English as a Business Lingua Franca in a German Multinational Corporation
English as a Business Lingua Franca in a German Multinational Corporation
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英语作为德国跨国公司的商业通用语言
DOI：
10.1177/0021943610377303
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发表时间：
2010
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
S. Ehrenreich
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
S. Ehrenreich
这篇文章探讨了英语和其他语言在一家德国家族跨国公司的高层管理人员对技术领域的作用。调查结果表明，在21世纪，英语已成为公司不可或缺的“必修课”，人们普遍认为，各级员工都在根据自己在公司中的角色发展自己的语言技能。然而，需要学习的不是英语作为母语，而是英语作为一种商业通用语言的交际效果，作为一种国际接触语言，它汇集了来自不同语言文化背景、熟练程度不同的非母语和母语的英语。在商业交流的背景下，学习如何应对这种多样性的挑战，似乎最有效地发生在商业实践社区中，而不是在传统的英语培训中。研究还表明，尽管英语占主导地位，但其他语言并没有消失，而是被用作语用或战略资源。特别是，德语作为总部的语言，在个人和组织内部都发挥着重要作用。
This article explores the role of English and other languages as perceived by members of upper management in a family-owned German multinational corporation in the technology sector. The findings show that, in the 21st century, English has become an indispensable “must” in the company and that there is a general understanding that staff at all levels develop their language skills as they see appropriate for their roles within the company. What needs to be learned, however, is not English as a native language but communicative effectiveness in English as a business lingua franca, which—as an international contact language—brings together nonnative as well as native Englishes from various linguacultural backgrounds spoken with varying degrees of proficiency. Learning to cope with the challenges of such diversity, in the context of business communication, seems to happen most effectively in business “communities of practice” rather than in traditional English training. The study also shows that, despite the dominance of English, other languages are not disappearing from the scene but are, indeed, used as a pragmatic or strategic resource. In particular, German, as the headquarters’ language, maintains an important role among individuals and within the organization.