UK: Lingua franca can cause confusion

What happens when a colleague turns to you in a meeting and says in a strong Cockney accent: "We'll have a second bite at the cherry."? As a native English speaker, you might not know what that means. If English is your second or third language, you probably will not have a clue. A new research paper looks at English as the lingua franca in the globalised business world.

Dr Pamela Rogerson-Revell, an expert in applied linguistics from Leicester University, studied the use of English by a group of European actuarial associations. Her findings showed that, apart from the use of idiomatic language, another problem was timing: by the time a non-native English speaker had caught up with the discussion and formulated a response, the argument had moved on.

The Groupe Consultatif Actuariel Européen has set up a task force to consider how to encourage more active participation of non-English speakers in the organisation, as it fears that Anglo-Saxon views are more likely to predominate.

Rogerson-Revell, a leading specialist on the use of English in international commerce, said the dominance of the language in global business was quite a big issue.

"The difficulty of getting heard in business interactions, particularly in international meetings, can be extremely frustrating," she said. "Many international organisations are rightly concerned to make such events as equitable as possible."

Her research showed that some accents of native English speakers were more difficult to understand than others. Nearly half of her respondents cited London English, Australian, African, Scottish, Irish, Tennessee and New Orleans American as hard going. 'Heavily regional' and 'uneducated' accents were also problematic.

Asked if they found it generally easier to communicate in English with native or non-native speakers, respondents gave inconclusive answers, with 43% finding it equally easy to talk to either, a third preferring native speakers and almost a quarter finding non-native speakers easier.

Several people in her survey appealed for English participants to speak slowly and clearly and not to use jargon, metaphors, unusual words or colloquialisms. Respondents also said it would be helpful if fluent English speakers repeated ideas in different ways and related what they were saying to other people's cultures and situations.

Using English for international business: a European case study, Pamela Rogerson-Revell, English for Specific Purposes 26/1. 103-120
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