“I advise a clerk to write in all his business words clerk like”: a diachronic insight into English for intercultural business communication

Business communication in intercultural and cross-cultural contexts has attracted considerable attention for a long time. Nevertheless, this wide area of study and research is still difficult to define, due to its complex nature. It is even more difficult to define who its ideal teacher/trainer and learner are. Daniel Defoe, when writing The Complete English Tradesman in 1725, was quite explicit about the importance of defining the specific nature of the language of business (“every trade 1 has its nostrums 2, and its little made words”, Defoe 1725). Defoe’s advice is a clear implicit understanding that there is an internationally recognized and shared language of business. The aim of this contribution is that of shedding light on the first manuals of business English (BE) and business communication (BC) and showing how BC in English evolved from national to international, that is, from the essentially British perspective of early studies in business English to the international phenomenon it is today. The study will underline the relevance of some principles of past studies, both in the field of rhetoric and in the history of BE teaching, which should be adapted in a modern perspective to improve students’ and teachers’ performances, as the main cues to effectiveness and efficiency in intercultural and cross-cultural business communication.