Advantages of English in business are immensely valuable since it’s the language that the whole world speaks at the moment. Therefore, any company that wants to be successful in its line of work has to have the necessary English skills. This is PPT of a short presentation I gave when I was in college.

1. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in
Business
A Success Story: RAKUTEN
1. Hire Better Employees
2. Reach Out to the Rest of the World
3. Stronger Economy
The Role of the Linguist
Let’s Begin!

2. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business A Success Story: RAKUTEN
“In March 2010, I stood before several thousand mostly native Japanese
speakers and addressed them in English. From now on, I told them, Rakuten
would conduct all of its business, from official meetings to internal emails, in
English.”
“Today, more than 90% of our employees have achieved the required level of
English. This has helped to make our operations more efficient than ever. An
employee anywhere in the world can pick up a phone and get an immediate
answer, instead of working through a translator.”
“Thanks partly to Englishnization, Rakuten has been able to expand outside
Japan, buying e-commerce sites like Ebates in the United States and
PriceMinister in France. More recently, we acquired the messaging app Viber
and bought minority stakes in the American ride-hailing app Lyft and online
scrapbooking site Pinterest.”
* https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/japans-new-business-language-hiroshi-mikitani

3. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business 1. Hire Better Employees
ACQUIRE TALENT FROM ABROAD
Country A (A developed or developing
country)
• 1,000 Software developers
• 20% at expert level or higher
• Only 1/10 of them are unemployed
The Whole World
• 1,000 x the number of developed
or developing countries
• 50% of them speaks English
• 20% at expert level or higher
• Only 1/10 of them are unemployed
From which do you have a better chance of hiring better employees?

4. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business 1. Hire Better Employees
EXPERT EMPLOYEES
Employee A
• Speaks language A
• 10 years of experience
• Has BA and MA
Employee B
• Speaks language B
• Speaks English
• 10 years of experience
• Has BA and MA
Who is most likely to have more knowledge in his field of expertise?

5. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business 2. Reach Out the Rest of the World
EASY LANGUAGE LOCALIZATION

6. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business 2. Reach Out the Rest of the World
ACCESS INFORMATION EARLIER
New Information has been revealed
in country B
• Expressed in language B
• Translated into English
• Translated into language A
This is your company
• Based in country A
• Speaks language A

7. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business 3. Stronger Economy
INCREASE INCOME & QUALITY OF LIFE
The income increases as the
proficiency level of English
increases.
The quality of life increases as
the proficiency level of English
increases.
Turkey has 19,360 GNI per capita and ranked #51 out of 72 countries.

8. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business The Role of the Linguist
EFFECTIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
• Teach English
• CELTA, DELTA, etc.
• Language planning for companies (language consulting)
• Workshops, Office Activities, etc.
• Research the effects of English in business in your country
• Salary Increase, Employment Rates, etc.

9. Serkan Burak Koçoğlu | English Language Consultant, Teacher, and Translator | www.serkanburakkocoglu.com | info@serkanburakkocoglu.com
Advantages of English in Business References
• Gerritsen, M., & Nickerson, C. (2009). BELF: Business English as a lingua franca. The handbook of
business discourse, 180-192.
• United Nations (2012) GNI Per Capita PPP($),
http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=WDI&f=Indicator_Code%3ANY.GNP.PCAP.PP.CD
• Education First (2016), The World’s Largest Ranking of Countries by English Skills,
http://www.ef.com/epi/
• Ojanperä, M. (2014). Effects of Using English in Business Communication in Japanese-Based
Multinational Corporations, Master’s Thesis, Oulu University, Department of International Business
• Pinon, R., & Haydon, J. (2010). The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies:
Quantitative Indicators from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Euromonitor
International
• Pop, A., & Sim, M. (2013). Benefits Of English Language Learning - Language Proficiency Certificates – A
Prerequisite For The Business Graduate, Department of International Business, Faculty of Economic
Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
• Neeley, T. (2012). Global Business Speaks English, Harvard Business Review, May 2012 Issue,
https://hbr.org/2012/05/global-business-speaks-english
REFERENCES