There is little doubt that English is the international language of business. Whether your staff are serving customers, attending meetings, making sales, or simply communicating by email with someone on the other side of the world, the chances are that they will need some proficiency in English. And the cost of a misunderstanding could be high. So investing in English skills is likely to be a very sound decision.

‘English First’ (EF) is one local provider that has already been chosen by a wide range of major multinationals to deliver their English language training. EF’s clients include Bell-Alcatel, BASF, Siemens, Carrefour, Dupont, Ericsson, the Huawei group, Ikea, McDonalds and of course the ubiquitous Starbucks. Around 300 people are studying business English courses with EF every week in Shanghai. EF has been here since 1994, and has 38 years of worldwide experience creating courses for professionals.

Commerce is a serious business, but EF aim to make their English courses fun as well as relevant. Fluency is achieved through role-playing and dialogue designed to be useful, real and entertaining. Although grammar and theory are very important, the maximum time in class is spent using the language rather than simply talking about it. And vitally, the EF business English teachers have real-world business experience, as well as teaching qualifications.

A variety of different types of course are available. The main business courses are taught over 72 hours in three months, and at four different levels – ‘keystage’, ‘waystage’, ‘threshold user’ and ‘independent user’. At the first level, a speaker can convey and understand meaning in basic situations, and begin to understand the gist of simple conversations. By the time you reach the fourth level, you will have a general effective command of the language, be able to use a range of sentence structures and idioms, and write texts on familiar subjects with a good degree of accuracy. In a business context, you could conduct a meeting or sales negotiation in English, or make a simple presentation in English.

Shorter specialised modules are also available in five topics – telephoning, meetings, negotiating, recruiting and banking/finance. These last 18 hours, over two weeks.

Another important service offered by EF is testing for the TOEIC examinations – the Test of English in International Communication. This measures a non-native speaker’s ability to understand English in typical international business situations, and has been legally approved for use here by the Chinese government.

Although EF has four centres in Shanghai, where your staff can attend classes, EF can also come to your factory or office to deliver the courses. Class sizes, wherever they are held, will not be greater than 16. You could even have one-to-one training, too. This might be suitable if you are an advanced student and need to master specific skills, such as a specialized vocabulary or writing complex technical reports.

EF’s aim is to enhance global understanding through the exchange of words and ideas. A greater insight and appreciation, through the English language, of your customers’ needs will also help your success in global trading.