GETTING REAL About Business English - Part 1: Communication Needs

By Paul Ponce, PLS Teacher

By now most will agree that English is the global language of business. In other words, to do business with the world, you need to speak it. Naturally, we are living in a time when more and more people are doing business with the world. So it’s no surprise that more people than ever need to speak English for business. Maybe you’re one of them.

But here is the thing. Most books or courses for “Business English” are designed for managers of big multinational companies. Obviously, most learners today do not fit into this profile. Nowadays, the biggest need to speak English is among professionals of all sorts as well as people who run their own businesses.

So if you’re not a manager in some multinational (and even if you are), in this blog series, we will discuss foundational concepts to help you plan your journey into English for business. In the post, we go into the first one: defining our communication needs.

To get the maximum benefit from this post, answer the questions in the following section to the best of your ability. It will take you some time.

Defining Communication Needs

This seems obvious, but it is not. To say you need to learn English to communicate with people in business is too ambiguous. What does that even mean? No book could possibly cover all the communication situations required today.

So the first thing we need to do is to ask yourselves what exactly (yes, exactly) do we need to do in English in terms of speaking, listening, reading and writing. We also need to define who we will interact with and in what context. This changes everything, especially how we prepare for that situation.

People interact in many different ways with many different people around the world. If not today, then tomorrow. Read all the questions, but only answer the ones that apply to your communication needs.

Will you need to:

• Provide for basic or complex information, if so to whom and in what context?
• Ask basic or complex questions, if so to whom and in what context?
• Present a new idea, project or product, if so to whom and in what context?
• Persuade others or call them to action , if so whom and in what context?
• Collaborate with others, if so whom and in what context?
• Listen carefully to others, if so whom and in what context?
• Read important information passively, if so what information and in what context?
• Give instructions, to whom and in what context?
• Offer help, to whom and in what context?

Once you are done, look at your answers. Review them and correct anything you feel is not right. Our goal is to be as objective as possible. Knowing what you expect of yourself is the first step to improving your ability to speak English for business.

If you take classes, this is information you should share with your teacher who can use it to better plan his or her classes. If you're working to improve English on your own, this should help you find material designed to help you improve those skills.

But this is just a first step. There are many more. In a future post, we will tell you the second step.

And speaking of business communication skills you may need, the following video provides useful tips on one of the most common ones: Phone Skills

DIVING in the SEA of Language

By Paul Ponce, PLS Teacher The thing is like this. I’m grew up in Miami, a warm place surrounded by beautiful beaches and plenty of water. Naturally, when it came to sports, my fellow South Florida residents and I had dozens of water-related options to choose from. And with the exception of surfing, I tried most of them. But truth be told, they were all a bit too much on the “surface” for me. However, there was one that truly captured my heart of hearts. Scuba diving.   I don’t know. Maybe it was all those Jacques Cousteau documentaries in my youth that drove me to put on a mask, some fins, and a regulator to plumb the depths of a world supposedly not meant for me. But boy, once I got “down there”; it was like I engaged in a deeper understanding with nature and myself. An understanding that just wasn’t possible on the surface.

So many years later as an English teacher, this idea of the “surface” and its limitations surfaced from the depths of my memory. And no, I don’t mean that language learners need to learn scuba diving, although I highly recommend it. 

What I mean is that the metaphor of deep sea diving resonated in me when I saw something in my profession that didn’t feel right. I had become disappointed that in some of the schools I worked at, much of learning was based on memorizing rules and vocabulary, out of context. Or why not say it? On the surface.

In fact, I also found this quest for quantity over quality blowing its winds in the shallow waters of standardized testing. You know, students pushed by whoever it is to max out their TOEFL, IELTS and whatever test in record time, yet not taught to communicate about anything important in a meaningful way. Why? Probably to enter a good school and get a good job at a good company who would possibly – if the economy didn’t sink to the bottom- hire a good teacher to review all those rules they once studied, but now forgot. Make sense? No? Good. 

But as Bob Dylan used to say, “times are a changin”. Finally, the tide is turning on this old world mentality of what I call “surface learning”. In fact, we are in the dawn of what I like to call “deep sea learning”, especially in the language world. 

Every day, I discover and meet new colleagues - who understand that the key ingredients for learning are engagement, context and depth. It’s very exciting to see many of them using technology to connect learners to language topics that range from complex global issues, meaningful professional issues, but also through the stimulating worlds of art, music and film. And yes, their students are getting plenty of grammar and vocabulary, but this time as a means instead of an end. Of course, I’m totally engaged in doing my share of “deep sea” language teaching as well and enjoying every bit of it.

The result is not surprising. More and more language students are becoming immersed in a deeper understanding of English as a foreign language. They are resonating to new sounds, sights and experiences, developing the confidence to continue improving on their own, deeper into the language. But it’s not all fun and games. All this “deep sea language learning” will have a profound impact on their studies and professional lives as well. A positive impact.

Finally, if you'd also like to dive into the fascinating world of the sea, then check out this report about the life and adventures of legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Adverbs... WHERE do they GO?

By Paul Ponce, PLS Teacher

If you are trying to be fluent in English, then you're probably not thinking much about grammar. And if that's true, then you're definitely not giving Adverbs much thought.

Adverbs are not a big deal conceptually. Basically, they give us information about:

• Time: when something happens
• Manner: how something happens
• Place: where something happens
• Degree: to which something happens
• Frequency: how often something happens

The real challenge for intermediate non-native speakers of English is: Where do they go? There is good reason for the confusion. In many languages, you can put Adverbs anywhere you want in a sentence (or almost anywhere). It's almost poetic.

In English, you can't. English is basic in structure. And the basic logic of English is to communicate: Subject + Verb + Object. In other words: Who does what? And to whom? Or to what?

Adverbs are secondary. They provide extra information. They must be put in the right place. However, instead of reviewing a lot of rules, this post aims to provide an alternative way to remember where to put Adverbs.

Let's learn by observation. Keep in mind here an Adverb can be a single word or a phrase that has the same role (Adverbial Phrase)

ACTIVITY

Look at the examples and pay attention to WHERE the Adverbs GO in each case. They may go in one place, or in two places, but never in three. So...

• Does the Adverb GO in the beginning?
• Does the Adverb GO at the end?
• Does the Adverb GO before or after a verb?
• Does the Adverb GO after an adjective?

Remember, Adverbs give us information about...


Time

He visited the museum yesterday.
Yesterday, he visited the museum.
Last year, I traveled to the Bahamas.
I traveled to the Bahamas last year.
See you later.


Place

Let's go there for dinner.
I'm going outside for a while
There's a party upstairs.
The director's office is across the hall.


Manner (most en in ly)

He was badly injured in the accident.
I really need your help.
You totally missed the bus.
Billy plays very well.


Degree

It's too dark in that room?
I almost missed the train.
That sandwich is quite expensive.
She's very tired.

Frequency

They usually take the bus.
I'm never late to work.
She's always studying for her test.
John rarely reads the newspaper.


PRACTICE

Come up with your own examples.


For the Rules about Adverbs, you're invited to watch: