Declaration: I declare that I wrote this thesis by myself and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography section. Brno, April 2012 Adela Pilátová Acknowledgements
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- 4.4Writing in Global Business English
4.3Aspects of Business EnglishMichael Nelson in his thesis wrote, searching for any noticeable features or aspects of Business English there is one output; lack of any studies towards what business English is what are specific features, most of the books deal with the practical part, how to teach business English and they serve as learning books. It is very difficult to find any analysis. This is mostly because teaching as well as learning business English is not usually done at university but at language schools. Language schools usually do not have time and money that could be spend on such a research. He also stated: “Business English teaching is a business, not an academic pursuit.“ Moreover it is very difficult to obtain any valid data as part of the business talk is meant to be companies secrecy and they do not allow anyone to reveal it as the intellectual property of companies are very precious (Nelson, 57). In further investigation of books that deal with the subject of teaching business English, there is found few words, usually at the beginning of books what business English is. Sylvia Donna although she entitled her chapter 1.2 ‘What is business English?’ she did not state any linguistic definition. The chapter mostly answers questions what is needed to be ready for when teaching business English. Where courses may take place, what the length is, who the learner is going to be. She also mentioned what is special about business English. However, this is also related to learner attitude towards studying business English, such as learners’ real life experience or urgent need to learn due to work requirements. She also explains the difference between classes of Business English and classes of English as a foreign language (Donna, 2). In contrary of Donna, Frendo deals with question what is special about business English more thoroughly. He clearly answers the question: “In short Business English is communication with other people within a specific context“ (Frendo, 1). According to him users of business English are those who using the language in their business needs. People in business need to negotiate, cooperate, persuade, explain things a understand each other; however everything is related to their job. He also copes with questions who are learners of English, people who need to know language for very specific purpose on one side. However, people who just want their English in general get better on the other side (Frendo, 1). Jones and Alexander are more precise in the area of Business English. They clearly defined: „it is simply English used in business situation. (Jones, Alexander 1) They also quoted that every company and every department within these companies use their own special terms therefore courses cannot cover all of specific vocabulary but more only those who are basic and most common. Also these special terms are best learned once people are ‘on the job‘ (Jones, Alexander 1-2). 4.4Writing in Global Business EnglishThe most demanding job for business English is to be understood at international level. Not every employee in the company is trained in the business English and in general English are differences in knowledge among people. Global Business needs Global English. There is a clash when native English speakers deals with non-native, therefore new Global Business English has been introduced and it is recommended to be used once companies communicate worldwide. Rachel McAlpine introduced book Global English for Global Business and recommended usage of Global Business when companies are sending following worldwide: fax, letter, proposal, report, all international business communication either written or spoken, and advertisements in international publications, instructions and user-manuals for exported goods and all international speeches and presentations (McAlpine, 106). The reason to use the Global Business English it may save costs related to misunderstanding. Example of these savings can be following, company sends out a letter that is misunderstood, just because it is written in difficult English, this letter must be rewritten or sometimes client can change the meaning of letter and people have to travel to explain this misunderstanding or it needs to be clarified over the phone, in all of these cases costs to explain what was originally meant grows, therefore the profit of using pure Global English is obvious (McAlpine, 4-6). McAlpine introduced few tips that should be followed once writing in Global Business English.
It means words that do not have more than one meaning unlike words such as ‘while’, ‘since’ or ‘as’ those have at least two different meanings. Ideal words are those that have specific, definite meaning or words that make sense alone. Avoidance of ‘miniwords’ is crucial as these words usually have more meaning or when they are read alone do not make any sense. ‘Miniwords’ are those words that have 3 letters or less, such as to, of, for, how, if, so, may, get, put, sit, go, let (McAlpine, 13-22).
In Global Business English it is better to use more verbs than nouns as verbs bring the action, therefore use of action verbs is recommended. Among those verbs are following provide, reply, spend, find, configure and many others. Phrasal verbs are very difficult to any non-native English speaker therefore using of these verbs should be minimized. Finding meaning of those verbs in dictionary is also difficult. It is recommended to use simple one verb instead. Modal auxiliary verbs (may, might, could, can and others) are considered to be verbs that explain mood. For foreigners it is very difficult to distinguish these ambiguities therefore rephrasing the sentences may help foreigners to understand better and clearer the meaning (McAlpine, 22-31).
Idioms are very difficult to be understood by non-native speakers. The expressions are used without further logic. When translating them, non-native speakers must do it twice once into literally forms and then into their own language. Although native speakers use them in everyday conversation they should be avoided in Global English. If the avoidance is not possible then idioms should be clearly explained (McAlpine, 31-37).
Short sentences are easily to be understood and read. Short sentences are considered to be those that have maximum of 20 words, however sentences consist of 16 or fewer words are always even better. Non-native speakers read slowly than native. Also native speakers read in their own language in phrases therefore they are able to put more words in short-term memory, non-native speakers read word by word. To link sentences it is useful to use transition words and phrases as it helps readers to follow thoughts. Bullets also may help to reduce long sentences as many of these can be subdivided into bullet points (McAlpine, 38-47).
Simple sentence pattern, Subject, Verb, Object and Complement, is the easiest to be read by non-native speakers. It is default pattern that is taught everywhere therefore non-native speakers are very unlikely to get confused. Moreover, automatic translation software can deal with the translation easily and so it can be easy to those who cannot understand English at all. Another useful tip is put one idea per sentence. More ideas put into one sentence tend to confuse readers or some of the ideas can be considered as less important (McAlpine, 38-53).
These words can cause trouble to foreign speakers as they change meaning with commas or whether is used which or that. Complete elimination will also make sentences shorter and the benefit is avoidance of any ambiguity (McAlpine, 55-56).
In any course book of Business English is highly recommended to use positive language. Negative language can confuse even native speakers. English language apply rule that two negative in one sentence form positive sentence whilst in other language it can stress negative. Some languages also have no equivalent to negative structure in English and it is impossible to be translated. In some culture saying negative things can be considered to be rude or aggressive. Also answers to negative questions can differ by nations, as the logical answers can be yes in one culture, no is expected in English language, this can cause misunderstanding (McAlpine, 57-58).
When speaking about date at international level, we should be aware of what form we shall use. The best possible solution is to write month in full (April) to avoid any confusion that the month is considered to be day and vice versa (McAlpine, 75). Use of aforementioned tips for Global Business English should avoid any future misunderstanding and ease possible translation. Global Business English can be appreciated by many of non-native speakers that must deal in Global Business and are kept being confused by native speakers when using ambiguous words or idioms that are difficult to be understood. Global business English will not solve the need of people to be able to communicate in English and to have knowledge of English language; this may only help them to understand better to native speakers. Further the work deals with the position of English language and its knowledge in the Czech Republic. What are the requirements from the side of employers and what employees may offer to employers?
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