Учебное пособие: English in business

1 EU companies can gain…

2 Only 28% of European citizens are able

3 Companies should invest more in

4 We propose a new European internet platform for

5 Our task in the European Community is

6 We acknowledge that English is more or less a

7 Teaching a language doesn’t mean

8 While English will continue to be important,

9 It’s up to every company to decide which language

10 One of the main challenges facing multinational companies in EU is

a) collecting and disseminating best practices on language strategies

b) lingua franca for communication between companies

c) a competitive advantage through foreign language skills

d) integrate employees from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds

e) companies should add other languages and other abilities in order to become more competitive

f) to speak at least two foreign languages

g) to promote the linguistic diversity

h) skills they need, according to their activities and plans

i) just teaching grammar and pronunciation, but also a culture, literature and so on

j) developing the abilities of their workers to deal with different languages

4 Read through the article, part two once more. Try to summarize in a sentence what each paragraph 1-9 is about

5 Read the questions which are the headings of the paragraphs 1-9. Answer the questions. Don’t look into the text.

! Home assignment: get ready to speak about the problems of multilingualism in European community. For more information use the following sites:

For more information: Companies work better with languages — the Business Forum for Multilingualism, European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/ education/languages/news/newsl669_ en. htm

Effects on the European Union Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise (ELAN), European Commission (2007): http://www.cilt.org.uk/research/projects/ empioyment/elan. htm

Europeans and Languages, Eurobarometer Report (2006), European Commission: for Europe, Conference Report (2008), British Council: http://www. britishcouncil. de/pdf/report08. pdf

ORGANIZATIONS

■British Council: www.britishcouncil.org

■CILT, the National Centre for Languages: www.cilt.org.uk European Commission (Multilingualism): http://ec.europa.eu/ education/languages/index__ en. Htm