Should Python Become Your Official Corporate Language, Along With English?
English is becoming the official language in the global business world, being currently spoken by approximately 1.75 billion people worldwide according to Harvard Business Review. While English is the fastest spreading language in human history, a significant proportion of businesses are still resistant to giving up on their native language. Just try having a casual conversation in English with German employees at their corporate headquarters canteen (I am German, just for the record). However, pressures are piling up, not only in Germany.
Mobile Life Campus in Wolfsburg/Fallersleben | Source: Volkswagen
Do you speak English? Nein
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten introduced English as their official language of business back in March 2010. The company’s former CEO Hiroshi Mikitani made that decision after an extensive global shopping spree. A plausible move. How else can you make sure that thousands of new employees in China, Brazil, France, Germany, UK, Thailand and Taiwan are able to communicate with their peers in Rakuten’s corporate headquarters? Mikitani’s choice for English was met with excitement, but also with harsh critique. “It’s stupid for a Japanese company to only use English in Japan when the workforce is