The ‘English-Speaking Children’s Parents’ and Guardians’ Association of Catalonia’is something of a mouthful, as group monikers go. It’s certainly not likely to slip easily off the tongue of anyone who learned English inside the Catalan public education system: despite English being a compulsory subject for all students, the general standard of school leavers is lamentably low. It is frequently cited as a major disadvantage for Catalonia in today’s perilously-competitive international economy and a threat to its stated goal of becoming one of Europe’s leading R&D hubs for Biotech, ICT and other industries.

On Tuesday 19/7/11, I was privileged to attend this workshop, organised by Better Business international (BBi) that I strongly recommend.  Although I am not a foreign manager, as general manager of BcnIn I have a great interest in learning first-hand the impressions, difficulties and barriers that foreign professionals find in working in Spain with Spanish staff.