KAVITHA KRISHNAKUMAR (STHAIRYA ACADEMY)

BUSINESS ENGLISH FOR STARTUP ENTREPRENEURS : WORLD ENGLISHES/ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA

Researches around the world, suggest that language plays an important role in the establishment and maintenance of international business relationships (e.g. Wilmot, 2017; Tenzer et al., 2017; Brannen et al., 2014; Mughan, 2015). Every country encourages its local talent resulting in springing up of numerous start ups. India has emerged as the third largest start up ecosystem globally. While market potentials are on the rise, many startups have to internationalise themselves to be able to enter into the global market (cf. Quian & Li, 2003: 882). For this, being able to communicate effectively in English (both speaking and writing skills) has almost become indispensable and startups stand a good chance to negotiate business with good business English skills. This session aims to share strategies for a BEFL based Business English course that will highlight specific areas that particularly help businesses with easier access to international customers and partners. These strategies can be applied in multilingual set ups that imitate real business environments where clients and customers are from different language backgrounds but commonly understand English.

A Cambridge CELTA trainer, National Geographic certified educator, she has created a niche in the area of content development for teaching English language skills specifically in speaking and writing to a range of audience- toddlers to tech professionals particularly in the context of multi-lingual classrooms.