I think nobody is surprised to hear that understanding, talking and (sometimes) writing in English belongs to the basic skills of (design) managers these days. And based on my own experiences I can confirm that no native speaker expects you to talk or write almost perfect.
Interestingly in the course of my recent efforts to push the impact of blogs as another element of corporate communication (hear, hear!) I came across a group of potential (design) managers who still felt quite uncomfortable to express themselves in English and reacted even more dismissive when expected to write in English.
For all of you who are still in doubt that the English language these days (at least in a business context) is more a tool than an art here’s a nice video which will make you laugh(?):
jens Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 22:57Visit jens
lingua franca und pax americana… das ist nun mal heute so.
und: persoenlich wuerde ich keinem bewerber um deutsche staatsbuergerschaft diese erteilen, der nicht englische sprachkenntnisse in wort und schrift nachweisen kann.
wir wolln ja schliesslich nicht, dass uns die neuankoemmlinge ewig auf der tasche liegen - sondern sie sollen den willen und das zeug mitbringen, auch morgen noch produktives mitglied unserer gemeinschaft zu sein.
ganz ehrlich.
jens Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 1:27Visit jens
lingua franca and pax americana… that is now times today like that. and: personally I would give to no applicant around German nationality these, not English sprachkenntnisse in word and writing to prove can do we wolln finally not that the newcomers were appropriate for us eternally on the bag - but they are to bring along sake and things to be still productive member of our community also tomorrow. completely honestly.
for our international readers - translation by babelfish
jens Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 10:36Visit jens
besser: “…sondern sie sollen den willen und das zeug mitbringen, auch morgen noch produktives mitglied unserer INTERNATIONALEN gemeinschaft zu sein.”
so - jetzt kannst es drucken.
Ralf Beuker Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 10:43Visit Ralf Beuker
…. na dann hoffe ich mal, daß die INTERNATIONALE Gemeinschaft die Ironie dieses Kommentars versteht ;-)
Michael Says:
June 11th, 2006 at 1:30Visit Michael
I’m enjoying this exchange. And I understand - nearly nothing of the German.
Happy to see commentary from you, Jens - miss your blog postings.
Kathleen Fasanella Says:
July 14th, 2006 at 22:48Visit Kathleen Fasanella
The video is no longer available. Have you another link?
Ralf Beuker Says:
July 14th, 2006 at 23:34Visit Ralf Beuker
Hi Kathleen,
thanks for the pointer! Link should be fixed now :-)
Best, Ralf.
Worldwide Domain Blogger Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 0:55Visit Worldwide Domain Blogger
Yes English is definitely the online language of today. When publishing content online with a global target group you should definitely write in english. When you register a domain name for a site targeting the worldwide population you chose a .com, not a .cn a .de for an example.