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ePaper created 2014-10-21, 15:20:39 | version 1.33.00
42 Lehre & Forschung Business English You may well wonder indeed as do many others from time to time! Here I can offer some answers and com- ments from my point of view. What’s it all about and why it is important? von Mary von Fritschen Depending on the faculty and lecturer Busi- ness English offers a wide range. It cov- ers basic requirements students need in the business world ©g, negotiations, presentations, case studies, discussions, looking at business organi- sations plus manifold texts from and on the busi- ness world, from original sources as well as language books, where required. Grammar and vocabulary training is dealt with in the context of these issues and picked up on, but should not be offered as extra, full-blown lessons. We must assume students have a certain level of English before joining the Univer- sity, or they must acquire these skills beforehand or parallel, (not always easy admittedly). Whether all the above-mentioned topics can be cov- ered in the time allowed depends on the goal the lec- turer has in mind, (e.g. written or oral exams) within his/her faculty, per term. In addition, there are the numerous more specific topics pertaining to each faculty, such as marketing, personnel, logistics, ac- counting, health issues, where sources include texts, use of the media, specific books etc. As lecturers it is our job to accompany and support our students and prepare them for their exams each term in Busi- ness English, not to work towards external levels of general English. At the end of the day students have to realise that above all else, a foreign language is an ongoing mat- ter, ideally practised on a day to day basis, (in your dreams!) but at least at regular intervals and not as block lessons. Of course, with the Internet there are now masses of opportunities (and no excuses!) for students to practise and hone their skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing, away from the class- room. The world is their oyster! Many come to the university assuming that the years at school learning English will see them through their Business English courses and thus assume lit- tle effort is needed. Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. The business world speaks a different language, with specialist vocabulary, phrases relating to specific areas. Think of logistics, accounting, HR, techni- cal language, or language in negotiations, meetings. Many of the latter are conducted in English, (think also video conferences for global meetings). Or in the top management in multinationals in Germany, where only English is spoken. Try these out for size and guess what they mean: bulk, haulier, B/L,FAS, plc, sole trader, remunera- tion, opt-out clause, redundant, volatile, brittle, just a few words from our various faculties. To finish with, I leave you with this: When asked what they are looking for in candidates, most personnel heads will name English as very high on their priority list. Every year in Germany companies lose valuable contracts which they could have carried out but for one reason alone: No one in the companies had ade- quate enough Business English to understand prop- erly enquiries/queries made by potential customers and therefore shied away from making any offers, let alone concluding a contract! I rest my case. Mary von Fritschen FB II - Dozentin für Business English mary.vonfritschen@hs-lu.de