Language as an issue in international internal communication: English or local language? If English, what English?

The present paper discusses internal communication in the global context, with a focus on language as an issue for the organization. Although ‘language’, naturally, is a resource that enables any – internal or other – communication, it has not been examined in public relations research but has been taken for granted or as given. The current pace of globalization in all sectors has rapidly globalized internal communication and the language issue needs to be addressed. On the basis of two empirical studies we discuss language strategy and language use in international internal communication. Our findings show that although a common ‘corporate language’ – which mostly today refers to English – enables internal communication, it is not a straightforward solution but a number of issues need to be considered. For example, as international communication in a business context is today mostly conducted by non-native speakers of English, their language can be characterized as BELF (English as Business Lingua Franca), which differs from ‘standard English’ in many ways. Also, language issues need to be considered for organizational credibility and knowledge sharing and for constructing trust and rapport in international interaction.

► We examine perceptions of language strategy and language use in international internal communication.
► We contrast two different approaches to corporate language: multilingual strategy and emergent strategy.
► We draw on research on English as Lingua Franca (ELF) and elaborate on the notion of BELF (English as Business Lingua Franca) as the context-specific resource for international internal communication.
► We conclude that language is an issue that needs to be addressed in international internal communication.