- What do you think is the most popular reason why people decide to study English? Traveling, most likely. Who would refuse to lie on the beach listening to the sound of the sea and drinking something cold? Show me a person who would say «no» to a walk in the city he’s always wanted to visit! But (there is always a «but») you have to work hard for the whole year to be able to afford those nice things.
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OK, what does this have to do with English?
- Unfortunately, not everyone gets lucky enough to find a good job. English is a great help in looking for a job, as it’s the language of intercultural business communication. An employer must understand why you are more valuable than another guy. If you are able to understand your foreign clients, negotiate and have correspondence in English, you are the best choice!
- English knowledge increases your salary dramatically. On average a salary of an English-speaking employee is 20–25% higher that of someone who doesn’t speak the language. Of course, it depends on the field. For example, accountants and lawyers get a 20–30% salary boost, whereas an IT-specialist gets on a totally new level if he speaks English.
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OK, what does this have to do with business English?
- An appropriate question would be: how well should I speak English? It’s obvious that being able to talk about weather won’t do the trick. You’re going to have to be able to represent your company, give public talks, and make deals. For this you will need something more than those typical English-textbook exercises. This is where business English steps in.
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What’s the difference between a business English course and ordinary courses?
- Now you know why you need English (the sea and the beach are a great motivation), but why do you need a business English course? This is why:
- 1. You learn very specific vocabulary. You don’t just learn very useful words such as agenda, summary and deadline, but also learn such words that are only used in your field (law, economy and so on).
- 2. You save your time. You learn grammar in the same way as usual but you don’t waste your time on something you don’t need (like inversion — thing you need for writing books only). More than that, you don’t need to review things that are not topical now like (Sports, Music, Cinema).
- 3. You learn business idioms. English is full of beautiful expressions for all areas of our lives (you can read more on idioms here). Business area is no exception. Being able to use such expressions like cash cow, ideas hamster, lemon is great help to becoming one of the lads in any situation.
- 4. You learn to give presentations. Public speaking can be a problem even in your native language. You don’t know how to calm down, where to put your arms, how to make an appropriate joke — these are skills that need to be learned. Now imagine all this plus anxiety caused by lack of confidence in English. Practice makes perfect. A business English course will give you knowledge on how to start your presentation, how to give the most important points, how to conclude a talk and answer audience’s questions.
- 5. You learn to have job interviews. A job interview is a stress test itself, just like public speaking. If you know that you are well-prepared, you won’t be so worried and will be able to make a good impression of yourself. You’ll learn phrases and words to be able to present yourself, your experience and skills, and to tell about your achievements and goals.
"On average a salary of an English-speaking employee is 20–25% higher that of someone who doesn’t speak the language."
- 6. You learn to have business correspondence and make documents in English. There are certain rules about writing personal and business letters in English. Even language exams include a task like that. It is crucial to know where commas and indents are necessary. It’s important to know phrases you can use to begin a letter with (Dear Frank, thank you for your letter), signature (Kind regards, sincerely yours). Business English courses usually focus on this aspect.
- 7. You learn about Internet communication. No matter how badly they criticize the Internet for killing the language, it’s impossible to disagree that abbreviations save us a lot of time. Time is money, so come on, hurry up! You’ll learn things like 4u (for you), ASAP (as soon as possible), BBL (be back later) and many more from a business English course.
- Now you know why a business English course is different from ordinary courses. However, it’s important to understand that there is no point attending business English classes if you are a beginner in English. As soon as you learn basic stuff, it will be time to start a business English course.