Учебное пособие: English in business

Unit 1

ENGLISH IN BUSINESS

THE MORE, THE BETTER?

"English is more and more necessary for international business, but less and less sufficient" ( Leonard Orban, EU Commissioner for Multilingualism)

1 Pre-reading task. Discuss the following questions in groups:

-People have always needed a common language to communicate. What language have they used for this purpose in Europe?

-What language have European community had as an international one in different periods of history?

-What language do you learn as a second language? How can you apply the knowledge of English in your future life? What are your ambitions?

2 Read the following statement. Do you agree or disagree? Prepare arguments to support your view. “English is more and more necessary for international business, but less and less sufficient”

PART I

3 Read, learn and keep in memory the following expressions, try to use them in your own sentences:

-public funding

-tangible return on investment

-to benefit from learning a foreign language

-competition for public funding

-market failure

-insufficient language skills

-the revealing results

-inadequate intercultural skills

-small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

-the total value of smth

-a quantifiable benefit

-to undertake a number of studies

-export markets

4 Read the first part of the text

YOUR BENEFITS FROM LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

a) Why should you learn a foreign language? That might seem like a stupid question,particularly coming from a company that publishes language-learning magazines. Surely, the more foreign languages you can speak, the better. Yes, probably. But sometimes simple questions are not as stupid as they seem.

Of course, it's easy to think of reasons for learning languages. You can travel more easily, communicate with more people, and learn about other countries and cultures. Languages can also help you in your current job, or be an advantage if you want a new job.

b) But look again at that last paragraph. It's all about "you, you, you". You benefit privately from learning a foreign language. You benefit in your career, language skills benefit society more generally — for example, by improving international understanding. And companies benefit from the language skills of their employees.

--> ЧИТАТЬ ПОЛНОСТЬЮ <--