Less is More: Tips for Effective International Business Communication

Introduction to International Business Communication 

Hello! It’s Kristine here with the Express to Impress podcast. This week, we’ll talk about how to communicate effectively in an international business setting. Since most people in an international business environment speak English as a second language, that will be our focus. I’ll share tips for native English speakers and English Language Learners, including where to focus your English language-learning efforts, so you’re ready to excel in an international business setting. 

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Common Communication Challenges in International Business

Clients come to me for help with the communication challenges in international workplaces. They describe to me from their perspective what is happening. 

Some feel frustrated that they can’t convince others of their ideas, maintain people’s interest while talking, and summarize their ideas. They face misunderstandings with their coworkers and get interrupted while they’re talking. Some English Language Learners working in an English-speaking workplace feel embarrassed that they don’t articulate themselves as well as they do in their native language. They also feel frustrated they don’t understand the meaning of many idiomatic expressions, have to repeat themselves, and have jokes go over their heads. 

Some of these challenges must be addressed for more effective communication, while others are not as pressing. I help people prioritize what is most important to effective communication in an international business environment, and I’ll do that in this episode, too. 

Go Back to Basics

I enjoy discovering another culture’s humor, unique expressions, and music while learning another language. While my interests help me build vocabulary for lively conversations, they do not prepare me for communicating in a business setting. 

If I were to work in another language, I would need a different, specific set of vocabulary, and hence, a different approach for language learning. 

Many of my English language learning clients have learned English in classrooms, English TV series, movies, and songs, and they are not well prepared for communicating in international business settings. They feel lost in meetings, misunderstood when speaking, and struggle to express their ideas and expectations.

 Learning more English idioms, phrases, and jokes won’t solve these problems. They have an inadequate Business English foundation. To succeed in an international business environment, I suggest going back to the basics. Specifically, I suggest mastering the appropriate vocabulary words and developing the listening and speaking skills needed to have effective conversations. And, of course, you must be willing to speak up when you don’t understand something. 

So, what vocabulary words are needed for a business environment? French businessman Jean-Paul Nerrière put a lot of thought into this question and identified just 1500 English words he thought were needed to communicate effectively in an international business environment. Not a language but rather a code for speaking English in a global setting, which he named Globish.

About Globish

When Nerrière introduced Globish in his 2009 book, Globish the World Over, he sought to simplify English for non-native speakers working in international environments. Globish is a dry version of the English language without idioms or complex grammar. It’s certainly doesn’t prepare you to speak eloquently or allow you to learn much about English-speaking cultures. It’s the basics of the language intended to get the job done. 

What I like about Globish is that it’s efficient. So many people struggle to know the best language learning methods and resources. According to The Global Language Monitor and Google’s Ngram, there are over a million words in the English language. That’s a seriously intimidating number! And while the average American native-English speaking adult supposedly knows about 42,000 words, according to a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, that’s still a massive number of words accumulated over decades. English Language Learners don’t have decades to learn English. While 1500 words is a lot of words, it seems more manageable when put in the context of just how many words there are in the English language.

Ultimately, I don’t think language-lovers and people interested in career success will limit themselves to learning 1500 words. After all, rich idiomatic expressions allow us to express more subtle messages, along with humor and emotion. But the list of Globish words is a good place to start for effective international business communication.

Story

Now I’ll tell you a story about a client who came to me for help with a business presentation, who I’ll call Sandra. English was Sadra’s second language, and she regularly spoke English at work.

As I listened to Sandra deliver her presentation, I strained to decipher what she said. The way she spoke English made it impossible for me to understand many of the words she said. She spoke quickly, often with the wrong word and sentence stress, and consistently pronounced many sounds differently from native English speakers.

After her presentation, I explained that I had struggled to understand much of what she said. Then, I began to share some accent modification suggestions for specific words. But she interrupted me to reassure me she speaks English all the time at work, and people understood her just fine. She wanted my feedback on the content of her presentation. 

I suspect Sandra regularly spoke English with others from her country or region who spoke English in a similar way. While she can speak English effectively in that environment, native English speakers or English speakers in other areas would likely have difficulty understanding her.

Still, I respected Sandra’s wishes. I gave her some content feedback but explained I had such trouble deciphering her words that I didn’t have a lot to share. 

Sandra wasn’t happy about my feedback, but it is my job to be honest about any difficulty I have understanding a client. It can be hard to get feedback we’re not expecting, especially if it means we may have a lot of work to do. She may have thought about my feedback after our time together and reconsidered; who knows. 

Accent Modification for Effective Communication

Sandra’s situation is not unique. When my clients come to me for help preparing for an interview, presentation, or business meeting, I often identify problems they had never considered before. But all of my clients have the same communication goals. They want to be clear and persuasive, and they want to be understood and understand others. 

There are many skills required to accomplish those goals. One must have a sufficient vocabulary, listening skills, speaking skills, and cultural understanding. But it’s not as daunting as it may seem.

For English Language Learners, I work with them to fine-tune the pronunciation of important words they already know before moving onto more advanced topics. Specifically, I guide them through pronouncing the 100 Most Common Words in American English. 

We watch the video series from Rachel’s English, and I model the pronunciation of the words, explaining the mouth positioning whenever they struggle with a word until they get it right. Through the series, they learn how to pronounce vowels in new ways. They can apply the knowledge to many other words as well. They also learn about syllable and word stress, transforming how they speak. And focusing on the pronunciation of just 100 words seems doable! Let’s take a closer look at more tips for effective communication in an international business setting.

Tips and Tools for Communication in International Business

Some of the communication tips I share will be for native speakers, and others will be for English Language Learners. Many of these tips are relevant for communicating with anybody but are especially helpful when speaking with people whose native language is not English. 

Native English speakers

• Use fewer words to explain things.
• Speak in a careful and measured way, not quickly.
• Check for understanding frequently.
• Avoid using idiomatic expressions unless they are common in your workplace. 
• Limit jokes with non-native speakers and offer an explanation if you do tell them.
• Make an effort to learn another language. While learning another language is interesting and rewarding, it’s also tricky and humbling and will help you develop empathy and patience for English language learners.
• Use the Globish Text Scanner on the Globish.com website to determine if you’re using the Globish vocabulary in your writing. I don’t recommend using the Globish Text Scanner all the time. It’s simply enlightening to notice how many words you use are from the Globish vocabulary list.
  

English Language Learners

• Ensure you can say the 100 most common English words well. If you primarily work with American English speakers, Rachel’s English 100 Most Common Words in American English is a great place to start. You can also check the pronunciation of common words on Youglish.
• Know and use common Business English vocabulary. Visit globish.com for a list of 1500 vocabulary words with definitions and write down and use the words and phrases your colleagues and clients use. You may find a program like the Anki language app helpful in memorizing new vocabulary. Once you’ve mastered those words, listen to Business English Pod to further expand your business English vocabulary.
• Ensure you use simple verb tenses well. Revisit the simple past tense basics and complete some exercises to test your knowledge at perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple.html. 
• Adjust your mindset: It’s more important to speak clearly and accurately than beautifully. You don’t need to speak beautifully to succeed in an international business setting.
• Speak up when you don’t understand something.
• Improve your listening skills for international business settings. If you have permission to record business meetings, record and listen later. Listen to Business English Pod episodes for business conversations in various accents and check the transcripts if you get lost. Slow down the playback speed a bit if needed.

Alright, that’s all the tips I have for you today! You will communicate with English Language Learners more effectively in an international business environment by following these tips. 

Editing Services

Whenever I write in Spanish or Portuguese, I worry I’m making grammar mistakes, sounding unnatural and unprofessional, or worse, not getting my message across clearly. I’m not a native speaker, after all! So whenever I’m writing something important, I ask a native speaker to check my writing. Inevitably, they discover mistakes. It’s par for the course. 

Many of my students and clients using English as their second language must write in English for their jobs. Sometimes the stakes are high. They’re writing a grant application for research funding. They’re writing a cover letter for a job they want badly. Perhaps they’re writing a personal statement with the hopes of getting an interview for a medical residency. Or, they’re writing the text for slides they will present to an important client. They, too, worry they will make mistakes and come across as unprofessional, unclear, and ultimately, not achieve their goals.

So, they hire me to check their writing for them. I’m detail-oriented and love writing and editing. And if the writer’s first language is Spanish or Portuguese, I often detect what they meant to say, even if it doesn’t come across that way in English. Plus, my background in marketing and knowledge of business and organizational psychology allows me to check the grammar and give content suggestions. Ultimately, my clients create captivating writing and evoke emotion in the reader.

If you have something important to write, I hope you will reach out to me to work together. Just shoot me an email at hello@express-to-impress.com, and we’ll get started. 

English Language Learning 

That’s all for today! Thank you so much for listening to the Express to Impress podcast. Next time, I invite you to tune in to learn definitions for the idioms and phrases covered in this episode. 

And if you found this episode helpful, please remember to share it with a friend! See you next time. Bye!