Business English

http://my.uopeople.org/course/view.php?id=26

This course provides an introduction to Business English with the aim to improve communication skills using business-related topics. The student will learn how to use English in conducting business in traditional settings as well as using the Internet. Topics include; negotiating, speaking in business meetings, delivering presentations, writing business letters, memos and emails, telephoning, business vocabulary and multicultural communication.
Course Number: GS 1103
Prerequisites: None

UNIT 1
Introduction to Methods of Communication in Business

Differences between academic English and business English

Academic language is often detailed and discursive. Essays, research papers and longer academic publications require close attention and thorough explanations.
Business language is designed for very different purposes and very different audiences.Business frequently requires quick responses and fast decisions, and that means that the key to business communication is often clarity and brevity.
Nevertheless, in spite of the speed and apparent informality of modern business communication, certain types of communication must remain formal and detailed.

Introduction to methods of communication

Telephone or conference / video calling
Traditional telephone conversations are usually one-to-one. More often, these take place when a working relationship has already been established, so the tone of this communication can be slightly more informal or familiar. If you are calling a new client or business contact, somebody you are not familiar with or of if you “cold call” (which means calling somebody you do not know), then it is important to remain formal in your approach, and not be over-familiar. Additionally, if you are participating in a conference or video call with more than one person, it is important to remain businesslike and formal.

Memos and faxes
They are normally short messages. Memoranda are usually internal communications. Similarly, faxes are a short form of communication take the form of an abbreviated letter.

Agenda and minutes / contact reports
Agenda are intended to ensure that a meeting includes all the points that attendees wish to discuss, and to ensure that the necessary discussion points are addressed in the time scheduled for a meeting.Minutes, or contact reports (another form of minutes), record the discussion that takes place in the meeting.

Emails
Some emails operate with the immediacy of phone calls, and provide short informal responses in brief exchanges of information. Others take the place of letters, contracts, press releases etc. and require formality, precision and careful drafting.

Letters and contracts
Both are intended to state precisely the details of a business decision that has been made or the details of a business enquiry.A contract is a legal document that sets out this information in detail.Letters can also be used as formal business invitations.

Reports and white papers
Reports and white papers are the pieces of communication that most closely resemble academic communication.Many companies are obliged to publish reports regularly (every three, six or twelve months) to show investors, stakeholders and the public how the company is performing. This can include financial information, information about mergers and acquisitions.
White papers are often research documents which are authoritative reports or guides about a particular subject, or which make new proposals about an industry issue.

Press releases and statements
Press releases are pieces of information that a company announces to the media (newspapers, radio, television and online news, magazines and internet news sites). Statements are shorter comments released by companies for the use of journalists. They are often responses to both good and bad news.

Presentations
Presentations explain a subject to others, either within a company or to an external audience.

Advertising and marketing materials
Advertising and marketing materials are pieces of information that are designed for the company to show the benefits of it products and services.Advertising and marketing materials are often brief, and combine verbal and visual elements.

Discussion Answer

Using English in business is not the same with using English socially and academically, while at the same time all three situations have their similarities in many ways. The most recognizable difference is in business English it is mostly brief and formal while in academic English it is mostly long, detailed, and formal also in social English it mostly informal.

The possibilities of each situation use other situation's characteristic aren't closed. Business English is mostly brief and formal but it can sometimes be longer and more detailed when needed such as in formal reports and contracts, and it also mostly formal but it can be less-formal for advertisements and between equal partners within a company. Example of business English that is brief and formal can be found in an email functioning as a memorandum where the issues are not mentioned in details. One other common characteristic in business English is it usually doesn't explain terms in details but only consider the readers would already know the meanings because most communication are done amongst people with the same or similar background.

In academic English, terms should be clearly defined and also with detailed information such as in an essay titled 'memorandum' would consists of its definitions, its uses, its examples, etc. In social English, specific terms would not be much used except for common terms only because the more various people it reach.

UNIT 2
Formal and Informal Modes of Address

Differing modes of address – how and when they are used

Formal
Addressing superiors
Addressing clients
Communicating with unfamiliar people or organisations
Addressing groups of people (meetings, presentations)
Addressing other external audiences (e.g media)
Legal and contractual situations and negotiations
When discussing serious issues, problems, disputes or complaints

Informal
Addressing peers and junior staff – unofficially and privately
Addressing partner companies with whom you have a long-standing relationship
Communicating with familiar people or organisations
Addressing individuals privately
Addressing internal audiences (staff in your own organization)

Discussion Answer

Both formal and informal languages are used in daily lives, whether it’s business or non-business.
I would choose formal language in class discussions, business meetings, general seminars, talking to people with high position for a business purpose, talking to our general manager about work related issues, to our lecturer about class related issues, to a newly-known people from work, or from colleges, in a job interview, etc. The main idea is to use formal language when talking to a group or a mass of people, and to people of high position in a formal purpose, or to people we only just known.
Informal language would be used more in social live whether communicating with businesspeople, college mates, family, etc. This could be used even when we are communicating with our managers and lecturers but not on the purpose of business and university, because with using informal language it could bring the sense of close-relationships and treat people as people not as business objects.
Other than formal and informal languages used separately, we sometimes need to mixed both in certain situations. One example is when talking in a forum but for less-formal purposes such as the opening of a company vacation journeys, big family gatherings, classmates’ vacations, etc.

UNIT 3

Memos
The format of memos and faxes can differ slightly from one case to the next, but generally they follow the rules below:
* They are brief
* They clearly show the following details at the beginning of the document:
o Who the memo / fax is to
o Who the memo / fax is from
o Date
o Subject of the memo / fax (Sometimes indicated by the abbreviation “Re”, which is short for “With reference to)

Agenda, Minutes / Contact Reports
Agenda are similar to memos and faxes because they follow some of the same rules. They can also differ from one case to the next, but generally the formal components of agenda are:
* They are brief
* The clearly show the following details:
o Date and time
o General subject to be discussed / presented (Sometimes indicated by the abbreviation “Re”, which is short for “With reference to)
o Who is attending, and from which organization
o Who is absent
o Different points on the agenda, including, always, a section at the end entitled AOB, which means “Any other business”
o Timings for each point
o Who is leading the discussion of each point

Contact reports or minutes
These arise as a direct result of meetings and record their outcome. Therefore they are important and can be used in legal disputes as records of company activity, so accuracy is essential.Importantly, you must remember the following rules:
* Follow the order of the agenda when compiling your notes. It will make them easier to write, and easier for everybody to read
* Note what the meeting is about, the date and the time
* Ensure you record clearly that you were responsible for taking the minutes.
* Record accurately who attended and who is absent
* Record accurately what people report in the meeting
* Record accurately what decisions have been made
* Record accurately who agrees to do what tasks, and what the deadlines for these tasks will be
* Record accurately what other actions will follow the meeting and who is responsible for them
* If a decision has been reached, note the time and date for the next meeting.
Generally, these rules apply whether you are writing minutes or a contact report. The difference between the two is the format.

A contact report is briefer than minutes.

Formal Emails and Letters
Formal Emails can take the place of letters, contracts, press releases etc. and require formality, precision and careful drafting. Language for business correspondenceRemember. . .
* Be clear
* Be concise
* Be accurate
* Be polite
* Include all your contact details
* Include the details of the person you are writing to
* Include an opening line explaining the subject of your letter. You can even use the abbreviation “Re” to tell the reader what you are writing about
* Get the salutation correct. Are you writing to Mr. Mrs. Ms. Dr. or another title such as Reverend, Imam, Rabbi, General? This is very important
* Get the ending right:
o For people you know well – Regards, or Best regards
o For people whose names you know – Yours sincerely
o For people whose names you do not know (you are addressing them as “Dear Sir” or Dear Madam”) – Yours faithfully

Discussion Answer

In business, in order to be professional, everything must be tidily recorded. We cannot depend on manual memory of every person for business to be able to work professionally. Agenda and contact reports are used to record certain company activity, a meeting, and it is a tool to implement POLC function.

The agenda is very useful to be a guide in conducting the meeting, so that the purpose of the meeting is achieved. It helps keep the subjects discussed not being shattered and going nowhere. A meeting with no good agenda will only be a waste of time and energy, while time and energy must be used efficiently and effectively especially in businesses. I had an experience of coming to a meeting without good agenda; it ends up with no important result and only wastes my time so that I got my job tasks piled up.

Reports are useful to keep summary of the meeting’s results so that staffs that couldn’t attend the meeting would know the information, and it can also be used to inform the higher managers too. Without good reports, the information can be misunderstood and there will be hard to follow up those results with real actions. I’ve been to a meeting with results of activities to be done within 3-months range, but until more than a year later, no implementation has been done and I assume that one of the cause is because there was no good reports.

UNIT 4
Formal Business English: Contractual, Legal and Financial

Contractual, legal and financial information, white papers and reports must be formal, precise and detailed.

Contractual and legal information
This information is designed to explain how companies and individuals work together. Precision is therefore essential because everybody involved in any business relationship must understand exactly what their roles and responsibilities are.

Financial information
All companies must produce financial reports.
Almost every company must pay tax and so they must calculate their earnings and their expenditure, and report this to the tax authorities who calculate how much tax they owe. Most companies have a board of directors who run the company, so an accurate financial report is important to help the board of directors make decisions for the company in the forthcoming financial year.Financial reports of this kind must contain all sorts of detailed information about a company’s activities, to ultimately demonstrate the company’s P&L (profit and loss).

Other reports and white papers
To remind you of what you learned in unit one, other reports and white papers are often research documents which are authoritative reports or guides about a particular subject, or which make new proposals about an industry issue. The purpose of a white paper is to show that a company leads the way in its industry and it is designed to demonstrate that a company is an expert in its field.

Discussion Answer

Contractual, legal, financial documents and other reports must be so formal and precise because they contain the most important information on businesses, and many people from different backgrounds read them. Using formal and precise languages in such documents could help to decrease the chance of misinterpretation, and they have largely accepted definitions so that everyone involved in it would understand their duties and rights well. Misinterpretation of these documents can lead to a client or a provider being mistreated by the counter-party and caused a loss in financial aspect or time, bigger problem could happen if one party takes this to legal action such as suing the other party for not meeting its obligation agreed.
Example in a contract:”The delivery should be done within 30 days.” It is being imprecise that the provider of product could be confused by within 30 days, after the agreement or payment. It should be clearer like “The delivery should be done within 30 days after the first payment done by the client”.
Example in a financial document: “Total profit = 20k” this is unacceptable because 20k is not a formal form of money amount, it should be written “Total profit = $ 20,000”.

UNIT 5
Informal Business English


Briefing materials
In the business environment, it is sometimes necessary for a senior executive to become involved with projects or teams that they do not work with regularly. They need an explanation of the key points of the project, but they are busy people and they have very little time, so you must explain these things to them clearly and simply.
What you need to produce is a briefing sheet. This provides the reader with top-line information (the most important facts) so he / she can sound knowledgeable in a meeting, while you are there to discuss the details, because you work more closely and more regularly on the project in question.

Electronic communication
Similarly, electronic communication – emails and SMS – require focused and concise forms.
Here are some easy rules of thumb to keep in mind when you are sending and receiving e-mail, especially for business purposes:
1) Always include a subject.
2) Pay attention to punctuation and proper grammar.
3) Never use all capital letters.
4) Get to the point.
5) Be careful with attachments.
6) Use plain text in messages.
7) Whenever possible, reply below the message you receive.
8) Check your spelling.

The “Killer” Tool – The Power of the Bullet Point
The best way to convey information simply, clearly and quickly is to use bullet points.
# A bullet point is a piece of information preceded by a dot, commonly known as a “bullet”
# Bullet points are always brief
# They do not need to be full sentences, although they can be full sentences if you choose
# Each bullet point provides one piece of information
# Bullet points are designed to be fast and easy to read

Using bullet points successfully
* You must decide what are the most important facts you want to communicate
* Remove all unnecessary detail
* If the recipient wants more information, they will ask for it
* The purpose is to ensure you get the recipient’s attention about the most important details
* If you have more than one topic to explain, use sub-headings, just like in this unit
* Sub-headings ensure that you focus fully on the subject you are addressing
Bullet points are a powerful tool for incisive and less formal communication and you will see in the next two units how effectively they can be employed in marketing communications.
Here are 10 tips for creating crisp, clear bullet points. Use bullet points to list features, steps, or tips, like this list.
1. Emphasize the beginning.
2. Make bullet points consistent.
3. Punctuate bullets consistently.
4. Avoid ending bullet points with semicolons.
5. Avoid making bullet points so long.
6. Number bullet points when you have many.
7. Avoid using transition words and phrases.
8. Be sure bullet points are related.
9. Avoid bullet points when you want to build rapport.
10. Lay out bullet points cleanly.

Discussion Question and Answer

Think of a subject that you consider important. It could be anything - something personal, or perhaps an issue that means a lot to you, like human rights, democracy, honesty, the environment, or fair pay and conditions in places of work, for example.
Explain in no more than 150 words the most significant things about this subject and why it is important to you. Imagine that you are trying to persuade your fellow students that your subject is the most critical thing they should think about. You must do this clearly and briefly.

The condition of the earth is now has decreased so much that everyone can even feel the general temperature of the earth is rising, especially those who live near the sun rotation line. This so called global warming is more or less caused by ourselves as human. When we are using too much paper or tissue, think about how many trees has to be cut down to produce those. When we are using too much water, think about people in other places who are dying to find water just for a drink. When we are turning on our electronic appliances not when we need them, think about how much fuel has to be taken from under the earth to be wasted. We can’t live without water, and fresh air, so that would mean preserving the earth is like preserving our own lives since the earth is providing us with water and fresh air.

Assignment

Summary of the importance of business ethics

Business ethics encompass a large and significant portion of what it takes to do business today and it covers these issues:
• The social responsibility that a business is supposed to have towards the community in general, particularly the one in which it operates or has any interests.
• Issues regarding a company's responsibility towards its shareholders. If business ethics are not brought into play in the concept of increasing shareholder value, the business can collapse due to the pressure exerted by shareholders.
• Inter-company dealings and negotiations. To allow for fair play and keeping the best interests of the consumers in mind, the government regulates a great deal of what goes on in company dealings.
• Stakeholder protection. The business has to ensure that the rights and interests of all of stakeholders groups (employees, stockholders and general public) are adequately protected in the course of its operations.
• Fundamental business practices of a company. Underhanded dealings, the use of substandard products, spreading misinformation about the product, hiring illegal workers at lower than minimum wage, etc. prove that a business is run in an unethical way and that it is not a high quality work place or service provider.

UNIT 6
Advertising and Marketing Communication

Almost every business organization needs to make other people aware of the products or services that it offers. To achieve this, businesses need to create and use good marketing material.

Marketing material has three main purposes:
1. Inform people about a company’s products and services
2. Make people interested in buying and using a company’s products and services
3. Drive them to purchase a company’s products or services

It is therefore essential that all marketing writing is clear, easy-to-understand and captures the attention of the people that are reading it.

Types of advertising and marketing materials

Advertisements
What they all have in common is that they are often a combination of verbal and visual elements, and the written elements of advertisements are often very brief. Sometimes, there are no words at all. The most important function of advertisements is to grab the attention of people who see them, and make them remember, and perhaps desire the brand and the product.

Promotional literature – flyers, direct marketing material, brochures and pamphlets
Flyers are basic printed pieces of information, often with little more on them that the information in a company’s advertisements. Companies sometimes choose to hand out flyers to people in crowds to accompany samples of the product that they are giving away. Just like with advertisements, flyers are used to familiarize people with the brand and the product.Direct marketing material, brochures and pamphlets extend this level of detail. They are intended to explain in varying degrees of detail more about a company’s product or service.Direct marketing material is literature that is sent directly to people, either by post or by email. Brochures and pamphlets are often used at industry exhibitions, or sent to people who have agreed that a company can send them promotional material about new products and services. In these cases, particularly at industry exhibitions, which focus on specific fields, such as medical equipment or aviation for instance, the information needs to be more detailed and perhaps more technical.
Electronic marketing material – Websites, Banner advertisements, Click-thrus and SMSMost companies now have a website, where they can explain what the company is, what it does, what its products and services are and what the benefits of these products and services are.Nowadays, companies can buy space on other high-traffic websites, and can place banner advertisements and click-thrus on the pages of these other websites.Similarly, the popularity of mobile telephones and mobile internet access on telephone devices has meant that SMS advertising has also developed. SMS means “Short Message Service”, so by its very nature information must be brief and impactful. Good examples of these are the way mobile phone service providers use SMS to promote new products and services.

Press releases
Another important way of communicating the benefits of a company and service is by using journalists to write about your company. A press release is a brief explanation of company news – a new product or a new service perhaps that has yet to be launched. Press releases can also announce other important news about a company, such as the appointment of a new global president, or a significant new joint venture with another company.Press releases often give information to journalists before anybody else receives this information. They must therefore be impactful and interesting, just like advertisements, but must provide more detail than advertisements so that the journalist has enough information either to write his / her story directly or be encouraged to seek more information from the company.

Achieving clear marketing communication
Obey these rules:
1. You need to tell your audience . . .
* WHO?
* WHAT?
* WHEN?
* WHERE?
* WHY?
2. Know your audience and communicate in the correct tone of voice
This is a more complex challenge. Earlier in this unit we considered the importance of using different modes of address or tones of voice in marketing material, and identifying and segmenting audiences accordingly. But why and how is this achieved?Therefore, we can understand the need to identify who we are speaking to before we write and use marketing material so that we can use the correct tone of voice. We can understand the need to separate different audiences, identify them and their requirements. This is called audience segmentation. Some of the main factors to take into account are:
* Age: Are you addressing teenagers or adults with families of their own, for example? This might affect what language you use – street slang or more regular / formal English?
* Gender: Are you addressing men or women, or both?
* Wealth: Are you addressing a small audience of wealthy people or a larger audience of people on average incomes? The former will want to hear about the high value of a product, its exclusivity. The latter will want to feel that they are getting good value for their money and that the product or service that is being marketed is not out of their price range.

So in summary, marketing communication brings together a number of the skills you have learned so far on this course - knowing your audience, understanding the correct tone of voice and being clear and brief are essential elements to successful marketing communication in English.

Ethics and Accuracy
The marketing writer seeks to set the product apart from its competitors by highlighting one of these qualities. This is known either as a Unique Selling Point (USP) or a Point of Difference (POD).

UNIT 7
Presentations


Presentations are frequently used in business and a presentation can be a powerful tool when delivered well.

A presentation is a very important way of conveying information to large groups of people. Presentations are most commonly used in the following ways:
* Informing people of essential information. This might be new company policies, company performance or performance projections, new product launches, new plans, for example
* Training / internal communications. A presentation is a useful visual aid to explaining methods of working, rules and regulations to staff
* Selling / Persuasion. A presentation is a powerful way of showcasing a company’s product(s) or service(s), or demonstrating to a client your company’s plans or strategy for successfully delivering your services to meet client’s needs and expectations

A key consideration – combining verbal and visual elements
The challenge this creates is that good presentations must contain a balance between visual and verbal content. There must be enough words in a presentation to explain what you are presenting, but too many and you risk boring your audience!Additionally, you must remember that although you write a presentation, you deliver it in front of an audience. Don’t simply read what you have written in your presentation.

Constructing presentations

A presentation resembles a speech because you can prepare what you want to say in advance. However it requires a level of verbal and visual impact more in keeping with marketing material.Just like writing a speech or an academic essay, each page of a presentation, usually called a slide, must follow clearly and understandably from the previous slide.It is often said that the best way to construct a presentation is as follows:
* Tell them what you are going to tell them
* Tell them
* Tell them what you have told them

To clarify, what this means is . . .
* At the beginning, explain to your audience what you will be talking about and explain briefly what they can expect the sections of presentation will cover
* Talk through the presentation
* Use the concluding section of your presentation to summarize what you have presented, so that people leave the presentation with a fresh memory of the main points
. . . then offer them the opportunity to ask any questions.Just like writing marketing material, also be aware of who you are talking to when you are presenting.

Before you compose your presentation, try to understand the following:
* How much does your audience already know about the subject you are presenting?
* How important / senior is your audience?
* Whether they will welcome the points you will make or whether they will be hostile to them?
* What they are expecting to hear from you?
These considerations will dictate the level of basic detail you need to include in your presentation, the amount of knowledge you could and should assume they already have, and the mode of address you use.

Summary

There is a rule for much business communication that has become axiomatic in the business world, and it is as true for presentations as for many other forms of business communication. The rule is called K.I.S.S.

K.I.S.S. is an abbreviation of “KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!”

Another rule often applies when writing content for presentations: “LESS IS MORE.”

Both of them mean similar things. Most importantly, they warn you that too much detail will ruin a presentation. Your audience will become bored and your presentation will have no impact. They imply that when you are writing a presentation, you should remember the following:
* Be brief
* Be precise
* Be clear

One final thing to remember . . . Boredom is your enemy, so try not to be boring!
US entrepreneurs’ magazine Fast Company discusses the things to avoid in presentations in this entertaining article:

Discussion Answer

There are many skilled presenters or speakers I noticed both within my own country and in international world. In my opinion, someone can be one of them if one meets certain qualifications which I will not mention in order of importance.
- First, one has to be able to speak clearly; both in choosing the right vocabulary and words appropriate for the audience and also in tone of voice, when it needs emphasizing and when it needs to be cooled down.
- Then, of course, one has to master the material one is presenting about. In presentation or speech, one is trying to transfer one’s opinion and knowledge or information to the audiences. This cannot be done well if the speaker itself doesn’t really understand what the material is about.
- Good gestures and body language will also help make the presentation better, they will add some ‘life’ into the presentation so that the audiences will not be bored.
One thing that cannot be put aside is the ability to understand one’s audience. All key points above is really about understanding the audiences. They are about choosing the right words and tone for them, mastering the material to be able to transfer to them, and using gestures in helping delivering the information to them.

UNIT 8

Considering Cultural Differences and Course Summary.

Cultural Differences and its effect on communicating in English

Traditionally the lingua franca (the generally recognized and used language) of business has been English. The global use of English across the world has facilitated worldwide business and allowed people of different cultures and languages to complete transactions and work together effectively.
Although we are communicating in a single language, we face the issues we identified at the beginning of this course, namely how to communicate clearly and in the correct mode of address when sharing information internationally.
This challenge is not just experienced by non-native English speakers.
This makes the imperative for clear and precise use of English even more important, because all parties in a business relationship must understand exactly their roles and responsibilities in order for business transactions to proceed smoothly.

The ramifications for such cultural differences are essentially twofold.
Firstly, it is necessary to understand or at least be aware of differences in modes of address when working in a foreign business culture. The temptation is to apply the rules and customs of your own culture to the context in which you find yourself working, but this does not always operate successfully.
Secondly, it is necessary to understand and be aware of differences in certain behavior that exists between different cultures. This can manifest itself in not just how people communicate verbally, but in their body language, their appearance and their manners.

Also remember that there are different religious codes and customs in different parts of the world. What might be an acceptable way to dress or interact in a work environment in your home country may be considered unusual, surprising, inappropriate or perhaps even offensive in another country.

Reviewing the English for Business Course

English for Business is a course required for all Business Administration students. The purpose of this course is to build an understanding of effective uses of English in a business environment and to develop strong core business communication skills.

In Unit One, you learned about some of the differences between English for business and academic English and you were introduced to the different methods and modes of communication used in a business context. You learned how and when these differences are used. You were introduced to the key skills involved in using English for business successfully.

In Unit Two you took a more detailed look at the different modes of address, or tones of voice that can be used in English for business. You were introduced to the concepts of formal and informal language and their differences, and you began to learn when it is appropriate to use these different modes of address.

Unit Three extended this theme and examined more closely the uses of formal business English. In this unit you learned about the formats, conventions and vocabulary of formal business English. You also learned about some of the situations in which it is appropriate to use formal English in a business environment, such as memos, agenda, minutes and contact reports, plus formal emails and letters.

The following unit built on this foundation and showed you more complex formal business documents and how they are constructed in English. We focused on how to compose contractual, legal and financial documents, white papers and other reports and we looked at some good examples of how these are written.

Unit Five switched your focus to faster, more informal uses of English for business and introduced you to the skills and techniques needed to produce swift, succinct, and easy-to-understand business communications. In particular you learned about how powerful the bullet point can be as a tool for effective business communications.

In Unit Six, you followed this theme further and you learned how to apply the principles of effective informal business English to a key area of business communication – the creation of advertising and marketing materials. You learned about the different kinds of materials that are used for marketing and advertising and how to use the skills and tools you had learned to write good material of this kind, in particular the importance of targeting your communications accurately. You were also introduced to ethical issues surrounding marketing communication, in particular the issue of accuracy.

In last week’s unit, you learned how to apply all the principles of clarity, brevity of language, and modes of address in order to know how to write good business presentations in English. You learned about the functions of business presentations, and the rules and techniques of constructing them

This week, you learned about the challenges that cultural differences can pose to successful English communication in business, and in every unit you expanded your business vocabulary in English.

In this English for Business course, you were exposed to a variety of reading materials. The information contained within these materials formed the basis for Discussion Forum and assignment questions. In addition to completing these tasks, you were required to track your own learning by complete weekly Self-Quiz assessments and writing in your Learning Journal.

Success in the final examination for English for Business is determined by whether you have understood all course materials and met the requisite learning objectives. Take the time to revisit each unit and ensure that you are familiar with the content. If you require clarification, communicate with your peers in the Course Forum.

Discussion Question and Answer

Explain what you think are characteristics of good manners and behavior in your part of the world, that people from elsewhere might not know. Try and give examples of specific customs that are typical of where you live, but might be unknown elsewhere.
Also explain which manners and behavior are considered surprising or unacceptable where you live, but which may be inoffensive elsewhere in the world.
Imagine you are briefing a work colleague from abroad who is visiting your country on business for the first time. Write no more than 250 words.

If the case is about preparing a work colleague from abroad to do business in my country, I think there are not many differences found between in my country and in elsewhere. I think the customs are similar especially in the world of business. But I do notice some differences in customs. One example is in my country; most people usually don’t wear their shoes inside private houses, and take off shoes in the entrance, but in most offices this is not the case. Other thing I noticed, although this is sometimes is irritating, is that people in my country are usually hard to say “no” straightforwardly to people. For example if someone asks something we don’t want to do, we don’t say “no” but we tell excuses. More differences can be found in certain communities in my country, which is the community of less-secularist people such as in Islamic Finance community. Some people are accustomed to shake hands between men and women without touching, only put together one’s two hands and bow head a little. So if you’re a woman coming to a business meeting with a man, for instance from an Islamic bank, the man will not shake your hand not because he doesn’t respect you but he will greet you in another way without doing touching. Hugs are done more as greetings between same sexes, but with closer friends only.

This week's discussion is very interesting for me, I get to know my classmates' view to their own surroundings. I cannot choose to comment on only 3 of them, I want to comment to all in general. It's interesting to know that Germans are good with plans, and Asians are not that good wink And it's also a new knowledge for me that in Vietnam and India, people don't do hand shake between opposite sexes as in Muslim worlds. I also like the fact that in Saudi Arab, no transaction done between men and women. And I never thought that people in Jordan is lacking job opportunities that people don't do their work wholeheartedly, just like in Indonesia. Also so many other countries I learned from this week's discussion, I wish in the future, there are more of this kind of discussion and in a wider classroom too. It's always interesting to know how things are like in other parts of the world.

UNIT 9
Final Exam

A course material in University of the People taken on Term 3 from 4th Feb - 7th Apr 2010