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My interest in teaching Business English stems from my own experience in the business world. I am a native English speaker from Canada who has lived in Europe for 20 years, working in a bank, along with many business trips across Europe and also to Asia and South America. This experience includes countless numbers of meetings with big institutional investors, corporate management teams, investor relations teams and salespeople. I have already witnessed many of the kinds of mistakes that non-English speaking professionals can make. English is the language used in all of the business seminars that I have attended, even the ones in which over 90% of the attendees were from non-English speaking countries. In my experience, I believe that English is easily the most common language for business leaders globally. There have been some seminars in Asia, for example, where I was the only western attendee, but the language used was still English because of the mix of attendees from China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, etc. In meeting with management from these international companies, I have found that a poor grasp of English can erode an investor’s confidence in the manager’s abilities. Sometimes, even the top members of management (such as CEO, CFO), despite their experience and educational background, are not able to adequately explain their company’s strategy or financial accomplishments in English. This can lead to misunderstandings and, often, the seminars or conference calls have been confusing or unproductive due to a lack of strong communication skills in English from the management. The problems I have seen in Business English are not limited to non-native English speakers either. I have found that native English journalists, for example, often make mistakes when it comes to communications or news reporting on financial matters. For a business professional, there is a huge difference between the terms “net income” and “net sales”, for example, but the average person on the street might use these terms interchangeably without knowing the difference. I am also hoping that I can see benefits in my future as a Business English teacher from my experience as a professional investor and fund manager in other ways. For example, I have read countless numbers of interim reports, annual reports, sales presentations and research reports over the years. In addition, I have also produced my own investor reports and fund sales presentations. This has given me the knowledge of what information is important to present and how to make it clear and concise. Sometimes, simple language is needed to properly explain matters that are complicated. I also hope that my work experience will help me establish a professional rapport in teaching business people and even in teaching the top management of big corporations. After all, I have already met with top management many times over the years as a professional investor and I am not intimidated by their stature nor would I be afraid to point out mistakes or areas for improvement. I believe that already knowing how to behave professionally and communicate in business terms will prove to be a big advantage in helping business people around the world improve their English skills. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
