"In general, however, the handbook succeeds in providing a thorough and welcomed overview of many established and emergent issues in the field of cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics within the last two decades. It is therefore highly valuable for both the interests of advanced scholars and for classroom teaching. Many of the topics of research, like pragmatic issues in the study of corporate risk communication, are relatively new and there will certainly be more to come in the next decade or two. Consequently, the state of the art given in handbooks should not be regarded as a static and final conclusion, but rather as a promise of future, dynamic research."Susanne Muhleisen in: Linguist List 24.739

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview, as well as breaking new ground, in a versatile and fast growing field. It contains four sections: Contrastive, Cross-cultural and Intercultural Pragmatics, Interlanguage Pragmatics, Teaching and Testing of Second/Foreign Language Pragmatics, and Pragmatics in Corporate Culture Communication, covering a wide range of topics, from speech acts and politeness issues to Lingua Franca and Corporate Crises Communication. The approach is theoretical, methodological as well as applied, with a focus on authentic, interactional data. All articles are written by renowned leading specialists, who provide in-depth, up-to-date overviews, and view new directions and visions for future research.