Why Business English Training?

chillibreeze writer — Ruchi Banerjee

English has emerged as the accepted medium for global transactions. Now, more than ever, it has evolved into the language of commerce and technology, and a good knowledge of English is considered necessary to succeed in the global business exchange. If professionals possess the requisite language skills, they have a competitive edge in the job market and access to many more job opportunities worldwide.

Needs Analysis

Business English entails the learning of English for use in a corporate environment. It focuses on the skills needed to conduct meetings, presentations and negotiations, and also on the communication skills required for less formal business and social situations.

It also focuses on developing reading and listening skills and on improving written English in a work context – drafting reports, white papers, case studies and emails. Usually, a business English course is customized to suit the needs of professionals, depending on their work environment and the nature of tasks they perform.

For example, if a professional works in a multicultural environment and handles global business responsibilities, the skills necessary would be negotiating contracts, giving presentations or communicating during business trips.

If a professional is employed in an MNC, he/she may need to draft e-mails or faxes, send reports to foreign colleagues, etc. Thus, in learning business English, the practical use of the language overrides the need to learn the theoretical aspects.

The Content

The content of a business English course greatly varies from general English training courses, as it is more technical in nature. There are jargons that need to be learned, like the 3P’s of marketing, USP; common business idioms and phrasal verbs that need to be mastered, like to join forces with another company, to gain ground in the market or to sit in on a meeting.

There is also a need to learn the differences of formal versus informal language, especially with respect to seniority of designations. Moreover, due to the multicultural nature of most organizations today, the course should aim to teach the cultural context.

In fact, learning cultural differences plays a very important role. For example, in Nordic countries, taking turns during a meeting or conference is the norm, and very rarely does an individual interrupt the other. This may not be the same in an American context, where it is quite usual for people to interrupt each other when they have a point to make.

Moreover, in the US or UK, making a funny comment or a joke during a presentation may not be considered as anything out of the ordinary. In Germany, however, this may be frowned upon. Also, some companies have their own prominent corporate cultures, like Yahoo which has a more informal culture than say Microsoft. The role of culture in business English training is thus extremely crucial.

The Framework and the Outcome

Learning tools have greatly changed over the last couple of years. There is an increase in the number of interactive learning techniques through mp3 podcasts, situational video case studies, and customized training related to specific corporate environments. The framework of the courses has also changed with more emphasis being laid on interactivity and modulation of the content to suit a student’s professional needs.

Learners of business English focus on it so as to be able to achieve more in their jobs. Thus, a business English course should enable them to communicate confidently and fluently. The learner should be able to understand and talk about the different aspects of a company's business, understand current management issues and recruitment practices and procedures.

It should help them to participate successfully in business meetings and negotiations by enabling them to socialize and network with greater confidence, and successfully present facts and figures, using graphs to effectively describe economic and social trends. It should also help them improve their written English by expanding their active business vocabulary and gearing them to discuss broader topical issues such as current affairs or political issues.

Today, we all live in the information age. The Internet, television, and the press, all give us almost unlimited access to knowledge. Most of this knowledge is in English. So, knowledge of English becomes essential to stay abreast with a rapidly changing world.

Learning the language through courses that offer flexibility and interactivity, both of which are necessary in today’s competitive world, results in professionals who are able to successfully meet the demands of a cross-cultural, multinational environment.

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.

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—About our writer:

Ruchi is an experienced media and communications professional who has helped companies build and maintain their reputation by charting out their communciations strategies. She has experience of working in India with known and prominent brands across diverse sectors like Oil and Gas, IT, FMCG and Pharmaceuticals. She is currently based in Sao Paulo, Brazil where she conducts training workshops for multinational companies and also teaches in her spare time.

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