A growing number of global firms are using as English their main language – even if they are based in Japan or France.

越来越多的全球性公司把英语当作他们的主要语言，即使他们的总部在日本或法国。

Nearly every meeting Keiko Claassen must attend at work is held in English. No big deal – except that her company is based in Italy and she’s Dutch.

对凯蔻·克拉森而言，几乎每一次她必须参加的工作会议都是用英语进行的。这没什么大不了，只是她的公司总部在意大利，而她是一名荷兰人。

At an Lainate, Italy-based engineering company where Classen is executive director of communications, every senior staffer is expected to speak English and most communications are delivered in English.

克拉森在一家总部位于意大利雷纳特的工程公司担任通讯执行董事，在她的公司，每一位高级职员都被期望说英语，而且大多数通信都是用英语传达的。

While it’s not considered an official corporate¹ language, with 4,500 employees working in several countries, including Japan, China, India and Germany, it’s the only language that everyone can generally speak in common – even if speaking doesn’t mean always fully understanding.

该公司有4500名员工在日本、中国、印度以及德国等几个国家工作，虽然它并没有把英语当作公司的官方语言，但英语却是唯一一种每个人通常都会讲的语言，即使这并不意味着谈话的内容总是能被完全理解。

In other firms, such as France-based food services company Sodexo, English is being adopted as an official language.

在其他公司，如总部在法国的食品服务公司索迪斯，英语就被当作官方语言。

Despite being based in non-English-speaking countries, Yokohama, Japan-headquartered Nissan implemented² an English-first strategy in the late 1990s.

虽然办公地点并不在讲英语的国家，然而总部在日本横滨的尼桑公司在20世纪90年代末就执行了以英语为首要语言的战略。

German electronics company Siemens also made English its official language years ago.

德国电子公司西门子也在多年前就把英语作为其官方语言。

For these companies, the aim is simple: by communicating exclusively in a single language, leaders in South America can collaborate³ with colleagues in France or the US.

对这些公司而言，目标很简单：只用一种语言交流，南美的领导人就可以与法国或美国的同事合作。

It’s also part of a cultural shift for the company, says Kim Beddard-Fontaine, Sodexo’s group vice-president.

这也是公司文化转型的一部分，索迪斯集团副总裁金姆·贝达德·丰坦说道。

“Business are organised globally and not regionally these days,” she says. “We want to become more efficient by collaborating⁴ across geographies. English is an enabler of that.”

“现在商业活动都是在全球范围内进行的，而不是区域性的，”她说。“我们想通过跨地域合作而变得更有效率。英语能促使我们实现这个目标。”

It is suggested that if a company wants a smooth changeover and aims to promote people from within the firm, it ought to offer English lessons to staffers lower down the corporate ladder, and not just focus on executives.

有人提议，如果一个公司想要顺利转变，且以内部晋升为目标，它就应该为职员提供英语课程来降低企业晋升台阶，而不应只把注意力集中在高管身上。