There’s a reason why global and local companies all over the world are investing in training their employees on how to speak fluent English.
Communication has long been the key to making meaningful progress, whether on a personal or professional level. So much importance has been placed on effective communication both in school and in the workplace. But why is English fluency being stressed in non-native English speaking countries? It’s because at the end of the day, English remains to be the language of business across the hyper-connected world. From manufacturing and service industries to information technology and the Internet, people are speaking, writing, and studying in the English language.
English in Media Today
In last year’s “State of Broadband” report by the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, only 5% of the world’s 7,100 languages are actually present in the Internet. In real life, Chinese surpasses English as the most spoken language, accounting for 1.2 billion people speaking the language. Spanish comes second with 400 million and English accounting for 360 million. On the Internet, however, it’s a different scenario. About 55% of the Internet’s content is in English, with Spanish accounting for 4.7%. Chinese accounts for just 2.2% of content from the top 10 million websites online.
Given that English is the most used language on the Internet, it also encompasses the largest hub of information online. From white papers to essays and the news, most content is primarily in English and may be translated into several languages either by a website’s options or simply, one’s Internet browser. In order for businesses to reach customers on a global scale via the Internet, they would need to deliver their message in the language that is most prevalent online: English. In the advertising sense, English delivers what other languages can’t—the English vocabulary has several words to connote a single idea in various ways.
English as an International Language
The dominance of international language is widely attributed to economic power. During the late 18th century to the early 1900’s, the economies of both the United States and Great Britain burgeoned because of the Industrial Revolution. In the 19th century, the way the global economy operated was highly influenced by mass media—radio, television, and more recently, the Internet. Because of this sudden surge in advertising and marketing, partnered with the reach of mass media, English as the language of the world’s economic superpowers would find itself at the center of such phenomenon.
The reason why English remains to be the language of business to this day is because historically, Great Britain and the United States experienced massive economic growth in the last two centuries. Both countries rose to economic power, and where there is trade, there is opportunity. Businesses rushed to benefit from the emergence of the Dollar as one of the most powerful currencies in the world.
These opportunities became more accessible to both global and local companies thanks to modern communication tools. It has become easier to get in touch with markets on a global scale and do business regardless of one’s location. Language barriers have blurred as the English language training industry grew as well. Gone are the days when learners had to attend classes with teachers. Today, English language training is easily achieved over the telephone. The demand has urged providers to create learning programs that utilize several learning techniques that make it easier and quicker to learn English.
As companies all over the world are learning English to reach a broader audience, they’re also learning how to communicate effectively, and ultimately, close better deals in order to get behind the language of the Dollar—and that’s English.
