English is the language of business, so if you’re thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, working in marketing, or pursuing a career in any other area of business management, don’t stop studying the universal language. Moreover, if you want to improve your language skills and be able to hold fluent work conversations, you must master business English, which includes an extensive and specific vocabulary that will make your speech sound professional.
It’s obvious that to learn Business English, you need to master the language in general, but if you want to develop in the international business world, knowing English alone won’t be enough. To attend business meetings where participants come from different parts of the world, it’s important that everyone understands the same communication code — and by this, we mean formalities, idioms, expressions, concepts, and industry-specific vocabulary... Are you ready to take the leap into the international arena?
Keep reading this post and start your journey into Business English with the vocabulary list we’ve prepared for you below.
To help you start getting familiar with business-specific English, here’s a list of the 25 most commonly used words and expressions in the corporate world. If you’re preparing for your next meeting, don’t forget to include them.
Today, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in 19 of the 25 member states of the European Union, but do you know how this happened?
Before English speakers became the majority, Latin was the dominant language for over a millennium. After the discovery of America, people around the world learned it to communicate. When Charles I of Spain ascended to the throne in 1500, a dynastic union was created that led the country to become the leading European power. Each of those territories had its own language, but due to difficult management, Spanish became the diplomatic language, spoken throughout the Iberian Peninsula, Naples, Milan, Franche-Comté, the Netherlands, the German States, and even Rome. Spanish also spread beyond what we now know as Europe, becoming the commercial language of choice used in trade at key points such as ports and borders. In other words, if you wanted to stay up to date on all the latest news coming from the New World or Asia, you had to know Spanish.
However, everything changed with the fall of the Spanish Empire and the Thirty Years’ War, which triggered an economic crisis that made it impossible to maintain troops in every Spanish colony and reduced the influx of precious metals from America and Asia. This led to the loss of territories and the political rise of France.
But it didn’t stop there. Finally, after the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, English rose to the top of the list of most-spoken languages thanks to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain in the 18th century. Around this country and the English language, new advances in science and technology emerged — advances that needed to be described with new words and definitions for previously unknown concepts.
In case there was any doubt, here’s why you should aim for a high level of English if you want to dedicate yourself to the business world.
We live in a globalized world: English has become the language of globalization and international business. It’s widely used as a means of communication among people of different nationalities and cultures, which makes communication and collaboration easier.
Economic and political dominance: English-speaking countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have held significant economic and political power worldwide. As a result, English has become the preferred language in many commercial transactions and international relations.
Access to information and resources: Much of the information and resources in fields like technology, science, finance, and business are in English. Therefore, mastering English allows access to a wide range of knowledge and professional opportunities.
Do you want to discover more curiosities about the business world? Don’t forget to keep reading the Educa.Pro blog!
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