B2B Strategy Spanish vs. Spanglish: Which Approach Is Best for the U.S. Hispanic B2B Market? Learn why traditional translation vendors just can’t keep up. By 2023, nearly half of China’s population will be using social networks. English is the world's lingua franca today, but … And English is undeniably the language of the technologies connecting us all together. In English, if at all, even though it’s not anyone’s native language. By continuing to use this site, you are giving us your consent to do this as explained in our cookie policy, available here. Did you require someone to translate for you? 46 Comments I was driving back from orchestra rehearsal on Monday – well no, driving back from the pub which we go to after orchestra rehearsal – when the radio station I listen to all the time, BBC Radio 4, started broadcasting a programme called ‘Word of Mouth’. During the course of colonialism Latin, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, German, Russian and English were lingua … This is a list of lingua francas. He teaches journalism at Arizona State University. This is one of the questions in onestopenglish’s list of suggestions for completing a needs analysis, and it is a crucial question if you want to know whether your learners use English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). TAGS: International Business Strategies, Marketing Strategies. First, English is already a popular language, spoken by individuals of diverse backgrounds around the world. The fact that English was considered for much of the 20 th century (and probably still today) as the lingua franca of politics and international trade only serves to reinforce its dominance as more and more communications move online. English is also more politically neutral than we think. Learn how to avoid three common localization pitfalls, and discover four best practices. The odds against a Chinese dialect ever gaining traction as an international language are formidable, for linguistic, economic, cultural, and political reasons. English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is English when it is used between two or more people who do not have the same first language. Social media usage is sky-high in global markets where English isn’t spoken widely. The takeaway is clear: English hasn’t been the lingua franca of the Internet for many years—and as Internet adoption continues to grow worldwide, content in languages other than English will become increasingly vital for business. For many people, the answer is likely to be: with other people who do not speak English … MotionPoint’s EVP discusses the value of website and multichannel translation on The B2B Growth Show. What about the fact that English as a lingua franca is quite different to the English as used by native speakers? The takeaway is clear: English hasn’t been the lingua francaof the Internet for many years—and as Internet adoption continues to grow worldwide, content in languages other than English will become increasingly vital for business. Between the mid-90s and mid-2000s, English-language content dropped from 80% to about 45% of total online content, with some experts placing it at less than 40%. English is more than the lingua franca of science; it is rapidly becoming the lingua franca of all international intercourse. Will English still be continue to remain the lingua franca of Europe? If so, you understand how completely frustrating it can be. Unlike any other language, past or present, English has spread to all five continents and has become a truly global language." As the ever-expanding translation industry brings people more content in their native language, and on the eve of talks aiming to set out Britain’s exit from the European Union, it has been suggested that English is starting to diminish as the world’s lingua franca. English is the current lingua franca of international business, science, technology and aviation. Thanks for signing up! China is not an English-first market, and in India, nearly 90% of residents don’t speak English. English is also the native language of shared popular culture – music, movies, even sport, with the recent ascendance of England’s Premier League. It’s little wonder that an estimated 2 billion people will speak functional English by 2020, the vast majority of them having learned it as their second language. The number of Internet users worldwide is around 4.7 billion, up nearly 113% from the 2.21 billion users reported in 2015. These days, businesses need more than English-only websites if they hope to connect effectively with global customers. Here’s What to Know About the Choice, Porche Bennett-Bey, Assa Traoré and Racial-Justice Organizers Are TIME's 2020 Guardians of the Year. Business English Advice for non-native English speakers at work. Some English teachers of my acquaintance have had to specifically ban textese in papers and essays. English has been a dominant language in the world for a good chunk of recent history, and owned the space of business, commerce, science and aviation. Fluency in Mandarin will always be helpful for foreigners doing business in China, much like mastery of Portuguese will give you a leg up in Brazil. But even French companies have had to fall in line, accepting English as their organizational language. Most languages don’t even bother to coin terms for things like “the Internet” or “text” or “hashtag.”. To do so, they will all need to adopt the established ‘lingua franca’ of global communication: English. This trend was fueled by the global adoption mobile and smartphone technology, and the emergence of social media. English as a lingua franca (ELF) is the use of the English language "as a global means of inter-community communication" (Seidlhofer 2016: 20) and can be understood as "any use of English among speakers of different first languagesfor whom English is the communicative medium of choice and often the only option " (Seidlhofer 2011: 7). China and India currently lead the world in Internet and social media usage. But at least we get to pick our second language. Ours is a radically egalitarian and modern language, and it is simpler and more direct as a result. Some of you probably have heard as well about the acronym ESL, English as a Second Language, but more recently on this blog I’ve been talking a lot about the acronym ELF , English as a Lingua Franca.And more specifically, I’ve … The decreasing percentage of English content is readily apparent on social media. So the need for a more flexible language is necessary. A lingua franca is a common language used in international communication. That’s the good news for us as Americans. To remain competitive on a global scale, companies in every industry must provide online experiences that are in-market, in-language, and accessible to local consumers on their devices of c… that English is a world lingua franca, since there is more learning of the language than the model predicts in-sample. But Mandarin poses no threat to English as the world’s bridge language, the second tongue people turn to when communicating and doing commerce across borders. For starters, the language is just too hard for outsiders to attain fluency. Don’t count on it. To remain competitive on a global scale, companies in every industry must provide online experiences that are in-market, in-language, and accessible to local consumers on their devices of choice. Speed-to-market is critical to success in global markets. However, there’s strong evidence to suggest that the English era is on shakier ground than … Learn more. How do they communicate? (There may be native speakers present, but they would be in the minority.) The French – whose language was the last viable alternative in the race to become the world’s lingua franca – are understandably sore about the triumph of English. To present you with relevant, personalized experiences on this site and others we operate conquered most of language. Worldwide is around 4.7 billion, up nearly 113 % from the facts stated above, below are even. 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