（日本語ブログ：ビジネス英語とは何か｜One World Link）
I’m sure you’ve heard the term “business English” many times in your career. From finance and government to multinational corporations, business English appears across a wide range of formal workplace settings.
Emails, proposals, reports, presentations, and meeting materials are just a few media you might associate the term with. But what actually makes business English “business”?
Let’s look at how established institutions define business English, what characteristics distinguish it from general English, and how those principles apply in practice. Then, let’s consider why audience awareness is especially important when communicating with your company’s stakeholders.
Definition
Indeed, a global employment platform, published a career development article that defines business English as “a type of writing that focuses on clearer, more direct language without slang, idioms, or grammatical errors.”（Indeed Career Guide）
The article further dives into how business English carries stricter expectations for vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, explaining, “Clarity and consistency are important components of business English, which is why it focuses so heavily on things like strong vocabulary and well-written sentences.” (Indeed Career Guide)
Pearson, a multinational education company known for publishing textbooks, academic materials, and various types of other English language training content, also frames business English in a similar way, stating:
“Business writing refers to the clear and purposeful use of language in written form within a professional context. It encompasses a wide range of documents, including emails, reports, proposals and presentations, tailored to communicate effectively with clients, colleagues and stakeholders.”
(A guide to mastering business English writing)
Across these definitions, several themes emerge consistently: clarity, correctness, structure, and purpose.
Core Attributes of Business English
Based on these definitions, business English rests on a few core pillars:
- Clarity
- Correctness
- Direct language
- Consistency
We already know you’re busy doing the jobs of two people (once in Japanese and once in English)! But how can you communicate with these attributes in mind?
- Write short, direct sentences
- Use simple language and avoid idioms or slang
- Make correct grammar and punctuation a priority
- Be clear in your messages
- Include strong vocabulary
In contrast, Japanese corporate writing is rooted in cultural communication norms that can prioritize context building, careful explanation, and layered messaging before presenting conclusions.
This approach can be the antithesis of many Business English writing practices and requires translators to exercise care when translating Japanese content into English.
Let’s take a look at how business English practices are applied. Consider the following example from a typical earnings report.:
Ex. 1
Original:
Company Name Co., Ltd. (Securities code: 0000; the “Company”) hereby announces that XXX Co., Ltd. has resolved, at its meeting of the Board of Directors held on MM DD, YYYY, to acquire the shares of the Company through tender offer as described in the attachment.
This is an example of an English translation from a JPX disclosure template on a notice concerning a tender offer of shares.
As you can see, the sentence is overloaded with information and is hard to read.
We can make this a bit easier to read by restructuring the sentence and making small edits to word choice to improve clarity.
Rewrite:
Company Name Co., Ltd. (Securities code: 0000; the “Company”) announced that the XXX Co., Ltd. Board of Directors approved a resolution to acquire shares of the Company via tender offer, as described in the attached materials. The meeting in question was held on MM DD, YYYY.
Here’s another example.
Ex. 2
Original:
Although the electronic component business saw lower average selling prices resulting from inventory adjustments by customers in the previous fiscal year, demand grew for high-value-added power management ICs for semiconductor applications, mainly in Europe, and operating efficiency improved due to cost reduction efforts, resulting in higher sales.
This sentence is an example of the type of structures and wording we come across quite often in direct Japanese-to-English translation at One World Link. Notice how the overall outcome (“sales increased”) doesn’t appear until the end of the sentence, buried beneath a lengthy explanation.
While this style of writing is more typical in Japanese, it creates run-on sentences and muddles the intent to report on the results.
How can we make this information clearer to readers? Let’s take a look at how writers at OWL might rewrite this sentence into business English.
Revised:
Sales increased in the electronic component business. despite lower average selling prices in the previous fiscal year due to customer inventory adjustments. This result reflects strong demand for high-value-added power management ICs for semiconductors in Europe and stronger operating efficiency driven by cost reductions.
Again, the first thing we would do is bring the result to the forefront of the sentence.
We would then rework the “why” and the “how” to support this result. The original example is overloaded, cramming both positive and negative factors into the same sentence. Our revision breaks down this sentence into two clearer, more direct pieces of information.
Notice also how “resulting from inventory adjustments by customers” becomes “due to customer inventory adjustments,” and “cost reduction efforts” becomes “cost reductions.” Rewriting overly complicated structures to stronger and more direct verbs is a great way to enhance readability.
It’s important to note that while Ex. 1 and Ex. 2 deal with long sentences, making adjustments to smaller sentences is still equally important in business English.
Let’s take a look at the next two examples to see how we can improve clarity in shorter sentences.
Ex. 3
Original:
We are working to contribute to the promotion of sustainability through our business activities.
Revised:
We support sustainability through our business activities.
This example is highly common in Japanese-to-English translation. Weak phrases like “working to contribute to” and “the promotion of,” which mirror Japanese expressions such as 貢献 and 推進. While the original sentence is grammatically correct, the structure is incredibly confusing and unnecessarily long. Remember, business English prefers clear, direct sentence structures with strong vocabulary. “We support” expresses the same idea in a way that aligns with business English writing conventions.
Another noteworthy change involves the verb form. Literal translations often use -ing constructions because Japanese frequently uses progressive expressions like 取り組んでいます or 推進しています. In English business writing, however, the simple present tense is usually stronger and clearer.
Ex. 4
Original:
Our Group is promoting initiatives such as reducing environmental impact and contributing to local communities in order to realize a sustainable society.
Revised:
The Group supports a sustainable society by reducing environmental impact and contributing to local communities.
This is an example of a typical AI translation of Japanese that we might come across. As we discussed above, the revision changes the verb form to simple present tense and moves the main idea forward. The revision also addresses a few issues that make the original writing sound like a direct translation.
1. “Our Group”
“Our Group” is technically incorrect. We capitalize Group only when it replaces the company’s proper name. In this sentence, “group” is a general noun, so lowercase is correct. If you want to reflect 当社グループ in English disclosure writing, “The Group” is the appropriate expression.
2. “is promoting initiatives”
“Promoting” is a direct translation of 推進. In English business writing, however, companies do not usually “promote initiatives.” The verb sounds unnatural in this context and does not clearly describe the action. Stronger alternatives include pursue, implement, or carry out, depending on the meaning of the original sentence.
3. “in order to”
“In order to” is often used in literal translations of Japanese text. In most cases, “to” communicates the same meaning more clearly and concisely. Shorter phrasing improves readability and aligns with common Business English writing practices.
Ex. 5
Original:
Net sales increased significantly by 28.5% year on year as a result of the expansion of sales in overseas markets and the strengthening of product competitiveness.
Revised:
Net sales rose 28.5% year on year, driven by higher overseas sales and stronger product competitiveness.
This sentence is something we might see in a quarterly earnings report.
Like Ex. 3, the original translation here is much simpler than Ex. 1 and Ex. 2. Being short, however, doesn’t automatically mean the sentence is direct or clear. There are still areas in which we can use stronger, more concise vocabulary.
Japanese writing often relies on verb-noun structures, which AI and machine translation tend to render as indirect, verb-heavy phrases in English. Some phrases appearing often in Japanese to English translation include sentences ending in 〜の実施, 〜の強化, or 〜の推進. AI and machine translation often render these phrases as nominalizations like “the implementation of,” “the strengthening of,” or “the advancement of.”
Such phrases and nominalization weigh down the sentence and impact readability. Replacing “the expansion of sales in overseas markets” with “higher overseas sales” results in a more concise and direct message.
Business English in the Financial Sector
Business English applies across industries, but tailoring your writing to your audience is essential.
Investor relations communications differ from general corporate writing, given that primary readers operate in financial markets. Institutional investors, analysts, and global shareholders review disclosures under time constraints. Many compare performance across multiple companies, industries, and jurisdictions in a single day. Instead of looking for emotional persuasion, they expect clear and accurate results, logical explanations, and consistent terminology.
Many U.S. corporations file their financial disclosures using Plain English to improve the clarity of disclosure documents, referencing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Plain English Handbook 2011. The SEC encourages companies to use short sentences, active voice, concrete terms, and logical organization so investors can understand material information without unnecessary complexity.
Practice Makes Perfect
Writing business English is a major skill that takes time and practice to develop.
You can enhance your skills by reviewing examples, analyzing sentence structure, identifying weak verbs and nominalizations, and consistently asking one question: Does this sentence communicate the result clearly to the intended reader?
For more practice, follow One World Link on Facebook or LinkedIn, where we regularly share business English writing tips, examples, and short quizzes designed for professionals in corporate and financial communications.
A Caution When Using AI and Machine Translation
AI translation systems learn from large datasets of aligned sentence pairs, meaning these systems often mirror the structure of the Japanese source sentence instead of restructuring the input for natural English. As a result, the English output frequently retains Japanese writing patterns. Long sentences remain long, context appears before the main point, and conclusions often appear at the end.
If you rely on AI translation for Japanese reports, always check whether the English follows natural English writing conventions. You may need to implement the methods we discussed in this blog to shorten sentences, move key points earlier, or simplify explanations so overseas readers can quickly understand your message.
Jessica Azumaya
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