Better Business English: A Proposal

This isn't mine. I found it online a few years ago. It was written by Kenneth Beare and is on his website: ESL.About.com . He makes a very good point.

"In my years of teaching Business English courses I am time and again surprised by one fact: Multinationals invest a surprising amount to teach basic English skills to a wide variety of employees. These learners vary in level from beginner to advanced. They are working in entry-level to management positions. They all strive to improve their command of English, and are usually successful in their efforts. Unfortunately, after attaining a certain degree of fluency they invariably run into the same problem: Communicating with a native speaker! WHAT! What good is all this teaching if they have problems communicating with the people whose language they are supposedly learning?!
There are two interesting points to this observation:
Students often don't have problems communicating with other non-native speakers.
This is often the case, as other non-native speakers tend to not use idiomatic language and use a limited range of vocabulary. Their grammatical use is often more "bookish". Students who study English as a second or foreign language tend to communicate their ideas with few cultural references. You certainly wouldn't expect German and Japanese businessmen to use sporting idioms from US culture to communicate their ideas about a sales campaign. Another important point is that non-native speakers of are usually more patient with each other when it comes to variations in pronunciation. All of these factors work together to help non-native speakers have a relatively easy time when communicating with amongst themselves.
Native speakers seem to speak English differently.
Native speakers' use of the language often reflects their own cultural bias. They bring standard idioms into play that, in their own environment, seem perfectly natural. They often prefer a highly idiomatic use of the language. Phrasal verbs and slang creep into their expressions. Take for example the issue of connected speech: "I've got to go to the bank" easily becomes "I gotta go to the bank.". These minor issues quickly become overwhelming to non-native speakers who are used to standard forms. This, of course, does not mean that native speakers use English incorrectly and speak in dialects. It does however mean that native speakers tend to economize and use English which, especially in today's hyper-speed world, is constantly evolving in terms of vocabulary, collocation and idiomatic usage.
Better Business English: A Proposal (continued)
This all seems rather obvious
Yes, I agree that these points are rather obvious. However, I am surprised at how little these two rather simplistic points are taken into consideration when it comes to communications in a multi-national business environment. Students who may have just struggled for a year to get a basic grasp of the language are often put into situations where they are expected to understand a native speaker's presentation. In such a situation, native speakers come away feeling frustrated at the lack of understanding on the part of the non-native speaker and non-native speakers often become convinced of their own lack of ability. What has happened? Clearly, the non-native speaker expects "standard" English usage and the native speaker expects someone who understands "English". And the two pass like ships in the night… I would like to suggest that management consider investing in both sides of the equation. Instead of investing a large amount of money (and years of study time) in English lessons for non-native employees only, I think that native speakers should also become sensitized to this issue. Developing workshops for management and staff who work with non-native speakers could easily be done working with ESL teachers sensitive to the matter. Companies could invest in 2 years of study for non-native speakers and a few hours working with native speakers to develop presentation skills in "standard", non-idiomatic English. Compare this to 4 years of study to bring a class of 5 students up to an "advanced" level. You can see that this approach could save quite a bit on the "bottom-line".
Staff and management need to be made aware of the fact that asking, "How can we get around that sand-trap?" may confuse non-native speakers. A non-native speaker however, would probably be quite capable of understanding, "How can we avoid that problem?" This training could be made extremely specific by working on individual presentations and the content included in these presentations. Another suggestion would be to tape conversations and have the native speaker listen to him/herself to become aware of just how much idiomatic language he/she is using.
By combining both English training and non-native English speaker sensitizing for management and staff, the international business community could save themselves quite a few headaches and improve overall communication between various locations. The investment required by native speakers (i.e. management and staff) would be quite minimal and would certainly lessen the considerable investment required for non-native English speakers."