Activate your business English...

(Don’t understand ? No problem - English/German Translations at the end of this article...

NOVEMBER 2008 ACCESS LANGUAGE LAB LTD. PART 2

“Middle age is when

you're sitting at home on
a Saturday night and the
telephone rings and you
hope it isn't for you”

Ogden Nash

Take the terror out of telephoning...

‘But how?’, I hear you ask. customers feel (most of my What do I mean by ‘Proactive
Well, let’s start at the German friends speak English Preparation?’
beginning. with me and I speak English all
day at work – there is little 1. visualise
I started my business in chance to practise unless I am 2. conversation
Germany in 2003 and in those very proactive and sometimes, I dictionary
days, there were times when I am a bit lazy!). 3. notes
would sweat in terror when the 4. role-play out loud.
telephone rang - I hated doing How do we deal with this
business in German. frustration? The equation is
this: 1.Visualise having the
It made me feel incompetent, conversation in your head.
uncomfortable and a bit stupid. Proactive Preparation = less This doesn’t work every
I was very good at my job (I frustration. time but what will happen
felt) but that didn’t matter is certain words and key
because every time I spoke phrases will come up again
German in a business and again.
situation I was as nervous as
a total beginner. For example, for me that
could be language like:
I still have big challenges 1. visualise
with speaking German and 2. conversation Anfrage
don’t practise enough so I dictionary Vorschlag
understand how my 3. Bedürfnisse
notes
4. role-play out loud.
www.a-l-l.com skype: cydniet/
contact@a-l-l.com Cydnie Thompson
 2. I would then translate these words in
preparation for a telephone conversation. If
you add them to an Excel table – call it
English for Telephoning or add them to your
personalised dictionary (see article: 4 ways to
dramatically increase your (business)
vocabulary or go to my blog - http://a-l-
l.blogspot.com ).
Type to enter text
Type to enter text
Type to enter text
By visualizing how you would like to
conversation to occur, you have defined your
goals: like driving a car, it is easier to arrive if
you have a destination.
3. Make honest notes about the areas you
could have problems with:
a. unknown vocabulary
b. unknown grammar.
c. Unknown data.
Get on the internet and do some research:
www.Quickdic.org is for very good for vocabulary
translation. www.Aboutenglish.com has some
good grammar tips. Look at your company’s
website in English (if there is an English version)
and compare the language with your own
communication.
This sounds like hard work but the truth is harder:
without this preparation you waste time, feel
incompetent and are less efficient. You don’t
usually need to do this more than once or twice.
You’ll find that there are about 200 words which
are really important for you. Once you have these
words in your Excel table you can refer to them
again and soon there will be no need.
4. Write a possible dialogue in advance of your
telephone conversation and say it out loud. This
WILL help you to feel more prepared. Saying
complicated words will be easier if you practise
them in advance.
I sometimes record myself on my computer and
listen to the CD in my car to help me remember
certain words and phrases. Of course, it is better
to have a native speaker to model (www.LEO.org
has a pronunciation tool to help you say words
correctly. However, what is more important is that
you don’t feel nervous about saying words for the
first time during an important conversation.
Good luck and remember: there are
approximately 1.5 billion English speakers in the
world and only ¼ of them are native speakers.
This means that you are probably a better English
communicator than most people you will speak
English to!
If these tips don’t help, I will be very surprised:
feel free to contact me and let me know how it
works for you. If you feel you need more help for
successful English communication contact Access
Language Lab Ltd. on 06150 97 91 999 /
contact@a-l-l.com / www.a-l-l.com / Skype –
Cydnie Thompson / Cydniet
Why not visit one of our English courses which
specialises in expanding your word range and
communication skills? At Access Language Lab
Ltd, we give you maximum practise in realistic
business English simulations. We provide you
with the chance to use what you learn
immediately.
For much more information on how to send the
message you want the world to hear, contact
Access Language Lab Ltd on 06150 9791999 /
06157 930643 or contact@a-l-l.com. WWW.A-L-
L.com
 English-German Translations
Access Language Lab wishes add hinzufügen

you words which... approximately circa

* touch others and call them to certain gewisse/bestimmter

positive action.
challenge Herausforderung
* create new possibilities and
inspiration for whoever hears them. defined definiert/bestimmt

destination Ziel(ort)
* support you in achieving your goals
and helping others to do the same.
didn’t matter Es was egal

* aid you in 'moving mountains' and during während

overcoming seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. equation Gleichung

* help you to be what you were born expanding ausdehnen/erweitern

to be.
frustration Frust

With respect from goals Ziele

incompetent uncompetent
Cydnie Thompson
key phrases Schlussel
English communication developer .
lazy foul

native speaker muttersprachler

occur geschehen

personalised personifizierte

practise uben

preparation Vorbereitung

pronunciation Aussprache

record Aufnehmen (Band)

refer zurückgreifen auf/verweisen auf

remember errinern

research Vorschung

skills Fähigkeiten
I’d be happy to speak with you
sweat schwitzen
about your English training
needs. Please feel free to translate übersetzen

contact me on truth Wahrheit

06150 97 91 999 visualizing veranschaulichen/visualisieren

waste verschwenden
contact@a-l-l.com