ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES

No keen observer of today’s world language scene can possibly fail to notice that the English language has taken centre stage! Everywhere you go, whatever your professional or leisure activity, sooner or later you are bound to discover the omnipresence of English. It is of course true that this position of prominence is not a recent phenomenon; for centuries, especially following the era when “Britannia ruled the waves,” English has enjoyed a special, privileged status. However, the advent of the “global village” - this great coming together of the nations of the world to form one giant economic and social community - and the attendant need to break communication barriers, has meant that the search for a tool that would perform this crucial role of keeping the peoples of the world in touch with each other would become more frantic, and that English – already fairly widely spoken – would be the natural choice for the pace setters of the world, adding more “dignity” to an already enviable status .

English can save your business!

Not surprisingly, this state of affairs has brought about an already crushing but still steadily rising demand for the English language. The need to master its intricacies has become a must for many people all over the world. In fact, we of the Bilingual Training Programme, better placed to make the assessment by virtue of our being in the middle of this surge in the need for language classes, have said often enough that the one who does not speak English will be considered a stark illiterate a few years from now.

Among those who must speak to live, those for whom the ability to communicate fluently and convincingly could mean “life” or “death” - survival or extinction - the need becomes even more urgent of course. Take the case of the businessman who must convince an English speaking fund donor that it would be worth his while to get into a partnership with him; if the need for business with this hypothetical donor could bring life into a dying company, failure to persuade may not mean actual, physical death for our imaginary businessman, but it will come close enough to make a little difference! I am reminded at this point of a situation that arose not long after I arrived in Douala to head the Linguistic Centre. The management of a prominent transit company contacted us with a request to organize English language classes for one hundred and three (103) members of their staff as a matter of extreme urgency – within the week, as a matter of fact! Besides informing my contact that we would be glad to execute his request but that the time frame suggested would be impossible to respect, I was also curious as to what gave rise to this “emergency.” His response? A worker of his company had received a call from a South African company seeking urgent information about transit charges for a certain transaction. The enquirer spoke in English, his correspondent in Douala did not understand him and it was unfortunately already 5.35 pm; everybody who could have provided the answers in Shakespeare’s language or at least helped with translation had left. The non-English speaker reported the request to his superiors on Monday of the following week; he had received the initial call on the previous Friday evening. Management frantically tried to identify and get in touch with the said company, but it was too late; the transaction had been urgent and their “lost” South African partner had already contacted other shippers and handed them the multi-million deal that could so easily have been theirs had the worker they reached been able to communicate in the world’s most used language! It should not take too great a stretch of the imagination to see numerous other companies in situations similar to this. Enter: English for Business Purposes; a sector which today accounts for significantly more than two-thirds of the entire volume of our teaching activity.

The Bilingual Training Programme can lead you through As can be deduced from the foregoing, the main thrust of this endeavour – the teaching of English for business purposes – is to equip every adherent with the ability to conduct all aspects of their various businesses involving the English language fluently, accurately, convincingly and ultimately with style. It is necessary to point out here that although there is a certain amount of vocabulary that one could call “business vocabulary,” as Leo Jones and Richard Alexander indicate in the introduction to their book, International Business English, “… most business English is simply English used in business contexts – it is not a special language.” What the course designer or teacher does in response to a request for a course in business English is therefore simply to analyze the basic professional needs of the person requesting the course and come up with a “wide range of business settings and situations in which he/she can practice and improve communication skills in English, so that he/she can become more confident, more fluent and more accurate.” There will undoubtedly be a broad corps of specialized language to be found in the learner’s area of interest; actually, in every industry and, to a large extent, in each company - and even the different departments within a company, it is normal to have a special “jargon” – specialized terminology that is peculiar to that department, company or industry. The course we design will of course pay attention to such matters, but the real focus will be to highlight situations – greetings and introductions, asking for information, using the telephone, participation in meetings, conducting negotiations, making presentations, etc. – situations in which the learner is likely to find himself and be required to perform efficiently, effectively and with flair.

The strategies and techniques with which the professional in our business brings this to pass in the learner – and the thousands of other matters that could be brought up and discussed on this subject, should be the purpose of another treatise. Suffice it to point out, for the purpose of this one, that English for Business Purposes is undoubtedly the fastest growing sector of the Bilingual Training Programme’s market, and one in which we believe, we have come to excel. Bankers, brewers, shippers, manufacturers, providers of services, businessmen … all have found satisfaction in our hands, and there is room for many more!