Guidelines for extensive reading of ESP texts on the use of English for European business
In modern business network interacion, individuals often speak different languages and illustrate diverse cultural realities. As the clash of civilizations has an effect on the costs of doing business in international contexts, intercultural business communication has attracted more and more interest as an academic domain. In the course of the past decade, communication between speakers of different languages has increased exponentially in the business world. More and more business organisations are now characterised by a multi-cultural, multi-lingual workforce, and numerous organisations now communicate with stakeholders in different countries. In such situations in international business communication, whenever person A with first language A, speaks to person B with first language B, then there are quite a few options available in terms of the language that they will prefer. Doing business in the global market depends on the ability to successfully communicate in an intercultural context. Due to the complexity of human beings, our cultural values are transferred to the communicative process; in other words, in cross-cultural encounters, each business partner filters the message through some layers of culture. Consequently, this circumstance determines the success of the business endeavour.
Anne Kankaanranta’s main research interests include the use of English as a business lingua franca and email genres in business communication. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Business Communication and has published in e.g., Business Communication Quarterly and English for Specific Purposes.