Business English as a Lingua Franca (BELF) is a ‘neutral’ and shared communication code.1
In this chapter we move on from our examination of cultural differences to a discussion of intercultural communication and the ways in which people from the Gulf manage to communicate successfully with people from outside the Gulf. We will consider the languages that are used in the region, the strategies that people use to facilitate the numerous intercultural interactions that take place on a daily basis, and the achievement of what we will call “rapport” through the management of talk between people interacting in the workplace.
Business English as a Lingua Franca
The Dominance of English
One of the most important developments in the Gulf over the past 50 years has been the exponential increase in the use of English. Although globalization and expanded technology have influenced this trend in many other parts of the world, it is hard to imagine how the region could have developed in the way that it has without a willingness on the part of the local population to use English alongside Arabic. There is some variation across the region in how much English is used; it is used more, for instance, in the UAE and less in Saudi Arabia. However, English and Arabic tend to coexist quite easily, particularly for the younger, generally tech-savvy generation now entering the workforce.
Before the rapid development of the oil industry in the 1960s, much business in the region was conducted in Arabic, and the traders and merchants who visited the region generally used Arabic for business interactions. Even during the pre-oil era, however, there were some schools in the region that had begun to offer English, notably in Dubai. As the oil industry developed, engineers and other technical staff were brought into the region, often from the United States and other Western countries. As a result, English quickly replaced Arabic as the de facto lingua franca, not only in business, but also in other social domains.
English is often used in interactions between people who do not speak it as their first language to allow them to communicate and therefore carry out business and achieve their purposes. Urdu is much used in the construction and agricultural sectors in the region, and some expatriates, such as domestic staff and retail staff, continue to learn Arabic in order to find employment, most especially in Saudi Arabia. However, most observers agree that English now underpins many business related activities in the region. A survey carried out at the Dubai Police Department in 2010, showed that employees at all levels within the Dubai Police Force needed to be able to speak and understand English. Additionally, from 2015 onward, all taxi drivers in the Emirate of Dubai are tested on their English language skills (but not on their Arabic) before being offered employment.2
Arabic and English
Arabic dialects vary considerably across the Arabic-speaking world. As a result, communication may sometimes be difficult even between two Arabic speakers when they are from different regions, such as a Gulf Arab communicating with a Tunisian.
However, English is now so prevalent in some social contexts such as in retail and restaurants in the larger cities that residents often use it automatically regardless of who they are addressing.
Increasing numbers of Gulf children attend international schools, which means that their education takes place almost entirely in English from kindergarten onward. In addition, in recent years, there has also been a move toward the use of more English in government schools, and government and private universities across the region largely use English as their medium of instruction. The result of this trend has been that younger people in the Gulf often switch between English and Arabic throughout the course of their day, and some young families have also begun to speak English rather than Arabic with their children because they see this as an advantage. Young people may speak only Arabic at home with their parents and grandparents, for instance, but switch between the two languages with their friends and siblings, and then use only English in restaurants and while shopping. As a result, many Gulf nationals under the age of 30 are very used to living their lives through the medium of both Arabic and English.
Young women, especially as they are now very likely to complete tertiary education and advance rapidly through the lower ranks of employment, may have better English language skills than their male counterparts, and there is some evidence that young women in the region have a preference for English, whereas young men retain a preference for Arabic. Older businesspeople in particular, may not only speak Arabic and English, but also Hindi and Urdu.3
Despite the undeniable shift toward English as an important means of communication, there are mixed feelings in the region about this change. While many Gulf nationals from the large cities are pragmatic about English and accept its widespread use as a part of globalization and a facilitator of both economic and technological advancement, they are also aware that it poses a threat to Arabic and to their traditional way of life. For older people in particular, and most especially for older, Arabic-speaking women who have not generally participated in the workforce, the increasing reliance on English in nondomestic contexts has caused some sense of alienation in their own country. Local residents point to the fact that Arabic is the language of the Koran, and it is therefore a crucial element in their cultural heritage. As a result, efforts have been made in the past few years by governments to ensure that Arabic continues to be studied in schools and universities.
The extent to which English is officially tolerated varies to some degree across the region, for example, in Saudi Arabia brand names in English are translated into Arabic or phonetically transcribed into Arabic script, whereas they are frequently left in their original version in the UAE. In summary, although English is widely accepted and used, it is also worth remembering as a visitor that there may be some sensitivity about the cultural and religious significance of Arabic.
As we have discussed, the multicultural nature of the larger cities in the region means that many of the interactions that take place are between two speakers who opt for English as a lingua franca. Research has shown that when it is used in this way, English is considered as both a shared and a neutral communication code.4 This means that the people who use it to facilitate their interactions and get their work done do not associate it with any one of the nations in the world where the majority of the population happen to speak English as their first language. Having said that, however, TV shows, films, and even school curricula from both the United States and the United Kingdom are all commonly available across the region, with the exception of the national media channels in Saudi Arabia. This ready availability has prompted a continuing discussion in the media and within government about the importance of preserving Arabic and the culture associated with the language. Although people who work in government organizations such as ministries and other semigovernmental organizations may need more Arabic than English on a daily basis, those who opt to work in the private sector will deal with an expatriate-dominated workforce, and they therefore need to use English for a great number of their work interactions.
The Influence of English
For people coming to the region, the prevalence of English makes life easy to negotiate. Signage is generally bilingual, as is a great deal of advertising, and the retail, health, and education sectors all provide large numbers of employees with excellent English language skills. The large expatriate communities that exist across the region mean that a manager is less likely to be speaking to a Gulf local than to an employee from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, another part of the Middle East, or Europe. In business organizations, especially in the private sector, the relatively low numbers of local employees means that many, if not most, business interactions will take place between speakers from other parts of the world and not necessarily from the Gulf.
Accommodation in Interactions
One of the first people to talk about how speakers of different cultures accommodate each other in interactions was the U.S. professor Howard Giles. His Communication Accommodation Theory is centered on the idea that when people interact, they adjust their speech, vocal patterns, and gestures to accommodate to others.5 Communication Accommodation Theory includes both verbal and nonverbal communication, and Giles suggests that speakers use two sets of strategies in their communication. These are convergence strategies focused on trying to reduce the differences between themselves and the other speaker and capitalize on the similarities, and divergence strategies that emphasize the differences between themselves and the person with whom they are interacting.
In using convergence, a speaker tries to increase the effectiveness of the communication by moving toward the way in which their counterpart uses language, for example, by replicating their pronunciation or their nonverbal communication. This can help to put the other speaker at ease. However, too much convergence can be viewed as over-accommodation and perceived as patronizing. In contrast, speakers may use divergence and accentuate the differences between themselves and the other person as a way of maintaining the identity and importance of the group to which each speaker belongs. Speakers who use divergence strategies can succeed in conveying a strong sense of their cultural and social identity and an appreciation and understanding of the other person’s culture as well.
Elements of Communication Accommodation Theory can be useful for understanding the communication that takes place routinely between people from different cultures living in the Gulf. First is the fact that research has shown that in situations where nations are dependent on people from other countries, for example, in economies focused on tourism, the local population tends to accommodate and “converge” with the language strategies of the visiting population, rather than the other way around. The Gulf has not traditionally been dependent on tourism, although there has been some recent rapid development of the tourism industry. However, it has been heavily dependent on outside help for its economic and technological advancement. As a result, many locals are very familiar with dealing with non-Gulf people, and they generally accommodate to the other speaker through convergence. People visiting from outside the region will usually find that local residents are willing to accommodate to their communication. As we have discussed in previous chapters, however, the rules governing male–female interactions will always be more tightly controlled than interactions that do not involve both genders, especially in the observation of the non-touch rule between the genders. This is not only the case for Gulf Arabs compared to Western societies but also for many of the other major groups that live and work in the region, including Indians, Pakistanis, and those from other parts of the Middle East.
A second application of the Communication Accommodation Theory focuses on what happens in interactions between native and non-native speakers of a language. As we discussed earlier, many people who do not speak English as their first language nevertheless opt to use it as a lingua franca to communicate in the workplace. Research in accommodation shows that although English is viewed as a neutral, cultureless communication tool comparable to the tool of computer literacy, speakers are still likely to converge toward the norms of native English speakers when they are in conversation with them. On the other hand, some native speakers have a tendency to either over-accommodate and speak English, for example, in a way that is oversimplified and therefore patronizing to the other party, or they fail to accommodate at all to the needs of the non-native speaker and they therefore become incomprehensible.
More on Native Speakers and Non-Native Speakers
In the Gulf region, a huge variation exists in the prior experiences people have had with English, whether in school or university in the GCC or elsewhere in the world. This means that managers in the region are likely to be dealing with varying levels of language proficiency and fluency, often within the same organization or even within the same meeting. As one would expect, there is a great deal of variation in the array of English language skills that includes not only speaking, but also listening, reading, and writing.
Native speakers of English, in particular, may find that they need to accommodate other speakers, choose their words and expressions carefully, and slow down their rate of speech. Many managers may find that speakers of English from India speak much more quickly than they themselves do. Moreover, North American managers in particular may observe that there is much more tolerance for interruption and overlapping speech in the Gulf than there is in many other parts of the world. For instance, people from India, the United Kingdom, and Italy, routinely interrupt each other without a threat to face, that is, without appearing to be impolite. Likewise, speakers from high context cultures in general, such as India, Russia, and the Arab-speaking nations, will have a much greater tolerance for people conducting more than one conversation at the same time and also engaging in other tasks while involved in a conversation, than do people from the low context cultures of the West.
Even though everyone may be speaking English in a given workplace interaction, they are each also likely to transfer into the interaction the communication patterns and strategies that are characteristic of their own cultural background. Research on this phenomena has shown that people continue to prefer their own style of communication and the communication strategies they would use in their own first language, regardless of the fact that they are speaking English.6 Again, for native English speakers in particular, this can be disconcerting. It is important to remember that lingua franca English has evolved into a neutral, cultureless, communication tool for many non-native business people; but such speakers may still transfer some of their own first-language communication style into their use of English.
Strategies for Success
The British linguist Pamela Rogerson-Revell provides some useful insights into how speakers can accommodate each other in intercultural business interactions.7 Although her work was carried out in the context of meetings at the European Commission, the multicultural, and sometimes multilingual, nature of those meetings has relevance for the Gulf where meetings between speakers with different first languages and various cultural backgrounds are commonplace. Rogerson-Revell’s research is particularly important because it addresses why people who do not speak English as their first language participate less than people who do. The non-native speakers in the study reported that they stayed silent because they felt they couldn’t express themselves properly, and they also did not feel that they could interrupt someone else in an effective way. On the other hand, although the native speakers of English understood that it was important for them to accommodate the non-English speakers and modify their speech patterns, the non-native speakers reported that they didn’t think that they often achieved this.
Rogerson-Revell’s research also sheds light on how people experience being a part of a multicultural meeting, and it provides some strategies that can help make communication successful for all people involved. The analysis of successful multicultural meetings showed that speakers used several different strategies to put all participants at ease and move the communication forward. First of all, if participants did use incorrect or idiosyncratic English, others did not correct them as long as the message was comprehensible. On the other hand, when either native or non-native speakers used English in such a way that it wasn’t easy to understand, the best communicators found a way to clarify with them what they had just said. Asking for clarification and checking for meaning were important ways of moving the communication toward a successful conclusion.
Other accommodation strategies were also noted in Rogerson-Revell’s research that reflect Giles’ convergence theory. For instance, speakers emphasized that common ground is created when everyone in the meeting carefully followed the procedural rules and waited for their turn to speak without interrupting. Native English speakers also modified their English by speaking slowly and clearly, with minimal use of idiomatic expressions. These strategies allowed the non-native participants to feel comfortable participating in the meeting and that they could understand what was being said around them. As we have noted, the different versions of English spoken in the Gulf coupled with varying levels of proficiency in the language mean that managers must continually seek to accommodate all members of their workforces.
Managing the Talk
The British linguist Helen Spencer Oatey has written extensively on what she refers to as the management of rapport as a major contributor to the success or failure of intercultural interactions, particularly in negotiations. Spencer-Oatey believes that the way that people manage the talk that takes place in a negotiation can either create or destroy a feeling of rapport between them. For people from high context cultures, such as many of the cultural groups who live and work in the Gulf region, finding common ground between people and creating a sense of rapport is a crucial step in building a business relationship and therefore facilitating working relations.8
Spencer-Oatey’s research shows that people can manage the talk that takes place in a negotiation so that it contributes in a positive way to building the relationship between them; and, as we discussed in Chapter 3, it then isn’t perceived as impolite and threatening to the face of the various parties. Managing the talk can be accomplished in a number of ways that lead to harmony rather than disharmony between the parties:
Managing one’s own talk. Participants can decide what they are going to do with their talk, for example, refusing a request point blank, which would threaten the other speaker’s face, or refusing a request by making an alternative offer, which would keep the negotiation alive. For Gulf Arabs with a preference for politeness and indirectness, using less confrontational options rather than a direct rejection would be instrumental in building rapport and maintaining good working relations.
Managing the course of the conversation. Participants can manage the talk by deciding what to talk about and what order to do it in. As we discussed in Chapter 3, high context Gulf Arabs may need much more time on safe, non-negotiation topics than their Western counterparts, before the real negotiation can begin. It can also be a good idea for managers to spend some time talking about the existing professional relationship before moving on into the next business transaction or topic for discussion. Such strategies acknowledge the importance of the relationship.
Managing participation. Speakers can decide how to participate and also how to manage the participation of other speakers in the negotiation. In the Gulf region, this means understanding the power relations between people in the work context. It may mean, for instance, allowing people to repeat themselves to emphasize or argue a point since this is a feature of communication in the region, as we will discuss in more detail in Chapter 5. Moreover, because of the collectivist nature of many of the national cultures that make up the workforce in the GCC, it may also mean that business people need to give the same information on more than one occasion to different groups of people to make sure that everyone who belongs to the wider group is informed.
Choosing a communication style. Speakers can create harmony in the style of the communication they select. This is reflected in their choice of tone and in the level of formality that they choose to use. Gulf Arabs are typically friendly and have a good sense of humour, as we will discuss in more detail in Chapter 5. However, they are conservative and formal in their dealings with each other and with people from outside their immediate social group. As a result, it is advisable to approach them in a similar way. The same is also the case for people from India and from Pakistan, two of the other major contributors to the workforce in the region.
Using appropriate nonverbal communication. Participants can strengthen or threaten rapport through their use of nonverbal communication, for example, through their posture and gestures and in the way they make eye contact. People from the Gulf, and from the countries that make up much of the workforce, are more aware of their own non-verbal communication and that of others than people from low context Western countries. They are careful about their posture in professional settings, and they do not generally use extravagant gestures. While they do not avoid eye contact entirely, they also use it in a nonthreatening way and do not look constantly at the other speaker. As we have discussed previously, Gulf Arabs are particularly careful in male–female interactions, as professional discussions between the genders are a relatively recent phenomenon in the Gulf workplace.
Managing talk to increase the rapport that exists between the speakers in an interaction is particularly important for speakers from low context cultures. Achieving favorable rapport can create and preserve a work relationship and therefore can have considerable impact on relations with employees from high context cultures. Even a single problematic event that might occur may not be viewed as a failure for a Gulf Arab, as long as the working relationship is still intact.