English is pretty much the language of global business, even the language of Europe's boardrooms and Asian b-schools these days. Yet learning a second or even third language could make a huge difference if your company is facing foreign suppliers, contractors, partners or, increasingly, customers right here at home.

Getting your staff ready to communicate effectively could be the key to growing your business, new opportunities or both. Here are some ways to approach the Babel that is the world beyond your home.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

No one really has an ear for foreign languages

The consensus among researchers is that anyone can learn a foreign language at any time in life. The real question is, Can your employee learn it under the pressures of a regular job and in a convenient time frame.

I recommend: Consider having your prospective students take the Modern Language Assessment Test first. Most of the problem is ego: Faced with a new language, you are as helpless as a newborn. It can be hard for some people to handle.

Classes are useful if the employee is highly motivated to learn

Corporate training programs, although a fragmented market, are out there, ready and willing for a fee to take the plunge with your learning-hungry employees.

I recommend: Some of the better known are Berlitz and ELT. These approaches work best with an employee who is exposed to the language on the job already, and better if he or she travels abroad.

If it's going to be a class, go for quality

Most universities have excellent language training facilities, including labs, language tutors, social clubs for practice and, of course, excellent teachers. This is the way to go if the person is gearing up for a foreign posting several months or a year later.

I recommend: Find your local program by going to Google's universities page, click first on your local U., then search for a term like "foreign language." Here, for instance, is the result from the University of Florida.

Consider study abroad for at least a few months

Most diplomatic and military language training assumes that the candidate will immediately ship out to whatever foreign shore requires his or her attention. This is the best way possible to cement book-learning into real language skill.

I recommend: Take your classes and study hard at home, but even 30 days immersed in the culture and language is better than years of books and tapes. (It works out to one week in-country = one year of classes, roughly. Yeah, it's that bad.) Some programs that place people in-country for major world languages include Language Course, Transitions Abroad, First Step World, AbroadLanguages, and Language Learning. Embassies can recommend schools for less-commonly taught tongues.

Online programs and software are tools, not the solution

There are piles of Web sites and boxed software programs that purport to teach a foreign language. Let go of this idea fast.

I recommend: Rosetta Stone, a software product, is popular, as is Declan, and you can find dozens of free online courses. Bottom line: If you don't use it every day with other humans, read it, hear it, see it, live it, then no software will drill it into you. Nice to have, but by itself not nearly enough.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If your company is about to make a major push into a new foreign market, you just won't have time to train. Hire foreign-language speakers for key positions, if you can, instead.
• •  Learn the right language. In the 1980s, Russian was hot because of, ironically, the Cold War. Then Japanese seemed to matter. Now everyone worries about Chinese. Trends come and go; focus instead on your actual customers and markets.
• •  How long does it take? That depends on how much immersion you get. I've met Chileans who spoke passable English from attending foreign trade shows. Me? I learned reasonable Spanish after living in Chile for two years, then got fluent in year three. It wasn't easy, but it was permanent.