Using a common language should facilitate things immensely.
In fact most business negotiations take place in English.
Some researches suggest that the standardization of negotiation through
an increased use of English as the [FOREIGN] has even increased global trade.
I believe that both things go hand in hand in that the willingness to
deal-making across borders increases the necessity to use a common language.
And the increased use of English facilitates and, hence,
increases deal-making across borders.
However, using a common language,
which is english in most cases, does not always facilitate things.
Why?
The answer is simple.
[FOREIGN] Now I got you confused,
just to make my point and you probably got it.
For many people involved in international business negotiations.
English is not their native language.
So in the first place, before being able to conduct business negotiations
it is necessary to learn English.
It is obviously very important to master English, otherwise there is ample room for
misunderstandings and negative or unfavorable negotiation outcomes.
Consequently, in order to understand the potential
impact of the use of a foreign language in intercultural business negotiations,
we need to consider foreign language proficiency.
Foreign language proficiency indicates how well a person
masters a specific foreign language.
For the reasons mentioned above,
we are particularly interested in English proficiency.
There is some evidence that bad foreign language proficiency
can have negative consequences.
For example,
poor foreign language proficiency can slow down communication processes.
And a negotiation is in essence all about communication.
If a business partner has relativity low foreign language proficiently
then trust in him or her is often relativity low as well.
These negative feelings maybe unjustified of course.
But for negations to be successful neutral trust is particularity important.
And trust is simply a subjected feeling.
To put it more cautiously trust is never completely objective.
In the end negotiators with a relatively low foreign language proficiency
will be trusted less and will also be less likely to experience high status.