Business English - An Essential Tool in Today’S World

The world of business today is increasingly internationalised. Companies everywhere employ staff from many countries and cultures, whether it be in the one central office or in regional offices, or virtually.

As a result Business English has become an essential business communication tool. English has become the lingua franca for many business dealings around the world. More and more international companies have adopted Business English for board meetings, internal memos, emails and phone calls - even when English is not the first language for many of the participants!

This trend is reflected in the growth of Business English courses around the world - whether they be extensive courses taken in a local institute, or immersion English for Business Communication courses taken in business language training centres in the UK, US, Canada or other English speaking countries. Go to any top school and you’ll see they offer a range of business and industry-specific English courses, designed to meet the needs of business leaders, HR professionals, sales people, pilots, engineers, bankers, and so on.

E-learning companies like Net Languages, Global English and Rosetta Stone have also increased the Business English content of their online programmes as students’ needs have become more career and work-focused, and sell them aggressively to companies around the world.

Business English courses tend to cover a range of ‘general business’ topics. These include introducing yourself and your company, sending business emails, making work-related phone calls, making company presentations, going on business trips, and writing company reports.

If you take a Business Communication course, the language may become more technical, and focus on more advanced areas of English, such as negotiating deals, leading international teams, recruitment issues, and describing economic trends. Students may be older than on regular Business English courses, and may also be higher up the organisation, typically at mid-senior management and director level.

Schools are offering increasingly customised Business English courses as well, designing company-specific syllabi, for example, or running closed courses for groups of managers. This gives a school the opportunity to tailor an English course to the precise needs of the course participants. This is particularly useful for groups from quite technical backgrounds, such as doctors, oil and gas workers, lawyers, or soldiers, for example.

A useful Business English course objective may be an exam such as Cambridge BULATS or the ETS TOEIC test. Both tests are designed to reflect business and workplace needs, and can be used as the basis for a strong syllabus. They are also a useful way of benchmarking business communication skills in English, and can be used in both pre-course level testing and post-course progress assessment.

So, if you are an international company, Business English is an essential skill. If you haven’t done so yet, it really is worth talking to an expert to see what kind of course is necessary and appropriate for your staff. An expert will be able to conduct a business communication skills audit and make recommendations on what kind of English course is best and how it should be delivered. Talking to the world in a language everyone understands can only be good for both your top and bottom lines.

3 Great Reasons to Learn German

Here are five compelling reasons why you should take a German course, whether it be at a German Language school, on an online German course, or in your company, where a trainer come in and gives you and your colleagues a customised German language course.

1. Germany is a great place to do business with
The German economy remains a bastion of strength in the middle of the Euro-crisis. Just like their products, German companies are built to last. Learning the language will help you open doors and build relationships with potential German clients and partners. Sure, many Germans speak great English, but learning at least the basics - either via an online German course or face-to-face course - shows respect and that you have made an effort.

2. Germany is beautiful country to travel to
Germany is underrated for its amazing scenery - mountains, lakes, forests - and is well worth a visit. Its great cities such as Berlin, Munich, Cologne, and Hamburg are also rich with fabulous historic buildings, art galleries and nightlife. Taking a German course before you go can help you travel around, find great places to stay and sample delicious local food and drink.

3. Germany has a rich history of artistic achievement
Some of the greatest writers, philosophers and composers have come from Germany. The country is filled with memorials dedicated to the likes of Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Marx, Bach and Beethoven - statues, museums and houses. Just think how wonderful it would be to read their words in the original language - OK this is an advanced level German course, but it's always good to aim high!

So, how best to learn German?
There are lots of different courses you can take to learn German. If you're a complete beginner, you need to build a foundation in the language. In this case a German evening course in your local college or some individual lessons with a private German teacher is an excellent idea. You could try an online course, but self-study can be difficult to stick to, especially the lower levels. Having lessons with a German teacher gives you a good structure to get the language basics in place.

If you already know some German, then self-study tends to work better and there are lots of excellent online German courses you can take. Of course there are lots of face-to-face German courses you can take too, whether it be an evening class, some private tuition, or even an in-company course if you can persuade your company to pay for it. In fact, this is always a good idea if your company has clients, suppliers or an office in Germany as stated above, and there are teachers who specialise in German for Business courses.

Finally, one way to both learn German and experience German culture is to take a study abroad immersion German course at a school in Germany. There are excellent German schools in all the major cities, such as Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, and you can take a range of courses there, including General German, Business German, and German plus Culture. Some schools do specialist holiday courses combining German study with a full social or cultural programme, while others also hold university preparation courses if you want to study in a German university. Once you have completed your immersion course, you can then join an online German course to continue improving.

So, you have no excuse. There are plenty of great German courses around and some excellent reasons for learning.

How much English do you need to Study Engineering at an English-Speaking University?

If you would like to study Engineering at an English-speaking university, you will not only need to score highly on a TOEFL or IELTS exam, but you will also need to learn the engineering-specific English used in real world working scenarios.

This represents a double challenge, as the TOEFL and IELTS exams are designed for anyone wanting to study at universityand therefore are not subject-specific. They cover many academic disciplines, including sciences, social studies, psychology and the arts. This means that engineering students need to learn a lot of English that they probably won’t use when they reach university.

In addition,the Engineering-specific Englishreferred to above will help them follow lectures and participate in seminars and workshops.So, it is useful to have covered as much as possible before starting an engineering degree. There are many challenges here though, as engineering covers many areas, some of which are very different from each other.

There are quite a few general areas of Engineering English, of course, which would be useful to anyone wanting to study Engineering. These include the language of cause and effect, numbers, dimensions, pressures, temperatures, positions, directions, tolerance, resistance, drawings, charts, common equipment, technology and tools, health and safety, and materials, to name just a few.

In the more specialised engineering fields, however, the English required may be quite different. Think of what language would be required when focusing on the architectural, aerospace, civil, electrical, mechanical, environmental, telecoms, nuclear, military or software engineering sectors, to take just a few examples.

This has been increasingly recognised by the academic community delivering Engineering programmes to overseas students. There are two good examples of this. One is the development of the Student Engineering English Corpus (SEEC) containing nearly 2 million of the most frequently used reduced to 1200 word families or 9000 word-types as found in core engineering textbooks, regardless of their fields of specialization. By highlighting the most common collocations that engineers use, English for Engineering teachers are able to target their courses more effectively.

The second development is the Engineering Lecture Corpus (ELC), a growing collection of transcripts of engineering lectures given in English. The ELC currently contains lectures from Coventry University in the UK, the University of Technology in Malaysia, Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and the UniversitàdegliStudi di Napoli (Federico II) in Italy. The project is designed to explore the role of English-led instruction in engineering courses from around the world.

As a student preparing to study engineering at an English-speaking university, it makes sense to prepare yourself by studying an English for Engineering course in order to familiarise yourself with the kind of English you will be using regularly in your studies. By doing this, you will be more prepared and can focus more on the content of your programme rather than on the language it is delivered in.

So, what to do? There are 3 main options here:
1.    Attend a ‘pre-sessional’ summer course organised by the university – not all universities offer this, so you’ll need to see what’s possible.

2.    Attend a specialist ‘English for Engineering’ language course at aEnglish language school. You’ll find a good list here. These can be focused one-to-one or closed group courses, where the content is tailored to your specific needs. They can also be ‘combined’ courses, where you join a group studying business or general English skills for some of the time, and then take engineering-specific classes for the rest.

Some schools offer online tuition, which can be convenient and save money.

3.    Use online resources. There are growing resources out there aimed at engineering students. English 360 offer a course based on the popular Cambridge University Press course book, ‘Cambridge English for Engineering’. The British Councilalso has a good collection of resources.

There are also a number of course books with CD Roms which, although designed for class use, can be used for self-study.

To conclude, it is useful to prepare yourself before starting your course in engineering at an English-speaking university, by taking a course or using online and self-study resources. In this way, you will be prepared to take full advantage of your course. You will be better able to understand lectures and participate in seminars. You won’t have the distraction of trying to learn English as well as following what can be an intensive course. And the more you can communicate on an engineering course, the better you will do.