Oriflame's Niklas Frisk surprises with a speech in Hindi

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And if you've been based out of Delhi since 2012, switch to Hindi. Oriflame's South Asia head and India MD Niklas Frisk obviously believes in the adage. The direct marketing company's Swedish head recently gave the opening speech in Hindi at Oriflame's directors' seminar held in Mumbai.

Attended by 1,400 leaders, it's the company's biggest annual event. Frisk's gesture was, unsurprisingly, a big hit with the audience. To tackle the language barrier, he began learning first from his colleagues and Indian friends. So determined was Frisk to hone his linguistic skills that he bought a Hindi dictionary to keep practising.

Frisk says his knowledge of Hindi has helped him forge better bonds, both in the professional and personal space. His theory is that by learning a language, you get to know a new world. We couldn't agree more.