Short courses for executives and managers

• Reading, understanding and analyzing the Chinese press: mastering information at source - 3 days: June 16 - 23 and 30, 2025

China is today one of the most influential economic powers, whose growth and technological ambitions are upsetting international balances. Regularly in the headlines for its strategic position on the world stage, China has a decisive impact on trade, diplomacy and geopolitical relations. In this context, any professional wishing to access direct sources in the Chinese language must be able to decipher the written media beyond mere word-for-word, by understanding the implicits and nuances that really shape the message. This course therefore offers targeted support to acquire the skills essential for reading and understanding the Chinese press.

Targeted at a public wishing to consolidate their linguistic and technical skills, this course focuses on current vocabulary, the specifics of Chinese print media texts, rapid reading techniques, the selection and synthesis of relevant information and accurate translation.

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• Reviews on Ukraine: understanding, communicating, collaborating - 5 days: please contact us

The "View on Ukraine: Understanding, communicating, collaborating" was born out of the need to support the growing number of international players and organizations now working in Ukraine or with Ukrainian populations, in a context marked by the escalation of the conflict since 2022. More and more public and para-public structures, NGOs, development agencies, companies and institutional partners are working on reconstruction, humanitarian aid, refugee reception and support projects, as well as diplomatic or defense missions.

In this situation, it is essential to possess cultural, historical and linguistic reading keys to interact effectively with the Ukrainian population and carry out collaborations or actions in the field and in France. This course responds to these needs by offering both a cultural (historical, sociological, geopolitical aspects) and linguistic approach (discovery of the Cyrillic alphabet, basic vocabulary and structures, professional vocabulary). It provides participants with the necessary foundations to dialogue, negotiate, or simply communicate in a respectful and adapted manner, taking into account cultural specificities and the sensitivity of the current context.

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• Expatriation Preparation Course - 3 days: please contact us

This course is aimed at all professionals and their families called upon to live and work in a foreign country over a long period of time. It offers comprehensive support combining the discovery of the cultural and historical specificities of the host region, the learning of essential language elements as well as the consideration of many practical aspects (housing, schooling, health, cultural and sporting activities, etc.).

More than a simple initiation, the training aims above all to give participants and their loved ones the confidence to live the expatriation experience to the full. It helps them master cultural codes, anticipate potential risks and build quality relationships with their future contacts, partners and colleagues. Thanks to a variety of resources (written materials, feedback, targeted bibliographies and sitographies, dedicated MOOCs for certain languages), each learner can deepen or reinforce their knowledge independently.

Our expatriation preparation courses offer the keys to a successful expatriation by understanding the civilizational and organizational challenges of the host country, while stimulating the development of a solid local network. It provides an indispensable foundation for rapid adaptation, both professionally and personally, and for making the most of immersion abroad. See the course in detail

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• Country or Regional Briefing Course - 3 or 4h : please contact us

This tailor-made course is designed to equip professionals who will be posted abroad for varying periods of time with in-depth, directly operational knowledge. It enables them to get the best possible grasp of the cultural, political and economic realities of their country or region of assignment, to ensure smooth integration and immediate impact in their missions.

Thanks to the cutting-edge, multidisciplinary expertise of our lecturers, each program is designed to meet the strategic challenges and specific responsibilities of the participants. Our team of teacher-researchers and field experts mobilizes in-depth knowledge of the languages and civilizations concerned, as well as solid experience in geopolitical analysis and intercultural communication.

We adapt all training content, modalities (face-to-face, distance or hybrid) and durations to meet individual objectives and organizational constraints as closely as possible. This tailor-made approach guarantees both an increase in operational skills, a gain in confidence to tackle complex issues, and the ability to effectively represent one's institution or company internationally.

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• Training in the Chinese language: supporting learning with new technologies - 3 days: May 19 - 26 and June 2, 2025

Mandarin Chinese is renowned for the complexity of its character-based writing system, and for its oral expression characterized by the use of tones. Between memorizing vocabulary, mastering pronunciation and approaching grammar, learning this language can be a real challenge for learners.

To meet this challenge, this course proposes to approach the didactics of Chinese as a foreign language from a pragmatic and innovative point of view. Participants will learn how to design teaching paths adapted to the varied needs of teenage and adult learners, while integrating new technologies and the creation of digital resources into the development and facilitation of their courses to optimize learning and support individual motivation.

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• Decoding the post-Soviet Russian-speaking world: linguistic keys, cultural landmarks and relational codes - 4 x 2 hours: May 15 - 22 and June 5 - 12, 2025 remote

Since the dissolution of the USSR, the post-Soviet space has been profoundly transformed, politically and economically as well as culturally and socially. This period of transition has given rise to a new mentality, distinguished from the Soviet legacy while marked by several linguistic, cultural and behavioral specificities peculiar to these societies.

For professionals working with Russian-speaking interlocutors (diplomats, military personnel, NGOs, etc.), it is essential to understand these cultural and linguistic codes in order to facilitate communication and avoid misunderstandings. This training course proposes to analyze the foundations of the post-Soviet mentality, by studying the language, body expressions (gestures, mimics, etc.) and cultural references that characterize exchanges within these populations.

The aim is to provide concrete, operational reference points for developing more empathetic communication that is better adapted to the ways in which post-Soviet Russian speakers think and function. By familiarizing themselves with the specificities of their mentality and becoming aware of their own cultural frames of reference, each participant will be able to improve the quality of their professional interactions, foster cooperation within international teams and strengthen their intercultural skills.

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• The specificities of families from Chinese immigration Mastering civilizational and sociological aspects for better patient care - 3 days: May 23, June 6 - 20, 2025

The Chinese community in France today is particularly large, the result of successive migratory movements spanning more than a century. The different phases of this migratory history translate into a plurality of backgrounds and profiles that reflect the changing political, economic and social contexts in both China and France, and create a cultural richness but also gaps in understanding that healthcare professionals are confronted with.

In this context, the cultural distance between the two countries remains notable, particularly in terms of intercultural communication and health and mental health practice. Medical practices, conceptions of illness and care, and family dynamics can differ significantly, sometimes posing challenges of understanding and coordination within French care structures.

This training course meets the needs of healthcare professionals, who are looking for keys to reading Chinese cultures, migratory experiences, Chinese family configurations and the roles of each member. It also aims to shed light on the pathways to care and representations of health and mental illness within families from Chinese immigrant backgrounds, in order to facilitate mutual understanding and improve the quality of care.

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• Generation Z to intercultural: understanding codes and developing adapted marketing strategies - 1 day : May 22, 2025

Generation Z, ultra-connected and destined to evolve in a global environment, is shaking up traditional approaches to communication and marketing. Its codes - quest for authenticity, predominantly digital interactions, valuing inclusivity and civic engagement - are expressed through particularly dynamic subcultures (fashion, music, wellness routines, activism, etc.).

For organizations wishing to develop or adapt their strategies internationally, it is now essential to take account of these new references and the values they convey. At the heart of this evolution is the concept of decentralization, which enables us to approach cultural diversity without falling into essentialization or stereotyping. This posture involves shifting away from one's own reference points to understand target audiences in all their complexity, whether they come from diasporas or are natives of a specific local culture.

Thanks to a multi-disciplinary approach and the regional expertise of its teaching staff, Inalco's CFI (Intercultural Communication and Training) course offers training that deciphers the emerging trends of Generation Z on a global scale and reveals their concrete implications for the design of winning communication campaigns and marketing actions.

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• Understanding and working with your Chinese partners - 1 day: May 16, 2025

Between tightening security constraints and the need to pursue international economic exchanges, post-Covid China is redefining its relations with its foreign partners. Less open and more regulated, these relationships represent a crucial issue for professionals required to interact with Chinese interlocutors, whether to develop a project, negotiate a contract or manage teams.

This training course, organized by Inalco, is part of an intercultural dialogue approach and offers a knowledge base on the historical and cultural specificities of China. It also offers practical workshops to equip participants in their professional interactions with Chinese partners, and can be completed (on request) with a focus on Taiwan.

In order to personalize the training as much as possible, individual work is carried out beforehand: each participant fills in a questionnaire to target his or her specific issues and needs. The results of this questionnaire, combined with a preliminary interview, will serve as the basis for fine-tuning the content and exercises on offer.

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• Maps, borders, territories, populations: analyzing and understanding the Israeli-Palestinian space - 1 day: May 28, 2025

This course focuses on an analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on critical cartography, in order to go beyond conventional representations and address the multiple dimensions of this complex reality: territories, infrastructures, memory, religions, military activities, but also political disputes, people's experiences and representations. By mobilizing a scientific approach based on geography and political science, it offers participants rigorous and up-to-date keys to understanding to better interpret the dynamics on the ground and the media and political discourses that report on them.

The aim is to shed light on how so-called "partition" maps come up against differentiated experiences of the territory, and to show how factors such as defense, segregation, colonization, sacredness, international tourism or even economic and territorial engineering logics intertwine to shape Israeli-Palestinian spaces. Through the study of ways of life and control over land, as well as the exploration of territorial utopias, this course provides an understanding of the conflict from the angle of everyday practices, long history and current events. It aims to equip participants not only with the tools to analyze conflict accurately and in depth, but also with the language skills to express themselves neutrally and knowledgeably on this sensitive subject. Participants will be able to develop a critical reflection on cartographic representations and the impact they have on the perception of human and political realities.

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