Languages and business relations

The study aims to investigate the relationship between telecommuting and productivity while examining the moderating role of multiple business constructs like industrial psychology, leadership etc. This research was conducted in India with a sample population from Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Mumbai metro cities where 60% were male respondents and 40% females from the IT Sector and fell in the age group of 30 years -50 years . The structural equation model predicts which variables will enable or inhibit employee productivity in telecommuting. The results supported the hypothesis and examined the moderating effects of many business factors like Leadership style, Organizational change, Communication, Socioeconomic status, Industrial psychology, Training, Employee engagement, Employer branding, Employer liability, and Personality. The study has important implications for academia, future researchers, governments, and entrepreneurs aiming at improving their employee’s quality of life, health, and well-being, a key sustainable development goal, and the goal of a sustainable future.

Interpersonal communication is a fundamental aspect of human interaction that shapes relationships, collaboration, and productivity in both personal and professional contexts. However, quick judgments and assumptions made based on initial impressions can distort communication and lead to misunderstandings. This article examines the communication and psychological theories related to first impressions, snap judgments, and the impact of labeling on interpersonal dynamics. Drawing from theories such as attribution theory, communication accommodation theory, and implicit bias research, the article explores strategies for enhancing interpersonal communication through mindfulness, empathy, and reflective listening. The goal is to offer communication practitioners and leaders practical tools for fostering more authentic and effective interpersonal exchanges.

While language has received considerable attention worldwide as an important factor of development, this concern has been very slow to transform from discourse into policy for many African languages. Many countries and development agencies still treat African languages as a subsidiary policy area or an add-on. Language in general is yet to be brought to the center of development as an overarching principle. Yet, scholars of African languages have demonstrated how positioning language agency in development can enhance communication, meaning-making and active participation at national, regional and global levels. The East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC), an institution of the East African Community (EAC) heralds a new approach to regionalization by promoting Kiswahili, an African language as tool for regional integration. The language is considered a key factor of globalization and a soft tool for communicating development issues. While anchoring on the mandate of the EAKC, this article is intended to share experiences in the development and use of Kiswahili through strategic and transformational activities that strategically position Kiswahili and its users at the center of not only regional but also at the global cooperation scene.

This study is anchored on Fishman’s (cited in Crawford 1995) theory of language loss which emphasizes “dislocasions” involving physical and demographic, social, and cultural factors. Specifically, these factors include: dispersal from the historic homeland, subordination to a socioeconomic system whose tongue has greater power and prestige, and the weakening of traditional bonds through contact with modern societies which recognize individual freedom over communal values. Two models were formulated to show relationships between variables: first, there is a direct relationship between the total Aboriginal population and their educational attainment; second, there is a direct relationship between the total Aboriginal population and the number of indigenous people immigrating in metropolitan areas, which lead to indigenous language loss. The results of the study confirmed the two models. Hence, there is a direct relationship between the total Aboriginal population in Canada and their educational attainment and immigration to metropolitan areas which indirectly leads to indigenous language decline or extinction.

Yabancı dil olarak Türkçenin eğitiminde, etkili öğrenmenin önemli bir yolu da kültür aktarımından geçer. Dilbilgisi ve kelime hazinesi, dilin matematiksel ve rasyonel yönünü temsil ederken, kültür aktarımı ise edebî, sanatsal ve soyut yanını temsil eder. Tıpkı kendi kültürüne vâkıf olmanın getirdiği zenginlikte olduğu gibi bir başka toplumun kültürüne hâkim olan öğrenci, dilinin de mantık sistemini, yapısal işleyişini, tarihsel gelişimini, günlük yaşamdaki akışını ve kurallarını kolaylıkla öğrenir. Dil ve kültür, arasındaki güçlü bağı kavrayan bir öğrencinin, dil öğrenmedeki içsel motivasyonu artar, dilin işleyişine dair sorularına yaşamın içinden cevaplar bulur. Kültürün taşıyıcısı olarak dilin, o toplumun sanatı, felsefesi, inanç sistemi ve edebiyatı ile ilgili üretimlerine daha derin bir bakış açısı ile yaklaşır. Tüm bu nedenlerle Türkçe öğrenmek amacıyla ülkemizde bulunan öğrencilere dilini öğrendikleri toplumun yaşamını, tarihsel bir süreçle şekillenen değerlerini, düşünce ve i...

During the last two decades, studies of how the teaching of culture is related to second language learning have grown enormously. At the same time an interest in Languages for Specific Purposes in both Europe and the USA has resulted in a study of how business languages are taught. But few people have examined how texts published in different countries to teach business languages present different facets of the target culture. The purpose of this article is to study how texts for Spanish for Business published in Spain during the last three decades have taught culture. These texts reflect a growing interest in intercultural awareness and changed from being purely centered on Spain to comparing Hispanic business culture with that of other parts of the world. Despite this growing interest in presenting cultural themes, many times these texts reflected an interest in superficial cultural patterns of behavior and did not examine underlying causes.

This article argues that spontaneous humour should not be considered a subversive force within organisations, but rather an organisational resource. Humour plays a vital role in helping to close the communication gap between leader and followers, providing an alternative channel of communication, and helping to extract information which might not otherwise be volunteered. Humour makes organisational confusion more bearable, and draws attention to areas in need of management attention. It also enhances trust, facilitates change and encourages plurality of vision. In short, humour helps to break down barriers between people and makes an organisation more participative and responsive. It follows that an environment which is amenable to humour will also facilitate organisational learning and renewal. Fully appreciating the various functions of spontaneous humour helps executives communicate and manage change more effectively.

Effective usage of nonverbal and verbal communication in Japanese such as gestures, mimics, silence and employing grammatical or lexical honorifics plays a significant role in determining the success of foreign language learners in obtaining their intended employment. This study examines the second language (L2) learning of politeness and social interaction in professional life within sociocultural and sociolinguistic competence in situ among those L2 learners of Japanese who took the sociolinguistics competence courses and those who did not. The main purpose of this study to exhibit the importance of employing Sociolinguistic Competence courses to the Japanese Language Education Curriculum in order to have students understand crosscultural and sociocultural phenomena. In the Sociolinguistic Competence courses graduates do not only learn the theoretical sociocultural background of Japanese society and language. In addition, they familiarize themselves with various practical topics s...

This conceptual paper advances the notion of “English as corporate language” in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman, Erving. 1959.The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday. dramaturgical metaphor of social life, we develop the notion of English as corporate language by making a distinction between the frontstage official language used in corporate communication and backstage working language used in interactions among MNC employees. We argue that the former approaches the notion of English as a native language and the latter represents ELF in the business domain (BELF); they are different in terms of understanding language competence, multilingualism and role of language in building legitimacy. Our conclusions imply first, that the frontstage English may not always be accessible to the backstage BELF users, due to which employees ma...

Workplaces constitute one of the more interesting sites where individuals 'do gender', while at the same time constructing their professional identities and meeting their organisation's expectations. Drawing on interactional data recorded in New Zealand professional organisations, this paper focuses in particular on how participants manage and interpret the notion of 'femininity' in workplace discourse. In much current usage, the concepts 'feminine' and 'femininity' typically evoke negative reactions. Our analysis suggests these notions can be reclaimed and reinterpreted positively using an approach which frames doing femininity at work as normal, unmarked, and effective workplace behaviour in many contexts. The analysis also demonstrates that multiple femininities extend beyond normative expectations, such as enacting relational practice (Fletcher 1999), to embrace more contestive and parodic instantiations of femininity in workplace talk.

Effective usage of nonverbal and verbal communication in Japanese such as gestures, mimics, silence and employing grammatical or lexical honorifics play a significant role in determining success of foreign language learners in obtaining their intended employment. This study examines the second language (L2) learning of politeness and social interaction in professional life within a sociocultural and sociolinguistic competence in situ between L2 learners of Japanese who took the sociolinguistics competence courses and who did not. The main purpose of this study to exhibit the importance of employing Sociolinguistic Competence courses to the Japanese Language Education Curriculum in order to obtain the students to understand the cross-cultural and sociocultural phenomena. In the Sociolinguistic Competence courses graduates do not only learn theoretical sociocultural background of Japanese society and language. Besides, they familiarize themselves with various practical topics such as ...

The role of English cannot be ignored in global business. Humor, in its quintessence, bears numerous multi-faceted benefits for business and should be taken seriously. Discourse constitutes a crucial aspect of leadership performance. It has even been pointed out that "Imagining leadership outside of language is all but impossible" (Lyons & O"Mealy, 1998). Indeed, it appears that many of the central leadership activities, such as creating and communicating a vision or mission statement, encouraging, motivating and guiding subordinates, setting a goal and ensuring subordinates" compliance all involve language (Bennis & Thomas, 2002). In spite of this long-winded relationship between leadership and language, there are amazingly few studies which view leadership performance from a linguistic standpoint (Wodak, 1997; Mullany, 2007). This paper aims at addressing this new orientation by illustrating some of the ways through which analysis of leadership discourse especially that involves humor will be carried out. The data analyzed in the paper proves that humor has a positive and productive effect in leadership discourse. CEO"s may encourage this feature in their negotiations, daily written and verbal interactions and may feel the difference by miraculous impact of humor in their leadership practices.

Workplaces constitute one of the more interesting sites where individuals 'do gender', while at the same time constructing their professional identities and meeting their organisation's expectations. Drawing on interactional data recorded in New Zealand professional organisations, this paper focuses in particular on how participants manage and interpret the notion of 'femininity' in workplace discourse. In much current usage, the concepts 'feminine' and 'femininity' typically evoke negative reactions. Our analysis suggests these notions can be reclaimed and reinterpreted positively using an approach which frames doing femininity at work as normal, unmarked, and effective workplace behaviour in many contexts. The analysis also demonstrates that multiple femininities extend beyond normative expectations, such as enacting relational practice (Fletcher 1999), to embrace more contestive and parodic instantiations of femininity in workplace talk.

The aim of this study is to introduce an approach to managing business communication based on the German language needs of employees in multinational companies in Malaysia and the expectations of employers in the teaching of German in their companies. As additional variables, training for sustainable development (ESD) and for maximizing the mutual understanding in personal interactions is included. This paper is reflecting on the spectrum of ideas about the teaching of German in German companies in Malaysia that was obtained through the author's earlier target situation analysis in MNCs in Malaysia. In addition to a variety of methods that is incorporated to engage students in the learning process, a 'meaning negotiation' approach is applied in order to deal with the intercultural communication practices. The paper outlines a set of topics and strategies that can assist employees in intercultural interaction contexts in a German Malaysia-based company. It draws them together into a conceptual framework of required skills in a German beginner class. This study contributes to the current issues concerning the German mediation requirements in the management field.

Öz
Yabancı dil olarak Türkçenin iş dili bağlamında öğretimine giderek artan bir talep vardır. Başta ticari saha olmak üzere çeşitli iş kollarında Türkçeyi öğrenmek isteyen profesyonellerin sayısı gün geçtikçe artmaktadır. İş dili, ticaret yaşamında önemli bir işleve sahiptir. İş dünyasında kurumların şirket içi iletişimleri, müşteriye bir ürün, mal ya da hizmeti pazarlamaları iş dili üzerinden gerçekleşmektedir.
İş dünyasında iş dilinin doğru ve etkili kullanımı verimliliği arttırması açısından önemlidir ve temel bir ihtiyaçtır. Bu çalışmada giderek artan iş Türkçesi ihtiyacını karşılamak için oluşturulacak materyallerde ve açılacak kurslara kuramsal alt yapı desteği sağlamak amaçlanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda özel amaçlı dil öğretiminin tanımı, sınırları ve sınıflandırılması üzerinde durulduktan sonra iş Türkçesi öğretiminin tanımı ve sınıflandırılması yapılmıştır. Yabancı dil olarak iş Türkçesi öğretiminde öğreticilere ve materyal tasarımcılarına yol gösterici olması için iş Türkçesi öğretiminin özellikleri ortaya konmuştur. Araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerine dayalı literatür taraması temelli derleme çalışması yapılmıştır.
Anahtar kelimeler: Yabancı dil olarak özel amaçlı Türkçe öğretimi, iş Türkçesi, akademik Türkçe, mesleki Türkçe, iş dili.

Business Turkish in the context of teaching Turkish for specific purposes to foreigners: definitions and limitations
Abstract
There is an increasing demand for teaching Turkish as a foreign language in the context of a business language. The number of professionals who want to learn Turkish in various business fileds, especially in the commercial field, is increasing day by day. Business language has an important function in business life. In the business world, the internal communications of the institutions and the marketing of a product, product or service to the customer are carried out through the business language. The correct and effective use of business language in the business world is important in terms of increasing productivity and is a basic need. In this study, it is aimed to provide theoretical infrastructure support for the materials to be created and the courses to be opened to meet the increasing need for business Turkish. In this context, after focusing on the definition, limits and classification of special purpose language teaching, the definition and classification of business Turkish teaching has been made. In order to guide the instructors and material designers in the teaching of business Turkish as a foreign language, the characteristics of business Turkish teaching have been revealed. In the research, a review study based on literature review based on qualitative research methods was conducted.

Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a foreign language for specicif purposes, business Turkish, academic Turkish, occupational Turkish, business language.

Учебное пособие предназначено студентам-бакалаврам специальности «Русский язык в межкультурной и деловой коммуникации» университета им. Констанина Философа в Нитре, владеющим русским языком на уровне A2 – B1. Тексты и задания ориентированы на формирование основных компетенций в сфере деловой коммуникации и закрепление речевых навыков. Пособие может быть полезно широкому кругу студентов-русистов разных стран, изучающих основы устного и письменного общения в бизнес-сфере. 

Cover & Graphic Design ©  Katarzyna Makarowska, PaedDr. Peter Horváth

Türkiye’nin ekonomik, sosyal, politik ve askerî alanlarda uluslararası öneminin artmasıyla yabancı dil olarak Türkçe öğretimi çalışmaları hem kuramsal hem de uygulamalı olarak her geçen gün gelişme göstermektedir. Ancak farklı öğrenme ihtiyaçlarını göz önünde bulundurmayı gerektiren özel amaçlı Türkçe öğretimi alanında yeterli kuram ve uygulama henüz geliştirilememiştir. Ticari sahada çalışan ve Türkçeyi iş amacıyla öğrenmek isteyen yabancı iş insanlarına yönelik iş Türkçesi öğretimi özel amaçlı Türkçe öğretiminin bir kolunu oluşturur. Gerek iş Türkçesine gerekse özel amaçlı Türkçe öğretiminin diğer kollarına yönelik kurs tasarımı, program oluşturma, yöntem ve teknik belirleme, materyal tasarımı, söz varlığı belirleme, ölçme ve değerlendirme aşamalarında ivedilikle çalışmalar yapılması gerekliliği bu kitabın çıkış noktasını oluşturmaktadır.
Bu kitapla yabancılar için özel amaçlı Türkçe öğretimine yönelik kuramsal altyapı oluşturma amacının yanı sıra iş Türkçesi öğretiminde temel unsurlar, kazanımlar ve söz varlığı konusunda bir pencere açmayı amaçlıyor. Bu sayede Türkçenin şimdiye kadar ihmal edilmiş “özel amaçlı öğretim” alanını geliştirerek bir dünya dili olan Türkçenin gelişimine katkı sağlamak amaçlanmıştır.

Business and language are inter-connected in many ways. In order to do
an International business task, one needs to acquire knowledge of Business English and also Inter-cultural communication. What you say, wear and behave can either break or make you in business. Also, global business is demanding and businesses are looking for the best candidates.
In order to keep up with the demands, the applicants need to Master the
Art of Business. This paper will cover some tips for acquiring Interview skills, the business and the electronic etiquette.
If people want to be successful in Business internationally, they should
study Business English. Teaching and learning Business English is much
different than it looks like. The teacher necessarily needs to know the
methodology of ESP which is quite different than teaching EGP. The paper will go through the differences of ESP/EGP/EOP and will provide you with some useful tips of how to avoid traditional frontal teaching by using task-based activities.
Key words: business, interview, etiquette, ESP, methodology, task-based
activities.

This conceptual paper advances the notion of "English as corporate language" in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman's (1959) dramaturgical metaphor of social life, we develop the notion of English as corporate language by making a distinction between the frontstage official language used in corporate communication and backstage working language used in interactions among MNC employees. We argue that the former approaches the notion of English as a native language and the latter represents ELF in the business domain (BELF); they are different in terms of understanding language competence, multilingualism and role of language in building legitimacy. Our conclusions imply first, that the frontstage English may not always be accessible to the backstage BELF users, due to which employees may feel disadvantaged or disempowered. Second, the use of formal language testing in recruitment and performance appraisal may transform into a gate-keeping mechanism that leads to power inequalities. In our recommendations, we call for an emancipatory language policy accepting different standards of English for different positions and adopting ideas of the Plain Language initiative to better reach all MNC employees.

Top US economist Larry Summers tweeted the following message regarding the commercial relationship between the US and the UK following the election of President Trump: 'Britain is now a small economy. If Trump’s strategy is to make trade agreements w/ only people who speak English we will be lesser nation' (8 Jan 2017). This tweet suggests that trading in English only is not an effective economic strategy. In other words, the economic impact on the US of closing off its trade barriers with non-Anglophone countries would be enormous. Similarly, post-Brexit Britain will need a language strategy as it aims to connect with fresh markets overseas...

Leadership is a complex concept, and academics and practitioners alike
have long been captured by its complexity. Not surprisingly, then,
researchers across numerous disciplines are constantly trying to gain
a better understanding of what constitutes ‘effective’ 1 leadership and
which factors have an impact on leadership performance? Their theoretical and practical approaches to this topic reflect general trends and changes in leadership and organizational research: early assumptions that leaders are born rather than made were subsequently replaced by theories which concentrated on the traits or behaviors displayed by
effective’ leaders

Globalization, the Internet and an era of mass travel have combined to produce a world with a language mix on a huge scale. Linguanomics explains this multilingualism in a material, economic and cultural sense.

What is the effect of this multilingualism on society, organizations and individuals? What are the economic benefits and drawbacks? Should we invest in language skills? Should there be interventionist policies, and if so, at what level? Should there be a global lingua mundi? The debate surrounding multilingualism is often clouded by emotion and misconception. With an analysis devoid of rhetoric, Gabrielle Hogan-Brun takes an objective look at this charged area.

The result is Linguanomics: a major step towards a clearer understanding of the market potential of multilingualism, its benefits, costs and points of contention. Asking significant questions of profound concern to the future of global
collaboration, Linguanomics is an essential guide to students, teachers, policy makers and politicians and anyone who cares about the role of language in the modern world.

It is remarkable how language plays an important role in delivering meaning. Starting from this point, this study tries to look at how the word ‘pengusaha’ (businessperson) appeared in two Indonesian online press websites; i.e. detik.com and kompas.com, brings semantic association that shape meaning to be perceived by readers. By looking at collocation of certain words towards the target word ‘businessperson’ and valence in semantic association of people in business context in Indonesia, this study seeks whether there is some positive or negative association to the word ‘businessperson’ in Indonesian online press and whether this association changes over time. This study employs quantitative approach using statistical tool. Pertaining to collecting data, Webcorp is used to extract linguistic resources from website texts between 2012 and 2015. The result indicates that the word ‘businessperson’ is significantly associated with both positive and negative notions in two Indonesian online press website, with greater positive association compared to the negative association. Neutral association of the word is not found to be statistically significant. It is also found that exogenous factors within 2012-2015 such as corruption case and Indonesian president’s speech did not give much impact to the association of the word ‘businessperson’. From these results, this study contributes to an insight of how press reports lead readers to value a preference of word meaning existed in community and affect domestic or foreign participation decision in Indonesian business since the country is promising for businesspersons.

Keywords: valence, exogenous factor, Indonesian businessperson, semantic association, collocation

The conceptualisation of humour as a means of communication is not new (Martineau, 1972,
p. 101). Research on the social functions of humour has contributed valuable information
not only on the positive psychological effect of humour, but also on the understanding of
social interaction patterns and the dynamics of group structure (Martineau, 1972, p. 103).
Studies from the West have indicated that humour is highly recognised as a powerful
discourse to be used to wield power in workplace setting (Sollit-Morris, 1997; Holmes &
Marra, 2002a; Holmes & Stubbe, 2003; Arfeen, 2009). This study investigates the functions
of humour and the enactment of power amongst academics in asymmetrical relations. The
parameters of this study are confined to the different status position of the participants
who use humour to wield power during academic management meetings. Data for the
study were collected from semi-formal meetings that were recorded in a local university
in the state of Terengganu. The instances of humour elicited from the naturally-occurring
discourse of the academic staff were categorised based on Hay’s Taxonomy of Functions
of Humour (1995), which mainly focuses on power in discourse. The findings revealed
that the production of humour in academic management meetings is highly influenced by
the status or position that one occupies.

Keywords: Humour, power, academic management meetings, workplace discourse, Malaysia

The web has unique potential among corpora to yield large-volume data on up-to-date language use, obvious shortcomings notwithstanding. Since 1998, we have been developing a tool, WebCorp, to allow corpus linguists to retrieve raw and analysed linguistic output from the web. Based on internal trials and user feedback gleaned from our site (http://www.webcorp.org.uk/), we have established a working system which supports thousands of regular users world-wide. Many of the problems associated with the nature of web text have been accommodated, but problems remain, some due to the nonimplementation of standards on the Internet, and others to reliance on commercial search engines, which mediation slows up average WebCorp response time and places constraints on linguistic search. To improve WebCorp performance, we are in the process of creating a tailored search engine, an infrastructure in which WebCorp will play an integral and enhanced role.

"The web has unique potential among corpora to yield large-volume data on up-to-date language use, obvious shortcomings notwithstanding. Since 1998, we have been developing a tool, WebCorp, to allow corpus linguists to retrieve raw and analysed
linguistic output from the web. Based on internal trials and user feedback gleaned from
our site (http://www.webcorp.org.uk/), we have established a working system which supports thousands of regular users world-wide. Many of the problems associated with the nature of web text have been accommodated, but problems remain, some due to the non-implementation of standards on the Internet, and others to reliance on commercial search engines, which mediation slows up average WebCorp response time and places constraints on linguistic search. To improve WebCorp performance, we are in the process of creating a tailored search engine, an infrastructure in which WebCorp will play an integral and enhanced role."