Language as an issue in international internal communication: English or local language? If English, what English?
- 作者：Leena Louhiala-Salminen ; leena.louhiala-salminen@aalto.fi ; Anne Kankaanranta anne.kankaanranta@aalto.fi
- 关键词：Internal communication ; International communication ; Corporate language ; Language strategy ; Multilingual strategy ; English ; BELF (English as Business Lingua Franca)
- 刊名：Public Relations Review
- 出版年：2012
- 期刊代码：71_03638111
- 类别：bus
- 出版时间：June, 2012
- 卷：38
- 期：2
- 页码：262-269
- 文件大小：288 K
摘要
The present paper discusses internal communication in the global context, with a focus on language as an issue for the organization. Although 鈥榣anguage鈥? naturally, is a resource that enables any - internal or other - communication, it has not been examined in public relations research but has been taken for granted or as given. The current pace of globalization in all sectors has rapidly globalized internal communication and the language issue needs to be addressed. On the basis of two empirical studies we discuss language strategy and language use in international internal communication. Our findings show that although a common 鈥榗orporate language鈥?- which mostly today refers to English - enables internal communication, it is not a straightforward solution but a number of issues need to be considered. For example, as international communication in a business context is today mostly conducted by non-native speakers of English, their language can be characterized as BELF (English as Business Lingua Franca), which differs from 鈥榮tandard English鈥?in many ways. Also, language issues need to be considered for organizational credibility and knowledge sharing and for constructing trust and rapport in international interaction.