On 2008-06-27 18:50:41 +0100, geoff said:

In message 48647258@qaanaaq, Andy Hall writes

Logically one would think that. I've found it to be rather
different. Certainly in large organisations in other countries it is
typical that the very top management will speak good English if the
company is a multinational as well. Otherwise they can often be of an
age where they didn't learn English earlier in life and haven't needed
to.

what, you mean even older than you and me ?

Some younger. Generally it's based around whether they have needed to.




People who have or have had a technical role typically do speak or at
least understand English, but those who have had a role mainly
communicating with their peers may well not

It's not uncommon to have a situation where someone at senior level
does speak some English but whose juniors speak it better. He may
then choose not to do so for fear of showing himself up.

These are situations where it is even more important to meet the people
face to face to make sure that misunderstandings don't happen before
they even start. It can otherwise take a lot of time to recover,
reset expectations and continue on track.


I think a lot of it is making excuses not to change

To some extent yes, but that's more generational, so the changes are
gradual unless specific actions are taken.

For example, at least one large networking company that I know made
spoken English courses available for his French salesforce. Normally
in their everyday work, they didn't need to speak English, so while
they were OK at reading it and listening, it was a one way street.
For right or for wrong, those who did make the effort , tended to rise
in the organisation. Whether they liked that when it happened, is
something else.