Business English: Is Grammar Necessary?

Let me be honest with you. I don’t actually learn English grammar that much prior to becoming a Business English Coach. And if I do, I don’t think that I’m gonna be enjoying it overnight. Some of you might be perplexed by this, but I am not about to speculate on this topic. However, I do have some thoughts that I think are worth sharing with you regarding this topic.

Business English vs. Grammar

Based on my own personal experience, I can see that it is very possible for non-native speakers to speak English at a decent level, even without proper textbook grammar rules. And you’ll be surprised that these people can even close big deals or seal large contracts despite not being able to put a proper sentence together. But this does not mean that we can throw the grammar out of the window completely.

Ok, let’s consider this scenario. If you ask some (not all) native speakers about tenses, grammar rules, how to ask questions, auxiliary verbs, phrasal verbs, or anything related to that, there’s a high possibility that you’re gonna be brushed off by some of them. I’ve personally encountered a few situations before where, surprisingly for me, they do not know how to explain these things, and they don’t even have to. And I don’t blame them. They’re not obligated to explain unless they are teachers. And as a business person, you might not need to go deeper into the technical aspects of the language.

The use of grammar in everyday communication

It is sufficient that you just need to understand them at a decent and acceptable level, and be able to use them naturally without even having to think too much about it. Do native speakers speak with precise pronunciation and grammar? Not necessarily. Within every language in this world, there’s literally a “language law” that you can find in textbooks.

However, there are rules to stick to when it comes to formal writing. For example, when we are writing an essay for college or school exams, we do want to stick to the technical aspects of the language, especially grammar. But when you’re writing or texting someone through WhatsApp, Facebook, or any kind of social media, you don’t have to follow the grammar too much. Our concern is just to get the message across. And that can be considered as an informal spoken language. It’s the way that people communicate. Sometimes, they tend to use phrases that are grammatically incorrect. Most native speakers will defend themselves by saying: “This is the way we say it, this is how we speak.” Yes, it does probably sound grammatically incorrect, but if you do say it with the correct grammar and pronunciation, it’s going to sound too formal or it’s like coming out from a textbook.

Personal experience with grammar

Now, let’s take a look at my own native language, Malay, as an example. I admit that even I myself do not know how to explain its grammar rules, and I’m willing to wager that most of my fellow Malay friends don’t even know a lot of it either. And yet, we still don’t have problems expressing it. We may not even be grammatically correct sometimes, but I don’t think that should be a problem. Am I right?

Children’s approach

And yes, all of us, regardless of whether we are native speakers or not, went through some formal education and learned the proper English grammar when we were in school. But let’s take a look at our young children nowadays. Look at my own nephew, for example. At six years old, he can actually speak English by just watching YouTube! He hasn’t learned any proper grammar, but yet he is still able to understand and speak the language. Quite astonishing for me, really, taking into account that he hasn’t even started school yet. So, why kids can do this?

Firstly, I believe it’s due to the environment. Every single day, they are surrounded by numerous gadgets and media. Secondly, they’re very attentive and able to absorb things like a sponge. Thirdly, they actually speak. They don’t give a hoot about the mistakes they’ve made. Their only concern is just to express themselves.

And they can do all these because nowadays, they are constantly exposed to the language on a daily basis, thanks to the emergence of social media. And yes, obviously, they’re most probably grammatically incorrect, and we as adults are no different either, even though we’ve gone through all these grammar lessons in school.

Scientific approach

Believe it or not, there is actually scientific evidence somewhere that spoken language differs from written language. And that has to do with the brain and the speed of processing information. Let me quote myself as an example. I can have all the vocabulary in the world when I type or write during my spare time, but whenever I open my mouth, there’s every chance that my words are going to be filled up with tons of errors or “uhmms” or brief silence. And grammar is definitely out of the question. However, I am still glad that, so far, I have managed to get people to understand what I’m talking about. Yes, my brain processing works decently well with my fingers, but it takes almost forever to get words to come out from my vocal cords.

Personal approach

I bet most Malaysians can relate to the predicament I’m in. I don’t have the luxury to travel or live in an English-speaking country. In fact, I rarely hop on aeroplanes. So, I opt for the next best thing. Being a former British colony, Malaysia has embraced the English-speaking media for so many years now, and I am deeply thankful for this. Thus, I took this opportunity to create the environment needed to immerse myself in the language, such as reading English newspapers and magazines and watching English movies and TV series. And I’ve been doing all these since I was a kid. Today, with the emergence of social media, I am making it my own personal policy to post all my status updates in English and follow the native speakers’ pages as I am keen to learn about their language usage.

For my next challenge as a newbie English coach, I’ll try to pay close attention to the way that people use English, especially in business situations. At this level, I will most probably have to re-learn and unlearn a certain degree of grammar, lingo, and jargon. And this is going to involve attentive listening, repeating, communicating, and immersion on my part. It’s a long way to go, but I believe it’s going to be an enjoyable journey for me personally. We can’t always be perfect, can we?

A balanced view on grammar learning

Now, let me make this very clear. I’m not encouraging anyone not to learn grammar. To this day, after many years of immersing myself in the language, I am still willing to sit, do my research, and try to understand grammar and its technicalities.

Am I always going to be correct? No.

Do I always know everything? I don’t think that it’s possible.

I’m simply speaking from my personal experience. I firmly believe that the more we use language, the more questions we might have, and we will try our best to find some answers.

And when we communicate with people, sometimes we make mistakes that might lead us into awkward situations, we will find ways to re-educate ourselves. This is inevitable if we are really serious about growth and development.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what we do, we will always put our best foot forward to get our message across.