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Latest from BEST

Product updates, customer stories, research notes, and security disclosures.

A faint, pale-blue HK$1,000,000 figure dissolving into a soft sky-blue gradient — a large cost that is mostly hidden from view.

Research · 12 min read · Jul 2, 2026

Spoken English is silently costing Hong Kong Companies millions

Poor spoken English quietly costs Hong Kong firms millions a year. See the hidden cost of poor English by industry, and how a senior examiner recovers most.

Two overlapping pastel speech bubbles on a soft gradient, symbolising two-way interactive communication — the key English soft skill.

Research · 11 min read · Jun 22, 2026

English Soft Skills

English soft skills decide who can really speak with a client. Learn what interactive communication is, why it matters, and get a free rubric to score it.

Soft peach and sky-blue pastel gradient with a clean white line-art presentation board on a tripod stand showing a sound waveform, representing presenting spoken English.

Product · 7 min read · Jun 19, 2026

Assess English presentation skills in the interview in 3 minutes

The more senior the role, the higher the stakes when they speak English. Why to measure presentational English in interviews, and a free tool to do it.

Company · 7 min read · Jun 10, 2026

30 Years of Corporate English

How The Language Key built 30+ years of trust in corporate English training in Hong Kong — and created BEST, its AI-powered speaking test.

A white line-art padlock at the centre of four icons — a soundwave, a database, a person, and an eye — connected on a purple gradient, representing candidate personal data protected under Hong Kong's PDPO at BEST.

Security · 9 min read · Jun 9, 2026

PDPO Compliance at BEST

How BEST protects candidate data under Hong Kong's PDPO: what we collect, where it lives, who can see it, how long we keep it, and candidate rights.

Soft blue-to-teal pastel gradient with a thin white voice waveform across the centre; one segment is broken, suggesting a detected anomaly in an online speaking assessment.

Product · 11 min read · Jun 7, 2026

Keeping Online Test Integrity

No tool stops cheating 100%. Here's how to limit cheating when using online assessments during the recruitment process

Two near-identical blocks of placeholder text side by side on a soft blue-to-teal gradient, labelled "candidate" and "AI", with a magnifying glass between them finding no difference — showing that AI-written and candidate-written English are indistinguishable.

Research · 7 min read · Jun 6, 2026

Assessing English Skills in the Age of AI

AI can now write better than most people, so a written English test measures tool access, not ability. The signal that still works is live, spoken English.

Abstract soft blue gradient banner with the words 'Agile English' centered in white.

Research · 7 min read · Jun 6, 2026

Agile Spoken English

Stop hiring for "fluent." Start hiring for agile spoken English.

Product · 5 min read · May 25, 2026

Why English proficiency is not enough for senior job positions

A good score on an English proficiency test does not always mean good English at work.