According to GlobalEnglish Corporation (www.GlobalEnglish.com), the leading provider of cloud-based, on-demand software to advance Enterprise Fluency™ for global organizations, revealed the results of its annual Business English Index (BEI), the only index that measures Business English proficiency in the workplace. The 2012 BEI shows that a lack of Business English proficiency is threatening the productivity of companies, industries and country-specific economies this year.
With a growing number of companies operating across ten, 15 or even more than 20 countries with different native tongues, the majority of the world’s business conversations now take place between non-native English speakers in English. The current shortage of talent with the aptitude to speak, present, write, sell and service customers in English has become a high-performance challenge for leaders of multinational companies at a time when more international business growth has been fueled through expansions in emerging markets.
Based on a scale of 1-10, providing a ranking of employee Business English competency from beginner to advanced skills, the average 2012 BEI score across 108,000 test takers around the world is 4.15. A BEI score of 1.0 indicates an ability to read and communicate using only simple questions and statements, and a score higher than 10.0 represents an ability to communicate and collaborate in the workplace much like a native English speaker. There was an overall decrease in the average BEI score from last year’s inaugural index, which dropped from 4.46 to 4.15. This low score confirms that current Business English skills are not sufficient enough to meet the performance demands of today’s global economy.
Only the Philippines attained a score above 7.0, a BEI level within range of a high proficiency that indicates an ability to take an active role in business discussions and perform relatively complex tasks. This is particularly interesting because the Philippines, a country with one-tenth of the population of India, recently overtook India as a hub for call centers.4 Joining the Philippines in the top five were Norway (6.54), Estonia (6.45), Serbia (6.38) and Slovenia (6.19).
It is not surprising that both the Philippines and Norway—the only two countries in the top five in both 2011 and 2012—are improving their economies, based on the latest GDP data from the World Bank. The increased Business English capability for global workers from these two countries is an indicator of continued economic growth and business success.
Here’s the list of the 10 best countries in the world for business English proficiency based on GlobalEnglish’s 2012 BEI:
10 Best Countries:
Philippines
Norway
Serbia
Slovenia
Australia
Malaysia
India
Lithuania
Singapore
Canada
Source: http://www.globalenglish.com/whoweare/newsroom/press_releases/
With a growing number of companies operating across ten, 15 or even more than 20 countries with different native tongues, the majority of the world’s business conversations now take place between non-native English speakers in English. The current shortage of talent with the aptitude to speak, present, write, sell and service customers in English has become a high-performance challenge for leaders of multinational companies at a time when more international business growth has been fueled through expansions in emerging markets.
Based on a scale of 1-10, providing a ranking of employee Business English competency from beginner to advanced skills, the average 2012 BEI score across 108,000 test takers around the world is 4.15. A BEI score of 1.0 indicates an ability to read and communicate using only simple questions and statements, and a score higher than 10.0 represents an ability to communicate and collaborate in the workplace much like a native English speaker. There was an overall decrease in the average BEI score from last year’s inaugural index, which dropped from 4.46 to 4.15. This low score confirms that current Business English skills are not sufficient enough to meet the performance demands of today’s global economy.
Only the Philippines attained a score above 7.0, a BEI level within range of a high proficiency that indicates an ability to take an active role in business discussions and perform relatively complex tasks. This is particularly interesting because the Philippines, a country with one-tenth of the population of India, recently overtook India as a hub for call centers.4 Joining the Philippines in the top five were Norway (6.54), Estonia (6.45), Serbia (6.38) and Slovenia (6.19).
It is not surprising that both the Philippines and Norway—the only two countries in the top five in both 2011 and 2012—are improving their economies, based on the latest GDP data from the World Bank. The increased Business English capability for global workers from these two countries is an indicator of continued economic growth and business success.
Here’s the list of the 10 best countries in the world for business English proficiency based on GlobalEnglish’s 2012 BEI:
10 Best Countries:
Philippines
Norway
Serbia
Slovenia
Australia
Malaysia
India
Lithuania
Singapore
Canada
Source: http://www.globalenglish.com/whoweare/newsroom/press_releases/
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