Challenges associated with business communications in English via e-mail in a medium-sized South African organisation during the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)

Abstract

Concise and effective business English communication underpins successful organisations. During the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) much of the working day is spent in some form of communication, usually e-mails. This paper examines the effectiveness of English communication between integral parts of a business operation during the 4IR. A mixed methods approach utilising a non-experimental design was used to investigate effective business communication using e-mails in English in a medium sized organisation in South Africa. A questionnaire consisting of 10 Likert type scale questions and 5 open ended questions was used. Purposive sampling was utilised as the population was small (150 employees, final sample 55) thus results cannot be generalised. Certain barriers to communication were identified which were considered important. For instance, many staff members were second language English speakers and often misunderstand e-mails. As a result, they reported that they felt frustrated in their working life and were demotivated. It was concluded that many e-mails were challenging to staff and needed to be written in everyday English not business language. The authors recommended that workshops and initial training in business language skills when people enter the organisation should be undertaken. Human Resources could also audit the use of appropriate English.

A Study on the Influence of Ecological Translation Theory on University English Translation Teaching in the Context of Big Data Analysis

“…The English translation course is an important part of the university English course teaching and the main way to develop students' oral expression, interpretation and writing skills. How improve the teaching quality of the university English translation course in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing has become a major challenge for the reform and practice of English translation education [4][5][6][7]. By introducing the concept of adaptation, and translation selection, teachers follow the original ecological structure in the process of teaching English translation, educate students about English texts, grammar and translation expressions, and improve students' cultural thinking and semantic communication skills in English translation [8][9][10][11][12].…”