Language as an issue in international internal communication: English or local language? If English, what English?
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© 2012 Elsevier BV. This is the post print version of the following article: Louhiala-Salminen, Leena & Kankaanranta, Anne. 2012. Language as an issue in international internal communication: English or local language? If English, what English?. Public Relations Review. Volume 38, Issue 2. 262-269. ISSN 0363-8111 (printed). DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.12.021, which has been published in final form at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811112000033.
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School of Business |
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2012
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
262-269
Series
Public Relations Review, Volume 38, Issue 2
Abstract
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.Description
Keywords
internal communication, international communication, corporate language, language strategy, multilingual strategy, English as business lingua franca
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Citation
Louhiala-Salminen, Leena & Kankaanranta, Anne. 2012. Language as an issue in international internal communication: English or local language? If English, what English?. Public Relations Review. Volume 38, Issue 2. 262-269. ISSN 0363-8111 (printed). DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.12.021.