Why fully effective Business English courses Go Beyond Grammar
In our globalised world, English is the most commonly used shared language, and becoming fluent is often seen as hugely important if you want to travel, work or…
English is the most widely used language for international trade, commerce and business.
Although other languages such as Mandarin are becoming increasingly important, English is still the most widely used with around 2 billion speakers around the world. But to operate effectively in international business, it is also vital to have some understanding of how other cultures like to do business.
For example, some nationalities such as Latin American and southern European like to have a lot of social talk before the main meeting. This is to get to know the other side at a more personal level and so to ‘build trust’. Other nationalities such as German and Northern European like to move quickly to business. They are uncomfortable with too much social conversation.
Understanding these intercultural rules, as well as the English language, is key to successful trade and form an important part of all the professional and executive English coursesthat we run at The English Language Centre in Brighton. Having a team of experienced business trainers that understand these intercultural rules is clearly essential.
Recently ELC Brighton was asked to run a special workshop for Chinese entrepreneurs from Shanghai with the aim of learning some skills of negotiation and communication with multinational enterprises. The workshop was designed and delivered by Paul Emmerson, a writer, teacher and teacher trainer with more than 25 years’ experience in Business English who works as a business trainer for ELC particularly in the summer months, and contained useful insights into the language of business negotiation and intercultural tips.
Contact us if you would like more information about our tailored business and professional courses.
