English language – is it good for us?

We, in the UK and US, are lucky to have English as our mother tongue.  It has become the de facto language of trade and commerce.

So, we have a ‘head start’ in trade negotiations.

However it also means that people inn the UK and US are not motivated to learn other languages.  We simply assume that everyone else will learn English.

This means that we also do not pick up on cultural differences that language learning helps to educate about.  This can make English speakers culturally insensitive – not recognising the nuances of culture, language – and body language – that people convey in trade (and other) discussions. 

So our great asset is something of a liability – cutting us off from the learning that others get as a bonus with their language learning.

We need to work hard to make up this deficit.