Why Business English?

Market nowadays becomes more and more demanding. That thing is noticeable not only for investors, who do their best to fulfill wishes of their customers, but also for people who try to find themselves in the matter and discover some unexploited areas, where they can start a monopole. Of course, things don't look so simply as written here and we all know that competition is quite hard(in some cases – too hard) to set up your own business and take some serious profits from it.

But let us be concerned mainly with the language field. As proved a while ago, competition reached even teachers and everyone here got involved in the rat race. I'm not going to consider if this is good or not, as you can simply notice, that being qualified in your job is becoming more and more valuable. Investors know something about it and you will, too. Soon enough. Nowadays the demanding market requires educated people, and only those ready for changes remain top in the row.

The whole case – especially in Poland – started about twenty years ago, when the preparation for borders' opening was set and countries were slowly preparing for Poland in European Union to be. The rumors about a great need for linguists, English teachers and – last not least – translators spread like plague over the country. Every student was eager to learn languages as it was the easiest way to get off from the land blasted by communism. No-one wanted to wait, even though the country was slowly regenerating. I'm not saying that the boom for English and other languages started right then, but conditions gave some stable roots for this.

As soon as the economy started to become more fluent and flexible, thus borders became more open for Poles, more and more people were migrating abroad simply to get better job(some did) and have better prospects for the future. Indeed, early stages were like this, but at the end the market was overflown by masses of teachers. Companies and firms had enough English speakers and Polish translators to cope with their cases. The end stage of it was that millions of people ended up like teachers in polish schools, even not well-paid and still searching for a chance for more job which would provide a better income.

Again, I'm not saying, that it was bad or something. It just happened. Some liked teaching, some were disappointed. That's all. But one would ask, why so? The answer is simple to figure out: As only translators entered the market, companies suffered a great lack of specialized knowledge in a field of language. These people were taught fairly well in general English, but had no idea about medical or – nomen omen – business English. What happens if you get an average translator, but who has no command of specialized English? Retrain him, of course! Who may retrain him? Experts in the matter! But here end simple solutions. It would be good if these experts belong to your company, but in most cases it wasn't like this. Retraining a person in a certain way usually means to pay. And believe me, it was pretty hard to find people fluently speaking specialized languages, who could teach your translator a bit, let alone find tutors earning money from it.

This state remained almost unaltered to 2005 or so, when finally some dictionaries started to give small chunks of language specially gathered in grouped fields, like above mentioned medicine, law, market, etc. But these tries were received surprisingly indifferently. But about the year it was becoming more and more demanded. Business English! Companies simply didn't want all-around translators, who couldn't get along with court language. An average investor started demanding not a versatile translator, but a specialist in a field. State it clearly: In most cases your employer wouldn't give a damn about your precious phonetics or linguistics which you've drilled during restless nights. What's the use of the linguistics on the market anyways?

That's cruel, but so are the laws of the market. The most valued skills on the market are knowing two or more languages plus a good tech-use including programing and building Internet sites. And, of course, specialized English language. Maybe little too much? Well, maybe, but we're talking about being the best in the field. And you want to be the best, don't you?

Specialized English is a neat addition to your CV. It sounds attracting. It says that you're an expert in something. Plus, a possible employer knows something more about you and that means that your qualifications can be better used in your company/job/whatsoever. Think about all these poor English teachers put behind the table in Human Resources management and spending 8 hours constantly talking to people! Yes, this also happened in the past. The case with English-speaking people was simple. You know the joke? 'Another one with English proficiency? To hell with him! Oh, I mean, to Human Resources'.

The next pro in knowing a specialized language is that you're spotted as a better translator. You become more expressed in the matter of choosing you as a hypothetic translator just because people know what to expect from you. It's certainly better to say that you know one thing particularly good than saying that you know everything. Knowing it makes you more trustworthy than others. You become more demanded among employers as they feel more comfortable when they see someone using their terminology. Specialized language is a really good niche to exploit, 'cause only few know it nowadays. But be hurry, it's going to fill up in a time.

Going to an end, I must say that considering a specialized language is not only the matter of English. Soon we may hear about business German, medical Japanese, judicial Portuguese or even legal Swahili. It's not a joke. The world is beginning to appreciate the knowledge of specialized language and thus people knowing it become appreciated.

And hey, everyone wants to be appreciated. Or?

Jacek Pająk www.anglobiznes.pl