Business English in the Modern Environment

1. Business English in the Modern Environment The real value of the English Language

2. Why English and Why Now? • English is the most widely used language in today’s global market place. • Anywhere in the world you travel you will find English speakers • The Internet

3. Methods for Teaching Biz. English • Taking Romanian/Russian Business Journals and making sensible translations • Translating the Daily News from Romanian/Russian into English • Internet “Surfing” in English • Using current versions of MS Word and MS Excel to sharpen grammar and sentence structure skills

4. A Final Point and Some Useful Materials English--like all languages is not static--it is ever changing, which means you, as an English Teacher, need to constantly find new and interesting vocabulary for your students.

5. 1. The essay, thesis and report compared • Although the essay, the thesis and the report are different types of written documents, there are also many similarities, particularly with regard to approach, structure, style and mechanics. • An essay is a short piece of writing, a composition, in which a subject is analyzed. An essay can give arguments for a statement or a claim, it can describe a situation or it can give an explanation for something. Depending on the type of essay and the subject, different techniques can be used. Sometimes it may be necessary to include diagrams or calculations in an essay, in other cases it may be necessary to use quotations. • A thesis is a piece of writing in which a statement is maintained or proved. A thesis is longer than an essay and is written for higher degrees. • The most important difference between a essay and a report is that a report answers a question (e.g. how do consumers react to our products?) of someone who ordered an investigation (e.g. a manufacturer). Very often a report deals with a problem and offers a solution. There are many different types of reports for different purposes. For example, project report, research report, progress report, feasibility study. Unlike essays, reports are usually subdivided into numbered sections and subsections (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1, etc) and contain a table of contents. • Assignment: Essay, thesis or report? • Read the following descriptions of situations and write down whether an essay, a thesis or a report is likely to be written. • A student has a traineeship with a company. His supervisor from school has asked him to make notes about what he has learnt every day. Once a month he must hand in a text based on those notes. • A student is asked to write a short text about Russia’s increasing dependence on imports. • A student wants to do an in-depth study on the relationship between Russia’s economic situation and the rhetoric used by its rulers. • A student has thought of the following title: An Analysis of Safety Problems in the E-building. • A student has thought of the following title: On Taking a Nap

6. Curriculum Vitae Personal data: Name: Klaus Klein Address: Josephstrasse 56, D-5000 Köln 1 Telephone number: 221-324299 Date/Place of birth: 9 January 1980 Berlin, Germany. I am a German National Education: 1995 - 1999 School of Facility Management, Kölner Hochschule, Köln (higher vocational education) 1989 - 1995 Gymnasium Kreuzgasse, Köln (equivalent of English A levels) Subjects: German, English, History, Geography, Philosophy, Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry Work experience: 1998 - 1999 Arco GmbH, Köln, receptionist 1998 - 1995 Braun Catering, Köln. I was mainly occupied with logistics 1993 - 1994 Holiday job at a summer camp in the United States Interests: Tennis, reading, playing the guitar and travelling. I have traveled through Russia and Asia. I like reading Russian and Asian literature. References: Franz Zimmerman Arco GmbH Sales Manager Telephone number: 221-109864

7. Essay Example: www.economist.com ON JULY 1st, Italy becomes president of the European Union. It is a six-monthly handing over of the baton that elicits no excitement at all in normal circumstances, but these days the circumstances are not quite normal. Politically, Europe is split. Economically, it is sputtering. The war in Iraq has lacerated relations with its main ally, the United States. Ten newcomers are about to join the club and, if the expanded Union is not to find itself paralyzed, agreement must be reached on a new constitution. It is plainly time for clear-sightedness, diplomatic finesse and the exercise of the sort of moral authority that comes with ungrudging respect. Can Italy offer such leadership? Or, rather, can its prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi? Our answer is no. Two years ago, when Mr Berlusconi was campaigning for the Italian prime ministership, we explained why we thought he was unfit for that job. We argued that, in addition to the many conflicts of interest between his own businesses and the affairs of state that would arise were he to be elected, he also had a compelling case to answer on a string of grave charges. Though Italy's highest criminal court has not definitively convicted him on any of those charges, he has yet to lay to rest all the concerns about his probity. One reason for that is the manner in which the cases against Mr Berlusconi have been concluded. Most have owed less to clear-cut acquittals based on the evidence than to Italy's statute of limitations, or to recent changes in legislation apparently designed to benefit the prime minister as a defendant. These changes, pushed through a parliament dominated by a pro-Berlusconi majority, have included a law on judicial co-operation with foreign jurisdictions (with implications for at least one case against Mr Berlusconi), a measure to reduce the seriousness of some types of false accounting by making them civil rather than criminal offences (another three cases), and a law to let defendants seek to have their trials moved to another jurisdiction if they have a “legitimate suspicion” that the court handling their case may be biased (which could be used to spin out a trial and thus to help defendants benefit from a statute of limitations). This last law was unsuccessfully invoked by Mr Berlusconi in the one criminal case that is still outstanding, which explains why he was in court this week denying accusations of bribing judges back in 1985.

8. The allure of immunity That trial will continue for several months, well into the Italian presidency of the EU and raising the possibility, on the basis of this week's form, that it will become a battleground between the current prime minister and one of his predecessors, Romano Prodi, who is now president of the European Commission. But Mr Berlusconi's allies seem to be more worried about the possibility of a guilty verdict. Last week one of his closest friends and political allies, Cesare Previti, was sentenced to 11 years in jail for corruption. Now there is talk of parliament's passing a law to grant immunity from criminal prosecution to those with “high state roles”. Such a law might ease the discomfiture of Mr Berlusconi's supporters at home. It would do nothing for his wider reputation abroad. Instead, parliament might usefully be turning its attention to Mr Berlusconi's conflicts of interest. These have been a real or potential embarrassment since before his first prime ministership nine years ago, and it seemed incredible that simple decency had not ensured a resolution by the 2001 election. But Mr Berlusconi seems to find it hard to distinguish between propriety and proprietor. Nearly two years after taking office for the second time, a promised law to tackle his conflicts of interest has yet to be enacted. In the meantime, though Mr Berlusconi exercises huge influence over the state broadcaster, RAI, his family has yet to divest itself of Italy's three largest private television channels. Mr Berlusconi says he is the victim of a communist plot (The Economist, which he is suing for libel, is apparently a part of it), and the judiciary is biased against him. Some Italian magistrates are no doubt left-wingers; it would be odd if that were not so, in a country in which political partisanship has long permeated almost every public institution. But Italy also has right-wing magistrates, and in any event it is possible to hold political views and yet dispense impartial justice. If Mr Berlusconi is indeed the victim of a plot, he needs to show the world his evidence. The proper way to do that, for a man in his position, is to step down from his public post and defend himself in court. If and when he has fully cleared his name, Europeans may feel easier about having him speak for Europe.