A study of the attitudes and practices in multinational corporations concerning second language and intercultural skills as criteria for employment of international managers consisted of three elements: (1) a survey of corporations; (2) followup interviews with respondents and with commercial language schools and cross-cultural training consultants; and (3) discussion of the findings' significance with senior management officials in multinational corporations. The survey was mailed to 341 corporations and used, also, in personal interviews with 19 companies experiencing declines or some degree of commercial instability. Responses totaled 89. Respondents indicated and ranked the language-related criteria upon which they rely to choose international managers, including academic qualifications, internships, foreign credentials, proficiency ratings, specialized language instruction, translator certification, and previous business language use experience. Some unexpected findings emerged, and it was concluded that stateside language training or credentials were not viewed with confidence as evidence of useful language skills. The results suggested some further questions to be asked about the improvement of language training, the extent of career options and further training available to entry-level managers, and corporate assessment of language competence. (MSE)