Chapter 9: Using English as a Foreign Language in International and Multicultural Consulting: Asset or Hindrance?

The professional world at the beginning of the 21^st century seems to be undergoing a paradigm shift that resembles a constant process of change. Growing internationalization routinely brings about situations that require individuals to “switch” between different cultures on a daily basis, from multi-professional teams and interdisciplinary projects, to multiple professional identities, various work places, and so forth. Such transitions certainly imply personal and institutional enrichment, but they also raise new challenges, risks and potential for conflict—and, therefore, call for new forms of consulting in terms of professional counseling. “Diversity management,” for example, has become one of the most prominent buzzwords of our times and one can observe a boom of intercultural trainings and seminars, which are often of highly disputable quality.