How Important Is English in Business

May 2012 ARTICLE PREVIEWTo read the full articleSign inorRegisterfor free. HBR Subscribersactivate your free archive access http//hbr. org/2012/05/ globose-business- deals-english/ar/1 Global condescension Speaks position by Tsedal Neeley Readyor non, incline is outright the global expression of business. More and to a greater extent multinational companies ar mandating incline as the cat valium corporate quarrelAirbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor, and Microsoft in capital of Red mainland mainland China, to put up a fewin an attempt to facilitate parley and per processance crossways geographi shoot the breezey divers(prenominal) functions and business endeavors.Adopting a common mode of speech isnt that a skinny bringing close together its a must, eve for an Ameri rout out gild with operations oerseas, for instance, or a cut ph unmatchedr foc mappingd on domestic customers. Imagine that a sort of sales mass from a visitrs genus Paris headquarters get together for a meeting. Why would you c ar whether they only could verbalise position? straightaway consider that the same group goes on a sales c wholly(a) to a comp both in like manner based in Paris, not realizing that the potential customer would be bringing in employees from opposite(a) locations who didnt speak French.This happened at one comp all I giveed with. Sitting together in Paris, employees of those ii French companies couldnt close a deal beca role the peck in the room couldnt guide. It was a stately wake-up call, and the company soon adopted an face corporate expression strategy. Similar concerns drove Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakutenjapans sizeablest online market belongingsto mandate in March 2010 that face would be the companys official vocabulary of business.The companys finis was to be seminal fluid the consequence one mesh lend services company in the gentleman, and Mikitani believed that the n ew policywhich would affect more or less 7,100 Japanese employeeswas vital to achieving that end, especially as enlargement plans were concentrated outside Japan. He similarly felt responsible for contri only whening to an galloped macrocosmview for his coun try, a blimpish island nation. The multi one thousand million-dollar companya cross between virago. com and eBaywas on a growth spree It had acquired PriceMinister. com in France, Buy. com and FreeCa implement in the U.S. , Play. com in the UK, Tradoria in Germany, Kobo eBooks in Canada, and established joint ventures with major(ip) companies in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Brazil. Serious nigh the speech change, Mikitani announced the plan to employees not in Japanese plainly in position. Overnight, the Japanese speech cafeteria menus were replaced, as were elevator directories. And he stated that employees would stick out to demonstrate competence on an outside(a) side rack up system indoors two cl asssor risk demotion or even dismissal.The media instantly picked up the story, and corporate Japan reacted with fascination and disdain. Hondas CEO, Takanobu Ito, publicly asserted, Its stupid for a Japanese company to b arly use slope in Japan when the workforce is mainly Japanese. But Mikitani was confident that it was the safe move, and the policy is bearing fruit. The slope mandate has allowed Mikitani to create a remarkably diverse and powerful organization. Today, terce out of six senior executives in his engineering organization arnt Japanese they dont even speak Japanese.The company continues to aggressively seek the best talent from just about the ground. Half of Rakutens Japanese employees now bottomland adequately engage in internal communication in slope, and 25% communicate in incline with partners and coworkers in unusual subsidiaries on a regular basis. Adopting a global row policy is not easy, and companies invariably stumble along the way. Its radic al, and its al roughly up-to-date to meet with staunch resistance from employees. Many may tactual sensation at a disadvantage if their position isnt as good as early(a)s, team dynamics and performance chamberpot suffer, and national primp can get in the way.But to survive and thrive in a global economy, companies must crucify dustup barriersand slope go forth almost always be the common ground, at to the lowest degree for now. The fastest-spreading lecture in human history, face is speak at a useful level by some 1. 75 billion muckle world(a)thats one in every four of us. on that point ar close to 385 million native speakers in countries like the U. S. and Australia, about a billion runny speakers in formerly colonized nations much(prenominal)(prenominal) as India and Nigeria, and millions of volume around the world whove studied it as a molybdenum row.An e stimated 565 million spate use it on the internet. The benefits of side of meatnization, as Mikit ani calls it, atomic number 18 momentous however, relatively few companies receive systematically implemented an position- address policy with sustained results. Through my research and work everyplace the past decade with companies, Ive developed an adoption framework to guide companies in their wording efforts. at that places still a lot to let out, that success stories do exist. Adopters allow for adjust significant advantages. The Straight Dope http//www. straightdope. om/columns/read/757/whats-the- global- lyric poem-of-business-french-or-english A STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC FROM CECILS STOREHOUSE OF merciful KNOWLEDGE Whats the worldwide linguistic communication of business, French or incline? August 4, 1989 Dear Cecil Our amply schoolhouse French t severallyer always insisted gather up French was important because it was liberation to become the supranational nomenclature of business. Now I hear side of meat is mandatory in international aviation, and the Chinese students in Beijing spoke position to the international media. Was our French teacher shucking us? Merde Les Petites, South BostonCecil replies Now, now. He/she probably just didnt know any better. French teachers lead such(prenominal)(prenominal) empty passs as it is that no one has the centre of attention to tell them the awful truth, which is that French is a language on the way down, not up. at once the language of diplomacy, French was utilize in the royal courts of Germany, Russia, and Italy during the 19th century. Fifty years ago Somer invest Maugham called it the common language of educated men (women similarly, one presumes). But its been in a state of decline since beingness War II, having long ago been supplanted by you guessed it English.English is the primary language of more than 400 million people and is the second language of hundreds of millions more. Its of the essence(p) in science, technology, scotchs, and finance. Its the official language of airport control towers, might as well be the official language of computer softw atomic number 18, and of course is vital to a perfect cognition of MTV, Madonna, and other pillars of modern culture. French is the primary language of maybe 114 million, including such outposts of world commerce as Haiti, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso, and is essential chiefly to reading menus at Le Cirque.The French strike been desperately attempting to reverse this trend. In addition to hosting international conferences of Francophone (French- intercommunicate) nations, France as of 1986 was spending $750 million per year to support 20,000 French teachers in clv countries. It in like manner employs language police to guard against un-Gallic intrusions such asle compact-disc. But all in vain. Not that French doesnt call for its uses. Au contraire. It cadaver the language of international pretensionpar excellence, having a certainje ne sais quoithat appeals irresistibly to thenouveaux riches.Als o, lets face it,je taimesounds infinitely classier than luv ya, babe. But French is more likely to come in handy in the intimate hours after the business meeting than during. Cecil Adams Is English the Language of production line? http//www. businesstrainingcollege. com/business/is-english-the-language-of-business. htm Current figures channelize that in that respect atomic number 18350 million native speakers of English, spreading into at least 100 territories. Englishhas become the main language in the UK, Australia, the USA and South Africa.And, even in those countries whereEnglishis not the official language, it has become the adopted counterbalance language of governments, education and international communications. On top of the 350 millionnative speakers of English, there ar roughly the same amount who useEnglishas asecond languageand even some who use it as a three language. AsEnglishhas grown and spread around the globe it has been adopted as thelanguageused when two parties from differing countries, who do not speak each others language, pauperism to conduct business.And, with access to computers and the earnings growing daily, the bet ofEnglish speakersan individual can potentially reach is phenomenal. Its clear, from the facts laid out above, thatEnglishis not only important forbusinessand yourcareer it is essential. And, this is especially true for those extremitying to participate ininternational business. Business raisingcan help you improve yourEnglish. Request a prospectus for ourBusiness English with Spoken English course. teatime Leaf English is increasingly the international language of business ByJeff Thredgold,For the Deseret sores http//www. deseretnews. om/article/700091766/English-is-increasingly-the-inter national-language-of-business. hypertext markup language? pg=all Published Wednesday, Dec. 15 2010 1012 p. m. MST SALT LAKE CITY Its the year 2012. Your employer, a major global firm, announces that within two years all meetings and written communication within the company go away be based on or conducted in Mandarin, the primary language of China. SALT LAKE CITY Its the year 2012. Your employer, a major global firm, announces that within two years all meetings and written communication within the company pass on be based on or conducted in Mandarin, the primary language of China.Imagine our nose candy our anger our displeasure at the withdraw to suddenly peck an extremely vexed language, all in the name of keeping our job. Welcome to the global community in 2011 English has increasingly become the international language of business. More and more nations are demanding that their business executives become fluent in English. English learning courses are popular around the globe. term perhaps one quarter of the worlds population can now converse to an extent in English, that share could rise to one-half by 2015, fit in tobusinessreviewusa. com. Japanese EnglishA number of major Japanese companies obtain already mandated that English is, or soon allow for be, the primary language of internal communications. Rakuten Inc. , Japans largest online retailer, has mandated that English bequeath be the contributeard language by March 2012. Major employers such as Nissan Motor, Sony, Fast Retailing, Sumida and Nippon Sheet Glass have made similar mandates, or have already implemented such a reality, according to The Wall Street Journal. By 2012, Rakuten employees will be ask to speak and correspond with each other in English. The risk of dismissal from the company if English is not seeed is clear.While we might think of Japan, now the worlds third-largest economy behind China, as a manufacturing haven, roughly 70 percent of that nations GDP is now in services. If you are aiming at be a player in the global marketplace, you mustcommunicate in English. Ironically, it is fiercely independent Japan where English skills lag other nations. Among the 34 nations designated a s advanced economies by the external Monetary Fund, Japan had the lowest scores during 2009 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language, a proficiency test given to contradictory students who want to work within the U.S. , according to The Wall Street Journal. European English Meetings within the European Union are routinely held in English written documents the same. It is simply a reality that a much larger share of senior politicians within the European Community speak English as a second language rather than French, German, Italian, etc. It has long held true that the aspiration of thousands of gifted students around the world is to consider and graduate from a major American university. The combination of gaining a degree in business, or finance, or engineering, or chemistry, etc. from what most still consider the worlds best, most up-to-date universities, combine with perfecting verbal and written skills in English, is a ticket to prosperity for those students who transc end home. Student English As one might expect, many nations around the globe have required their youth to routinely study English in the primary grades for years. What might have once been seen as a way to expand the horizon of younger people, such English language skills now provide people across Asia, across Europe, across South America, across Africa, across the Middle East, etc. with a vital tool to come in life in coming years. Unfortunately, the rise of English places less take for Americans to study other languages than ever before. More schools do offer Chinese languages than before, but other language courses have been shortened in many schools because of budget pressures. What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Multilingual. What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call a person who speaks one language? An American. Sad, but true. TradeThe U. S. trade deficit with the rest of the global community shrank in October to its l owest level in lodge months, one more sign that the American economy is slowly picking up speed. The net deviation between American exports and imports declined to $38. 7 billion in October, better than consensus expectations. The trade deficit was $44. 6 billion in September. U. S. exports to the world jumped 3. 2 percent to $158. 7 billion in October, the highest level since August 2008. Imports dunk 0. 5 percent to $197. billion. Perhaps contrary to common belief, the trade imbalance does not just eyeshade the deflexion between swop or goods exported out of and imported into the U. S. It in any case includes a smaller ingredient of services, including financial services, insurance, travel, professional services, etc. The U. S. typically runs a trade deficit in goods or merchandise and a surplus in services. A lofty goal The Obama presidentship has announced a goal to double U. S. exports to the world over the next five years.While this is a noble and desirable objective, you can seclude it to the bank that every other nation on the planet has identified a similar goal. The administration and the national Reserve have drawn criticism around the world that both institutions are quest a cheap dollar policy to boost U. S. exports to the world. The theory is that a weaker U. S. dollar relative to other major currencies leads to lower global prices for American-made goods and services, tour also making imports into the U. S. more expensive. As usual, the administration and the Federal Reserve each indicate support of a strong dollar policy.Chinese pressure China remains under enormous global political pressure to allow its currency to rise in survey as a means of reducing its enormous trade surplus with the world. While the Chinese have allowed modest currency appreciation in recent years, many feel that their currency, the yuan (which does not ball up or trade bruskly in global foreign exchange markets), is still 20 percent to 40 percent underval ued. China, now the worlds largest exporter, runs an enormous trade surplus with the U. S. Despite record American exports to China in October, the two nations ran a $226. billion trade surplus in favor of the Chinese during 2010s first 10 months, up more than 20 percent versus the same period a year ago. excess U. S. and global political pressure on the Chinese to boost their currencys value will remain come to stage for years to come. Jeff Thredgold is chief economist for Zions Bank and founder of Thredgold Economic Associates, a professional utterance and economic consulting firm. Visitwww. thredgold. com English as essential language of business BySun Joo Kim October 28, 2012, 858 PM PDT http//www. smartplanet. om/blog/bulletin/english-as-essential-language-of-business/4030 China may have the worlds second largest economy, but speaking Mandarin isnt a required business skill yet. English, according to a study byEF Education First, will remain the basic language of business. Do rie Clark for Forbesoutlines the study and writes that English will maintain and grow its dominance, moving from a marker of the elite in years past to a basic skill needed for the wide workforce, in the same way that literacy has been transformed in the polish two centuries from an elite privilege into a basic requirement for informed citizenship. (Indeed, the British Council reports that by 2020, two billion people will be studying English. ) The findings will be reassuring to native English speakers in the United States, of whomonly 10% speak a second language. However, speaking another language in addition to English (in the United States, Id argue for Spanish) is vital to participating and having a competitive edge in business and finance on a global level. Read the entire study on theEF website. Mandarin Chinese Most Useful Business Language After English ByJohn Lauerman2011-08-30T193457Z http//www. bloomberg. om/news/2011-08-30/mandarin-chinese-most-useful-business-langua ge-after-english-1-. hypertext mark-up language Mandarin,Chinas official tongue is also the top language worldwide for business other than English, according to Bloomberg Rankings. Mandarin, spoken by 845 million people, scored highest in a ranking of languages, excluding English, based on business usefulness. The ranking scored languages according to the number of speakers, number of countries where the language is official, along with those nations populations, financial power, educational and literacy rates, and related measures.French, spoken by 68 million people worldwide and the official language of 27 countries, was ranked second, sustained by Arabic, which is spoken by 221 million people and is official in 23 nations. Mandarin is unlikely to supplant English soon as the primary language of business, said Leigh Hafrey, a senior lecturer in communications and ethics at theMassachu delimitatets form of TechnologysSloan School of Management. In much the same way that the doll ar remains the best- sexual loved currency, English will remain the preferred language for the foreseeable upcoming tense, Hafrey said in a telephone interview.Mandarin speakers can gain an advantage in doing business in China, Hafrey said. Speaking the language confers a abundant advantage for anyone who wants to do business in a non-English-speaking country, he said. It gives you flexibility, knowledge that you need, and personal connections that can fetch a release in the speed and effectiveness of your negotiations. Spanish, the official language of 20 countries and spoken by 329 million people, came in fourth, the rankings showed. Spanish was the top foreign language studied in U. S. ollege classrooms in 2009, according to research from theModern Language AssociationinNew York. Chinese tallied seventh by the number of U. S. students enrolled in classes that year, after Spanish, French, German, American Sign Language, Italian and Japanese, according to a December 2010repor tby the association. Arabic was eighth. English The internationalistic Language of Business Better English-Better Future http//www. learn-english-online. co/News/April-2012/EnglishThe- transnational-Language-of-Business. aspx Sunday 1 April 2012 941 AMThere are estimated to be over 360 million native English speakers across the globe. Whilst this compares to a massive 850 million native Mandarin speakers, a further billion people speak English as second or foreign language. With the dominance the British Empire at the turn of the 20th century and the emergence of the USA as a global superpower over the following two decades, English cemented its position as a global language. What is more, with the financial centers of London and New York located in English speaking countries, the language has become firmly established as the language of business across the world.There is talk of the USA declining as a global power and the rise of the China and other far eastern economies. So will English ever lose its place as the international language of business? Looking at the alternatives suggests that it probably will not. Mandarin is an extremely operose language to grasp and English is already widely spoken as a second language in India and a lot of European countries. As a result, national and international companies in any country place particular emphasis on their employees being able to speak English.If you want to stand out from the crowd it is important to already have a firm grasp on the language when you turn up to job applications. On the other side of the coin, if you are a native English speaker but struggle with spelling or grammar your career prospects are drastically limited. It is, therefore, essential to learn English grammar to get on in your career. There is an emerging form of English, known as International English, that is somewhat frankr and easier to understand than British or American English.The international form of English does not use c olloquialisms and places less emphasis on the correct use of tense and other grammar. The trouble is it is often construe as poor English and will simple not suffice in many international companies. Failing to learn English grammar correctly will ultimately cost you in a large proportion of jobs. For native speakers, it is important, however, to be able to speak clearly and correctly. One of the things that make English such a fantastic language is its enormous variety of accent marks and dialects.The downside to this is that non-native speakers or natives from different parts of the English speaking world can struggle to understand one another. It is imperative, therefore, to be able to soften your own accent and drop some of the dialect to ensure you are clearly understood at work. So if you want to improve your job prospects and take the next yard in your career, learning to speak or modify your English language skills is a great place to start. There are a number of tone o f voice courses available online as well as in night schools and colleges across the country that cater for all levels of English speakers.RELATED SITES ALUMNI HOME CLUBS Learning to Speak the Language of Business Hiroshi Mikitani / Rakuten March 2012 http//www. alumni. hbs. edu/bulletin/2012/march/innovation-mikitani. hypertext markup language Mikitani Main article Where Innovation Rules Case study Englishnization at Rakuten From Pinterest to Kobo, how Japans Rakuten is building a global internet giant(Wired. co. uk) You might callHiroshi Mikitani(MBA 1993) the Jeff Bezos of Japan. Both lead hugely successful internet commerce companies with a commanding presence in their home markets. But to call Mikitanis company, Rakuten, the Amazon. om of Japan would overlook primordial differences for customers and merchants alike. We created a real online marketplace where customers can interact with shop owners, and we empower our merchants to build relationships with their customers, ver balizes Mikitani, Rakutens founder, chairman, and CEO. Amazon offers neither experience, he adds. Launched in 1997, Rakutens online shopping mall now hosts more than 37,000 merchants, and the company has grow into other e-commerce businesses, including travel, banking, telecommunications, and credit card services.Not satisfied with dominating Japans e-commerce landscape, Mikitani believes the companys future lies in taking its online expertise global. Since 2008, Rakuten has acquired or partnered with e-commerce firms in 10 countriesincluding Brazil, China, and the United Statesand plans to add seven more this year. Success as a global player takes more than an aggressive acquisitions plan, says Mikitani. It requires that all 7,100 of the firms Japanese employees communicate in English, the global language of business.Mikitani announced the changeover, in English, in March 2010 and set a two-year deadline for everyone to demonstrate English proficiency or sacrifice chances for adva ncement. He dubbed the project Englishnization, which has attracted international media attention. The Japanese language, Mikitani reasons, poses a barrier to the firms global ambitions. There was a huge language barrier between the Tokyo office and our subsidiaries outside Japan, he observes in a 2011 HBS case study on Rakuten. One day the idea just struck me Why dont we try communication just in English? Its an entrepreneurial kind of thing you come up with an idea one day, and suddenly you jump off the cliff with it. As the proficiency deadline approaches in July, Mikitani says employees are progressing better than expected. He credits HBS assistant professorTsedal Neeley, who wrote theRakuten case study, with providing advice for communicating more clearly why English proficiency is important for Rakutens future. This is not just a Japanese company issue, Mikitani points out. some other companies doing global business also have been segregated by language. If we succeed, we ll be followed by others. RT Business English as International Language of Business Business English Training Courses,English Language TrainingAdd comments http//languageblog. communicaid. com/english-language-training/business-english-as-international-language-of-business/ What are the reasons why so many professional people are currently attendingBusiness English courses?The answer to this question is simple. English is the language for doing International Business. As a consequence, companies need those employees who are in relation with foreign clients or suppliers to have the skills in English which enable them to do their work efficiently. point if an employee has good knowledge of the English language, he/she still needs to acquire the language to their professional neighborhood (logistics, human resources, etc. ) and therefore need to attend a Business English course.In thispost we will look at why English is in this position, what the implications of this are for the Eng lish language and Business English training courses and what future ontogenys we can expect to witness. British colonialism spread the English language around the globe as it was administratively imposed on the non-English speakers in these colonies. English started to become increasingly influential on the world-scene at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. The Versailles Treaty of 1919 was drawn up not only in French (the diplomatic language of the time) but also in English.The USs powerful political, military and economic position in the second half of the Twentieth Century meant that English became the main language of communication in such organisations as NATO and the IMF. The following facts from theBritish Councilwebsite reveal the current widespread use of English English is spoken as a first language by around 375 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. Due to the fa ct thatBusiness Englishis so important, companies require increasing numbers of their employees to have knowledge of this language.This knowledge is no longer the preserve of people in positions of responsibility technicians who have to phone for support in another country and receptionists who receive foreign delegations also need to be able to do certain parts of their jobs in English. Companies therefore portion a proportion of their training budgets to business English courses. This more diverse demand has led to the development of training courses which specialise in exactly what the delegate needs to know in order to be able to function correctly at work.As Business is done in English between people who are not necessarily native speakers of the language, a simplified magnetic declination of English is now emerging. This version is sometimes called standard or international English. This new type of English for Business purposes is trimmed of all the non-essential grammatica l structures and has a reduced common vocabulary. Phrasal verbs such as go on and set up are not as important as continue and create, for example, and knowledge of the difference between the present perfect and the past simple is no longer a priority in the training room.The primordial objective of the business person using international business English is to communicate efficiently and effectively. Native speakers with their fast delivery, colloquial expressions and unclear pronunciation are feared in the business place as they have become the most severe people to understand. The result of this is that native speakers may have to start learning how to speak a more communication-friendly form of their own language i. e. international English According to a recentBBC article, US economic, military and political dominance is likely to decline over the next two decades.This change shows that the situation that made English into the international Business language is going to chang e in the future. Will this mean that another language will replace English as the new language of international business communication? It is improbable as Chinese, for example, is such a difficult language to learn and does not have the same world-wide spread as English. Another emerging economy, India, already uses English substantially in everyday life. It is also true to say that International English is easier to learn than other forms of English such as British English or American English.The result is that this exchangeable international version of English will become more and more prevalent in international business and training courses will have to reflect this reality. Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010 Exforsys Inc impressiveness of English in International Business http//www. exforsys. com/career-center/english-vocabulary/ magnificence-of-english -in-international-business. hypertext mark-up language Author Exforsys Inc. Published on 13th May 2007 Last Updated on seventh F eb 2011 grandeur of English inInternational BusinessWhile English is not the most widely spoken language in the world when you look at it in terms of the number of native speakers, it is the worlds most turgid language. While a larger number of people speak Chinese, that language is largely confined to China. English on the other hand, is spoken around the world. It has been estimated that out of the roughly 6 billion people that are alive today about 350 million speak English. When you look at the importance of English for InternationalBusiness, you must look at more than just the number of people who speak it. You must also look at what the language is used for.English is the ideal language for many governments around the world, and it is also heavy(a) in business, education, world news, and communication. In addition to this, Western pop culture is also carried to foreign countries in the form of music or movies. If you wish to be successful in International business,learningE nglish is incredibly important. In many places such as Asia, Africa, andSouth America, the ability to learn English will determine who will increase their living standards, and who will remain in poverty. There are a number of powerful tools that have allowed more people to learn English than ever before.One of these tools is the Internet. ThePowerof the Internet in Spreading English Before the Internet, it was hard for you to learn English if you didnt attend acollegeor university. These were the only institutions where the language was widely spoken. If you lived in a community so poor that it didnt have a college or university, your chances of ever learning English were remote. While many people still live in these circumstances today, the Internet has allowed the English language to spread around the word. Because the Internet was invented in the West, English was inherently built into it.Because Internet usage has expanded doneout the world, more people are being expose to En glish. The advent of online universities has now made it possible for more people to learn English, people who may live in countries where access to standard education facilities is limited. While it may have been impossible for these people to learn English in the past, the Internet has opened up newcareeropportunities. These people are now able to learn English, and they can use their English skills to get better paying jobs athome, or they can use them to find jobs overseas.In any event, the Internet has played a powerful role in allowing English to spread across the world, and the number of people learning it is likely to increase in the future. The Importance of English for Business Many companies have discovered early in the 21st century that they can cut their costs of production by sending their jobs overseas. The proper term for this is outsourcing, or offshoring. Some companies have also found that they can cut costs by bringing immigrants into the country on work visas. T he employees will work for thecompanyfor a given period of time, and once their visa has expired, they can return home.For someone living in a country where English is not the native language, they will need to master this language if they wish totravel to the United Statesto find a high paying job. While many people in English speaking countries complain about the impact of outsourcing, it presents lucrative opportunities for people living in foreign countries. Learning how to speak English can allow you to travel to a Western country, work there for a few months, make more money than you would make at home, and then bring the money back home to your family.This is a practice that many people use, and it is factors such as outsourcing which have allowed them to do it. As you can see, learning how to speak English opened up a large number of doors, doors that would normally be closed. Ads Conclusion In many countries where English is not the native language, you are considered highl y educated if you can speak the language properly. You will be presented with a number of career opportunities, and you will have the option of staying home to work, or you could travel abroad. When you learn how to speak English, the opportunities are limitless.Its estimated thatup to 7,000 different languagesare spoken around the world. 90% of these languages are used by less than 100,000 people. Over a million people converse in 150-200 languages and 46 languages have just a single speaker Languages are grouped into families that share a common ancestry. For example, English is related to German and Dutch, and they are all part of theIndo-European familyof languages. These also include Romance languages, such as French, Spanish and Italian, which come from Latin. 2,200of the worlds languages can be found inAsia, while Europe has a mere 260.Nearly every language uses a similar grammatical structure, even though they may not be linked in vocabulary or origin. Communities which are usually dislocated from each other because of mountainous geography may have developed multiple languages. Papua New wopfor instance, boasts no less than832different languages http//www. bbc. co. uk/languages/guide/languages. shtml On the importance of English language education for students The capital of Indonesia Post Feature Mon, October 29 2012, 1222 PM http//www. thejakartapost. com/news/2012/10/29/on-importance-english-language-education-students. html Paper Edition Page 21The English-language plan in the national education system has been a operating system of contention among parents and education experts for many years, with many lamenting its focus on grammar and structure at the outgo of creating a fun learning experience for students. The Jakarta PostsIman Mahditamatalked to the Education and Culture Ministrys director command for secondary education,Hamid Muhammad, about the importance of instilling students with excellent English communication skills and the importation of extracurricular activities such as the Youth Speak Fun Day in helping students to master the language.Below are excerpts of their conversation. Question What is the significance of Youth Speak Fun Day (YSFD) for your directorate, given the bigger personation of the national education system? Answer The secondary education directorate command has two main programs. The first is to ensure access to education for junior high school graduates. Every year, there are 1. 2 million graduates who cannot be accommodated in senior high schools. We are working to solve this. We are currently creating a layout for a national 12-year compulsory education scheme. However, access to education alone is not adequacy.We also have to ensure the quality of education, which is our second program. It means nothing if we build more schools, but cannot develop students who are competent in their respective fields. In improving educational quality, the directorate general must be able to d evise a scheme that will not only put forward the students intellectual ability, but also improve their character, as I believe that character is the basis of their future success. We have many smart kids who cannot do anything once they are out in the real world as they lack in communication skills. This is where extracurricular activities, such as the YSFD, can help.It can be a medium for students to do fun stuff, interact, communicate, and play with others. We have to develop these activities to prevent our kids from getting too bored with academic stuffs. In short, we really, really support YSFD. If children in various regions in Indonesia seem to be enthusiastic over the event, its because they really do love it -because it gives them a space to really show their talents and skills. Without undermining the significant role of Indonesian instruction, what are your hopes for such events as the YSFD in the campaign to learn English?In Indonesia, English is deemed as a foreign lan guage instead of a second language. However, as our local communities are becoming more global, coupled with our countrys booming economy, learning and get the hang English has become a must. So far, the local English curriculum is too focused on grammar and time structure at the expense of instilling excellent English communication skills, when, in fact, the last mentioned was what we hope from our local schools. The YSFD can serve as a place for our kids to self-actualize themselves in fun and contend ways. I believe fun and challenging is the key.Some programs are just too challenging and too besotted that it cant be fun. YSFD is different. I think that this is something good that needs to be spread to all regions in Indonesia. How do you think such activities as the YSFD can help stop students from the brawls that have humiliated out as of late? Brawls are a problem of metropolitan areas and large cities, many of which are lacking in facilities for teenagers to interact wi th each other in fun and positive ways. In the end, those kids are overflowing with energy, which they then release in negative, and sometimes destructive, behaviors.I sincerely hope that activities like YSFD can be held in large cities as a place for these kids to channel their energy in positive, productive, and competitive ways. I think the effect will be exceptionally tremendous. By having more activities, we can prevent teenagers from forming gangs and involving themselves in negative activities. What is the role of partnerships with companies like The Jakarta Post Foundation and PT Chevron Indonesia for the directorate general in executing its programs? I sincerely thank both companies.At least, we have good news in promoting our students who have tremendous skills and talents, rather than telling the bad news of student brawls all the time, which is honestly exhausting. I truly welcome every company who wants to help us with our program. It will be beneficial for all, no doub t about that. There will always be those who see the countrys huge population and when they see what weve done, theyll say that what we do wont mean much. I dont agree with that. At least, weve done something good. The thing that we do may only be on a small scale, but the ripple effect will be incredible.People will see that weve done something good and that the result on the kids is also good. The Education and Culture Ministry plans to streamline the national curriculum and erase English as a compulsory subject for elementary schools scratch line from next year. Will that affect the English curriculum for secondary education? I think not. The plan was not to entirely erase the English subject, but rather to make it as an optional school subject. Even now, when it is compulsory for students to learn English starting in the fourth grade, many elementary schools are not dogma the subject.There will be streamlining, but that does not mean that we will ban elementary schools that vo luntarily wish to teach their students English from doing so. Elementary schools that have the capability to teach English well will be allowed to teach the language. We will keep providing attention to the teaching of English anywhere in this nation, but we dont want to make the subject compulsory when most schools are incapable of carrying it out. It is better for the subject to be optional. The most important thing is that the schools dont have too many core subjects, but we open more possibilities by giving them optional subjects.What plans and ideas do you have in mind for future campaigns of the use of English and prevention of student brawls? I think the most important is to change our English curriculum to focus on improving student communication skills. In fact, the current school-based curriculum KTSP has attempted to use that approach, but it fails because the teachers are so used to grammar and structure. It is impossible to tell our kids to learn to communicate in Engli sh when their teachers cannot do so. I believe that teachers of English at our schools must use English, instead of Indonesian, in class.That is what we are trying to reinforce in the new curriculum. Training for teachers, therefore, is a must. I think its a huge mistake if English teachers use Indonesian while in class. Its fine in primary education levels. But in senior high schools, everyone must be brave enough to talk in English. I also encourage schools to have one day when everyone must speak English. In this aspect, the curriculum of Gontor Islamic Boarding School in Ponorogo, East Java is better than ours. They implemented a dual-language teaching system, using English and Arabic.Their graduates can speak English fluently because they use it every day. No one seems to protest that, whereas when we try to enforce our international standard project (RSBI) schools to use English, everyone protested. They say that enforcement ran against the spirit of nationalism. How can they be so narrow-minded? Mastering a foreign language does not mean your love for your country will fade away. Haji Agus Salim, a national hero, was widely known during his lifetime for having know more than five foreign languages. No one has ever questioned his nationalism.What is the importance of English in todays world? English Language Questions Best Answer http//EzineArticles. com/? expert=Raghu_Sundaram http//wiki. answers. com/Q/What_is_the_importance_of_English_in_todays_world Frankly speaking, it is highly essential to know the language for communication. In general, the most popular language is English. In thiscomputerage, English is the only language that any one can understand. So to say, it has become as an ideal language for expressing our feelings. First, we have to learn the language and then we have to gain fluency in the language.Unless we have the fluency in English language, it would not be possible to work with the computer. If you do not know English, then you wo uld be in need of a translator to do the job. The first stage of learning this language would be very interesting. Once you are fluent with the alphabets, slowly you can learn many spoken communication. It would always be better to follow the method of reading first, then writing. You can use the picture books for this purpose. When you feel that you are familiar with the words, you can form disapprobations. This is the most interesting stage to learn.You just think of a sentence in your bringlanguage, and try to write the same sentence in English. There could be some mistakes. But you should not bother about it. But, you have to write the same sentence using many different words till you are satisfied with your sentence. If you follow this way, very soon you can create sentences of your own. The next step is learning the grammar of the language. It is quite simple and very systematic compared with other languages. There are certain rules and regulations for each and every topic i n grammar of this language.As long as you follow the rules and regulations, it would be a difficult confinement to make mistakes. You would gain that much guidance from the grammar. The presentation is the most important factor in communicating your feelings. So, naturally you must be sure while you are presenting. what you really wish to say. At any point, do not try to write or speak, beyond your capability. Even if it is a small and simple sentence, it would reach the receiver perfectly. This is our basicidea. Slowly, you can improve the standard of your language by practice.If you know to form the sentences, it is more than enough to go deep into the subject. Though this only an article about the importance of the English Language, we have to learn some of the basic points in presenting the sentences. There are three different types of sentences They are, 1. Statements. 2. interrogative mood sentence. 3. Imperative sentence. 4. Exclamatory sentence. To begin with, you must kno w the difference between a phrase and a sentence. Phrase is a group of words, which gives meaning, but not complete meaning. A sentence is a group of words, which makes a complete sense. . Statement The sentence starting with nouns or pronouns is known as statement. Example capital of Italy is a church city. 2. Interrogative sentence There are two types of interrogative sentences. a. wh type question. The sentences starting with the following fords are wh type question. What, When, Where, Who, How many, How long and etcetera. Example Why did you come late? 2. What are you doing there? b. yes or no type question. For which sentences you get the reply either with yes or no they are called yes or no type question. Example Is your father a doctor? The answer No sir. 3.Imperative sentence The sentence that gives command, request, and advice is known as Imperative sentence. Example Walk on the pavement. 2. Eat regularly. 4. Exclamatory sentence The sentence that expresses the sudden feeli ngs or strong emotions is known as exclamatory sentence. Example Alas He is dead. 2. Oh What a beautiful sight. When you are familiar with the above points, it would be very interesting to you to create many marvelous sentences. In general, the sentences are divided into three different kinds. They are, 1. Simple sentence. 2. Compound sentence. 3. Complex sentence.Though it very essential to have knowledge inhandlingthe above sentences, we have to study them separately. In this essay, we are talk of the town about the importance of the language. Many people make mistakes even with the usage of articles. It is a pity that even scholars may make mistakes. So, you should not get dejected with your style of writing. There is a lot of difference between these two. 1. a few 2. few When you want to say that you have friends, you have to say that, I have a few friends. When you want to say that you do not have friends, you have to say that, I have few friends. This is the opposite meanin g of the word, many. Apart from these, there are many points to be discussed later. When you feel that you are already strong on the above subjects, you can develop your knowledge for amelioration of your knowledge. As long as you educate yourself, you will come across many new things. There is no end for learning. All the above points are used in the normal usage of English. The books value of the English Language is entirely different and should be dealt separately. Article Source http//EzineArticles. com/? expert=Raghu_Sundaram Importance of the English Language in todays world ttp//zeeshannaved. hubpages. com/hub/importanceofenglishlanguages This Hub was last updated on July 10, 2012 Language is the source of communication. Its the way through which we share our ideas and thoughts with others. There are uncountable languages in this world. Because every country has their own national language, then they have different local languages spoken and understood by their people in di fferent regions. Lets talk about English. It is the language of England and has International Standard. Many people think English as American Language but it is not true.In fact, when Columbus discovered America, he saw the country in the Stone Age with high illiteracy rate. Those were the European and English people who brought education and knowledge even technology towards America. There are several factors that make us to learn English Language to go through in the current time. First of all, as I already mention, it has International Standard, thats why everyone needs to learn English in order to get in touch on International Level. If we see Educational field, we will find much of the syllabus is written in English. Children are taught and encouraged to learn English on starting levels.And accordingly, as they promote to the next levels they study almost all the subjects in English. We see the Internet and finds more than 90% of websites written and created in English. And eve n when you see some sites in other languages, they also give you the option to translate in English. All the research and studies you find will be written and typed in English. All the information regarding each and everything contains English Language. There is another factor that make English very important in this world is it is the easiest language of the world to learn.Many people think that it is very difficult and confusing. But I suggest them to start and learn only for a week and they will feel easy with English. With good understanding and communication in English, we can travel around the globe. We get assistance and help in English in every part of world. You can test it by on line travel. Better you visit some offices, companies, governmental organizations, and other departments, and you will see the importance of English as they hire the professional staff after getting know that whether the people they are hiring are good at English or not.This is the companys will t hat their staff is not even well educated but also good English speaker, writer and Reader. Those who are still unaware about the importance of English. They should start learning English as a time will come when everything would be understood, spoken and written in English. Better watch some media and get the scope of English. 15 KASIM 2008 CUMARTESI http//toeflgencligi. blogspot. com/2008/11/importance-of-english. html IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH