1.    Business English is the language in which most business is conducted around the world.

Back in 2012, the number of people who spoke Business English was estimated to be 535 million, according to an article in Harvard Business Review. Undoubtedly, there will be a lot more speakers of Business English now. Then, Tsedal Neeley wrote: “More and more multinational companies are mandating English as the common corporate language—Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor, and Microsoft in Beijing, to name a few—in an attempt to facilitate communication and performance across geographically diverse functions and business endeavor”. A rough estimate puts the number of Business English speakers at  about 1 million people now.

2.    About 1.35 billion people worldwide speak English, as a first or second language, according to a survey by Statista carried out in March 2021. This is up from 1.2 billion the previous year. This figure of 1.35 billion is slightly more than than the 1.12 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers at the time of survey. At the very least, it is important to speak basic English.

3.    Speaking Business English enables you to have more meaningful conversations with customers, suppliers and business partners. For example, maybe the company you are working for is based in the United Arab Emirates but there are customers and suppliers in Australia. As Tesdel said: “Without common ground, communication will suffer. Better language comprehension gives employees more first-hand information, which is vital to good decision making.”

4.    A good knowledge of Business English makes it easier to expand your business.

It may be that you, or a business associate, may want to enter into a merger or acquisition (M&A) to expand the business. An M&A deal is usually complicated enough, especially negotiations, without having a common language. Business English solves that. Tesdel cites Germany’s Hoechst and France’s Rhône-Poulenc as an example of an M&A deal which merged in 1998 to create Aventis. “Without common ground, communication will suffer. Better language comprehension gives employees more first-hand information, which is vital to good decision making”, she said.

5.    Being forced to speak in Business English, and learn that it is not good, can dilute your confidence. You then recognise that you must know Business English very well to be understood by other people. To ensure that all employees can speak Business English, employers must offer Business English lessons or at least access to them.

6.    Being competent in Business English can make it easier to win a new job. It might be worth asking yourself: “Would I be demoted if I am not proficient in Business English?”

 “Could I win a job with my limited Business English?”

7.    If a multinational company has people from different nationalities (which is normally the case), people cannot interact with one another. If there is a common language such as Business English, then people can interact with one another.This can help creativity and ensure more creative conversations.