Globalization Of English 2007 Research

GLOBALIZATION OF ENGLISH 2007 REPORT
TRENDS IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR
GLOBAL COMPANIES
Global research on language and business by GlobalEnglish Corporation

RESEARCH SUMMARY
There is a large and growing English skills gap in global
corporations.
+ Employees recognize that English is necessary for their jobs;
however, the number who believe their current skills are sufficient
is decreasing.
The use of English in global corporations is increasing.
+ From 2003 – 2007, the percentage of people who report using
English daily continues to trend upwards from 44% to 49%.
+ More employees are citing difficulty with using English in
sophisticated business interactions.
Individual success requires good English communication skills,
and the time to improve is now!
+ 91% of employees indicate they are more likely to advance in
their organization if they can communicate in English and almost
75% say they need to improve their skills in the next year.

2

ABOUT THE SURVEY RESPONDENTS
10,000 respondents from
100 countries representing
150 global companies
including Accenture, Respondents by Region
CapGemini, Cisco, Deloitte,
General Electric, ING,
Johnson & Johnson, P&G,
36%
Pfizer, Roche, and Wyeth. 39% Americas
EMEA
APAC

25%

3

TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY RESPONDENTS
Country Number of Percentage of
Respondents Total
China 1663 16%
Brazil 1562 15%
Mexico 1474 14%
Japan 1001 10%
Spain 682 7%
South Korea 432 4%
Taiwan 430 4%
France 371 4%
Germany 328 3%
Switzerland 259 3%

4

HOW OFTEN DO YOU USE ENGLISH TO DO
YOUR JOB? Globally, 77% of employees are using English on
a weekly basis, and nearly 50% are using English
daily.
Over the last four years, the percent of employees
Global using English daily has increased from 44% to
49%. This increase indicates the growing
requirement and importance of English skills in
global organizations.

Daily
9%
6%
A few times per week
Americas
8%
Once per week
49%
6%
Once or twice per
month Daily
9%
Less than once per 7%
A few times per week
month
22% 38%
I don’t use English 9% Once per week

Once or twice per
7%
month
Less than once per
month
I don’t use English
30%

5

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO KNOW
ENGLISH IN YOUR CURRENT JOB?
Globally, 91% of employees indicate English is
required or important to do their current jobs.
+ That number is slightly higher, 93%, for the
Americas region.
Global
Globalization has changed the nature of work,
English has been adopted as the “language of
Required
global business” and the impact is being felt by
employees.
2%
4% 3%
Important, but not Americas
required

23% Required
Helpful, but not 3%
2%
important 2%
Important, but not
required
Not important now, 24%
68% but it will be Helpful, but not
important important

Not important, but I
Not important now,
have a personal
69% but it will be
interest important
Not important, but I
have a personal
interest

6

HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED TO STUDY
IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY?
Globally, only 7% of employees say their current
level of English proficiency is sufficient. This
number has decreased slightly since 2004.
Additionally, the number of people expecting that
Global they will need more than one year to close the
English skills gap has increased from 36% to
Up to 1 year
42%.
7%
The “bar” for proficiency is getting higher in this
2%
highly globalized, interconnected world.
More than 1 year, up
11%
to 2 years
Americas
More than 2 years, up
Up to 1 year
to 5 years
51%
1% 6%
7%
More than 5 years More than 1 year, up
29% to 2 years

More than 2 years, up
I already can to 5 years
communicate 29% 57%
effectively in English More than 5 years

I already can
communicate
effectively in English

7

WHAT BUSINESS SITUATIONS CAUSE THE MOST
DIFFICULTY WHEN USING ENGLISH?
Employees of global companies
need sophisticated English
communication skills.
100%
Using English for telephone calls
90%
and meetings has remained
80% consistently high over the past 3
70% years.
Whereas, more people have become
60%
challenged by interactions such as
% of People 50%
email, socializing, answering
40% questions, documents,
presentations, and negotiations.
30%
20%
10%
0%
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2007 2003

8

WHO DO YOU COMMUNICATE WITH, IN
ENGLISH? Globally, a high percentage of employees are using
English for internal communication. This points to
the increasingly global nature of teams and
organizations.
+ English as a common platform enables global
Global teams to be productive.
The Americas region reports higher use of English
70% across all groups except suppliers.
57%
60% 52%
Americas
50%
37%
40% 65%
70% 62%
26%
30% 60%
50%
20% 44%
11%
40%
10%
30% 24%
0%
20% 13%
rs

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s
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Di
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rs
Mg

9

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO KNOW
ENGLISH TO GET A PROMOTION?
English proficiency is important for employee
career development.
Global 91% of employees in global companies
indicate they are more likely to advance in
their organization if they can communicate in
English (93% in the Americas region).
Only 2 percent report that English skills are
not important at all in getting a promotion.
2%
7%

Required Americas
Important, but not
29% required
Helpful, but not
5% 2%
important
62%
Not important at all Required

Important, but not
29%
required
Helpful, but not
important
64%
Not important at all

10

HOW SOON DO YOU NEED TO IMPROVE YOUR
ENGLISH SKILLS?
The need to improve is urgent: globally, 74% of
employees need to improve their skills within the
Global next year.
+ This is slightly higher, 76%, in the Americas
region.

7%
Americas
6 months or less
19% 34%

More than 6 months,
up to 1 year
6%
More than 1 year, up
to 2 years 6 months or less
18%
34%
2 years or more
More than 6 months,
up to 1 year
40% More than 1 year, up
to 2 years
2 years or more

42%

11

CONCLUSIONS
Business today is global, and to be successful,
employees must be able to communicate effectively in
English.
The requirement for English continues to expand and
increase, and global companies must have a plan for how
to address the English skills gap consistently across the
enterprise.
The companies that will succeed in the global
marketplace will successfully address the coordination
and communication challenges of globalization by
developing their employees’ English communication
skills.

12

ABOUT GLOBALENGLISH
GlobalEnglish is the leading provider of online assessment, learning, and
support for business English communication. We offer a scalable, on-
demand solution that helps employees improve their ability to
communicate effectively in English and enables companies to succeed in
the global marketplace.

The GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning Service™ provides learners with a
unique blend of assessment, skill development, and on-the-job
performance support. A complete suite of administration tools helps
companies easily measure performance across the organization.

GlobalEnglish is the preferred choice of the world’s top companies
including Accenture, ArcelorMittal, CSC, Deloitte, General Electric,
Hewlett-Packard, John Deere, Maersk, Procter & Gamble, Reuters, and
Wyeth.
www.GlobalEnglish.com

13

THANK YOU
www.GlobalEnglish.com

Globalization Of English 2007 Research

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