addressed in our research were that English is used as the lingua franca on the labour market and in international politics but due to a growing involvement of foreign companies in various regions of Europe, the demand for other European languages in connection with intercultural competence has been increasing on the European labour market. The processes of internationalization and globalization thus unequivocally require multilingualism, and this criterion is ever more important in decisions on HR issues. This trend clearly puts employees who speak several European languages at an advantage. An approach based on statistical testing of hypotheses was used. The respondents were students of the Czech business and management universities. A total of 257 questionnaires (N=257) in hard copy form were collected. The results of this empirical survey can be summarised as follows. The position of English has been stable over the last five years. The study of German ranks second although its position has weakened slightly. The shares of other languages are significantly lower. German thus is, in addition to English, a language the knowledge of which, according to a large segment of the respondents, increases the likelihood of success on the European labour market. The respondents are thus fully aware of the importance of knowledge of two or more foreign languages, especially English and German, as a prerequisite to success on the labour market.