Unit 1, Part 3

David Blunkett, Britain's minister for education and employment, has challenged British businesses to use their fluency in English to gain a competitive edge in global trade. But his appeal, delivered to business chiefs in London last month, failed to raise awareness about the difficulties that native speakers can encounter in communicating with people who speak English as their second language.

Mr Blunkett told his audience that by the end of this year 750m people would have English as a second language, and second-language speakers would outnumber first-language speakers for the first time in history. "It makes good economic sense that we use English fluency as a platform to underpin our economic competitiveness and to promote our culture overseas," he said. Mr Blunkett was careful to add that British people should not use this advantage as a reason to stop learning foreign languages.

This point was welcomed by Peter Blackburn, chairman and CEO of the British arm of Nestlé, the European multinational. Mr Blackburn, who is an honorary fellow of the Institute of Linguistics, added: "Business is becoming increasingly international, and British managers need to develop their knowledge of other languages - and, importantly, their understanding of other languages. In business the spoken word is more important than the written word."

Yet Mr Blunkett's speech overlooked the increasing challenges that the spread of English raises for native speakers. Not only will they need to understand how to communicate with people with a lower proficiency in English, they must also adapt their language to suit users of emerging regional varieties of English.

According to Jeremy Comfort of York Associates, a languages and inter-cultural training consultancy in England, the problem for British business starts with the assumption that their English will be understood. "Being fluent doesn't make you a good communicator," he says. "We have to be aware that language can be a tool of communication and also a tool of power. Subconsciously many British business people use it as a tool of power and take advantage in situations where they are working with non-native speakers."

Jean Vangarden, who teaches cross-cultural management at a business school near London, says a common mistake made by native speakers is to assume that the level of second-language speakers is as high as their own. "The other side of this problem", says Mr Vangarden, "is that non-native speakers tend to avoid direct communication. For example, they will use a colleague with a higher level of English than their own as an intermediary with their British business partners, and that kind of indirect communication is not good for business."

However, trainers and business leaders agree that the best ways for British people to increase their awareness of communication problems and achieve business advantage is to learn foreign languages.

"Not to have a second language is to depreciate yourself on a business and social front," says Ruth Lea of the Institute of Directors in London.