{"id":258,"date":"2016-02-25T13:13:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T13:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/?p=258"},"modified":"2024-03-18T17:57:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T17:57:42","slug":"the-english-dialect-an-adverse-effect-on-global-business-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/the-english-dialect-an-adverse-effect-on-global-business-success\/","title":{"rendered":"The English Dialect: An Adverse Effect On Global Business Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Languages evolve, that’s nothing new. However, the English language has its own subset of terminology that native English speakers have adopted and put into use practically on every level – when speaking casually and in business settings. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult for people abroad to understand the “real” English.\u00a0A Spanish student in Denmark\u00a0remarked to another researcher<\/a>: \u201cNow it\u2019s more difficult for me to understand the real English.\u201d<\/p>\n

This \u201creal English\u201d \u2013 which dizzyingly encompasses\u00a0the whole range of dialects<\/a>\u00a0from Liverpool in England, to Wellington in New Zealand, via Johannesburg in South Africa, and Memphis in the US \u2013 is only the start of the problem of understanding what is trying to be communicated.
\n
\nFor example: When an American manager in Japan cannot understand why his Japanese staff cannot provide a \u201cballpark figure\u201d requested, this demonstrates the\u00a0breakdown in communication can lead to a real disintegration in workplace relations. The inability of the travelling native English speaker to refrain from homeland idiosyncrasies and cultural in-jokes has been found to result in\u00a0resentment and suspicion.<\/p>\n

This points to a very real danger that native English speakers, especially those who never\u00a0learned another language, risk missing out on business opportunities \u2013 whether in the form of contracts, idea development, job opportunities\u00a0and much more. \u00a0-It’s because of this reason that more companies across all markets are\u00a0language testing\u00a0<\/a>employees to ensure proper English is spoken within a\u00a0business setting. Language Testing International CEO, Helen Hamlyn commented,\u00a0 “So many opportunities risk being lost when a language is used improperly or not at the level in which non-native speakers are involved. This leads to confusion on many fronts, from both a consumer level and within a company itself\u00a0employing a diverse,\u00a0multi-national staff”.<\/p>\n

It’s critical to a business’ success for it’s employees and management to understand the confusion speaking the English dialect and become more aware of their business partners and counterparts abroad. Reflecting on the difficulties others may have in understanding our English may well be a good start to becoming a better member of the international community and a more attractive business partner too.<\/p>\n

Source: The Conversation: By Spencer Hazel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Languages evolve, that’s nothing new. However, the English language has its own subset of terminology that native English speakers have adopted and put into use practically on every level – when speaking casually and in business settings. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult for people abroad to understand the “real” English.\u00a0A Spanish student in Denmark\u00a0remarked to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,3],"tags":[16,59,7],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commercial","category-educational","category-government","tag-actfl","tag-english-speaking-test-english-proficiency","tag-language-testing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3388,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions\/3388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}