Summary Engels for Business Communication unit 1 t/m 6

English for business communication
U1: A new job

-er vs -ee
-ee = the one who is being … -ed (employee is being epmloyed)
-er = the one who … -s (the trainer trains the team)

f.e: employer – employee, payer – payee, interviewer – interviewee, etc.


Prepositions
Behind Next to
Past On the left/right
Opposite Go straight on
Between Turn left/right


Vocabulary list
Information pack Informatie pakket
Introduce yourself Jezelf voorstellen
Guidance tour Rondleiding
Induction programme Introductie programma
Graduate trainee 1 Geslaagde werknemer (net geslaagd aan unief)
New recruit Nieuwe medewerker
Director Directeur
Human Resources Human Resources
Staff Medewerkers
Boss Baas
Colleagues Collega’s
Career Carrière
Interview Intervieuw
Company Bedrijf
Challenge Uitdaging
Degree/diploma Diploma
Experience Ervaring
To take a dislike to someone Een hekel hebben aan iemand/afkeer krijgen van iem.



Phrasal verbs (= 2 words verbs)
Look up draw up
Pop by to carry out
Meet back …
Come across
To help someone out


1
To graduate (verb) = slagen (school)
Graduate (noun) = geslaagd persoon

,First impressions
Why are first impressions so important in a business?
 A bad impression can seldom be remedied
 You want to give a professional look


Some examples of things that can create a good/bad first impression:
Uniform Dress code
Office/business premises Website
Telephone answering system Advertisement in the media
Reception area Brochures/printed materials
Meeting/conference rooms Price
Quality of product/service Speaking customer’s language
Warm greeting Reputation



U2: Introducing yourself

Expressions that allow you to …
… say hello Good morning, good afternoon, good
evening, …
… state your name I am …
My name is …
… ask somebody else’s name And what is your name?
… say that you are happy to meet or to Pleased to have met you
have met someone
… say goodbye Have a good day


Spelling your name
There are a few expressions you can use when you want to know how to spell a
word/name/…

Could you spell that, please?
How do you spell that?
How is your first/last name spelled/spelt?


There are also a few diacritics when spelling out some words or names, especially with
foreign names

Ë  diaeresis
É  acute accent
È  grave accent
Ê  an e-circumflex

, It is not always necessary to spell everything out. You can use phrases like:
 Jonson, no h
 Matt, double t
 Mary-Kate is hyphenated (-)
 Mcdonald, one word, no capital letter for ‘donald’
 Hamond, with one m in the middle, not two


Talking about your age
When you are introducing yourself, you are sometimes required to say how old you are.
Never ask a woman how old she is, it is considered impolite.

Remember that all compound numbers between 21 and 99 require a hyphen (-) when
writing them full.


A few sentences how to ask for someone’s age:
 How old are you?
 What is your age? (Very formal)


Possible ways of answering:
 I am … (years old). And what about you?
 Well, I am (also) … (years old)


! I am 24 = I am 24 years old = I am 24 years of age (not: I am 24 years)
! my four-month baby (not: months)
! his twenty-year-old daughter (not: years)



Year of birth
When someone asks you: “When/ In what year were you born?”
You reply: “I was born in 1996/ 1997 / ’98.” (Pronounce: nineteen ninety-six OR ninety-six)



Nationalities
You will notice that people form the United States have the nationality ‘American’. Some
people from other parts of the American continent (especially Central and South America)
tend not to like the word American for people from the United States. You will find that
they call them North American.

(Find the list with nationalities uploaded in my profile)


Questions you can ask when you want to know someone’s nationality:
 Where are you from? / Where do you come from? / Where were you born?
 What is your nationality?