A World of Words: Examining the Spread of European Languages Across the Globe
Market Report

23 Mar 2023
by Parul Jain, Sumit Kumar, Gunjan Mundra

Globalization has led businesses to expand their operations to different parts of the world. In this context, effective communication with customers in their native language has become increasingly important. Although English is widely regarded as the business lingua franca, global companies can effectively reach different countries by operating in different languages. In the past decade, the demand for European language speakers has increased significantly. While European countries have typically been leveraged for language services delivery, operating in the region may result in potential business tradeoffs, such as higher operational costs. However, European language speakers are now globally dispersed, which means organizations need not limit themselves to Europe for language services delivery.

This Everest Group handbook is designed to help organizations identify suitable locations for delivering services in European languages. It assesses the relative attractiveness of key global locations using a holistic and multifaceted approach. The report covers the following parameters for assessing languages delivery attractiveness: language scalability potential, language proficiency, salary premium over English language delivery, proportion of locals vs. expats supporting the language, and operating and business environment.

Scope

  • Industry: global services
  • Geography: global

Contents

In this report, we analyze 23 locations across Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America for European language services delivery. The report focuses on eight European languages – Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Polish.

Membership(s)

Locations Insider™

Sourcing and Vendor Management

 

Page Count: 50