Phl named world's best in business English

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos have another reason to celebrate.

Out of 76 countries worldwide, the Philippines topped the list of the world’s best in business English proficiency.

According to a Yahoo! Southeast Asia report, which cited the study conducted by GlobalEnglishCorporation, only the Philippines attained a score above 7.0 – “a Business English Index (BEI) level within range of a high proficiency that indicates an ability to take an active role in business discussions and perform relatively complex tasks.

“This is particularly interesting because the Philippines, a country with one-tenth of the population of India, recently overtook India as a hub for call centers. Over 400,000 Filipinos are now employed in call centers, which is roughly 50,000 more that India,” the study said.

Joining the list are Norway, Estonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Australia, Malaysia, India, Lithuania, Singapore, and Canada.

Meanwhile, the study also ranked the world’s worst countries in business English proficiency, which include Armenia, Cote d’Ivoire, Taiwan, Honduras, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Brazil.

Based on the study, a country’s business English capacity is an indicator of its economic growth and business access and the lack of it threatens the productivity of companies, industries and country-specific economies this year.

“Poor business English skills are bad for global business and this year’s BEI index suggests that many companies will be hard-pressed to achieve their desired performance goals during 2012,” the study noted.

The study also showed that there is now a shift in global talent, which put even English-speaking countries at risk, while the rest of the world ranked in the beginner and basic level.