The Best Online English Platforms for Business English

Online English
Last update: January 8, 2024

Business English is now one of the requirements of global business life, regardless of your profession and the company you work for. Especially in international companies, it is crucial to have proficiency in English and to be able to use it effectively in order to communicate with your business partners and succeed.


I am currently writing for bestlanguagelearningapps.com, but it's not actually my main job. I have been an engineer for 10 years, and for many years, I have had extensive discussions about the English language with many colleagues at the companies I've worked for. We are all very busy, and sometimes, between work and, if we are married, taking care of our children, we can't even find time to scratch our heads. How are we going to make time to learn English?


Trying to improve your English can indeed be challenging and time-consuming at times. There are many online resources and advice available on how to personally enhance your English skills. These typically include tips such as practicing with colleagues, reading English materials, watching TV series and movies, which are helpful but may not have a solid foundation.


Integrating English into your daily life and practicing it is, of course, important, but receiving professional guidance and instruction in English can be both more beneficial and less taxing. For this purpose, there are numerous online English learning courses available with various packages and services to choose from.


So how can we make the right choice? What should we pay attention to when making a choice?


In today's article, we tried to answer these questions for you. Let's take a look together.


Table of Contents:


1. Can Business English Be Learned via Online Platforms?

2. The Best Business English Platforms

3. Conclusion and Recommendations


1. Can Business English Be Learned via Online Platforms?


Before providing a complete answer to this question, let's try to understand the current state of our world. As you know, especially during the pandemic and before it, many job types attempted to move their entire work processes online, and some are still doing so. Some have succeeded in doing this entirely, while others have established complex systems through hybrid approaches. Traditional English courses are one of the sectors that have managed to adapt to this trend.


In this era where sometimes even university and high school education is conducted online, it's debatable how reasonable it is for working individuals to spend a lot of money, endure commuting and traffic, to attend traditional English courses. Instead, it's now possible to learn English in the comfort of our homes, at our preferred time and day.


Unlike traditional English courses, you can even take lessons from native English-speaking teachers. Additionally, with thousands of unique resources available, online platforms are the most ideal choice for working individuals.


So, which online platform should we prefer? To answer this question, let's establish some criteria:


  1. Instructor Quality: The qualifications, experience, and teaching skills of the instructors provided by the platform are crucial. A good platform collaborates with expert and qualified instructors. Instructor certifications and student feedback can help assess instructor quality.
  2. Price/Performance: The cost of the platform's services should be reasonable when compared to the quality and content of the services offered. An expensive platform may not necessarily be valuable based on the features provided, so you should consider the price-to-performance balance.
  3. Ease of Finding Preferred Instructors: Some platforms offer students the freedom to choose specific instructors. This feature allows students to select the educator that best suits their learning style.
  4. Quality of Educational Materials: The quality of the educational materials provided by the platform significantly affects the learning experience. Videos, texts, exercises, and interactive learning tools should be adequate and of high quality.
  5. Technical Infrastructure: The platform's technical infrastructure should ensure that students can connect to lessons seamlessly. A stable internet connection and a user-friendly interface are important in this regard.
  6. Accessibility of Customer Support: Accessibility to the platform's customer service team is important. Getting quick and effective responses to your questions is essential for resolving any issues.
  7. Ease of Refund: If you are not satisfied with a platform or wish to discontinue its services, the refund policy is important. Refund procedures should be easy and transparent.

Let's now compare the best platforms based on these criteria:


2. The Best Online Business English Platforms


Before we dive into reviewing these platforms, we've prepared a table for you to get an overview of how well these platforms meet the criteria we mentioned earlier. In doing so, we evaluated the services of the platforms on a scale of 1 to 5 and designed the rankings accordingly.

Criteria Flalingo Open English Cambly Preply LiveXP
Teacher Quality 4.5 3.9 4.2 4.7 4.0
Price/Performance 4.0 3.5 4.1 4.2 3.8
Ease of Finding Your Preferred Instructor 4.8 4.2 4.6 4.7 4.5
Quality of Educational Materials 4.3 4.0 4.2 4.5 4.1
Technical Infrastructure 4.4 4.1 4.3 4.0 4.2
Accessibility of Customer Service 4.7 4.2 4.5 4.6 4.4
Ease of Returns 4.2 3.8 4.1 4.3 3.9
Total Score 31.9 28.7 29.0 31.0 28.9

Now, let's take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of these platforms and see what services they offer to users who want to learn Business English:


1. Flalingo


Flalingo is one of the platforms that stands out in Business English education with its professional instructors and a personalized lesson system. The platform relies on instructors who are selected through interviews and are native English speakers, as well as materials from Oxford University Press that have been proven for their quality by a wide audience.


Advantages:


  • Flalingo stands out as a platform for Business English education with professional instructors and a personalized lesson system.
  • The platform relies on instructors who are selected through interviews and are native English speakers, as well as Oxford University Press materials that are widely recognized for their quality.

Disadvantages:


  • Customer service contacting users without obtaining GDPR consent.

2. Open English


Open English is one of the online platforms for learning English, offering a variety of lessons and instructors. Open English distinguishes itself by providing personalized training packages in different categories for employees in various sectors, offering a unique approach to Business English education.


Advantages:


  • Open English offers online English learning with its lesson content and instructors.
  • It provides personalized training packages in various categories for employees in different sectors.
  • Virtual demo tours for platform introduction before purchase.
  • A library of rich content for Business English materials.
  • Live English lessons every half hour.

Disadvantages:


  • Storing credit card information and renewing subscriptions without notice.
  • Only a 14-day grace period for fee refunds despite upfront annual payment.
  • Difficulty in reaching customer service after sales.
  • Inability to have lessons with the same instructor and inability to choose your own instructor.

3. Cambly


Cambly takes a unique approach to Business English education. Especially with its lesson packages and the content it offers, this platform provides a service tailored to everyday areas of business life. For example, the content of these lessons includes topics such as job interviews, complaints, phone conversations, meetings, and sales.


Advantages:


  • Cambly takes a different approach to Business English education, offering services tailored to everyday business scenarios.
  • The content includes topics such as job interviews, complaints, phone conversations, meetings, and sales.
  • Access to Cambly's English teaching content outside of lessons.
  • One-on-one video lessons with online instructors.
  • Flexible options, including 15 and 30-minute lessons, as well as sessions on 2, 3, and 5 days a week.

Disadvantages:


  • Despite having many instructors on the Cambly platform, there is no option to have regular lessons with a preferred instructor.
  • Storing credit card information and renewing subscriptions without notice, making refunds challenging.
  • Instructors may not have a professional teaching background.
  • Business English packages may not be comprehensive.

4. Preply


Preply is one of the platforms that offers the opportunity for professionals in the business world to learn Business English. The platform provides a specialized education service for Business English and employee users, which is quite beneficial. Additionally, the courses are personalized based on positions such as management and human resources, which is another advantage.


Advantages:


  • Preply offers the opportunity for professionals to learn Business English.
  • The platform provides personalized training services tailored to different job positions, including management and human resources.
  • The flexibility to purchase lesson packages of 6, 12, 20, or 40 lessons.
  • One-on-one video lessons with online instructors.

Disadvantages:


  • Storing credit card information and renewing subscriptions without notice.
  • No tracking system for lessons completed.
  • Inability to switch to a different instructor after purchasing a package if unsatisfied.

5. LiveXP


Although LiveXP is a well-known and preferred online platform for learning English, it may not offer a wide variety of options or personalized lesson packages for Business English. Additionally, considering that not all of its instructors are professionals, there may be doubts about how focused the service will be on Business English.


Advantages:


  • LiveXP is a well-known online English learning platform, but it may not offer a wide variety of options or personalized business English packages.
  • Compatibility with desktop, iOS, Android, and Mac computers.
  • The ability to set a flexible schedule.
  • One-on-one video lessons with online instructors.

Disadvantages:


  • Storing credit card information and renewing subscriptions without notice.
  • No lesson tracking system.
  • Instructors may not have a professional teaching background.

3. Conclusion and Recommendations


We are now aware of the importance of learning Business English in today's business world. Online platforms have played a significant role in Business English learning, especially with the impact of the pandemic. In this article, we examined various online platforms for those who want to learn Business English and evaluated them based on some important criteria.


Each platform has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Particularly, Flalingo stands out as a platform that offers professional instructors and a personalized lesson system for learning Business English. Open English attracts attention with its extensive Business English materials, while Cambly offers lessons focused on everyday business scenarios. Preply provides tailored education services for users in the business world and offers personalized lessons based on different job positions. Other platforms also have different features.


In conclusion, when choosing the platform that best meets your Business English learning needs, you should consider your criteria. Regardless of which platform you choose, working consistently and systematically will allow you to improve your Business English. Good luck!

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