ould mean the threat that the English language poses to French is not as great as first predicted.

Similar to its prominence in politics, English is undeniably one of the most important languages used in business and trade throughout the world.

Providing significant contribution to the British economy, the English language brings an average of £2 billion per year to UK through foreign English language students alone – their studies in further education and tuition fees adding to British income. (British Council, 2013). On a global scale, multinational corporations in the fields of transport and technology have realised the benefits of endorsing English as their main operational language. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2012, 25% of corporate executives reported that over half of their workforce require fluency in English in order for their company to succeed.

Despite continuing market growth and business expansion in China, where large amounts of business are conducted in Mandarin, and Middle Eastern countries where trade deals in Arabic take place, English remains the dominating language of the economic world, with its 1.5 billion speakers worldwide using it as a lingua franca for business negotiations, corporate transactions and financial gain. When asked which language a company workforce needed to be of fluent proficiency in in order to execute expansion plans in principal markets overseas, 68% of respondents of an executive position said English – and 2% saying French. (EIU, 2012).

Through statistics alone, it is already evident that the English is superior to any other language within economic and business sectors across the world. Corporate giants such as Nokia and Samsung are becoming advocates for English as their “language of business”, to serve customers, build international connections, and overtake business competitors worldwide – using the English language as their lingua franca within business strategies.