Language Matters in Global Communication: Article Based on ORA Lecture, October 2006

Abstract

In the past few decades, it has become widely accepted that the lingua franca of international business is English; witness the way companies increasingly choose English as their official corporate language. Although this would seem to facilitate communication, this article argues that the choice of language(s) used is a delicate issue, highlighting the complexities of any split into native/nonnative speakers, and thus requiring considerable people management skills. This article discusses research from the Helsinki School of Economics on language and communication in multinational corporations based in non-English speaking countries. It suggests a reconceptualization of English lingua franca as business English lingua franca (BELF), and argues that BELF is a mostly oral language through which power is wielded in multinationals, and perceptions of self and others created. Moreover, it is not a "cultureless" language, but rather creates new operational cultures. Language choice thus has implications for management, HR, and employee satisfaction.

Linguistic Repertoires and Semiotic Resources in Interaction: A Finnish Manager as a Mediator in a Multilingual Meeting

“…The common ground facilitates interpretation even though speakers come from a variety of backgrounds. Problems may arise when people have inadequate communication skills (Charles, 2007). How people in real-life workplace situations handle these situations is of interest in this article: Do they have problems and if so, how are they resolved?…”

“…Using English as a lingua franca is not a unitary phenomenon, and Charles (2007) suggests that we need to "increase understanding of the different Englishes (italics added) and discourses used to conduct global business, and encourage the development of situationally appropriate communication skills" (p. 266). To gain more information on the diverse ways business is conducted in intercultural encounters, further studies with an ethnographic perspective are called for (Sackmann & Phillips, 2004;Suchan & Charles, 2006), and as Suchan and Charles (2006) suggest, "we need to go into business organizations and shadow first-line supervisors, midlevel managers, and support staff members to understand communication problems" (p. 395).…”

Control, Communication, and Knowledge-Building in Asian Call Centers

“…Issues among the writers, the call center agents, and the corporate organism appeared in the forms of struggles for control of and adaptation to the corporate language. With English as the lingua franca in these transactions, the data contextualize the complex interactions of communicators who develop, deliver, and utilize content in global organizations (Louhiala-Salminen et al, 2005;Charles, 2007).…”

Is Anglophone Complacency a Virtue of Necessity?: The Gap Between the Need for and Supply of Occupational Second Foreign Language Skills in Norwegian Business and Government

“…Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey, 2011). The BELF NAs for the most part examine the use of English and other languages for business communication purposes by non-native speakers (Charles, 2006;Ehrenreich, 2010;Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey, 2011;Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen, 2010;Kankaanranta & Planken, 2010;Lehtonen & Karjalainen, 2008;Louhiala-Salminen, Charles, & Kankaanranta, 2005;Nickerson, 2005;Rogerson-Revell, 2007Sweeney & Hua, 2010). There is also a recent and quite comprehensive Finnish study by Huhta (2010), focusing on language needs in engineering .…”

“…L3 proficiency, on the other hand, is merely considered an advantage (Ehrenreich 2010;Kankaanranta & Planken 2010). Ehrenreich (2010), Huhta (2010), and Charles (2006) further discuss the use of L3 languages, concluding that "Although English is clearly the dominant language in international business, other languages do not disappear from the business scene but interact with English in many ways" (Ehrenreich, 2010, p. 411). Other NAs that focus on overall language use in business show that L3 languages are still used fairly extensively (e.g.…”