Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/041392/0413202.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5KB | 111 lines

                                                                                BUSINESS, Page 51

LANGUAGE

The State of Many Tongues


Utah's Mormon missionaries make the state America's most
linguistically diverse region, and it's paying off

By SALLY B. DONNELLY/SALT LAKE CITY


    If the builders of the legendary Tower of Babel had hired
a work crew from Utah, the massive structure might actually
have been completed instead of collapsing in the confusion of
the workers' diverse languages. The linguistically savvy
Utahans could have worked like bees in a hive. Or at least that
is the boast among modern-day locals, who are using their
language skills to build the economy of their home state.

    Sparsely populated, landlocked and laced with the deserts,
mountains and rugged wilderness regions typical of the American
West, Utah is an unlikely place to find people who collectively
speak 90% of the world's written languages. "I can make one
phone call and get a foreign-language speaker in 30 minutes.
That's pretty impressive for a state of 2 million," says Fred
Ball, head of the local Chamber of Commerce, who frequently is
host to foreign executives. Per capita, Utah is the most
linguistically diverse region of the U.S. -- a feature the state
is exploiting to attract foreign businesses and make tourists
feel more welcome. The world-class ski resorts at Park City and
Deer Valley reflect the clientele by providing signs in both
English and Japanese, and the state is hawking its linguistic
skills as part of its campaign to be host of the Winter Olympics
in 2002.

    Much of the multilingual talent is a dividend from the
missionary work performed by the Salt Lake City-based Mormon
Church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. For decades the church has sent thousands of
young men (and a few women) each year on missions to win
converts around the world. They spend at least two years in an
assigned region, preaching the Mormon message and living side
by side with locals. With more than 8 million members worldwide,
the church has 44,500 missionaries serving in 95 countries and
26 territories.

    Each of those who serve first attend the Missionary
Training Center in Provo, which can handle 3,000 students at a
time. Part of their studies includes intensive language training
for several hours a day, seven days a week. From Armenian to
Vietnamese -- including such low-demand tongues as Estonian,
Tahitian and Icelandic -- 38 different languages are taught at
the center, usually by former missionaries or foreign students
from nearby universities. At Mormon-backed Brigham Young
University, more than 60% of the 28,000 students acquire
extensive foreign-language experience.

    Utah's linguistic richness has prompted several
international companies to open divisions in the state.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which recently expanded service
to 35 cities in Europe and Asia, has set up an international
reservations center in Salt Lake City. Agents can take bookings
in 13 foreign languages, including Hindi and Swedish. Several
years ago, American Express decided to situate its worldwide
traveler's check service center in Salt Lake City. On the
outside, the four-story glass-and-concrete structure looks like
any other modern office building, but inside the atmosphere is
more like the Disneyland ride It's a Small World. More than half
the 1,600 employees are bilingual; all told, they speak 118
languages. "As any traveler knows, it can be frustrating to deal
with a complicated problem if you don't speak the language. We
find customers are relieved to find that someone on the other
end of the line can understand," says Ronna Draper, an operator
and Spanish-language student at the University of Utah.

    Homegrown firms have discovered that the local talent pool
offers more than enough depth to build global businesses.
ALPNET, a translation company B.Y.U. started as a research
project in 1980, has developed into a $26 million business with
250 employees in 22 offices around the globe. Because Salt Lake
City has become a high-tech center as well, computer-aided
translation comes naturally to many local workers. "It is a
unique combination: a linguistically and culturally conscious
society that is also computer literate," says ALPNET president
Thomas Seal. Among the company's clients: Apple Computer,
British Petroleum, NATO and Siemens. The U.S. Army recently
called on ALPNET to translate 32,000 pages of information on the
Bradley Fighting Vehicle into Arabic for the Saudi military.

    Officials from the state's Economic Development
Corporation, which has branches from Brussels to Tokyo, like to
point out that 60% of all public high school students in Utah
study a foreign language. And the state has done well by
vigorously pushing its language skills as an attraction to
potential foreign-transplant factories and offices.

    Last year, for example, the Taiwan-based computer firm
Compeq Manufacturing chose Utah for its first overseas plant.
Compeq's executives were lured by Utah residents who not only
spoke Mandarin but also understood the customs and culture of
a Taiwanese company -- further proof that, in an increasingly
global economy, the multilingual abilities of Utahans may speak
louder than words.