Thinking in my home language and writing in a second language: towards decolonizing business writing

Navigating the practice of thinking and writing in two separate languages is a reality in South African Higher Education. This reality manifests when isiZulu first language (L1) university students studying through a medium of English (L2) write business correspondence tasks in English, the dominant language in the business world. These tasks necessitate good business writing skills, including the use of speech acts and politeness strategies. However, currently, business communication disregards the diversity of cross-cultural communication. Research indicates that second language students think in their L1 when engaged in L2 writing. This paper interrogates the students’ use of negative politeness strategies in English request business letters and explores how African politeness strategies need not be regarded as negative transfer in intercultural business communication. Through random sampling, we quantitatively analysed English business letters written by first-year tertiary isiZulu L1/English L2 students (n=40). The findings reveal the use of negative politeness and impoliteness strategies in the request letters. This paper argues that the transference of politeness strategies from isiZulu to English need not be categorised as negative pragmatic transfer. However, their recognition promotes the decolonization of corporate communication in the South African context and embraces cultural and linguistic diversity in professional English interactions.