By Anna Sobell
English is one of the key business languages we teach here at Language Services Direct. This is unsurprisingly given that there are 45 countries in the world where English is spoken by at least 50% of the population:
1,500 million people speak English across the world. Only 375 million of which are native speakers. More than ever people are looking for courses to learn the nuances of the English language for business purposes.
a) The size of the English lexicon is staggering; many language experts argue it has the largest vocabulary in the world.
b) Spelling is not phonetic; generally English words are not spelt as they sound.
c) Some spelling rules exist, but there’s always exceptions. For example; the rule: ‘I’ before ‘e’, except after ‘c’- as in ‘receipt’, with the exceptions of: ancient, beige, caffeine etc
a) All the above are expressing the same basic idea, but with different levels of formality and the differences between them are complex and difficult to recognise unless a person is very experienced in the English language. This demonstrates one of the most common grammatical difficulties for English language learners; its nuances.
b) The lack of a future tense: this causes plenty of problems, especially considering the many different ways you can express the future in English along with all of the particular nuanced meaning for each. For example; I’ll call you tomorrow Vs. I’m going to call you tomorrow.
a) There is a variety of problematic sounds in the English language, depending on the mother tongue of the speaker. However, the sound which seems to create more issues than others across many languages is the unvoiced and voiced ‘th’ sound or the /θ/ and /ð/ as expressed in phonemic script. Just try out this tongue twister!
“Not these things here, but those things there”
b) Another difficulty with English pronunciation is the presence of the ‘silent letter’. Take the words, ‘knee’, ‘numb’ and ‘sign’ for example- as a non-native speaker, it would be completely understandable to read these words and mispronounce them.
c) Regional accents: there are roughly 45 different dialects and regional accents in the UK alone, not to mention all of the dialects and accents found in the list of countries at the start of this post!
In today’s business-centric world, English is used as the main medium of international communication for both small businesses and large corporations alike. It is therefore an absolute necessity for any individual or business to take the importance of the English language seriously; as without easy and efficient communication, business is extremely hard to handle with success. The encroaching effects of Globalisation and the World Wide Web have done a lot to increase the need for English in business exponentially in the last few decades. Language services direct offer industry specific business language training in groups or as 1-2-1 lessons. Find out more about our offer.
Not only this, but English has infiltrated the world of business so much so that certain industries have appointed English as their standard official language across all nations, such as the shipping and airline industries. As a result, a comprehensive command of English has become mandatory for professions within these industries, such as airline pilots and naval officers. Furthermore, several respected corporate organisations around the world operate entirely in English for all means of communication, regardless of the location of their Head Quarters.
1. Read English language newspapers, business websites.
| https://www.ft.com/?edition=uk&mhq5j=e3 |
| https://www.theguardian.com/uk |
| http://www.economist.com/ |
| https://www.bloomberg.com/europe |
2. Watch English language news programmes.
3. Set targets – simple, bite-sized targets each week. For example, try to learn 2 to 5 new words every day. And then review before bed- the brain processes new information as we sleep, so scanning something just before bedtime will boost your language acquisition.
4. Get mobile! Instead of getting bored waiting for your train, why not top up on your language training?! These days there is a wealth of free and effective language learning apps literally at your fingertips! Below is a tiny selection of what’s out there:
| Duolingo |
| British Council apps |
| Two minute English (good for Business English) |
| Game to learn English |
| Real English Business |
5. Learn aloud – whenever you find yourself alone, perhaps exercising or cooking, practise speaking in English out-loud. You may initially feel self-conscious, but once this subsides, you’ll notice that this activity will aid you in your language learning. After all, practice makes perfect!
6. Live the language! We learn by doing, therefore; get out there and learn- if possible travel, meet, experience, adventure, read, speak, listen and live in English as much as possible!
References
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