Business Spotlight All the skills you need (Vorschau)

BusinessSpotlight
BusinessSpotlight
Englisch für den Beruf
März–April l Ausgabe 2/2014
New Series
Language Test
Job titles and
professions
Easy English
Looking after
visitors
All the skills
you need
Part One: How to be a good listener
Management
The latest trends
in training
Careers
Key tips for
introverts
Inside:
20-page
vocabulary
guide
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EDITORIAL
New paths
Übung
macht den
Meister!
Ian McMaster, editor-in-chief
You will find many exciting
new features in this issue.
First, we have a fresh new
layout by our graphic designer, Bettina Gorn. We also start a
Business Skills series in which Bob Dignen provides key tips for
communication. In the first part, Bob looks at the essential skill
of listening (p. 28), and each of his articles will come with a
training plan to help you to structure your learning (p. 33). We
also have a new picture section (The Big Picture, p. 6), a new
language element on writing emails (p. 50) and a new column in
which Elisabeth Ribbans looks at the human side of business
(It’s Personal, p. 18). We look forward to your feedback.
Robert Gibson has been our
intercultural expert ever since
the first issue of Business
Spotlight, in March 2001.
He has written nearly 70 articles
for us and has spoken
on every edition of Business
Spotlight Audio. Robert is
now taking a well-earned
break and we would like to
thank him very much for all
his contributions. Robert
came to visit us recently in
the Business Spotlight office to talk about the value of culture.
Our interview with him begins on page 36.
Gert Krautbauer
Intercultural expert: Robert Gibson
Ihr
Magazin-
Upgrade
Ian McMaster, editor-in-chief
Contact: i.mcmaster@spotlight-verlag.de
Bestellen Sie jetzt!
+49 (0)89/8 56 81-16
abo@spotlight-verlag.de
2/2014

CONTENTS 2/2014
12 Titles test
iE+/Getty Images
22 Archbishop at work
Corbis
The Big Picture
6 China
The attraction of being a flight attendant
Working World
8 Names and News
The latest from the world of business
Language Test
12 Job Titles
Discover the professions of our mystery guests
Global Business
18 It’s Personal advanced
Elisabeth Ribbans on the human side of business
21 Business Press Behind the headlines advanced
22 Profile
Jonathan Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
26 Head-to-Head
Is it OK to restrict teleworking?
Business Skills
28 New Series (1): Listening
Ten tips on how to be a better listener
33 Training Plan plus
34 Toolbox
Ken Taylor’s advice for running meetings
Intercultural Communication
36 Interview plus
Robert Gibson on the value of culture
Careers
66 Introverts at Work
Career advice for quiet personality types
72 Tips and Trends
Portrait photos and a new role for men
Management
74 Training advanced
Experts talk to us about the latest trends
78 What Happened Next
When eBay bought Skype
79 Executive Eye plus
Adrian Furnham on the importance of trust
Technology
80 Transient Electronics
Electronic gadgets that dissolve in water
82 Trends
V-Tex technology, Never Ending Image Learner
83 Language Focus
Engineering metals
People
86 My Working Life
advanced
easy
Robert Kenny, pet detective
Regular sections
3 Editorial
42 SprachenShop
71 Classified Ads
84 Feedback / Impressum
85 Preview
advanced
READERS’ SERVICE
Fuse
Email: abo@spotlight-verlag.de
Internet: www.spotlight-verlag.de
Telephone: +49 (0)89/8 56 81-16
Fax: +49 (0)89/8 56 81-159
Multimedia learning with Business Spotlight
Business Spotlight plus
plus Practise the language in the
magazine with our exercise booklet. In
this issue, we focus on “bread”
idioms, listening skills and the value
of culture, and we give tips for when
you are showing guests around. See
page 35 for subscription details.
Business Spotlight Audio
Our audio product offers more than 70 minutes of
texts, dialogues, exercises and interviews. On this CD, you
can listen to our short story, talk about innovations, improve
your listening skills and do a fun test on professions.

46 Looking after
visitors
iStock
55 Useful
vocabulary
Language section
28 Key skill: listening
GUIDE
44 Vocabulary Industrial bakeries easy
45 Grammar at Work Talking about necessity
46 Easy English Showing visitors around easy
48 Wise Words Deborah Capras on hard work plus
50 Email Key vocabulary
51 English on the Move Attending a conference
52 Translation False friends and more
53 Language Cards To pull out and practise
55 SKILL UP! The language of innovation
56 Short Story New perspectives easy
58 English for… Call centres
60 Legal English General legal terms advanced
61 Talking Finance Ian McMaster on getting real
62 Teacher Talk Interview with Keith Harding
64 Products What’s new?
65 Key Words Vocabulary from this issue
plus
plus
plus
advanced
Language in Business Spotlight
Articles in the magazine use the style, spelling, punctuation and
pronunciation of British English unless otherwise marked.
US American style, spelling, punctuation and pronunciation
are used in these articles.
easy Approximately at CEF level A2
medium Approximately at CEF levels B1–B2
advanced Approximately at CEF levels C1–C2
All articles are marked with their level of language difficulty.
CEF stands for the Council of Europe’s “Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages”.
ifml.: informal word or phrase; vulg.: vulgar word or phrase;
sl.: slang word or phrase; non-stand.: non-standard word or phrase;
UK: chiefly UK usage; US: chiefly North American usage
Cover topics
Cover photograph: Getty Images
Business Spotlight in the classroom
This six-page supplement for teachers and
trainers provides lesson activities based
on articles in Business Spotlight. It is free
to those who subscribe to the magazine.
To order, please send an email to:
schulmedien@spotlight-verlag.de
Business Spotlight Online
www Go to our website for
language-learning activities,
as well as news and blogs.
Subscribers have full access
to our online premium content.
www.business-spotlight.de
www.business-spotlight.de 5

THE BIG PICTURE CHINA
6 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Aly Song/Reuters
Looking good
medium
Being a flight attendant is not the
glamorous career it used to be.
But it still attracts many young
women — especially in China, where
2,000 people attended a job fair in
Shanghai for China Eastern Airlines.
And it’s still important for flight attendants
to look well groomed. These
women are putting on make-up while
they wait to be called for an interview.
Local media reported that China
Eastern planned to recruit 800 flight
attendants at the Shanghai job fair.
In 2012, the airline carried 73 million
domestic and international
passengers. Its international routes include
the US and Australia. ■BS
carry sb. [(kÄri]
domestic [dE(mestIk]
flight attendant
[(flaIt E)tendEnt]
interview [(IntEvju:]
job fair [(dZQb feE]
recruit sb. [ri(kru:t]
well groomed
[)wel (gru:md]
jmdn. befördern
Inlands-
Flugbegleiter(in)
Bewerbungsgespräch
Jobmesse
jmdn. einstellen
gepflegt
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 7

WORKING WORLD
NAMES AND NEWS
Getty Images
Getty Images
BILL GATES
Giving it away
Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. But he’s still
close to the top of the Forbes list of billionaires. And the former
Microsoft boss believes in giving away as much money as possible.
Gates and his wife, Melinda, have a charity that helps people in
developing countries. Gates told a New York conference that governments
and businesses alone cannot solve the world’s problems.
Gates feels that’s why organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation are important. “Philanthropy should be taking bigger
risks than business,” he says.
easy
“I believe that
democracy takes time
— but it’s worth it”
Condoleezza Rice, 59, former
US secretary of state
Risk-taker: former Microsoft
boss Bill Gates
The number of visitors to European
tourism destinations grew by 5 per
cent in 2013. The World Tourism
Association says healthy international
tourism figures are especially
important for areas with high unemployment.
Source: World Tourism Association
(www2.unwto.org)
The average number of miles driven
per person in the US has fallen from
9,134 miles a year (about 15,000 kilometres)
in 2004 to 8,494 miles (about
14,000 kilometres) in 2011.
Sources: Financial Times; National Household
Travel Survey (http://nhts.ornl.gov)
association [E)sEUsi(eIS&n] Verband
billionaire [)bIljE(neE] Milliardär(in)
charity [(tSÄrEti] karitative Organisation
foundation [faUn(deIS&n] Stiftung
secretary of state Außenminister(in)
[)sekrEteri Ev (steIt*] US
survey [(s§:veI]
Umfrage, Studie
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
➡
➡
8 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

NEW ZEALAND
A lifestyle choice
medium
There’s good news for health-conscious wine
drinkers. The New Zealand government and the
country’s winegrowers are investing in the production
of low-calorie, low-alcohol “lifestyle wines”.
The government plans to invest NZ$ 8.13 million
(about €5 million), with an additional NZ$ 8.84 million
coming from the domestic wine industry. Philip
Gregan, chief executive officer of New Zealand Wine,
which represents the country’s winegrowers, told
The Guardian that the seven-year research programme
will concentrate on “developing new, natural
techniques for grapevine growth and wine production”.
The difficulty will be producing wine that tastes
good. According to Justin Howard-Sneyd of the
British mail-order wine company Laithwaite’s, the
riper the grape, the better the wine tastes. But riper
grapes produce wine containing more alcohol. “If
they can produce very delicious-tasting, high-quality
wine that has low alcohol levels, I think that will be
welcomed by the industry and by customers,”
Howard-Sneyd says. “But it is a challenge.”
Healthy? New Zealand
hopes to be a world leader
in “lifestyle wines”
iStock
31
Percentage of women in Britain
who are the main earners in
their families. This is up from 18
per cent 15 years ago.
Sprachkurse
im Ausland
Sources: The Guardian; Institute for Public Policy Research (www.ippr.org)
challenge [(tSÄlIndZ]
chief executive officer
(CEO)
[)tSi:f Ig)zekjUtIv (QfIsE]
grapevine [(greIpvaIn]
Institute for Public Policy
Research [)InstItju:t fE
)pVblIk (pQlEsi ri)s§:tS]
mail order [)meI&l (O:dE]
research [ri(s§:tS]
technique [tek(ni:k]
winegrower [(waIngrEUE]
Herausforderung
Hauptgeschäftsführer(in)
Weinrebe
Forschungsinstitut
für öffentliche Politik
Versand
Forschung
[wg. Aussprache]
Winzer(in)
Kostenloser
Sprachtest unter:
www.ef.com/test
Karrierefaktor
Fremdsprachen
EF bietet Ihnen die Möglichkeit Ihre
Sprachkenntnisse im Ausland zu verbessern und
dabei in eine fremde Kultur einzutauchen.
Wählen Sie aus 41 Kursorten in 15 Ländern und
profitieren Sie von:
> international anerkannten Sprachzertifikaten
> speziellen Fokusschulen für Erwachsene
> Kurz - und Langzeitsprachkursen
> karriere- und berufsbezogenen Wahlfächern
2/2014
EF Education First
Tel.: 0211 688 57 0
www.ef.com

WORKING WORLD NAMES AND NEWS
iStock
BRITAIN
The Tube advantage
affluent [(ÄfluEnt] wohlhabend
Bureau of Labor für Arbeitsmarktstatis-
Statistics [)bjUroU Ev tik zuständige US-
(leIb&r stE)tIstIks*] US Regierungsbehörde
Canary Wharf
Bürogebäudekomplex
[kE)neEri (wO:f] mit Finanzinstituten
City: the ~ [(sIti] UK Londoner Finanzdistrikt
domestic staff
Hausangestellte
[dE)mestIk (stA:f]
drop sb. off [)drQp (Qf] jmdn. absetzen
estate agency
Immobilienunter-
[I(steIt )eIdZEnsi] UK nehmen
injury [(IndZEri] Verletzung
miner [(maInE] Bergarbeiter(in)
notorious [nEU(tO:riEs] berüchtigt
nursing home
Pflegeheim
[(n§:sIN hEUm]
prestigious [pre(stIdZEs] prestigeträchtig
property business Immobiliengeschäft
[(prQpEti )bIznEs]
proximity [prQk(sImEti] Nähe
Tube: the ~
Londoner U-Bahn
[tju:b] UK ifml.
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
advanced
As they say in the property business, the three
most important factors are “location, location
and location”. London, notorious for its astronomically
high property prices, can add “proximity
to a Tube stop”; especially in central London,
this can raise the price of a house by nearly
£230,000 (€248,000).
Being close to the Tube is even important to
the oligarchs in affluent districts, says Trevor
Abrahmsohn of Glentree International, an estate
agency. “Being close to the Tube means their
army of domestic staff can walk and take public
transport, so the chauffeur doesn’t need to
drop them off,” Abrahmsohn told the Financial
Times. His firm sells properties on The Bishops
Avenue in Hampstead: “It’s a very desirable and
prestigious road, but the truth is, if you want to
go from Hampstead to the City or Canary Wharf,
the most efficient method is by Tube,” he says.
Listen to this text on Business Spotlight Audio
13.1% 2%
Percentage of full-time
employees at state-run
nursing homes in the
US who suffered injuries at
work in 2012
Credit
Percentage of miners in the
US who suffered job-related
injuries in 2012
“Life is what happens
to you while
you’re busy making
other plans”
John Lennon (1940–80),
British musician and former Beatle
Tube: increasing
house prices
Sources: NationalJournal.com; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov)
10 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Rare sight:
donkey at work
PORTUGAL
medium
Donkeys in danger
For centuries, Miranda donkeys —
native to the Terra de Miranda region
of north-eastern Portugal —
have been helping local farmers. But
increasing mechanization has reduced
the animals’ role to such an
extent that they are nearly extinct.
Now, a new threat is on the horizon.
As a result of falling EU farm subsidies, many farmers say
they will no longer be able to afford the donkeys.
“I remember donkeys would be seen walking along most
of our roads, which really isn’t the case now,” Filomena
Afonso, director of animal genetic research at the Portuguese
Ministry of Agriculture, told The New York Times.
Feeding and caring for a donkey costs an estimated €500 a
year. “Farmers now own donkeys out of love rather than for
the subsidies,” says veterinary scientist Javier Navas, who
is working on a doctoral thesis about donkeys at the University
of Córdoba in Spain.
You can listen to this text on Business Spotlight Audio
check [tSek] US
Scheck
doctoral thesis [)dQktErEl (Ti:sIs] Dissertation
dog-eat-dog [)dQg i:t (dQg] mörderisch, Ellenbogendonkey
[(dQNki]
Esel
enclosed [In(klEUzd]
beiliegend, anbei
environmentalist
Umweltschützer(in)
[In)vaI&rEn(ment&lIst]
extinct [Ik(stINkt]
ausgestorben
genetic research
Genforschung
[dZE)netIk ri(s§:tS]
native to [(neItIv tu]
beheimatet in
subsidy [(sVbsEdi]
Subvention
veterinary scientist
Veterinärmediziner(in)
[)vet&rEnEri (saIEntIst]
iStock
What they said…
“In the dog-eat-dog economy,
the Doberman is boss”
Edward Abbey (1927–89), US environmentalist
and author
“How many people on their
deathbed wish they’d spent
more time at the office?”
Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012), businessman
and author of The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People
“The two most beautiful
words in the English language
are ‘check enclosed’”
Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), US poet and
short-story writer
Keep your
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www You’ll find more stories online: www.business-spotlight.de/news
2/2014
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What’s my job?
Was bin ich? Informatiker oder Bürokauffrau? Sachbearbeiter oder Manager?
Machen Sie mit bei unserem Beruferaten und geben Sie den Quizmasterinnen
CAROL SCHEUNEMANN und HILDEGARD RUDOLPH Ihre Antworten.
all levels
THE SITUATION:
In our version of the TV game show What’s My Line?, the panel
have to guess the jobs of mystery guests. The panel members are
allowed to ask various types of question. In the show’s title, “line”
comes from “line of work”, which is an expression that means
“career”, “job”, “occupation” or “profession”.
1.
Is that a “yes”? (4 points)
In the first round, guests may answer with only a “yes” or a “no”. For each set of questions
and answers, choose the correct occupation.
easy
aerospace engineer n cashier n physician n tax adviser
Guest 1
Do you work mainly with computers? No.
Do you work mainly with people? Yes.
Do you have a medical education? Yes.
a) _____________________________________
Guest 3
Do you work for a large company? Yes.
Do you make a product that is bigger than a
breadbox? Yes.
Is your work highly technical? Yes.
c) _____________________________________
iStock
Guest 2
Do you need to be strong to do this work? No.
Are you self-employed? Yes.
Do you work mainly with figures? Yes.
b) _____________________________________
Guest 4
Do you make a product? No.
Do you need a university education? No.
Do you handle money regularly? Yes.
d) _____________________________________
12 www.business-spotlight.de
2/2014

JOB TITLES LANGUAGE TEST
Photodisc
The hairdresser:
what is the name of
her workplace?
2.
Where do you work? (7 points)
Here, the panel are told where the guests do their jobs. Can you match
each workplace with the correct occupation?
easy
a) laboratory
b) studio
c) office
d) law firm
e) workshop
f) garage
g) salon
1. graphic artist
2. hairdresser
3. car mechanic
4. solicitor
5. controller
6. chemist
7. carpenter
a–n; b–n; c–n; d–n; e–n; f–n; g–n
4
3.
What tools do you use? (6 points)
Guests can make one statement about the typical “tools” they need in their work. Their
occupations are given in brackets. Put the letters in the correct order.
medium
a) My job requires foreign-language dictionaries and my voice. __________ (prineettrre)
b) I suppose you could say my tools are shares and investments. _________ (scokt kerrob)
c) When doing experiments, I use a microscope and slides. _________ (cienttiss)
d) I couldn’t do my work without a mouse and keyboard. _________ (rommgraper)
e) My tools are CAD designs and building plans. _________ (chaircett)
f) I work with policies and contributions daily. __________ (cinnsuera atgen)
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 13

She works in a hotel:
what is her job exactly?
Photodisc
4.
What field are you in? (6 points)
The panel have figured out the field of work, but not the specific job of some guests. Help
them by circling the occupation that does not belong to that field.
medium
a) Construction: carpenter, pharmacist, electrician, roofer, bricklayer
b) Media: art director, politician, editor, journalist, photographer
c) Medicine and health care: estate agent, physiotherapist, paramedic, radiologist, surgeon
d) Production: assembler, machinist, metalworker, statistician, welder
e) Tourism and hospitality: chef, lodging manager, housekeeper, veterinarian, waiter
f) Logistics: customs officer, geologist, freight forwarder, lorry driver, dispatcher
14 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

JOB TITLES LANGUAGE TEST
5.
Do you work in an office? (10 points)
The panel have problems guessing the exact job title (Stellenbezeichnung) of guests who
are administrative employees, as various terms in English can be used. Fill in the gaps
with the missing vowels of the following positions.
medium
a) Contact the office _dm_n_str_t_r if you have a question about day-to-day functions.
b) Check with the purchasing _g_nt regarding the computers you need to buy.
c) You might call the marketing _ss_st_nt for the dates of an email campaign.
d) A human resources _ss_c_ _t_ could put together a list of in-company courses.
e) Ask a receiving cl_rk about records of deliveries that arrive at a company.
f) An events c_ _rd_n_t_r could organize a lunch for a group of investors.
g) If you have questions about your insurance, the claims h_ndl_r can provide information.
h) A loan _ff_c_r at the bank might evaluate your creditworthiness.
i) A customer service r_pr_s_nt_t_v_ responds to hotline calls within 24 hours.
j) You’ll need a medical-billing sp_c_ _l_st to process health-insurance payments.
6.
Do you solve problems? (6 points)
In her job, this guest offers advice, instruction and guidance. The panel talk among themselves
to find the answer. Fill in the gaps with the correct terms.
advanced
adviser n consultant n counsellor n guide n lecturer n planner
Jean:
Bill:
Pat:
Jean:
Bill:
Pat:
Jean:
The mystery guest says she “deals with problems”.
Well, a a) business _____________ suggests solutions for strategic problems in a firm.
But she has individuals, not firms, as clients. Someone who offers personal investment advice
is a b) financial _______________. That’s not really a problem-solver, though.
Hm. At university, the c) _____________ passes on knowledge to students. As we know, that
can be a problem sometimes!
Ha, ha. So, a d) tour __________ tells you about the sights in a foreign city. You could get lost...
No, that’s not it. Let’s see, a e) wedding ____________ talks to couples who are getting married.
Something could go wrong at the ceremony...
Oh, I know! A few years later, the couples might need a f) marriage ____________! That’s
her job, isn’t it?
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 15

7. Is your job highly technical? (9 points)
This guest works in a technical field. Take one word half from each box to form the occupations defined
on the right.
advanced
__________ a) Creates new objects or patterns using artistic talent.
anadesidevelengiinspemechoperreseartechni-
-anic
-ator
-cher
-cian
-ctor
-gner
-lyst
-neer
-oper
__________ b) Uses mathematics and scientific knowledge to invent technical
products or solutions.
__________ c) Collects information to verify a theory.
__________ d) Investigates processes in a company and determines the
effective use of technology.
__________ e) Makes sure that products meet established standards.
__________ f) Modifies and improves products or processes.
__________ g) Activates and runs machinery.
__________ h) Troubleshoots to find the cause of technical problems.
__________ i)
Repairs certain types of machines or technical systems.
Digital Vision
8. Do you run a company? (8 points)
The panel have found out that the next guest’s position is at a high
level in the company. Here, they are discussing the possibilities.
medium
View from the top: but
what is his position?
Bill:
Jean:
Bill:
Let’s see, someone in a(n) a) older / senior position is probably at
least a b) supervisor / sergeant.
So you think he’s a c) ruler / line manager?
He’s second in command, so that would be a d) deputy / mayor or
perhaps a e) viceroy / vice president.
Jean: No, he says he’s the firm’s f) top / head, so I’d say g) principal /
managing director.
Pat:
But it’s a US firm, right? So he’s probably the h) commander / chief
executive officer.
16 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

JOB TITLES LANGUAGE TEST
9. Who’s who? (6 points)
In the final round, the panel have to guess the names of
various occupations that are used in idioms. Choose the
correct one for each expression.
a) Too many __________ spoil the broth.
1. cooks 2. brewers
b) Experience is the best __________.
1. teacher 2. manager
c) A man who is his own __________ has a fool for a client.
1. lawyer 2. consultant
advanced
d) Historically, England is known as “a nation of __________”.
1. shopkeepers 2. bankers
e) Once a __________, always a __________.
1. salesman, salesman 2. thief, thief
How did you do?
53–62 points: Excellent!
You really know a lot about various lines
of work!
43–52 points: Very good
Most job titles and positions are familiar
to you.
33–42 points: Good
You have a solid knowledge of professions
and occupations.
32 points or fewer: Nice try!
You know the English terms for some jobs,
but could learn a few more.
f) __________, heal thyself.
1. Priest 2. Physician
Answers
Find more exercises on this topic on
Business Spotlight Audio
www You can do more language tests at
www.business-spotlight.de/vocabulary
1. Is that a “yes”?
a) physician = Arzt/Ärztin
b) tax adviser (also: advisor) = Steuerberater(in)
c) aerospace engineer = Luft- und
Raumfahrtingenieur(in)
d) cashier = Kassierer(in)
2. Where do you work?
a–6 (laboratory = Labor; chemist =
Chemiker(in))
b–1 (studio = Atelier; graphic artist =
Grafiker(in))
c–5 (office = Büro; controller = Controller)
d–4 (law firm = Kanzlei; solicitor UK =
Anwalt/Anwältin bei unteren Instanzen)
e–7 (workshop = Werkstatt; carpenter =
Schreiner(in))
f–3 (garage = Kfz-Werkstatt; car mechanic
= Kfz-Mechaniker(in))
g–2 (salon = Friseursalon; hairdresser =
Friseur(in))
3. What tools do you use?
a) interpreter = Dolmetscher(in)
b) stock broker = Börsenmakler(in)
c) scientist = (Natur-)Wissenschaftler(in)
d) programmer = Informatiker(in)
e) architect = Architekt(in)
f) insurance agent = Versicherungsmakler(in)
4. What field are you in?
a) pharmacist = Apotheker(in) [carpenter
= Schreiner(in); roofer =
Dachdecker(in); bricklayer = Maurer(in)]
b) politician = Politiker(in) [editor =
Redakteur(in)]
c) estate agent UK = Immobilienmakler(in)
[physiotherapist = Physiotherapeut(in);
paramedic = Sanitäter(in);
radiologist = Radiologe/Radiologin;
surgeon = Chirurg(in)]
d) statistician = Statisktiker(in) [assembler
= Monteur(in); machinist =
Maschinenschlosser(in); welder =
Schweißer(in)]
e) veterinarian = Tierarzt/-ärztin [chef =
Küchenchef(in); lodging manager =
operativ verantwortliche(r) Hoteldirektor(in);
housekeeper = Hauswirtschafter(in);
waiter = Kellner(in)]
f) geologist = Geologe/Geologin [customs
officer = Zollbeamte/-beamtin;
freight forwarder = Spediteur(in);
dispatcher = Disponent(in)]
5. Do you work in an office?
a) administrator (office administrator =
Bürokauffrau/-mann)
b) agent (purchasing agent = Einkäufer(in))
c) assistant (marketing assistant = Marketingassistent(in))
d) associate (human resources associate
= Personalreferent(in))
e) clerk (receiving clerk = Mitarbeiter(in)
in der Warenannahme)
f) coordinator (events coordinator UK =
Veranstaltungskoordinator(in))
g) handler (claims handler = Schadensreferent(in))
h) officer (loan officer = Kredit-, Darlehenssachbearbeiter(in))
i) representative (customer service representative
= Kundendienstmitarbeiter(in))
j) specialist (medical-billing specialist
= Sachbearbeiter(in) für Krankenkassenabrechnungen)
6. Do you solve problems?
a) consultant (business consultant =
Unternehmensberater(in))
b) adviser (financial adviser (also: advisor)
= Finanz-berater(in))
c) lecturer = Dozent(in)
d) guide (tour guide = Fremdenführer(in))
e) planner (wedding planner = Hochzeitsplaner(in))
f) counsellor (marriage counsellor =
Eheberater(in))
7. Is your job highly technical?
a) designer = Designer(in), Gestalter(in)
b) engineer = Ingenieur(in); Techniker(in)
c) researcher = Forscher(in)
d) analyst = Analyst(in)
e) inspector = Mitarbeiter(in) in der
Qualitätssicherung
f) developer = Entwickler(in)
g) operator = Maschinenführer(in)
h) technician (also: mechanic) = Techniker(in)
i) mechanic (also: technician) = Mechaniker(in)
8. Do you run a company?
a) senior = führend
b) supervisor = Aufsichtsperson, Vorgesetzte(r)
c) line manager UK = direkte(r) Vorgesetzte(r)
d) deputy = Stellvertreter(in)
e) vice president = Vizepräsident(in)
f) head = Leiter(in), Chef(in)
g) managing director = Geschäftsführer(in)
h) chief executive officer (CEO) =
Hauptgeschäftsführer(in)
9. Who’s who?
a–1 Zu viele Köche verderben den Brei.
b–1 Erfahrung ist der beste Lehrmeister.
c–1 etwa: Nur ein Narr lässt sich nicht
vor Gericht vertreten.
d–1 ein Volk von Ladeninhabern
e–2 Einmal ein Dieb, immer ein Dieb.
f–2 Arzt, heile dich selbst.
Carol Scheunemann is a writer and editor at Business
Spotlight. She is also responsible for Business Spotlight
Audio. Contact: c.scheunemann@spotlight-verlag.de
Hildegard Rudolph is a certified translator and
a freelance editor, teacher and book author.
Contact: bs.lektorat@spotlight-verlag.de
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 17

GLOBAL BUSINESS IT’S PERSONAL
People are the key to business
Das ist rein geschäftlich, also nimm es bitte nicht persönlich! Leichter gesagt als getan.
Denn lässt sich das wirklich voneinander trennen? In unserer neuen Kolumne befasst sich
ELISABETH RIBBANS mit der Wechselwirkung zwischen diesen zwei Aspekten. advanced
“It’s not personal..., it’s strictly business.”
With these immortal words,
Michael Corleone, alias the Godfather,
describes an attitude that draws
a convenient line between commerce
and people. While the Mafia is hardly
a classic role model, there are many
who share the belief that, in business,
actions and their human consequences
can be separated.
In the 1998 movie You’ve Got
Mail, Tom Hanks’s character tells
Meg Ryan’s that it’s “not personal”
when he forces her small bookshop to
close. “What is that supposed to
mean?” she replies. “All that means is
that it wasn’t personal to you. But it
was personal to me. It’s personal to a
lot of people. And what’s so wrong
with being personal anyway? …
Whatever else anything is, it ought to
begin by being personal.”
brand [brÄnd]
Marke
convenient [kEn(vi:niEnt] zweckdienlich
fly [flaI] ifml.
hier: ein Erfolgsmodell
sein
founder [(faUndE] Gründer(in)
godfather [(gQd)fA:DE] Pate
immortal [I(mO:t&l] hier: unvergesslich
impact [(ImpÄkt] Einfluss
line: draw a ~ between... eine Grenze zwi-
[laIn]
schen ... ziehen
loo [lu:] UK ifml. Klo
loudmouth
Großmaul
[(laUdmaUT] ifml.
piss sb. off
jmdn. stocksauer
[)pIs (Qf] ifml.
machen
spotlight: put sth. in etw. ins Rampenthe
~ [(spQtlaIt] licht rücken
take a back seat in den Hintergrund
[)teIk E )bÄk (si:t] treten
tick more than one box hier: mehrere As-
[tIk )mO: DEn )wVn (bQks] pekte ansprechen
(tick sth. UK
etw. abhaken)
visible
hier: in der Öffent
[(vIzEb&l]
lichkeit stehend
Poor role model? Al Pacino
as Michael Corleone
Of course, the personal has
always been important, and
in an interconnected, interdependent
21st century, those
who would like to pretend
otherwise have few places to
hide. Modern business leaders
are highly visible and
their customers and employees
today have the tools to
“This column will look at the impact of people
on business and of business on people”
examine their actions and to react
quickly, loudly and widely.
In 2002, I interviewed the late
Anita Roddick for this magazine. I
asked the founder of The Body Shop
whether business can always be ethical.
“It should only be ethical,” she
answered, explaining that she kept in
mind the words that Harvey Keitel, in
the film Holy Smoke!, wrote backwards
across Kate Winslet’s forehead,
so she could read them in the mirror:
“Be Kind”.
This column will put the personal
in the spotlight. And it’s not just
about heroes (or movies). It will look
at the impact of people on business —
whether as visionaries, bureaucrats or
autocrats — and the impact of business
on people — be they customers,
staff or communities. Luckily, some
news stories tick more than one box.
Ryanair, the Irish airline headed by
loudmouth Michael O’Leary, recently
announced steps to calm angry
customers and improve brand image.
One of these is O’Leary’s intention to
take a back seat (perhaps near the
loos, which at one time, he considered
charging passengers to use). The CEO
who once commented that people
who forgot to print their boarding
passes deserved to pay €60 “for being
so stupid” now says Ryanair must
“stop pissing people off”. Well,
there’s an idea that could fly. ■BS
Elisabeth Ribbans is a British journalist and editorial
consultant. She is also a former managing
editor of The Guardian newspaper in London.
Contact: eribbans@yahoo.com
Corbis
18 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

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* Kennenlern-Angebot für Neu-Abonnenten: 4 Ausgaben eines Magazins Ihrer Wahl zum Preis von 3
(€ 18,60 / SFR 27,90 – Business Spotlight € 34,50 / SFR 51,75).

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Englisch trainieren
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vielen Artikeln rund
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Kulturraum verstehen.
Die schönsten Seiten
auf Italienisch.
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(€ 18,60 / SFR 27,90 – Business Spotlight € 34,50 / SFR 51,75).

BUSINESS PRESS GLOBAL BUSINESS
Behind the headlines
Headlines in the English-language media are often difficult to understand because they use jargon and
wordplay, and leave out words. Here, we look at the meaning of recent business headlines. advanced
Financial Times
The Economist
Online sales: This is the amount of money that consumers
spend online. Here, it refers specifically to
money spent in the US on “Black Friday”, the Friday
after Thanksgiving. On this day, shops offer
discounts to increase sales.
boost: This word can be either a noun or a verb.
Here, it is part of the compound noun “online sales
boost”. This means an increase in online sales.
beats stores: “Beats” is the verb in the headline. It
indicates that online shops sold more than physical
stores did. Note the use of the present tense to
refer to the past, which is typical in headlines.
In simple English: An increase in online sales means
that online shops sold more than physical shops.
Scotch on the rocks: This is a play on words.
“Scotch” normally refers to a Scottish malt
whisky, and “Scotch on the rocks” is whisky
served only with ice cubes. In this headline, however,
Scotch refers to Scotland’s finances and “on
the rocks” is used idiomatically to mean to “be in
trouble”. The expression comes from ships that
are wrecked “on the rocks”. Here, the headline
refers to the likely economic problems of an independent
Scotland. (A referendum on Scottish independence
is due in 2014.)
In simple English: (An independent) Scotland is likely
to have serious financial troubles.
The Wall Street Journal
The Guardian
www Are you confused by the language in the press? Keep your
English up to date at www.business-spotlight.de/news
Investors: This refers to investors who buy and sell
currencies on the foreign exchange markets.
step up: If you “step something up”, you increase it.
bets on: The verb “bet (on something)” comes from
gambling, where it means to “put money on a particular
outcome”. Here, “bets” is a noun and
refers to acts of financial speculation.
a slide in yen: A “slide” is a fall, here in the value
of Japan’s currency.
In simple English: Investors are increasingly speculating
on a decrease in the value of Japan’s currency.
Co-op and Ecotricity: Two UK green energy firms.
fixed deals: This stands for “fixed-rate deals”,
which are contracts that guarantee energy prices
will not rise over a specified period.
pile pressure on: If you “pile (the) pressure on somebody
or something”, you increase it greatly.
Big Six: The six largest energy suppliers in Britain.
In simple English: The promise by the UK green energy
firms Co-op and Ecotricity not to raise prices
is greatly increasing the pressure on Britain’s six
biggest energy suppliers to do the same.
boost (sth.) [bu:st]
compound noun
[)kQmpaUnd (naUn]
due: be ~ [dju:]
fixed rate [fIkst (reIt]
foreign exchange market
[)fQrEn Iks(tSeIndZ )mA:kIt]
gambling [(gÄmblIN]
malt [mO:lt]
wreck [rek]
Auftrieb; etw. ankurbeln
Kompositum, zusammengesetztes
Substantiv
anstehen
Festtarif
Devisenbörse, -markt
Glücksspiel
Malz
havarieren, zerschellen
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 21

L. McGregor/Reuters
Unconventional: Archbishop Justin Welby

PROFILE GLOBAL BUSINESS
The business of religion
Nach einem Schicksalsschlag wandte er sich von der Wirtschaft ab und der Kirche zu. Doch auch
dort machte er Karriere. MARGARET DAVIS schreibt über die eher ungewöhnliche familiäre Herkunft und
kirchliche Laufbahn des heute höchsten Würdenträgers der Church of England.
medium
The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby, attended
Eton College, an exclusive
school for boys, and graduated
from Trinity College,
Cambridge, one of the top universities
in the world. Nothing surprising
there, you might think. But you’d be
wrong.
Welby, since March 2013 head of
the Church of England and symbolic
leader of the Anglican Church worldwide,
is not your typical representative
of the Church elite. For one thing,
he was a highly successful executive
with French and British oil companies
until 1989, when he left to study theology.
And for another, there’s his unconventional
family background. His
father, Gavin, made his money as a
bootlegger — and, as Welby discovered
only a year ago, was the son of
a German-Jewish immigrant.
Justin Portal Welby was born on 6
January 1956 in London. His parents,
Jane and Gavin, divorced when he
was three, and the young Justin was
raised by his father, an alcoholic. It
was an unsettled upbringing. “He
was very affectionate, brilliant intellectually
but quite demanding,” Welby
says of his father, who died in
1977. “I lived with him but I didn’t
know him very well. He told lots of
stories but one was never really sure
what was true and what wasn’t,”
Welby told The Sunday Telegraph.
Money was often tight: he remembers
packing up and leaving rented flats in
the middle of the night, probably to
avoid his father’s creditors.
It was thanks to research done by
The Daily Telegraph newspaper that
Welby learned his father was born
Bernard Weiler, the son of a Jewish
immigrant from Germany and his
London-born wife. The Weilers
anglicized their name to Welby during
the First World War. At age 19,
Bernard (now Gavin) went to the US,
where he made a fortune as a bootlegger
during Prohibition and married
a New Jersey heiress. He is said to
have introduced John F. Kennedy to
one of his first mistresses, and on his
return to England, he dated actress
Vanessa Redgrave and ran unsuccessfully
for parliament.
Justin Welby’s mother, born Jane
Portal, was a private secretary to
Winston Churchill; her uncle, “Rab”
Butler, was a Conservative deputy
prime minister in the 1960s. Justin
Welby met his wife, Caroline, at
Cambridge, where he got an MA in
history and law in 1978. They had six
children. The death of their first child,
at just seven months, in a car accident
in France in 1983, led to Welby’s decision
to leave a successful career as
affectionate
liebevoll
[E(fekS&nEt]
anglicize one’s name seinen Namen
[)ÄNglIsaIz wVnz (neIm] anglisieren
archbishop [)A:tS(bISEp] Erzbischof
bootlegger
Alkoholschmugg-
[(bu:tlegE]
ler(in)
creditor [(kredItE] Gläubiger(in)
date sb. [deIt] mit jmdm. ausgehen
demanding
fordernd
[di(mA:ndIN]
deputy [(depjUti] stellvertretende(r)
divorce [dI(vO:s] sich scheiden lassen
executive [Ig(zekjUtIv] Führungskraft,
Manager(in)
for another [fEr E(nVDE] zum anderen
for one thing
zum einen
[fE (wVn TIN]
fortune [(fO:tSEn] Vermögen
graduate (from a seinen Abschluss
university)
(an einer Universi-
[(grÄdZueIt]
tät) machen
heiress [(eEres] Erbin
Jewish [(dZu:IS] jüdisch
law [lO:]
Jura
MA (Master of Arts) Magister für Geistes-
[)em (eI]
wissenschaften
mistress [(mIstrEs] Geliebte
pack up and leave seine Sachen pa-
[pÄk )Vp En (li:v] cken und gehen
raise sb. [reIz] jmdn. großziehen
research [ri(s§:tS] Recherche(n)
run for parliament für einen Sitz im Par-
[)rVn fE (pA:lEmEnt] lament kandidieren
tight [taIt]
knapp
unsettled [)Vn(set&ld] unstet, unbeständig
upbringing [(Vp)brININ] Erziehung
4

GLOBAL BUSINESS PROFILE
AFP/Getty Images
picture-alliance/dpa
Leaders: Welby meets Pope Francis
“Jesus didn’t live in a palace.
In fact, the people who did live in
palaces wanted to kill him”
an oil company executive and become
a priest. “It was a very dark
time for my wife, Caroline, and myself,
but in a strange way it actually
brought us closer to God,” he told
The Sunday Times in 2011.
Although managers and colleagues
at Elf Aquitaine and Enterprise Oil in
Paris and London were aware that
Welby was an active member of St
Michael’s in Paris and Holy Trinity,
Brompton, in London, they were surprised
when he announced the reason
for his resignation in 1989. “He was
obviously going places,” a former
colleague told The Independent. “If
you’d said in ten years’ time he’ll be
in the Church, I’d have said no —
he’ll be the finance director of a top
FTSE company.”
After leaving the oil companies,
where he had been involved in West
African and North Sea oil projects,
Welby studied theology at St John’s
College in Durham, focusing on business
ethics. A booklet called Can
Companies Sin? is based on his 1992
dissertation.
For the next 15 years, Welby held a
variety of positions in the diocese of
Coventry, culminating in the roles of
canon and dean of Coventry Cathedral.
A popular, unpretentious priest,
he was known for increasing church
attendance. During this period, he
chaired an NHS hospital trust and
started the International Centre for
Reconciliation, travelling frequently
to Africa and the Middle East. Once,
he was nearly held hostage, but managed
to convince the African hostagetakers
that “nobody would pay to
have me back”.
From 2007 to 2011, Welby was
dean of Liverpool, one of the poorest
areas of Britain. Here, too, he increased
church attendance while
Partners: Welby and his wife,
Caroline, have five children
booklet [(bUklEt] Broschüre; hier: kleines
Buch
canon [(kÄnEn] Domherr, Kanonikus
chair sth. [tSeE] den Vorsitz bei etw.
innehaben
dean [di:n]
Dekan(in)
diocese [(daIEsIs] Diözese
FTSE (Financial Times wichtigster britischer
Stock Exchange) Aktienmarkt
[fUtsi] UK
go places
sehr weit kommen
[(gEU )pleIsIz] ifml.
hospital trust Krankenhausver-
[(hQspIt&l trVst] bund
hostage: be held ~ als Geisel gefangen-
[(hQstIdZ]
gehalten werden
hostage-taker Geiselnehmer(in)
[(hQstIdZ )teIkE]
NHS (National Health staatlicher britischer
Service)
Gesundheitsdienst
[)en eItS (es] UK
reconciliation Versöhnung
[)rekEnsIli(eIS&n]
resignation
Rücktritt
[)rezIg(neIS&n]
sin [sIn]
sündigen
unpretentious schlicht, bescheiden
[)Vnpri(tenSEs]
24 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Working: Welby at the
christening of Prince George
working with young people and
asylum seekers, as well as holding
events with the Trades Union Congress
and members of the royal family.
He became bishop of Durham,
one of the most senior positions in the
Church of England, in 2011, and just
a year later, was nominated to the
Church’s highest role.
As might be expected of a modern
church leader, Welby has a blog and
a Twitter account. His Twitter hashtag
is @ABCJustin and he refers to
himself not as Archbishop Welby but
as Archbishop Justin. His daughter
Katherine joked on Twitter about his
appointment: “So this makes me
ABCD[aughter]? I always wanted a
title.”
Welby’s son Peter playfully questioned
the Church’s wisdom in
appointing to the archbishop of Canterbury’s
position “a man who [has]
only been a bishop of any kind a
year”. However, the nominating commission
regarded Welby’s business
background as an advantage that
outweighed his inexperience. It remains
to be seen whether he will be
able to improve the Church’s finances
as well as bring harmony to the
world’s 77 million Anglicans, who are
deeply divided on issues such as homosexuality
and women bishops.
In the meantime, however, Welby
has been speaking out on subjects
close to his heart, including welfare
reform and the role of banks. He was
A CLOSER LOOK
Payday lenders are companies that give loans
that are supposed to be repaid on the borrower’s
next payday. Such loans are normally much
smaller than those provided by banks. They also
carry very high interest rates. Critics of such
lenders say that they exploit people on low incomes.
The lenders themselves say that they
charge high interest rates because of the high
default rate on repayment.
Getty Images
highly critical of payday lenders like
Wonga, which provide small loans at
extremely high interest rates, recommending
instead that credit unions be
adjustment
[E(dZVstmEnt]
appointment
[E(pOIntmEnt]
appoint sb. to sth.
[E(pOInt tu]
asylum seeker
[E(saIlEm )si:kE]
billion [(bIljEn]
church hall [(tS§:tS hO:l]
credit union
[(kredIt )ju:niEn]
curate [(kjUErEt]
default [di(fO:lt]
descendant [di(sendEnt]
embarrassed [Im(bÄrEst]
entitled: be ~ to sth.
[In(taIt&ld]
evidence [(evIdEns]
exit strategy
[(eksIt )strÄtEdZi]
exploit sb. [Iks(plOIt]
fundraising
[(fVnd)reIzIN]
interest rate
[(IntrEst reIt]
issue [(ISu:]
Law of Return
[)lO: Ev ri(t§:n]
lender [(lendE]
loan [lEUn]
outweigh sth.
[)aUt(weI]
payday [(peIdeI]
pension fund
[(penS&n fVnd]
senior [(si:niE]
speak out on sth.
[)spi:k (aUt Qn]
trades union
[)treIdz (ju:niEn] UK
welfare reform
[(welfeE ri)fO:m]
Umstellung
Ernennung
jmdn. für etw.
ernennen
Asylant(in)
Milliarde(n)
Gemeindesaal
Volksbank
Vikar(in)
Zahlungsverzug;
hier: -ausfall
Nachfahre/-fahrin
beschämt
ein Anrecht auf
etw. haben
Beleg(e)
Ausstiegsstrategie
jmdn. ausbeuten
Mittelbeschaffung
Zinssatz
Frage, Thema
Rückkehrgesetz
Darlehensgeber(in)
Darlehen
mehr Gewicht als
etw. (anderes)
haben
Zahltag
Pensionsfonds
hochrangig
offen zu etw. seine
Meinung sagen
Gewerkschaft
Sozialhilfereform
For more information
WEBSITES
Anglican Church worldwide:
www.anglicancommunion.org
Archbishop of Canterbury’s official
website:
www.archbishopofcanterbury.org
Church of England:
www.churchofengland.org
allowed to set up business in church
halls. Welby later said he was embarrassed
to learn that the Church of
England pension fund had invested
indirectly in a firm that had led
Wonga’s 2009 fundraising campaign.
The Church invested about £75,000
in the firm; its pension fund is worth
a total of £5 billion (about €6 billion),
according to Reuters.
The archbishop and his family are
still getting used to life in the official
residence, Lambeth Palace, in London.
“Jesus didn’t live in a palace,”
Welby told The Guardian. “In fact,
there is a lot of evidence that the sort
of people who did live in palaces
tended to want to kill him. I remember
as a curate we had five children
and the two of us, and a youth worker
— all in a three-bedroom house.
We could happily have used this place
then. It wasn’t on offer.”
In the unlikely event that the
adjustment proves too difficult,
The Times of Israel has suggested an
exit strategy. Describing Welby as
“the first ‘Jewish’ Archbishop of Canterbury”,
the newspaper says that
Welby can always retire to Israel.
“[A]s a descendant of a Jewish father
and grandfather, he is entitled to citizenship
under the Law of Return,”
the newspaper points out. ■BS
Margaret Davis is the editor of the
Careers and Global Business sections
of Business Spotlight. Contact:
m.davis@ spotlight-verlag.de
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 25

GLOBAL BUSINESS HEAD-TO-HEAD
Is it OK to restrict teleworking?
Ist es eine gute Entscheidung, Mitarbeiter weniger oft von zu Hause aus arbeiten zu
lassen? VICKI SUSSENS hat sich Argumente dafür und dagegen angehört. medium
Yes!
“Business leaders
must choose what
is best for them”
Alexander Ehmann
Businesses have been open to
flexible working for some
time. As long ago as 2008, 86
per cent of members of the Institute
of Directors, who run firms of
all sizes across the UK, said their organizations
had flexible policies.
Such policies can bring benefits to
both employers and workers. They
can help employees to fit childcare or
caring commitments, home repairs
and other activities into their working
day. And they can provide employers
with a more motivated workforce.
It is no wonder, therefore, that
when Marissa Mayer, the new head
of Yahoo, announced in February
2013 that she was calling all her staff
back into the office and dramatically
restricting opportunities to work at
home, many people thought it was a
backward step. This seemed to ignore
the technological advances that have
made remote working so much easier
than it used to be.
It also seemed a particularly strange
move for one of the tech giants that
has helped to make remote working
possible. The debate since then has
concentrated on whether or not staff
who work at home are productive.
But it’s worth studying the logic behind
Mayer’s decision. “Some of the
best decisions and insights come from
hallway and cafeteria discussions,
meeting new people and impromptu
team meetings,” she said.
Technology may have made us connected
in more ways than ever before,
but Yahoo’s management clearly
feels that spontaneous, face-to-face
encounters create opportunities and
spread information in a way that cannot
be achieved if everyone is in different
places.
Yahoo isn’t the only company to
think this. Nor is it a new idea. Steve
Jobs, one of the most innovative and
forward-thinking businessmen the
world has ever seen, also placed huge
importance on physical interaction
among his staff.
When designing Pixar Animation
Studio’s offices in 1999, he insisted
on a huge central atrium that would
create the opportunity for “un-
planned collaborations”. Pixar has
been a hive of creativity and is hugely
successful.
Business leaders must be allowed to
choose what works best for their
company. Managers should, of course,
be open to requests for remote working
or flexible hours and should be
as accommodating as possible, but
they have many competing needs to
balance. Not all jobs can be done remotely,
and it is not always possible
to manage large teams with staff
working different hours. Flexibility
works both ways. Employers must be
flexible with their staff, but employees
must, in turn, realize that not every
request can be met.
Alexander Ehmann is the deputy director of policy
at the Institute of Directors in Britain. He is
a specialist in employment regulation.
accommodating
[E(kQmEdeItIN]
advance [Ed(vA:ns]
caring commitments
[(keErIN kE)mItmEnts]
childcare [(tSaI&ldkeE]
competing
[kEm(pi:tIN]
deputy [(depjUti]
design sth. [di(zaIn]
encounter [In(kaUntE]
face-to-face
[)feIs tE (feIs]
hallway [(hO:lweI]
hive [haIv]
impromptu
[Im(prQmptju:]
insight [(InsaIt]
remote working
[ri(mEUt )w§:kIN]
(remote
restrict sth. [ri(strIkt]
workforce [(w§:kfO:s]
entgegenkommend
Fortschritt
pflegerische Aufgaben
Kinderbetreuung
konkurrierend, in
Konflikt stehend
stellvertrende(r)
etw. entwerfen,
planen
Begegnung
persönlich, direkt
Gang, Korridor
Bienenstock; hier:
Hort
spontan
Erkenntnis
Telearbeit
entfernt)
etw. beschränken
Belegschaft
26 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Moodboard
No!
“Talk about what
the work is and
the right decisions
will follow”
Jody Thompson
should your employees
be working?” It
is really surprising in
“Where
this age of highly developed
communication that this question
is still being debated.
My business partner, Cali Ressler,
and I were very disappointed in
March 2013 when the US electronics
firm Best Buy replaced their Results-
Only Work Environment (ROWE)
programme, which we created, with
an “all-hands-on-deck” approach.
ROWE is a management strategy for
teleworkers that measures workers’
performance based on their results.
Best Buy’s reversal of ROWE came
one month after Marissa Mayer
pulled the plug on Yahoo’s teleworking
programme. And suddenly, we
were back in the old days of debating
whether or not employees should be
allowed to work from home. This is
an extremely short-sighted view of
2/2014
how work is done in the 21st century.
The idea promoted by these two
companies is that, by gathering everyone
together for a big feel-good
huddle in the office and getting “all
hands on deck”, you will magically
turn the ship around.
I have no problem with people
working at the office. But I do have a
problem with making it mandatory
and not allowing employees to make
decisions about where and when they
get the work done. This demonstrates
an old-fashioned idea of collaboration
— that communication and collaboration
can’t really be done without
a sit-down meeting. In fact, when
leadership calls for “all hands on
deck”, they’re really saying they don’t
know how to get everyone on point.
The question “Where should my
employees work?” must be changed
to “What is the work?” Once that has
been answered, decisions about how,
Listen to more views on this topic on Business Spotlight Audio
Alone at home: does this work for both staff and firms?
where and when to get work done in
the most productive ways can be
made. And those decisions should be
made by the people doing the work
and not dictated by management.
Research shows that productivity
skyrockets when employees have complete
autonomy and accountability
over their work.
If you, or any team in your organization,
find that you are having conversations
about where work is taking
place, stop. Talk about what the work
is and the right decisions about where
it should take place will follow. ■BS
Jody Thompson is the co-founder of the consulting
firm CultureRx and co-author of the bestselling
book Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It.
accountability
Verantwortlichkeit
[E)kaUntE(bIlEti]
all hands on deck alle Mann an Deck
[O:l )hÄndz Qn (dek]
(hands
Arbeitskräfte)
co-founder [)kEU (faUndE] Mitgründer(in)
environment
Umfeld
[In(vaI&rEnmEnt]
fix sth. [fIks]
etw. reparieren
huddle [(hVd&l]
Haufen
mandatory [(mÄndEtEri] obligatorisch
on point: get everyone ~ jeden für seine Er-
[)ɑ:n (pOInt*] US ifml. gebnisse verantwortlich
machen
pull the plug on sth. einer Sache ein
[)pUl DE (plVg Qn] ifml. Ende bereiten
reversal [ri(v§:s&l] Aufhebung
skyrocket
nach oben
[(skaI)rQkIt] ifml. schnellen
suck [sVk] US ifml. Scheiße sein
turn the ship around das Steuer herum-
[)t§:n DE (SIp E)raUnd] reißen
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
www.business-spotlight.de 27

Listen and learn!
Den Auftakt zu unserer neuen Serie bildet das Thema
Hören. Dem Gesprächspartner zuhören ist mehr als nur
hinhören, was er sagt. BOB DIGNEN gibt Ihnen nützliche
Tipps, wie Sie zu einem guten Zuhörer werden. medium
NEW SERIES Part One

Mauritius
LISTENING BUSINESS SKILLS
This is the first part of a special new skills series. In each article, Bob
Dignen will provide ten top tips for a key area of business communication
— and each time, a training plan (see p. 33) will be included,
so that you can structure your learning.
Many people who use English
at work, whether as
a first or second language,
want to be better speakers.
They want to be more
convincing when they talk and to influence
others more effectively.
There is nothing wrong with this
desire. But curiously, few people think
about how they can become better listeners.
In many ways, our priorities
are wrong here. The ability to listen
well is often a far more effective way
of being persuasive, not least because
it gets others to listen to us.
In this article, we provide ten tips to
help you to become a better listener.
TIP 1
Doubt your listening skills
Do you even recognize the need to
improve your listening skills? You
may think that you hear what people
say and that their messages are mostly
clear. But we should challenge these
assumptions:
n How many of us really understand
the complexity of other people? We
can work and live with others for
years and never fully understand
them.
n Working internationally means listening
to people expressing themselves
in a foreign language — foreign
to us and/or to them. People sometimes
use words and expressions that
they do not intend to use. And we, in
turn, may not always understand correctly
the words we hear. As a result,
what we hear is not necessarily what
people want to say.
n Words (and behaviours) do not necessarily
have the same meaning in
different cultures. Indirect disagreement
(“I’m not really sure about
that”) could be politeness or evasion.
“That’s interesting” may be a sign of
genuine engagement, polite indifference
or even disagreement.
n We all listen with filters, bias, defence
mechanisms and emotional influences,
which means that we may
be ready to find fault or weakness in
what others say.
In the following tips, we look at
positive approaches to listening that
might improve our chances of doing
it well. 4
approach [E(prEUtS]
assumption
[E(sVmpS&n]
bias
[(baIEs]
challenge (sth.)
[(tSÄlIndZ]
engagement
[In(geIdZmEnt]
evasion [i(veIZ&n]
even [(i:v&n]
genuine [(dZenjuIn]
persuasive [pE(sweIsIv]
Vorgehensweise
Annahme
Voreingenommenheit
schwierige Aufgabe;
etw. infrage stellen
Sich-Einlassen
Ausweichen
hier: überhaupt
echt, aufrichtig
überzeugend
“We can work and live with
others for years and never fully
understand them”
Listening: the key to
business success
www.business-spotlight.de 29

BUSINESS SKILLS LISTENING
TIP 2
Engage with the message
Listening is much more than hearing.
It requires a lot of concentration
and a commitment to understand
meaning. We have to engage with
messages that may seem confusing, irrelevant
or simply wrong. The key to
doing this is to stay active and create
an open conversation that is interesting
for both people. Allow others to
connect to their own messages and
help them to express important ideas.
At the same time, keep yourself interested
in the conversation. For example:
You say:
n How did you manage to do that?
This question gets the other person to
talk about their competence.
You say:
n It must have been a great experience.
You can engage with the message by
making positive statements.
You say:
n Can I just come back to what you
said about… ?
You can show interest by referring to
an earlier part of the conversation.
You say:
n So does that mean that I can… ?
Questions can help you understand
how the message applies to you.
we have in common. Most
people like it when others
agree with them or at least
have similar views and experiences.
For example:
n Yes, I agree. It was a good
meeting.
n I’ve been to Moscow a few
times, too. It’s a great city,
isn’t it?
n I’ve also worked with Sally.
We got on very well together.
TIP 4
In touch: listening is
a way to connect
Listen to learn
Let’s face it: some people are
simply difficult to listen to.
They either spend all their
time telling you how great they are or
they demand sympathy by talking
about their constant problems. They
may give us too much information or
confuse us with too little explanation.
One useful technique with such
people is to “listen to learn”. Everyone
can teach us something: either
tangible facts and skills or insights
into human behaviour. Every conversation
is therefore an opportunity to
understand another person. For example,
you may experience (and express)
surprise at a different perspective
or become curious about the reasons
for someone’s behaviour:
n I hadn’t thought of it that way.
n Why did you decide to do it that way?
I wouldn’t have thought of that.
Listeners who want to learn avoid
contradicting others by saying things
such as, “Yes, but…”. Instead, they
clearly show that they are interested
and curious.
Getty Images
TIP 3
Listen to connect
If you ask people why we should listen
to others, the first answer is usually
“to get information”. This attitude
is understandable, but it reflects
a transactional approach to human
relations and business, in which people
matter to the extent that they
help us. But as listeners, we also need
to build relationships. The easiest
way to do this is to find things that
ambiguous [Äm(bIgjuEs] mehrdeutig, unklar
clarify (sth.) [(klÄrEfaI] etw. klären, klarstellen
commitment
Engagement; hier:
[kE(mItmEnt]
Bereitschaft
contradict sb.
jmdm. wider-
[)kQntrE(dIkt]
sprechen
dumb [dVm]
dumm
engage with sth. sich auf etw. ein-
[In(geIdZ wID]
lassen
get on well (with sb.) sich gut (mit
[)get Qn (wel (wID)] UK jmdm.) verstehen
insight [(InsaIt] Einblick
let’s face it
machen wir uns
[)lets (feIs It]
nichts vor
sympathy [(sImpETi] Anteilnahme, Verständnis
tangible [(tÄndZEb&l] greifbar
technique [tek(ni:k] [wg. Aussprache]
TIP 5
Clarify regularly
We often think we understand what
people are saying, but how can we be
sure? For example, what do words
like “difficult”, “expensive” or “urgent”
really mean? They are relative,
of course. But almost all words can be
ambiguous. Do all of us mean the
same thing when we use words like
“leadership”, “quality” or “agreement”?
It may feel strange to ask
what seem to be dumb questions. But
30 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Not just words: watch
out for other signals
iStock
“Listening isn’t simply about what you hear.
It’s also about what you can see”
the benefits are that we are likely to
get better information and to improve
our business relationships by giving
others the feeling that they are being
listened to. So don’t be afraid to clarify
regularly. You can use phrases
such as:
n Do you mean that… ?
n What do you mean by … exactly?
n When you say quality is important,
what do you mean exactly by quality?
n Why do you say that?
TIP 6
Express appreciation
explicitly
nal appreciation and recognition can
create a strong emotional connection
between the speaker and the listener:
n Oh, that’s interesting.
n I see. That sounds fascinating.
n That’s an important idea.
n I can see that you have a lot of experience
with…
TIP 7
“Listen” for non-verbal
signals
Listening isn’t simply about the words
that you hear. It’s also about what
you can see. Good listeners check
regularly for clues about how others
are feeling.
Watch the speaker to check for eye
contact, facial expressions and energy
levels. Does the speaker seem happy
with you as a listener? Have you ever
asked yourself that question?
When communicating in a foreign
culture and/or with people whom we
are meeting for the first time, our
ability to assess their mood is often
more limited. What we see and feel
may not be what is really happening.
For example, a frown may signal ei-
ther concentrated engagement or
irritation. A smile may be a sign of
rapport or of nervous embarrassment.
Try to discover what the speaker
means by particular non-verbal
signals. If it is appropriate in the context,
you can also check whether your
interpretations are correct:
n You seem to me to be a little worried/
irritated/concerned by that.
n Are you happy with that?
n Is everything OK?
Everyone needs to feel some form of
appreciation and recognition. But second-language
users often fail to show
enough explicit appreciation or
give positive feedback when they are
listening. Maybe the difficulty of
decoding words, grammar and meaning
means that many people ignore
the relationship aspect of communication.
If you do this, the danger is
that you may seem to be very quiet
and mostly interested in expressing
your own opinions. Taking time to sigappreciation
[E)pri:Si(eIS&n]
appropriate
[E(prEUpriEt]
assess sth. [E(ses]
clue [klu:]
decode sth. [di:(kEUd]
embarrassment
[Im(bÄrEsmEnt]
explicitly [Ik(splIsItli]
facial expression
[(feIS&l Ik)spreS&n]
frown [fraUn]
happy [(hÄpi]
irritated [(IrIteItId]
irritation [)IrI(teIS&n]
mood [mu:d]
phrase [freIz]
rapport
[rÄ(pO:]
Wertschätzung
situationsgerecht,
angemessen
etw. einschätzen
Hinweis
etw. entschlüsseln
Verlegenheit
ausdrücklich, auf
deutliche Weise
Gesichtsausdruck
Stirnrunzeln
hier: zufrieden
verärgert
Verärgerung
Stimmung
Formulierung
Verbindung; hier:
Übereinstimmung
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 31

BUSINESS SKILLS LISTENING
Mauritius
TIP 8
Show that you are a good
listener
Just as you observe others, they will
be watching you as a listener. From
time to time, check how you are
standing or sitting. What are your
hands doing? Are you maintaining
eye contact appropriately? Are you
smiling or nodding? We shouldn’t become
paranoid about our behaviour
as listeners and lose authenticity. But
we should remember that listening is
hard work and that our body language
often betrays irritation, confusion
or boredom far more clearly
than we imagine. As a rule of thumb,
if you are thinking it, your body language
is probably showing it.
TIP 9
Stay in the other person’s
world
A funny thing happens when people
start talking to us. Their words and
stories spontaneously kick off a wonderful
world of imagination and experience
in our own heads. Someone
mentions a trip to Dubai, and suddenly,
we are thinking about our last
holiday there. We remember the
warmth of the sun and the sound of
the beach, and we start to recall that
delicious dinner by the… And of
course, by this time, we have stopped
betray sth. [bi(treI]
catch sth. [kÄtS]
get sth. [get] ifml.
kick sth. off [)kIk (Qf]
maintain sth.
[meIn(teIn]
nod [nQd]
paranoid [(pÄrEnOId]
pick up on sth.
[)pIk (Vp Qn]
project sth.
[prE(dZekt]
recall sth.
[ri(kO:l]
rule of thumb
[)ru:l Ev (TVm]
etw. verraten
etw. mitkriegen
etw. mitbekommen,
kapieren
etw. in Gang setzen
etw. (aufrecht)
erhalten
nicken
wahnhaft; hier:
ständig in Sorge
etw. aufgreifen
etw. (nach außen)
darstellen
sich etw. ins Gedächtnis
zurückrufen
Faustregel
listening. Although it is important to
exchange shared experiences in order
to build rapport, we should first stay
focused on the world of others and
ask questions that help them to talk
about their world, their lives and their
experiences:
n What were you doing in Dubai?
n How did you find it?
n What did you learn about the culture?
n When are you going back?
TIP 10
What if you don’t understand?
If you don’t understand what the other person or people are saying,
here are a number of useful phrases that you can use:
n I’m sorry, I didn’t understand/get/catch that.
n I’m sorry, could you say that again, please?
n I’m sorry, could you repeat that, please?
n I’m sorry, could you speak a bit more slowly, please?
n Did I understand correctly? You’re saying that…
Prove that you have been
listening
Many conversations are “collective
monologues”, with people standing
in front of each other, projecting their
own worlds and not listening or connecting.
One simple technique to create
a true dialogue when it is your
turn to speak, is to talk about something
that you were just told. You can
signal this with phrases such as:
n Just picking up on what you said earlier,
I also think that...
n To add to what you mentioned about
exporting to China,…
n I had a similar experience when I was
in Russia.
n I found Malta quite similar to the way
you describe it…
Don’t just listen: show
you are listening
It is not only essential that we listen
more effectively, but also that others
feel we are listening well. Ask for
feedback on your listening skills from
three key people in or outside your
organization. Start with a simple
question: “Do you think that I am a
good listener?” You may find it difficult
to listen to the replies. But that in
itself can be an important part of the
answer — and gi ve you your first
chance to put into practice what you
have learned from this article. nBS
In the next issue
In the next part of our series, Bob
Dignen provides ten top tips for improving
your speaking skills.
Do an exercise on this topic on
Business Spotlight Audio
plus You can find related exercises in
Business Spotlight plus
www Watch our “Business with Bob” series
of videos for more tips on how to
improve your communication skills:
www.business-spotlight.de/videos/bob
BOB DIGNEN is a director of York Associates
(www.york-associates.co.uk),
and author of many books. Contact:
bob.dignen@york-associates.co.uk
32 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

TRAINING PLAN
BUSINESS SKILLS
In this training plan, you will find suggestions on how to structure your learning to improve your listening skills. We
have divided the activities into five weekly blocks, each of which includes an exercise and two tasks based on Bob
Dignen’s ten top tips. You can adapt the timing of the plan to suit your own schedule.
Week Exercise Tasks Done
WEEK 1
Exercise: Read the article on
pages 28–32, paying particular
attention to the first two tips. Make
a note of any unfamiliar words and
create a list of useful phrases.
Write down the listening strategies
that you already use. n
Task 1: Make a note of situations in which you’ve misunderstood colleagues.
What did you misunderstand? Was it information or an emotion
(for example, did you feel criticized even though that wasn’t intended)?
Task 2: During lunch, ask questions that enable other people to talk about
things that they are good at or interested in.
n
n
WEEK 2
Exercise: plus Do the language
exercises in Business Spotlight
plus (pp. 8–9). Reread the third
and fourth tips in the article on
pages 28–32. n
Task 3: The next time you meet a new person, try to discover three things
that you have in common during the first five minutes. This could be something
you agree about or something you both like or have experienced.
Task 4: In your next meeting, ask questions so that the other person can
tell you something interesting that you can learn from, either for your personal
life or for work.
n
n
WEEK 3
Exercise: Do the exercises
on listening on Business Spotlight
Audio (tracks 6–10). Reread the
fifth and sixth tips in the article on
pages 28–32. n
Task 5: In your next discussion, listen carefully to the adjectives and adverbs
that people use in their messages, for example, “It’s an important
topic” or “We need to do this quickly”. Clarify these words with questions
(“What do you mean by ‘important’/‘quickly’?”) and encourage others to
give you more information.
n
Task 6: In meetings, explicitly signal your appreciation of what other people
are saying, for example, by replying, “Yes, that point is important
because…”.
n
WEEK 4
Exercise: www Watch the threeminute
listening skills video from
the Business with Bob series at
www.business-spotlight.de/listen
Pay attention to Bob’s body language.
Then, reread the seventh
and eighth tips in the article on
pages 28–32. n
Task 7: Test your ability to empathize and read non-verbal cues by checking
from time to time with comments such as, “You seem to be happy/
irritated/concerned/unsure about this”.
Task 8: During your next meeting, concentrate hard on managing your own
body language to communicate clearly to the speaker that you are listening
and that you find their message important. You can do this, for example,
by maintaining eye contact, nodding or leaning forward on the table
in the direction of the speaker.
n
n
iStock
WEEK 5
Exercise: Reread the article on
pages 28–32, paying particular
attention to the ninth and tenth
tips. Make a note of the strategies
and phrases you have used successfully
in the past few weeks.
Write down some new things you
could do to improve your listening
skills.
n
Task 9: Monitor your level of attention when someone is talking to you. Notice
what happens in your head: do you disagree, do you become impatient,
do you start thinking about something else? Every time you notice that your
concentration is dropping, re-engage by listening more carefully or asking
a question.
Task 10: Try to avoid disagreeing with what someone else says, even when
you really do disagree! Rather than responding with “Yes, but…”, try to
focus on something positive. For example, you can introduce a new perspective
by saying, “Yes, just to add to what you said, I think that...”.
n
n
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 33

BUSINESS SKILLS TOOLBOX
Running a meeting
In dieser Rubrik nutzt KEN TAYLOR seine internationalen
Erfahrungen und gibt Antwort auf Fragen, die im heutigen
Geschäftsalltag häufig gestellt werden.
medium
Photodisc
Meeting: are you
in control?
1. How do I politely interrupt someone who is talking?
If you are chairing a meeting, your job is to keep control and
to be aware of time limits. You will need to interrupt people
who are dominating a discussion, talking off the point or
taking too long to say what they think. To do this politely,
you could use this three-step method:
n Step 1: Say the person’s name. The person will normally
stop talking immediately.
n Step 2: Apologize for the interruption. This prevents the
person you interrupted from feeling angry.
n Step 3: Explain why you have interrupted. This allows you
to move the meeting along.
Here is an example:
“John. Sorry to interrupt you, but our time is limited and I can
see that several other people have something to say. You should
raise this point again when we discuss the finances.”
Credit
2. What if two people start an argument?
First, you could say: “One person at a time,
please.” Then ask other participants to say
what they think before getting back to the first
two. This might give them time to cool down.
If that doesn’t work, interrupt again, saying
their names and asking for their cooperation:
“John. Francis. I know you both have strong
opinions about this but it would help us all if we
could hear some other points of view.”
Usually people realize they are not behaving
well and calm down. If not, adjourn the meeting
in order to speak to the people involved:
“John. Francis. I’m going to adjourn the meeting
for ten minutes. Could the three of us speak
outside in private?”
If this doesn’t help, ask the people privately
to change their behaviour or leave the meeting.
3. When should I summarize during a meeting?
Summaries can be used to confirm what has been decided:
“So, to summarize, we’ve agreed that John will send out the invitations
to the kick-off meeting by 2 May.”
Summaries are also used to check understanding:
“If I’ve understood you correctly, you’re saying that the project has
been delayed for three weeks.”
Summaries can also signal the end of one phase of a discussion:
“We’ve agreed that the conference should take place on 18 June,
so now we need to discuss where it should be held.”
Summaries can help you to judge the degree of agreement:
“The proposal is that we hold the conference at the Astra Hotel. How
do you all feel about that?”
And summaries help the person writing the minutes to be accurate:
“Point 7 on the agenda: it was agreed that the conference should
be postponed until 18 June. This is so that staff can attend the project
meeting in Berlin in May.”
adjourn sth. [E(dZ§:n] etw. vertagen
agenda [E(dZendE] Tagesordnung
apologize for sth. sich für etw. ent-
[E(pQlEdZaIz fO:] schuldigen
argument [(A:gjumEnt] (Wort-)Streit
at a time [)Ät E (taIm] jeweils, zu einem
Zeitpunkt
chair a meeting den Vorsitz bei einer
[)tSeEr E (mi:tIN] Sitzung führen
confirm sth. [kEn(f§:m] etw. bestätigen
consultant [kEn(sVltEnt]Berater(in)
kick-off meeting Auftaktveranstal-
[(kIk Qf )mi:tIN] tung, erste Besprechung
minutes [(mInIts] Protokoll
postpone sth. etw. verschieben
[pEUst(pEUn]
summarize [(sVmEraIz] ein Resümee ziehen
summary [(sVmEri] Resümee, Zusammenfassung
talk off the point vom Thema abkom-
[)tO:k Qf DE (pOInt] men
Ken Taylor is a communication consultant
and author of 50 Ways to Improve
Your Business English (Summertown).
Contact: KTaylor868@aol.com
34 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

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Intercultural expert:
Robert Gibson
The value of culture
Was versteht man unter interkultureller Kompetenz? Welche Rolle spielt die eigene Kultur? Und was
ist mit sozialen Medien? Über diese und andere Fragen sprachen MARGARET DAVIS und IAN MCMASTER
mit Robert Gibson, unserem langjährigen Experten in interkultureller Kommunikation. medium
Gert Krautbauer

INTERVIEW INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
What is intercultural competence and
why does it matter?
In business culture, intercultural competence
has to do with the knowledge,
skills and attitudes you need to
create value for your business from
cultural differences. We talk about
return on culture like a return on
investment. More practically, it has to
do with people’s attitudes. The attitudes
that I think are part of intercultural
competence are things like
curiosity. That can be reflected in
the willingness to learn languages.
Many people who are interested in
other cultures like to learn foreign
languages. It has to do with being able
to communicate effectively across
cultures, and it has a lot to do with
respect for differences and feeling
empathy for people: putting yourself
in other people’s shoes. People who
are interculturally competent are able
to deal with conflict, and they generally
see culture not as a problem but
as a competitive advantage.
I think it matters at all sorts of levels.
It matters at the individual level,
for business travel or if you go on a
foreign assignment to a different
country. You’re going to be confronted
with differences and you have to
live and work there successfully. It
can be at a level of avoiding misunderstandings,
but also developing
positive relationships with people. At
the team level, many people these
days work in international teams, and
you need intercultural competence
to run those teams effectively or to
contribute to them effectively. And at
the organizational level, it’s about
creating synergies between organizations.
As companies grow, they take
over companies from different cultures,
and there you are confronted
with cultural differences, involving
not only national culture but also
corporate culture.
Robert Gibson is responsible for the development of intercultural
business competence at Siemens AG and has
written Business Spotlight’s Intercultural Communication
section since the magazine was launched in 2001. He
develops and runs intercultural training for individuals,
teams and organizations. He is a former vice president
of SIETAR (Society for Intercultural Education, Training
and Research) Europa and is a guest professor in the
MBA programmes of the Alma Graduate School at the
University of Bologna. His publications include Intercultural
Business Communication (Cornelsen & OUP).
“Intercultural
competence
is important at
the individual,
team and
organizational level”
Has people’s understanding of intercultural
communication changed
over the past 20 years?
It’s changed a lot since I first got involved,
in the late 1980s. And I think
that’s because more and more people
are confronted with individuals from
different cultures than ever before.
That’s part of globalization. There are
also changes in the way people communicate.
We’ve now got social media
and the influence of the internet.
New target groups are becoming involved
in intercultural communication.
For example, a group that I
worked with recently was medical
staff in hospitals, who are confronted
with patients from a wide variety of
cultures. We’ve got the spread of the
cultures, we’ve got different people
being involved and we’ve got the different
ways in which they communicate
and collaborate.
Doesn’t that also imply that it’s not
just about intercultural competence?
It’s also about having good interpersonal
skills, isn’t it?
Something that people often talk
about is the interface between interpersonal
skills and intercultural skills.
Obviously, interpersonal skills are
part of the deal. Intercultural compecollaborate
[kE(lÄbEreIt] zusammenarbeiten
competitive advantage Wettbewerbsvorteil
[kEm)petEtIv
Ed(vA:ntIdZ]
contribute to sth. einen Beitrag zu
[kEn(trIbju:t tu] etw. leisten
corporate [(kO:pErEt] Unternehmensempathy:
feel ~ for sb. jmdm. gegenüber
[(empETi]
Einfühlungsvermögen
zeigen
foreign assignment Auslandstätigkeit,
[)fQrEn E(saInmEnt] -einsatz
graduate school Hochschulabteilung
[(grÄdZuEt sku:l] für weiterführende
Studienabschlüsse
(nach dem Bachelor)
imply sth. [Im(plaI] etw. implizieren,
beinhalten
interface [(IntEfeIs] Schnittstelle
launch sth.
etw. starten, auf
[lO:ntS]
dem Markt einführen
MBA (Master of Business Management-
Administration) Aufbaustudiengang
[)em bi: (eI]
research [ri(s§:tS] Forschung
return [ri(t§:n]
Gewinn, Ertrag
return on investment Kapitalrendite
(ROI)
[ri)t§:n Qn In(vestmEnt]
shoes: put oneself in sich in jmdn.
sb. else’s ~ [Su:z] hineinversetzen
target group
Zielgruppe
[(tA:gIt gru:p]
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 37

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION INTERVIEW
tence is, to an extent, about interpersonal
skills in an international environment.
But in the business context,
there are a lot of other factors that are
also relevant. That’s not to play down
the role of communication or of interpersonal
skills. But a business person
also needs to know how customers
think in different cultures.
How do people see quality? The concept
of quality is not universal. Is
quality perfect engineering or is it robustness?
How do people manage
each other in different cultures? Interpersonal
skills are absolutely important,
but they’re not the whole
story.
“At one level, cultures are coming
together. But regional identities are
still very strong”
al cultural differences are insignificant
for them. But they have more problems
when they go deeper down into
an organization, where they are confronted
with the local culture — even
their own local culture, which they
may have left behind. Universities
have fantastic programmes, like the
Erasmus programme in Europe or
Erasmus Mundi, which is a worldwide
version of Erasmus, where you
see young people getting international
experience at an early age. I recently
had lunch with a colleague
who brought an intern along who is
probably in her early 20s. She is
studying law and speaks fluent Japanese.
That’s a normal thing for the
new generation, but beneath the
surface, cultures are still there and
they’re maybe even becoming
Are social media and the internet
making the world culturally more
homogeneous?
This is another very important debate.
At one level, cultures are coming
together. In the retail business, we
go to Starbucks or McDonald’s in different
countries. You also have
emerging a top management elite that
is international. Members of this international
elite tend to get on very stronger. You’ve got regional identities
coming out in the European elite [i(li:t] [wg. well with each other and the nation- Aussprache]
Recommended reading
The number of books on intercultural communication
can seem endless. Here, intercultural
expert Robert Gibson lists his
top three:
Cultures and Organizations: Software of
the Mind, Geert Hofstede et al. (McGraw-
Hill). An influential classic for readers interested
in the background of intercultural
communication.
International Dimensions of Organizational
Behavior, Nancy Adler (Thomson South-
Western). For readers interested in organizational
development.
The Mindful International Manager: How to
Work Effectively across Cultures, Jeremy
Comfort, Peter Franklin (Kogan Page). For
readers with business experience.
Union very strongly. Here in Germany,
you have Bavaria, with a
strong regional identity, and in the
UK, you’ve got Scotland, which is
thinking about becoming independent
from the UK. It’s also a bit dangerous
when people who come from
the elite class lose touch with what’s
happening at the grass roots.
How would you describe the interplay
between language and intercultural
communication?
Obviously, language is a product of
people’s culture, and you can tell a lot
about people’s culture from the language
they use, even sometimes the
individual words. There are words
that are untranslatable. So you have
the word gemütlich in German, for
example, which is a concept that you
can’t easily translate into good English.
At one level, language is a reflection
or a product of culture. But
there’s more to culture than language.
I don’t think it’s enough just to think
about language training for people
and add a bit of culture. The problem
is when you combine the two things,
which I’ve tried to do in my career:
part of my job was originally to link
language and intercultural training.
We decided against that because once
you start dealing with cultural issues,
you are also dealing with people’s
feelings and emotions. Sometimes, it’s
problematic if you are trying to describe
difficult feelings and emotions
in a foreign language. In intercultural
training, we help people become
emerge [i(m§:dZ] entstehen
engineering
Technik
[)endZI(nIErIN]
environment
Umfeld
[In(vaI&rEnmEnt]
fluent [(flu:Ent] fließend
get on well with sb. gut mit jmdm.
[)get Qn (wel wID] UK zurechtkommen
grass roots [)grA:s (ru:ts] Basis
homogeneous
[wg. Aussprache]
[)hQmEU(dZi:niEs]
intern [(Int§:n] Praktikant(in)
interplay [(IntEpleI] Zusammenspiel,
Wechselwirkung
issue [(ISu:]
Angelegenheit,
Frage
link sth. [lINk]
etw. verknüpfen
lose touch
den Kontakt ver-
[)lu:z (tVtS]
lieren
mindful
aufmerksam, acht-
[(maIndf&l]
sam
play sth. down
etw. herunter-
[)pleI (daUn]
spielen
retail business
Einzelhandel
[(ri:teI&l )bIznEs]
there’s more to ... than da ist mehr an ...
[DeEz (mO: tu )DÄn] als
the whole story hier: alles
[DE )hEUl (stO:ri]
38 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Gert Krautbauer
Discover first, read later? This can go wrong!
aware of their behaviour. And just as
doctors say “I’m a general practitioner”
or “I’m a specialist”, there’s a
need for trainers to say “I’m a language
specialist” or “I’m a cultural
specialist” or “I’m a management
specialist”. But this doesn’t mean
there aren’t interfaces between these
areas.
tion of people using mobile phones or
smartphones in a training course. You
could say, “Oh, it’s my culture to be
polychronic and do several things at
the same time. So everybody has to fit
in with this.” Or I could say as a
trainer that I expect people to adapt
to my style, which is more monochronic,
to do one thing at a time.
So I could say, “Switch off your
phones.” A third way would be to
say, “OK, we’ll take a longer break,
and you do your phoning then.”
What would you do yourself to get to
know a new place, whether you’re
there for work or just for fun?
I try not to read anything at all about
the place, especially when I’m going
there for a short time. I like to dis-
Whose responsibility is it to adapt
when business partners from different
cultures or countries meet? The
host’s? Or the guest’s?
This is the billion-dollar question that
people often ask me. And sometimes
when we do training, people get a bit
frustrated: “Oh, why do we always
have to adapt?” My message is not
that you always have to adapt, but
that you first of all have to be aware
that there may be some cultural
things happening. Then you can
choose to adapt, or choose not to
adapt, or you find a third way. Often,
it’s the third way that works. An example
for me, as a trainer, is the quesbillion
[(bIljEn]
general practitioner
[)dZen&rEl prÄk(tIS&nE]
guidebook [(gaIdbUk]
host [hEUst]
humidity [hju(mIdEti]
pavement
[(peIvmEnt] UK
Milliarde(n)
Allgemeinarzt/
-ärztin
Reiseführer
Gastgeber(in)
Luftfeuchtigkeit
Gehsteig
cover the place myself and read about
it afterwards. That sometimes frustrates
friends I travel with who like to
read a guidebook and follow a plan.
This can go wrong, of course. When
I went to Dubai, I was staying in a hotel
in the Media City. I was going to
a meeting and didn’t require a lot of
local knowledge but I was curious, so
I went there a bit early. I thought I
would walk out of the hotel and I
would see the Burj Al Arab, this hotel
shaped like a sailing boat, and then
I would walk along the beach. That
was my vision. Unfortunately, I forgot
two factors. One was the weather,
which was about 40 degrees and 80
per cent humidity. So as soon as I
walked out the door, I realized why
people said I should take a taxi, not
walk around too much. The fact that
there weren’t any pavements didn’t
help. And the second point was that
the distance was much greater than I
had thought: it would have taken one
and a half hours to walk to the Burj
Al Arab at that time.
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 39

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION INTERVIEW
Gert Krautbauer
“In intercultural training,
we help people become aware
of their behaviour”
Teamwork: Margaret Davis, Robert Gibson and Ian McMaster
How useful are dos and don’ts?
You can list some dos and don’ts,
such as information about security in
different countries. You can say, “Do
not take photographs of the airport.
This is illegal.” You can tell people
what might be appropriate to wear.
You can tell them whether to eat with
chopsticks or knives and forks. Those
things are OK. But the trouble with
some dos and don’ts is that they go
too far into behaviour. And that can
be counterproductive. People get a
false sense of security. They might say
to themselves, “I now know about
the Chinese.” But actually, they are
not taking into account the complexity
of the situation they find themselves
in. So I think you have to be
careful with dos and don’ts. I understand
why people want them, but
they don’t always help.
Are country clichés helpful or harmful,
in your opinion?
If I mention intercultural communication,
some people automatically
think I am talking about national cultures.
For me, it’s not just a matter of
national cultures. Other types of culture
can be as significant or more significant
in a corporate setting. Different
departments in the same organization
can have different customs.
For example, what do you do on
people’s birthdays? In some departments,
you bring in cakes; in other
departments, people do nothing; and
then there are departments where
they go out for a meal together. It
varies even in the same national culture.
Regional culture is often very
important. I find it interesting when
German clients ask me for information
about China and they say, “OK,
give me dos and don’ts for China as
a national culture”, and I say, “Well,
we can’t do that. If you give me dos
and don’ts for Germany, I’ll give you
some for China.” Then they say, “Oh,
we can’t do that for Germany, because
Germany is very regional.” So
I say, “Well, China is completely homogeneous,
of course, and a much
smaller country.” That usually ends
the conversation. [laughs] Recently,
when I was working with African
students, I gave them a list of different
types of cultures. They said,
appropriate [E(prEUpriEt] angebracht
boundary [(baUndEri] Grenze
certification
Zertifizierung,
[)s§:tIfI(keIS&n] Bescheinigung
chopstick [(tSQpstIk] Essstäbchen
cliché [(kli:SeI] [wg. Aussprache]
counterproductive kontraproduktiv
[)kaUntEprE(dVktIv]
department
Abteilung
[di(pA:tmEnt]
dos and don’ts Verhaltensregeln
[)du:z En (dEUnts]
setting [(setIN] Rahmen, Umfeld
take sth. into account etw. berücksichti-
[)teIk )Intu E(kaUnt] gen
tribal culture
Stammeskultur
[)traIb&l (kVltSE]
tribal unit
Stammesverband
[)traIb&l (ju:nIt]
“Sorry, but you’ve forgotten something
really important”, and that was
tribal culture. For Africans, tribal
units are much more important than
the artificial national boundaries that
were brought in by colonial powers.
What skills do you need to become an
intercultural trainer?
If you’d like to work in a business
context, I would say you need three
things. One is the relevant cultural
knowledge and experience. Some of
our clients expect the trainer to come
from the target culture. If they are
talking about Brazil, they want the
trainer to be Brazilian. We sometimes
think that is not necessary, that sometimes,
it’s better not to be from the
culture. I do courses about Germany,
for example. I work together with a
German colleague, so we have both
perspectives. The second point would
be training skills, and many companies
require not just skills but also
qualifications, having a certification
of those skills. And the third factor is
business knowledge and experience
— and that’s often lacking. So, for example,
if you’re going to be working
in intercultural competence development
in a hospital, then you need to
know about medical services. Or if
you’re working in education, you
need to know about teaching. ■BS
You can listen to Robert Gibson on
Business Spotlight Audio
plus You’ll find a quiz on intercultural
awareness in Business Spotlight plus
www Read Robert Gibson’s blog at
www.business-spotlight.de/blogs
40 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

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LANGUAGE VOCABULARY
Industrial bakeries
In
dieser Rubrik präsentieren wir nützliche Begriffe aus der
Arbeitswelt. Von CAROL SCHEUNEMANN
easy
1
20
2
21
22
3
19
11
4
15
5
17
18
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12
10
6
9
16
13
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7
1. industrial/commercial bakery, Großbäckerei
plant bakery [(plA:nt beIkEri] UK
2. oven [(Vv&n] Backofen
3. (baker’s) peel [()beIkEz) (pi:&l] Brotschieber
4. baker [(beIkE] Bäcker(in)
5. apron [(eIprEn] Schürze
6. knead sth. [ni:d] etw. kneten
7. pretzel [(prets&l] Brezel, Breze(n)
8. breadcrumb [(bredkrVm] Brotkrume
9. slice [slaIs] Scheibe
10. crust [krVst] Kruste
11. proofing cabinet Gärschrank
[(pru:fIN )kÄbInEt]
12. scale(s) [skeI&l(z)] Waage
13. yeast [ji:st] Hefe
14. dough [dEU] Teig
15. dough mixer [(dEU )mIksE] Mixer, Rührgerät
16. rack [rÄk] Rahmen-,
Metallgestell
17. loaf of bread (pl. loaves) Brotlaib
[)lEUf Ev (bred]
18. roll [rEUl] Brötchen
19. sheet pan [(Si:t pÄn], Backblech
baking tray [(beIkIN treI]
20. ingredient [In(gri:diEnt] Zutat
21. wheat flour [)wi:t (flaUE] Weizenmehl
22. rye flour [)raI (flaUE] Roggenmehl
Exercise: Tasty baked goods
Fill in the missing vowels to create words from the list.
We’re the leading maker of premium baked goods, such as
a) br_ _d, rolls and b) pr_tz_ls. Our products contain only the
finest c) _ngr_d_ _nts, such as d) ry_ and e) wh_ _t fl_ _r
from local sources. We use fresh f) y_ _st to make sure that
the g) d_ _gh is light and tender. It’s prepared in our lowspeed
h) d_ _gh m_x_r. Then, we i) kn_ _d it by hand until
just right, and allow it to rise in our j) pr_ _f_ng c_b_n_ts.
Finally, the k) l_ _v_s are baked to perfection in hot l) _v_ns
and cooled on m) r_cks. Each n) sl_c_ has a delicate brown
o) cr_st. You can taste the quality in every bite!
Answers on page 64
Practise related vocabulary on Business Spotlight Audio
plus Find more exercises on this topic in Business Spotlight plus
Ken Raut
44 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

GRAMMAR AT WORK
LANGUAGE
Talking about necessity
Es gibt Dinge, die man unbedingt tun muss, und solche, die man vielleicht tun sollte. Wie
man das zum Ausdruck bringt, erläutert ANNA HOCHSIEDER anhand von Beispielen. medium
There’s no time to lose: Roy, Meg and Jamie are setting up their company’s
stand at a trade fair.
Roy:
Meg:
We need to hurry up, guys. Doors open in half an hour.
Oh, no! Is it really that late? I need a few minutes to freshen up
before people arrive.
Jamie: Well, you’d better get a move on then, Meg. Here, take these. They
go on the display racks.
Meg: The racks need cleaning. They’re really dusty.
Jamie: Come on, Meg! You were supposed to clean them an hour ago.
Meg:
Roy:
Explanations
You needn’t shout at me, Jamie. And anyway, why do I have to do
everything? You think you can…
Cool it, you two. We really must hurry up now. Meg, you go and
freshen up. I’ll take care of the display racks. Jamie, go and find
a recycling bin. These empty boxes need to be removed before we
open. We should hire some help next time. It was a bad idea to
think we could do everything ourselves.
bin [bIn]
cool it [(ku:l It] ifml.
display rack [dI(spleI )rÄk]
freshen up [)freS&n (Vp]
1. To say that an action is necessary or
that something is required, you can use
need. The dialogue above shows five
different uses of this verb. It can be followed
by an infinitive with “to” or by a
direct object:
■ We need to hurry up.
■ I need a few minutes.
To say that it is necessary to do something,
but without saying who should do
it, you can use need followed by an
“-ing” form or a passive infinitive:
■ The racks need cleaning.
■ These boxes need to be removed.
You can also use need without “to” in
negative statements and in questions:
Tonne
etwa: immer mit der Ruhe
Präsentations ständer
sich frisch machen
■ You needn’t shout at me.
This means: “You don’t need to shout
at me.”
2. Necessity or obligation can also be
expressed with have to:
■ Why do I have to do everything?
To say that something is necessary because
the speaker thinks so, British
English speakers often use must:
■ We really must hurry up now.
Remember: the negation of “must” is
“don’t have to”, not “mustn’t”!
3. If you want to say that something is
necessary or the right thing to do, you
can also use should and, more informally,
had better. Both are followed by
an infinitive:
■ We should hire some help next time.
■ You’d better get a move on.
To be supposed to do something has a
similar meaning. Unlike should and
had better, it can be used to talk about
the past, too:
■ You were supposed to clean them an
hour ago.
■BS
Exercise
Choose the correct options to complete
the sentences.
a) We need / should to discuss this.
b) This lamp needs to fix / fixing.
c) He should / was supposed to do it
yesterday.
d) We needn’t hurry / to hurry.
e) You mustn’t / don’t have to if you
don’t want to.
Answers on page 64
You’ll find a related exercise on
Business Spotlight Audio
plus Do more exercises on this topic in
Business Spotlight plus
www More exercises can be found at
www.business-spotlight.de/grammar
Anna Hochsieder is a Munich-based
teacher of English who writes regularly
in Business Spotlight. Contact:
a.hochsieder@googlemail.com
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 45

LANGUAGE
EASY ENGLISH
Corbis
Welcome! Prepare
for your visitors
Showing visitors around
Sie möchten einem Geschäftsbesucher Ihren Betrieb zeigen? Kein Problem, wenn
Sie die Dinge verständlich erklären und ihn aktiv daran teilhaben lassen. Folgen Sie
MIKE HOGAN, der Sie auf Ihrem Rundgang sprachlich begleitet.
easy
Strategies for a visit
Many people have to show visitors
around their place of work. There are
some simple strategies you can use to
do this well. First, read the dialogue below
and think about the answers to
these questions:
n How does Pia begin her tour?
n Why doesn’t Pia name all of her colleagues
when talking about the tasks
done in each area of her workplace?
n How does Pia actively involve her visitor,
Sam, in the tour?
Pia: Hello, Sam. It’s great to have you
here with us. For the next 30 minutes,
I’ll be showing you around our
department, the main factory area
and also the logistics centre.
Sam: Thanks, Pia. That sounds perfect.
Pia: OK, so this is our supply-chain department,
where we coordinate the
incoming deliveries of parts and the
outgoing shipments of our products.
That’s Peter over there. He takes
care of the incoming deliveries. Susan,
next to him, organizes the outgoing
shipments.
Sam: That’s interesting, because in our
company, the same people do both
those jobs.
Pia: Now, let’s go into the factory area,
Sam. You need to put on these protective
shoes, and we all have to wear
lab coats. Smoking is also prohibited,
and you mustn’t go outside these yellow
lines.
Sam: Of course...
Tip: Remember that your visitor is
probably hearing this information
for the first time. It might be familiar
to you, but not to them. So, try to
keep things simple.
Abteilung
eingehend, Eingangs-
Laborkittel
ausgehend, Ausgangs-
verboten
Sicherheitsschuh
Lieferung, Sendung
jmdn. (an einem Ort) herumführen
Lieferkette
department [di(pA:tmEnt]
incoming [(In)kVmIN]
lab coat [(lÄb kEUt]
outgoing [(aUt)gEUIN]
prohibited [prEU(hIbItId]
protective shoe [prE)tektIv (Su:]
shipment [(SIpmEnt]
show sb. around (a place) [)SEU E(raUnd]
supply chain [sE(plaI tSeIn]
46 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Pia: So, this is where our products are
made. First, the raw materials are
brought here, and then, they are
assembled by the robotic arm over
there. Would you like to hold this part?
You’ll be surprised at how light it is.
Sam: Wow! That is light.
Pia: So, do you have any questions before
we move on?
Sam: Yes, how do these parts get
moved on from here?
Pia: That’s a good question, Sam.
These smaller components are taken
by forklift truck to the next stage of
production over there. After they’ve
been put together, they are transported
to the logistics centre before they
are sent out. Would you like to see
the logistics centre now?
Sam: Sure! This is all very eye-opening
and it’s certainly helping me to see
how my company can fit into your
processes.
Here are the answers to the three questions
that we asked at the start:
assemble sth. [E(semb&l]
component [kEm(pEUnEnt]
forklift truck [)fO:klIft (trʌk]
raw material [)rO: mE(tIEriEl]
robotic arm [rEU)bQtIk (A:m]
stage [steIdZ]
Grammar: passive forms, modal verbs
n Pia begins by telling Sam what to expect.
She has planned the tour carefully
before starting.
n It is often more important to talk
about what is done than to name all the
colleagues who do the work.
n Pia involves Sam by asking him questions
and getting him to try things.
Preparing for a visit
n Where will you take your visitor
and what will you explain? Have
a plan and communicate it.
n Look up any vocabulary you
might need to describe specific
processes. Or ask a colleague
who may already know.
n Think about whether it is more
important to describe the processes
or to name the people
who perform the work.
n Plan questions and activities in
order to involve your visitor.
etw. zusammensetzen, montieren
Bauteil
Gabelstapler
Rohware, -material
Roboterarm
Phase
When describing processes, it can be helpful to use passive forms — particularly
when we want to focus on actions rather than on who performs them.
If we want to say who performs the actions, we can add “by…” at the end of
the sentence:
n This is where our products are made.
n The raw materials are brought here by...
n Then, they are assembled by the robotic arm over there.
Useful phrases for showing
someone around
a) Giving an overview
n It’s great to have you here with us today,
Sam.
n For the next 30 minutes, I’ll be showing
you around our office / department / the
main factory area / the logistics centre.
n Is there something specific you are interested
in seeing?
b) Focusing on who does the work
n That’s Peter over there. He takes care of
the incoming deliveries.
n Our department coordinates the deliveries
of parts.
n Susan, next to Peter, organizes the outgoing
shipments.
c) Focusing on the work that is done
n This is where our products are made.
n The raw materials are brought here.
n Then, they are assembled by a robotic
arm.
d) Involving your visitor
n Would you like to hold/try/touch/smell
this?
n Do you have any questions before we
move on?
n Would you like to see the logistics centre
now?
e) Dealing with questions
n That’s a good question.
n I’m sorry, I don’t know, but I’ll find out
for you.
n I’m sure Dr Schmidt will know the answer
to that question. Let’s go and ask
him, shall we?
n I’m afraid I can’t say. That’s a company
secret. I hope you understand.
You can use modal verbs to warn visitors about dangerous areas and machines,
or important rules:
n You need to put on these protective shoes.
n We all have to wear lab coats.
n You mustn’t go outside these yellow lines.
plus Find related exercises on this topic
in Business Spotlight plus
MIKE HOGAN is a director of York Associates
(www.york-associates.co.uk),
and a coursebook author. Contact:
mike.hogan@york-associates.co.uk
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 47

LANGUAGE
WISE WORDS
Nice work if you can get it
Es gibt Arbeiten, die erledigt man mit links, andere sind Schwerstarbeit. Was
es sonst noch mit den englischen Begriffen zum Thema „Arbeit“ und „arbeiten“
auf sich hat, erfahren Sie von DEBORAH CAPRAS.
medium
Corbis
“One of my favourite
songs opens with:
‘It’s been a hard day’s
night / And I’ve been
working like a dog’”
How do you define “work”? Mark
Twain, American author and humorist,
wrote that “work is a necessary
evil to be avoided”. For millions
of young people in the eurozone, work
is a necessary evil that is hard to find.
“Hard” and “work”: these two words
are also found in the first lines of one
of my favourite songs by The Beatles,
and the title of their debut film: A Hard
Day’s Night. The song opens with the
words, “It’s been a hard day’s night /
And I’ve been working like a dog”. The
idiom “work like a dog” means “work
really hard”.
Works like a charm
The Beatles: they worked hard
Released in 1964, the song and the
film celebrate their 50th anniversary
this year, and they still work like a
charm. This year is also the 50th anniversary
of The Beatles’ first tour and
live TV performances in the US. They
appeared three times on the most popular
Sunday night show on American TV
at the time: The Ed Sullivan Show.
Nice work if you can get it.
A kind of malapropism by Ringo
Starr, The Beatles’ drummer, was the
inspiration for the film and song title.
After the band had worked all day and
into the night, Ringo said, “It’s been a
anniversary [)ÄnI(v§:sEri]
charm: work like a ~ [tSA:m]
debut [(deIbju:]
idiom [(IdiEm]
inappropriate [InE(prEUpriEt]
malapropism [(mÄlEprQp)IzEm]
nice work if you can get it
[)naIs )w§:k If ju kEn (get It] ifml.
PM (prime minister) [)pi: (em]
release (a song or a film) [ri(li:s]
repository [ri(pQzItEri]
suppository [sE(pQzItEri]
Jubiläum
hervorragend klappen
[wg. Aussprache]
Redewendung
unpassend, ungeeignet
Malapropismus, Verballhornung
das würde ich auch gern machen
Premierminister(in)
(ein Lied oder einen Film) herausbringen
Aufbewahrungsort; hier: Quelle
Suppositorium, Zäpfchen
A CLOSER LOOK
A malapropism is a word that you use wrongly
in the place of another word, often one that
sounds similar. It comes from the French mal à
propos, which means “inappropriate”, and was
first used in Richard Sheridan’s 1775 play The
Rivals. A character who often misused words
was called “Mrs Malaprop”. Australian PM Tony
Abbott used one recently when he said, “No one
is the suppository of all wisdom”. He probably
meant “repository”.
48 www.business-spotlight.de

hard day...”, but then saw that it was
dark and added, “...night!”, creating
the expression “a hard day’s night”.
John Lennon then set to work on a song
of that title to use in the film.
Hardly working
Don’t confuse “I work hard” with “I
hardly work”, which means that you
don’t work very hard at all. Young people
in the eurozone are hardly working,
and mostly not by choice. The average
unemployment rate is around 12 per
cent, but the rate for people under the
age of 25 in Greece, Spain and Portugal
is well over 50 per cent.
In the UK, which has an unemployment
rate of around seven per cent, our
Chancellor of the Exchequer George
Osborne says that “Britain’s economic
plan is working”, but that “the job
isn’t done yet”. To finish the job, he’s
going to make young people work even
if they’re not in work. They’ll be made
In the news
by choice: not ~ [)baI (tSOIs]
chancellor of the exchequer
[)tSA:nsElEr Ev Di Iks(tSekE] UK
cut out: have one’s work ~ for one [)kVt (aUt]
dull [dVl]
economic recovery [i:kE)nQmIk ri(kVvEri]
envy sb. sth. [(envi]
highlight sth. [(haIlaIt]
iconic [aI(kQnIk]
play [pleI]
queue [kju:] UK
saying [(seIIN]
set to work on sth. [)set tE (w§:k Qn]
unemployment office [)VnIm(plOImEnt )QfIs]
voluntary [(vQlEntEri]
work experience [)w§:k Ik(spIEriEns] UK
work it out [)w§:k It (aUt]
work the system
[)w§:k DE (sIstEm]
to do voluntary work or work experience.
No one is allowed to work the system.
Can they work it out?
“All work and no pay”
Osborne’s comment reminded many of
an iconic Conservative election poster
from 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher
came to power. It shows a long
queue of people outside an unemployment
office, with the slogan: “Labour
isn’t working.” It was a clever play on
two meanings of “labour”: “the people
who are available for work” and “the
Labour Party”, which was in government.
It also played with two meanings
of “work”: “do a job for money” and
“function properly”. At the time, the
UK unemployment rate was under five
per cent. As it’s above that now, Osborne
still has his work cut out for him.
That reminds me of another song by
The Beatles: “We can work it out”. But
I’m not so sure that this UK government
can.
This headline from The Economist plays with the common saying “All
work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)”. In the article, the weekly
newspaper highlights how low wages in the UK could cause problems
for the country’s economic recovery, as people are working hard but
wages are not increasing as fast as they once did.
nicht freiwillig
Finanzminister(in)
alle Hände voll zu tun haben
träge, langweilig
konjunkturelle Erholung
jmdn. um etw. beneiden
etw. hervorheben
mit Kultstatus
hier: Wortspiel
(Warte-)Schlange
Redensart
sich an etw. heranmachen
Arbeitsamt
ehrenamtlich
hier: Praktikum
eine Lösung finden
das System ausnutzen; hier: auf
Kosten des Staates leben
Useful expressions
Have you ever thought about the many expressions
in English that include “work”?
all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)
This saying suggests that people who only
work are not interesting. It’s used to tell
people to stop working — or to give a reason
why you have stopped:
■ Go home, Sam! All work and no play...
have one’s work cut out for one
To have a difficult job to do:
■ We have our work cut out for us if we
want to finish this project on time.
nice work if you can get it
Use this expression to show that you envy
someone’s position and think they got it
without having to work very hard. It’s also
the title of a popular Broadway show with
music by George and Ira Gershwin:
■ He tests luxury hotels. Nice work if you
can get it.
work all hours
To work most of the time, especially outside
the normal working hours:
■ I’ll work all hours to keep my job.
work it/something out
If you can “work it out”, you can find a solution
to a difficult problem or situation.
You can use “something” to show that you
are looking for a solution:
■ It’s difficult, but we’ll work something out.
work like a charm (every time)
To be completely successful. This is often
used to describe a tactic or strategy — and
not a person — that is used to trick someone
into doing something:
■ He agreed to my proposal when I offered
to pay for dinner. It works like a charm
every time.
■BS
plus For exercises on the language of
work, see Business Spotlight plus
Deborah Capras is deputy editor of Business
Spotlight. You can read her blog, Wise Words,
and do her online language exercises at
www.business-spotlight.de/blogs
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 49

LANGUAGE EMAIL
Email: the most
important terms
Key vocabulary
Zum Start unserer neuen Rubrik präsentiert
ANNA HOCHSIEDER einen Überblick über die
wichtigsten Begriffe.
easy
iStock
access [(Äkses] To “access” your email(s) means to open your email program (or email abrufen
account) so that you can read, write and organize messages.
attachment A computer file, such as a text or a photograph, that you send with an Anhang
[E(tÄtSmEnt] email. This is often symbolized by a paper clip.
body [(bQdi] The main part of an email. Hauptteil, Textkörper
bounce [baUns] If an email “bounces (back)”, it does not reach the person you sent it (wegen einer Fehlermeldung)
to and is returned to you.
zurückkommen
delete [di(li:t] To remove an email from a computer. löschen
draft [drA:ft] An unfinished text that you have saved in order to send it later. Entwurf
email account The system that allows you to send and receive emails. E-Mail-
[(i:meI&l E)kaUnt]
Konto
file [faI&l] A piece of data stored on a computer under a particular name. Datei
folder [(fEUldE] A virtual container in which files are stored on a computer. Ordner
forward [(fO:wEd] To send on an email you have received to someone else. weiterleiten
header [(hedE] Information at the top of an email that tells you who it is from, Kopfdaten,
when it was sent, who it was sent to and what the email is about. Vorspann
Email:
This is used both as a
countable noun (“I’ll
send you an email”; “I
received 50 emails today”)
and an uncountable
noun (“I check
my email twice a
day”). It is also used
as a verb: “I’ll email
you later.”
inbox [(InbQks] The folder where newly arrived emails appear. Posteingang
junk mail Unwanted emails (usually advertising material) that you receive; unerwünschte (Werbe-)E-Mail
[(dZVNk meI&l] also known as “spam”.
out-of-office reply A message that you receive automatically when you have sent an Abwesenheitsmitteilung
[)aUt Ev (QfIs ri)plaI] email to someone who is currently not in the office.
signature block A small text file consisting of the sender’s contact details that can Signatur
[(sIgnEtSE blQk] be added automatically to the end of an email.
subject line The line in which you state what your email is about. Betreffzeile
[(sVbdZekt laIn]
trash [trÄS] US Emails that you delete are automatically moved to the “trash folder”, Papierkorb
often symbolized by a trash can.
www Improve your writing skills at
www.business-spotlight.de/writing
advertising [(ÄdvEtaIzIN]
Werbepaper
clip [(peIpE klIp]
trash can [(trÄS kÄn] US
Büroklammer
Abfalleimer
Anna Hochsieder is a Munich-based
teacher of English who writes regularly
in Business Spotlight. Contact:
a.hochsieder@googlemail.com
50 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

ENGLISH ON THE MOVE
LANGUAGE
Photodisc
Attending a conference
Nehmen Sie mit KEN TAYLOR an einer Konferenz teil, die hier der
beruflichen Information und Weiterbildung dient. medium
Getting permission
Jenny: Mark, do you have a minute? I’d
like to show you something.
Mark: Sure.
Jenny: It’s a brochure from the conference
organizers we saw on Monday.
Mark: And you said there was something
you were interested in.
Jenny: Yes, a two-day conference called
“The Executive Assistant in the Modern
Workplace”. It looks really good.
Mark: I’m sure it is, but why would it be
useful for you?
Jenny: You know we talked about me
taking more responsibility for internal
projects. Well, there’s a half day on
project management and another
session on social media and working
cross-culturally.
Mark: It does sound good. When is it,
and how much does it cost?
Jenny: In three weeks. And it’s £800
plus travel expenses.
brochure [(brEUSE] Broschüre
CFO (chief financial Leiter(in) der
officer) [)si: ef (EU] Finanzabteilung
confident [(kQnfIdEnt] selbstbewusst
consultant [kEn(sVltEnt] Berater(in)
Do you have a minute? Hast du/haben Sie
[)du: ju (hÄv E )mInIt] einen Moment Zeit?
executive assistant Assistent(in) der
[Ig)zekjUtIv E(sIstEnt] Geschäftsleitung
facilitator [fE(sIlEteItE] Moderator(in)
goal [gEUl]
Ziel(setzung)
HR (human resources) Personalabteilung
[)eItS (A:]
look forward to sth. sich auf etw.
[)lUk (fO:wEd tu] freuen
lounge [laUndZ] Hotelhalle, Foyer
name tag [(neIm tÄg] Namensschild
on time [)Qn (taIm] termingerecht,
rechtzeitig
session [(seS&n] (Tagungs-)Abschnitt
timetable [(taIm)teIb&l] Zeitplan
travel expenses Reisekosten
[(trÄv&l Ik)spensIz]
Mark: I’ll check with HR, but as far as
I’m concerned, it’s fine.
At the reception
Reception: Good morning. Welcome to
“The Executive Assistant in the Modern
Workplace”. May I have your
name, please?
Jenny: Jenny Price, from Smithsons.
Reception: I see you stayed in the hotel
last night. Was everything OK?
Jenny: Yes, everything was fine.
Reception: Glad to hear it. So, here’s
your name tag and conference materials.
Coffee is served in the lounge
and the conference starts at ten.
Jenny: Thank you. I noticed the name
of a former colleague on the participant
list, Lisa Green. Could you tell
me if she’s arrived yet?
Reception: I’ll check. Yes, I think she’s
in the lounge having coffee.
Jenny: Great, thanks. I’ll go join her.
Introductions
Jenny: I’m really looking forward to
these two days.
Lisa: Me, too. And I was glad to see a
familiar face. I always feel a bit nervous
in situations like this.
Jenny: So do I. Oh, I think she’s about
to start.
Margaret: The role of the executive assistant
is continually changing and
the goal of these two days together
is to acquire some useful tools for
the modern workplace. My name is
Margaret Stevens and I will be your
facilitator for this conference.
Jenny: [whispering] I wish I looked as
confident when I speak in public!
Sign here, please: arriving at a conference
Margaret: In a moment, we’ll go
through the timetable for the two
days. But first, let’s say hello to each
other. Just tell us who you are, who
you work for, what you do and add
something personal about yourself.
Lisa: My name is Lisa Green and I’m
the PA to the CFO of Morgan’s, an
electronics company in Sutton Coldfield,
near Birmingham…
Reporting back
Mark: OK. Now it’s time for a short report
from Jenny on the conference
she went to last week.
Jenny: It was a very full two-day programme.
The three key things I
learned from the conference were,
firstly, how to set up and manage a
project so that it meets its goals and
is completed on time. Secondly, I became
aware of some dos and don’ts
when using social media in the workplace.
And, finally, I learned how to
make short presentations like this
without feeling too nervous! ■BS
You can do an exercise on this topic
on Business Spotlight Audio
Ken Taylor is a communication consultant
and author of 50 Ways to Improve
Your Business English (Summertown).
Contact: KTaylor868@aol.com
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 51

LANGUAGE TRANSLATION
False friends
You mean… You should say… Don’t say… As this means…
Aktion campaign action Handeln;
Wie läuft die Aktion in How’s the campaign going Handlung
Schottland?
in Scotland?
Karton cardboard carton Behälter aus Pappe;
Karton wäre sehr viel billiger Cardboard would have been Karton (als zählbares
gewesen. a lot cheaper. Nomen)
spenden donate spend ausgeben
Wir haben viel Geld gespendet. We’ve donated a lot of money.
medium
Do an exercise on false friends on
Business Spotlight Audio
Don’t confuse...
loose, lose and loss
n The adjective loose [lu:s] describes
something that is not fixed
or tight: “Remove all loose tiles
(lose Fliesen).” “There’s a loose
connection (Wackelkontakt).”
n Loose can also mean “not connected”.
If you have lots of coins,
you have loose change (Kleingeld).
A loose translation (freie Übersetzung)
is not very exact.
n If you set animals loose (freilassen),
you set them free.
n Lose [lu:z] (verlieren) is a verb and
means “stop having something” or
“fail to keep something”. The past
tense is “lost” [lQst]: “Over 500
people lost their jobs.”
n Lose is also the opposite of win:
“They lose every week.”
n Loss [lQs] is a noun and refers to
the act or result of losing something
or someone: “The cuts led to
job losses.”
n If you make a loss (einen Verlust
machen), you lose money. Something
sold at a loss (mit Verlust) is
sold for less than it cost to make it.
Tricky translations by Mike Seymour
How do you say “vice” in German?
In senior job titles, “vice” indicates that someone holds a position below someone
else and can represent that person. It can be translated as Vize-, stellvertretende(r).
The US vice president is quite important, but a vice president in a company might
not be at all. In some cases, the title may even be translated as Referent(in) or
(Fach-)Bereichsleiter(in). British universities have a vice chancellor (Rektor(in)).
The noun “vice” means something completely different. It’s a bad habit or weakness:
“Smoking is my only vice.” Here, it is best translated as Laster or Untugend:
Rauchen ist mein einziges Laster. “Vice” can also refer to crimes involving prostitution,
gambling or drugs, which are investigated by the “vice squad” (Drogendezernat
or Sittenpolizei).
In technical English, a “vice” is a tool used to hold an object very firmly so that
you can work on it. It is translated as Schraubstock.
How do you say Abkürzung in English?
Abkürzung describes a shorter, quicker and/or more direct way of getting somewhere
than the usual one: Zum Glück kannte der Taxifahrer eine Abkürzung. Here, it is
best translated as shortcut: “Luckily, the taxi driver knew a shortcut.”
An Abkürzung is also a shorter version of a word or expression: Im Englischen
wird die Abkürzung Tsd nicht benutzt. In this sense, we translate it as abbreviation:
“In English, the abbreviation Tsd is not used.” When the shorter version of
an expression or a group of words creates a new word, we refer to it as an acronym:
Wofür steht eigentlich die Abkürzung SWOT? — “What does the acronym SWOT
[swQt] actually stand for?”
Finally, when we use Abkürzung to mean “making the length of something shorter”,
it is translated using shorten or cut short. Eine Abkürzung der Vertragslaufzeit
ist nicht zulässig. — “It is not permitted to shorten the term of the contract.”
Exercise
Translate the following sentences.
a) After the show, the vice squad arrested two men.
b) Nachts würde ich die Abkürzung nicht nehmen.
Answers on page 64
52 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

y Deborah Capras
CARDS
LANGUAGE
Phrasal verb
Phrasal verb
What does the speaker mean?
“Kate’s idea didn’t really take off.”
What does the speaker mean?
“New orders have just about dried up.”
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www.business-spotlight.de
Expression
Expression
What does the speaker mean?
“Brian must be on the fiddle.”
What does the speaker mean?
“We have two more stores
in the pipeline.”
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www.business-spotlight.de
Abbreviation
Abbreviation
What does “i.e.” stand for?
“We’ll need the report within ten days, i.e.
by 14 February.”
What does “re” stand for?
“Thanks for your email re the changes to the
schedule.”
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www.business-spotlight.de
Pronunciation
Pronunciation
How do you pronounce this word?
knowledgeable
(kenntnisreich, bewandert)
How do you pronounce this word?
plumber
(Installateur(in), Klempner(in))
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LANGUAGE CARDS
If something dries up, it gradually decreases and
then stops altogether. The speaker is saying that
there have been very few new orders — they
have stopped coming in.
When an aeroplane takes off, it starts to fly.
When an idea or a business takes off, it
becomes popular or successful. The speaker is
saying that Kate’s idea wasn’t a success.
ausbleiben, versiegen
(bei jmdm.) gut ankommen, einschlagen
BS 2/2014 BS 2/2014
When something is in the pipeline, it is being
developed. The speaker is saying that they are
planning to open two more stores.
in Vorbereitung sein
BS 2/2014
In informal British English, if someone is on the
fiddle, that person is cheating people or an
organization out of something, usually money.
The speaker is saying that Brian must be getting
money by doing something illegal.
faule Geschäfte / krumme Dinge machen
BS 2/2014
Re [ri:] is an inflected form of the Latin word res,
which means “thing”. It is used in letters as the first
word in the subject line: “Re: Your order 5647.”
When used in a sentence, it means “regarding” or
“in the matter of”.
Betreff; bezüglich
The abbreviation i.e. stands for the Latin id est,
which means “that is” or “in other words”. It is
used if you wish to add an explanation to
something. It is pronounced [)aI (i:].
d.h.
BS 2/2014 BS 2/2014
Plumber is pronounced [(plVmE].
The “b” is silent.
The verb “know” is pronounced like “no” [nEU],
but the first syllable in the adjective
knowledgeable is pronounced [nQ]:
[(nQlIdZEb&l].
BS 2/2014
BS 2/2014

SKILL UP!
Improve your
BUSINESS VOCABULARY
with our essential guide
RECENT TOPICS:
n Popular sports, no. 15 (4/2012)
n International conferences, no. 16 (5/2012)
n Talking about time, no. 17 (6/2012)
n The environment, no. 18 (1/2013)
n The world of fashion, no. 19 (2/2013)
n Talking about production, no. 20 (3/2013)
n Your holidays, no. 21 (4/2013)
n Emotional times, no. 22 (5/2013)
n Property, no. 23 (6/2013)
n Retailing, no. 24 (1/2014)
With this
issue
COMING UP:
n Arts and culture, no. 26 (3/2014)
n Insurance, no. 27 (4/2014)
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For a full list of all Skill Up! topics covered to date,
go to www.business-spotlight.de/skill-up
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 55

LANGUAGE
SHORT STORY
Ingram Publishing
Visual advantage: special
spectacles offer a clear view
New perspectives
Es war einmal ein Geschäftsmann. Der hatte Erfolg und lebte in der Welt der
Reichen und Schönen. Bis eines Tages ein großes Unglück geschah, das ihm
völlig neue Perspektiven eröffnete. Von JAMES SCHOFIELD
easy
There once was a businessman —
let’s call him Thomas — and a very
successful businessman he was,
too. He had lots of money in the bank
and he was always surrounded by beautiful
people. A Rolls-Royce stood in his
garage and, in St Tropez, his yacht was
always ready and waiting. Naturally, he
had many charming companions to
help him pass the time.
But one day, something awful happened
— he went blind. He consulted
all the best doctors. They put their
heads together and tried everything
they could think of, but none of them
could find a cure.
Thomas then announced that he
would give a huge amount of money to
anyone who could help him see again.
But, if the cure failed, the person would
have to admit this on the internet and
become a rubbish collector.
Many people offered their services
and Thomas tried the strangest things,
but nothing helped. The town that
Thomas lived in became extremely
clean, but unfortunately, he was not
able to enjoy it. One day, however, a little
old man with a long beard came to
try his luck.
“I have magic spectacles of steel, silver
and gold. But only I can put them
on and take them off my customers,”
he said. “The steel ones will let you see
what everybody thinks of you. Would
you like that?”
“But of course,” said Thomas.
“Everybody thinks I’m wonderful!”
“As you wish!” said the little old
man, and he put a pair of steel-rimmed
spectacles on Thomas’s nose.
At first, nothing happened and
Thomas thought there would be another
rubbish collector in town. But the
next morning, Thomas woke up, and to
blind: go ~ [blaInd]
cure [kjUE]
magic spectacles
[)mÄdZIk (spektEk&lz]
rubbish collector
[(rVbIS kE)lektE] UK
steel-rimmed
[)sti:&l (rImd]
yacht [jQt]
erblinden
Heilmittel
Zauberbrille
Müllmann/-frau
mit Stahl eingefasst;
hier: mit
einem Stahlgestell
[wg. Aussprache]
56 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

“I have magic spectacles of steel, silver
and gold,” said the little old man
his amazement — he could see. “These
glasses are magic!” he called in excitement
to the charming companion lying
next to him in bed.
“Thomas, that’s wonderful!” she
said, but then something strange happened.
Over the charming companion’s
head, Thomas saw a thought bubble
taking shape.
“What an idiot! He must be dreaming.
He’s talking nonsense…” And those
were the nicest things he saw above
anybody’s head all day. That evening,
the charming companion was sent
away, and the little old man returned.
“Take the steel glasses off my face,”
said Thomas. “What about the silver
ones?”
“The silver glasses will show you the
world and how you earn your money,”
said the little old man. “Are you sure
that’s what you want?”
“Why not? I have nothing to hide. I’m
a respectable businessman.”
“As you wish!” said the little old
man, and he put the silver-rimmed
spectacles on Thomas’s nose.
amazement
Verblüffung
[E(meIzmEnt]
beef cattle [(bi:f )kÄt&l] (Fleisch-)Rinder
civil war [)sIv&l (wO:] Bürgerkrieg
defence [di(fens] Verteidigung
device [di(vaIs] Gerät
drive sb. off sth. jmdn. von etw. ver-
[)draIv (Qf]
treiben
giggle [(gIg&l] kichern
mine sth. [maIn] etw. abbauen
oh, dear [)EU (dIE] oje
property [(prQpEti] Grundstück
rare metal [)reE (met&l] Seltenerdmetall
scratch one’s head sich am Kopf kratzen
[)skrÄtS wVnz (hed]
share [(SeE]
Aktie
stuck: be ~ [stVk] hier: in der Patsche
sitzen
these days [Di:z (deIz] heutzutage; hier: in
jüngster Zeit
thought bubble Denkblase
[(TO:t )bVb&l]
torture sb. [(tO:tSE] jmdn. foltern
The next morning, Thomas woke up
and, once again, he could see. He hurried
to his computer to check how his
shares were doing.
“Hmm,” he said as he clicked on the
figures. “Consumer electronics are doing
well!” But then, to his horror, the
figures faded away and were replaced
by terrible scenes of civil war in Africa.
That was where the rare metals used
in consumer electronic devices were
mined. He then looked at his property
investments. He saw families being
driven off the land he had bought in
Brazil to make way for beef cattle. He
switched to defence shares. There, he
could see prisoners being tortured by
policemen using clever devices from his
most profitable company.
That evening, when the little old man
returned, Thomas was not pleased.
“Take the silver glasses off my face,”
said Thomas. “Let’s try the gold ones!”
“Hmm,” said the little old man,
scratching his head. “The gold glasses
aren’t finished yet. They’re supposed to
show you what you need to see.”
“I know what I need to see,” shouted
Thomas. “Everything as it was before
I went blind! Let me test them.”
“As you wish.” said the little old
man, and he put them on Thomas’s
nose. “I’ll finish the final version for
you by tomorrow evening.”
Thomas was a bit nervous when he
woke up, but to his great joy, the gold
glasses seemed nearly perfect. His new
charming companion was extremely
charming and his investments were all
numbers going upwards. The world was
once again full of beautiful people, expensive
cars and elegant yachts.
“Give me the final version,” said
Thomas that evening. “Then you can
take your money and disappear!”
“As you wish!” said the little old
man, and he put the new gold-rimmed
spectacles on Thomas’s nose.
But, oh, dear! The next morning,
when Thomas awoke, he could see not
only what everybody thought of him,
but also how he earned his money. It
was awful! And, because nobody could
remove the glasses except the little old
man, Thomas was stuck.
As time went by, Thomas began to
change. It made him unhappy to see all
the bad things his money was doing, so
he found good things to do with it instead.
He became interested in what
people really thought of him. He even
found a pleasant companion who loved
him for himself and not his money.
One night, many years later, he was
walking in his garden when the little old
man jumped out from behind a bush.
“Well?” said the old man. “Do you
like what you see these days?”
Thomas thought for a moment.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I do. But tell
me. What was the difference between
the two pairs of gold-rimmed glasses?”
The little old man giggled. “The first
pair... was the demo version!” ■BS
Language point
spectacles (glasses) These nouns
are always used in the plural, and so
are the pronouns: “She broke her
glasses when she sat on them.” The
single object is often referred to as a
“pair”: “I’ve lost two pairs of reading
glasses this month.” Note that the
word “pair” here takes a singular
verb: “Which pair of glasses is her
favourite?” The word “spectacles” is
rather old-fashioned.
You can listen to this short story on
Business Spotlight Audio
James Schofield is co-author of the
Double Dealing series. Find more of
his stories in English and his blog at
http://jrtschofield.blogspot.de
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 57

LANGUAGE
ENGLISH FOR...
May I help you?
Politeness is key
Call centres
Mitarbeiter eines Callcenters sind Anlaufstelle für Anfragen
und Beschwerden von Kunden. ROSEMARY RICHEY hält für sie
die passenden englischen Wendungen bereit. medium
Many industries depend on call
centres to provide customer care.
Rapidly changing technology and
the rise of social media mean that satisfying
customers’ needs has become
more complex. Customer expectations
are higher than ever, so call-centre
agents must give their full attention
Exercise: Best practice
Answer these questions using information
from the text.
a) Call-centre trends include ______ .
1. personal meetings
2. increased use of technology
b) Most customers prefer to use ______ .
1. the phone only
2. various channels
c) Call-centre agents need ______ .
1. good communication skills
2. better scripts
Answers on page 64
during the call and follow up on individual
queries, problems or complaints.
Call-centre trends include dealing
with customer demands more efficiently.
For example, there is an increasing
focus on first-call resolution and speed
of answer. “First-call resolution” means
that a solution is offered the first time
a customer phones and “speed of answer”
refers to the time a caller must
wait before an agent takes the call.
Customers talk to the company, and
to other customers, on Twitter, Facebook
or other social media. Here, too,
Digital Vision
agent [(eIdZEnt]
channel [(tSÄn&l]
customer care [)kVstEmE (keE]
emotion detection [i(mEUS&n di)tekS&n]
evaluate sth. [i(vÄljueIt]
first-call resolution [)f§:st )kO:l )rezE(lu:S&n]
follow up on sth. [)fQlEU (Vp Qn]
on hold: be put ~ [Qn (hEUld]
query [(kwIEri]
take a call [)teIk E (kO:l]
tone [tEUn]
turnaround time [(t§:nEraUnd taIm]
fast turnaround time — in other words,
how quickly the customer receives an
answer from an agent — is a top priority
of call centres.
Agents’ efficiency can be evaluated
by using emotion detection, which
measures how callers feel. This is
based on voice characteristics, such as
how loudly customers are talking, their
tone and how quickly they speak. This
is useful for understanding and reacting
to customer behaviour.
To reduce the frustration of being put
on hold, some call centres give the
caller an estimated wait time, or offer
to ring customers back. Call centres
also increasingly use intelligent callback
tools. These include interactive
voice response, an automated guide
that leads customers through standard
situations. They may also be directly
connected to online videos.
In general, customers prefer talking
to an agent on the phone, with further
support through other channels such as
email and online chat or social-media
platforms. No matter which channel is
used, good communication is essential.
Customers complain when agents
read from a script, so call-centre agents
need to work on attentive listening,
clarifying, making promises and keeping
them — and asking if the customer
needs any more assistance.
Successful agents combine technology
with excellent skills, as customers
can easily take their business elsewhere.
Call centres cannot count on
getting a second chance.
hier: (Callcenter-)Mitarbeiter(in)
hier: Informationsmedium
Kundenbetreuung
Gefühlserkennung
etw. auswerten
Problemlösung beim ersten Anruf
einer Sache nachgehen
in die Warteschleife gelegt werden
Ersuchen, Anfrage
einen Anruf entgegennehmen
Tonfall, (Stimm-)Klang
Durchlaufzeit
58 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Useful phrases
Offering assistance
n How may/can I help you?
n What can I do for you?
n I’d be glad to handle that for you.
Clarifying
n What seems to be the problem?
n And how long have you had this problem?
n Could you tell/give me more details?
n In other words, you need to…
n Let’s go through this again.
Making and keeping promises
n I’m sure we can find a solution.
n I’ll phone you back in half an hour.
n I’ll ring you… to make sure everything
went well.
n I’ll flag your request/order as urgent.
n I’ll make sure that…
n Would that be all right for you?
Suggesting alternatives
n If this doesn’t meet your needs, can I
suggest... ?
n I’ll look into other possibilities by…
n We’re unable to offer you that, but you
can try…
n Why don’t you contact… ?
Agreeing on action and concluding
n We’ve agreed on…
n What we’ve decided is…
n Can I help you with anything else today?
n Don’t hesitate to ring again if you have
any more problems.
clarify sth. [(klÄrEfaI]
flag sth. [flÄg]
hesitate [(hezIteIt]
For more information
etw. klären, klarstellen
etw. kennzeichnen
zögern
BOOKS
English for Customer Care, Rosemary Richey (Cornelsen)
Putting Customers First, Andy Bruce, Ken Langdon
(Dorling Kindersley)
Telephone Courtesy & Customer Service, Lloyd C.
Finch (Crisp Fifty-Minute Series)
WEBSITES
Call Center Times (US): www.callcentertimes.com
Call Centre Helper (UK): www.callcentrehelper.com
Customer Service Manager (CSM):
http://customerservicemanager.com/customer-serviceskills.htm
Transactions and services
(eine Rechnung) berichtigen
Stornierung
Ausgleich, Entschädigung
gratis, Frei-
Annehmlichkeit
Anfrage
Aus-, Umtausch; etw. aus-, umtauschen
Unannehmlichkeit
(einen Beleg) ausstellen
jmdm. zu viel berechnen
etw. verschieben
Beleg; Eingang, Erhalt
Erstattung
etw. erstatten
(eine Rechnung) begleichen
(Buchungs-)Beleg; Gutschein
adjust (a bill/invoice) [E(dZVst]
cancellation [)kÄnsE(leIS&n]
compensation [)kQmpEn(seIS&n]
complimentary [)kQmplI(mentEri]
convenience [kEn(vi:niEns]
enquiry [In(kwaIEri]
exchange (sth.) [Iks(tSeIndZ]
inconvenience [)InkEn(vi:niEns]
issue (a receipt/voucher) [(ISu:]
overcharge sb. [)EUvE(tSA:dZ]
postpone sth. [pEUst(pEUn]
receipt [ri(si:t]
refund [(ri:fVnd]
refund sth. [ri(fVnd]
settle (a bill/invoice) [(set&l]
voucher [(vaUtSE]
Active listening
empathize [(empETaIz]
follow sth. [(fQlEU]
get/catch sth. [get/kÄtS] ifml.
jot sth. down [)dZQt (daUn]
take sth. down [)teIk (daUn]
Clarifying
acknowledge (a problem) [Ek(nQlIdZ]
clarify sth. [(klÄrEfaI]
clear sth. up [)klIEr (Vp]
describe sth. [di(skraIb]
go over sth. [)gEU (EUvE]
show courtesy [SEU (k§:tEsi]
Making and keeping promises
assist sb. [E(sIst]
flag sth. [flÄg]
follow up on sth. [)fQlEU (Vp Qn]
get back to sb. [)get (bÄk tu]
resolve sth. [ri(zQlv]
satisfaction: be to sb.’s ~ [)sÄtIs(fÄkS&n]
take care of sth. [)teIk (keEr Qv]
talk/walk sb. through the steps
[)tO:k/)wO:k Tru: DE (steps]
Taking action and suggesting alternatives
confirm sth. [kEn(f§:m]
recap sth. [(ri:kÄp]
recommend sth. [)rekE(mend]
summarize sth. [(sVmEraIz]
upgrade sth. [)Vp(greId]
sich einfühlen
etw. (genau) verfolgen
etw. (akustisch) verstehen
etw. kurz notieren
etw. aufschreiben, notieren
(ein Problem) einräumen
etw. klären, klarstellen
etw. aufklären
etw. beschreiben
etw. durchgehen
Zuvorkommenheit zeigen
jmdm. behilflich sein
etw. kennzeichnen
einer Sache nachgehen
sich wieder bei jmdm. melden
etw. lösen
zu jmds. Zufriedenheit sein
sich um etw. kümmern
jmdm. die Schritte einzeln erklären
etw. bestätigen
etw. (kurz) zusammenfassen
etw. empfehlen
etw. zusammenfassen
etw. höherstufen, aufwerten
www You can find more job vocabulary at www.business-spotlight.de/vocabulary
Rosemary Richey is a business English trainer in Munich and the author of
English for Customer Care (see “For more information” box). She also provides
cultural training for the Middle East. Contact: rfhrichey@hotmail.com
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 59

LANGUAGE LEGAL ENGLISH
Hemera
General legal terms
Wie heißen die beiden Parteien, die vor Gericht
aufeinandertreffen? Und wer vertritt sie dort?
MATT FIRTH nennt einige Grundbegriffe. advanced
The work of a lawyer can be divided
into two categories: work related
to legal disputes and work that is
not. However, many terms are common
to both types.
In trade and commerce, most of the
work of lawyers involves making sure
that a firm fulfils its legal obligations,
such as in the area of financial reporting,
and that its business dealings follow
national and international laws.
Lawyers are usually consulted when
a company is formed. Once the business
has been started, a lawyer may be
needed to formulate contracts. Many
firms make use of standard forms for
such agreements, but the potential for
dispute can be reduced if a lawyer at
least checks the documents before any
Exercise: A lawyer’s advice
Choose the terms that match the definitions.
a) A document that formally states the terms of an agreement.
1. commercial 2. contract
b) Formal legal proceedings against another party.
1. litigation 2. formation
c) To initiate formal legal proceedings against another party.
1. sue 2. breach
d) The person in a legal dispute who has suffered loss.
1. defendant 2. claimant
e) The documents and facts relating to a case.
1. letter 2. brief
f) To reach agreement on a dispute.
1. settle 2. collect
g) Money that is awarded for a loss or injury.
1. damages 2. expectations
Useful words: the
language of law
deals are completed. A well-written
contract may help to avoid litigation. If
a company finds itself in a dispute on
a matter relating to a contract, a lawyer
will advise the company from the start
of proceedings.
One example of a commercial legal
dispute is a breach of contract. Typically,
a contract will have been agreed between
two parties, but sometimes, one
party does not act as promised. In such
cases, a lawyer for the injured party
puts pressure on the other party to follow
the contract as agreed. The lawyer
will describe exactly what the client expects.
If those expectations are not
met, his client may sue the other person
or organization.
Should the claimant take the case to
court, this will be supported by facts
and documents relating to the case,
which are collected in a brief.
The defendant will have their own
lawyer, who will also have a brief. It is
often in the best interest of both parties
to settle out of court. If this fails, the
judge will listen to the facts as presented
by the lawyers and decide which
side has the best case and on the
damages to be awarded.
Not all cases involve damages. A
lawyer may request a court order telling
someone to stop doing something, for
example, spreading untrue stories. ■BS
breach of contract Vertragsbruch
[)bri:tS Ev (kQntrÄkt]
brief [bri:f]
Akte
claimant [(kleImEnt] Kläger(in)
court order
gerichtliche
[)kO:t (O:dE]
Anordnung
damages [(dÄmIdZIz] Schadensersatz
defendant [di(fendEnt] Beklagte(r)
lawyer [(lO:jE]
Anwalt/Anwältin,
Jurist(in)
legal dispute
Rechtsstreit
[(li:g&l dI)spju:t]
litigation
Rechtsstreit(ig-
[)lItI(geIS&n]
keiten)
proceedings [prE(si:dINz] Gerichtsverfahren
settle out of court einen Vergleich
[)set&l )aUt Ev (kO:t] schließen
sue sb. [sju:]
jmdn. verklagen
Matt Firth teaches legal English and
helped establish the European Legal
English Teachers’ Association.
Contact: matthew.firth@unisg.ch
Answers on page 64
60 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

TALKING FINANCE
LANGUAGE
It’s time to get real
Eine Erhöhung der Zinsen oder des Gehalts bedeutet nicht unbedingt,
dass man effektiv mehr Geld hat, wie IAN MCMASTER erklärt. advanced
“Is a five per cent pay rise always
better than a one per cent rise?”
Wavebreak Media
How would you feel if you deposited
€1,000 with your bank and
were told that, in a year’s time, it
would be worth only €990? Or here’s
another question, which may seem
even sillier: would you prefer a one per
cent pay increase or a five per cent pay
increase?
In fact, the only good answer to both
questions is, “it depends”. Or, if you
want to use some Latin — which economists
like — you could say: “Ceteris
paribus [all other things being equal],
I’d be angry with the bank for reducing
the value of my savings and I’d prefer
a five per cent pay rise.”
The problem is that all other things
are rarely equal. Specifically, in the two
cases above, we need to know what is
happening to prices.
In the first case, the nominal value of
your savings has fallen by one per cent
(€10) over the year. In other words,
there is a negative nominal interest rate
— of minus one per cent. But what
should interest you (forgive the pun) is
not the change in the nominal value of
your savings but the change in the real
value, or purchasing power. To find
this, we have to adjust the nominal interest
rate for price inflation:
Real interest rate =
nominal interest rate – inflation rate
For example, if the nominal interest
rate is minus one per cent, and prices
are falling by three per cent a year, the
real interest rate would be positive, at
two per cent, which is not bad.
A similar argument applies to pay
rises. A nominal increase of five per
cent is clearly better, ceteris paribus,
than a one per cent increase. But again,
we need to know what is happening to
prices, as it is the real change in pay
that decides our purchasing power:
Real pay increase =
nominal pay increase – inflation rate
adjust sth. [E(dZVst] etw. angleichen,
korrigieren
apply to sth. [E(plaI tu] für etw. gelten
blinded: be ~
geblendet werden;
[(blaIndId]
hier: sich täuschen
lassen
deposit money with sb. Geld bei jmdm.
[di)pQzIt (mVni wID] einzahlen
get real
sich nichts vor-
[)get (rIEl] ifml. machen
in real terms
effektiv
[In (rIEl t§:mz]
keep money on deposit Geld als Einlage
[)ki:p )mVni Qn di(pQzIt] halten
nominal interest rate Nominalzinssatz
[)nQmIn&l (IntrEst reIt]
nominal value
Nominal-,
[)nQmIn&l (vÄlju:] Nennwert
pay cut [(peI kVt] Gehaltskürzung
pun [pVn]
Wortspiel
purchasing power Kaufkraft
[(p§:tSEsIN )paUE]
real interest rate Realzinssatz
[)rIEl (IntrEst reIt]
silly [(sIli]
dumm, lächerlich
More or less? Things are not
always how they seem
If prices are stable, a one per cent
nominal pay increase is also a one per
cent real wage increase (a one per cent
increase “in real terms”). But if prices
are rising, say, by six per cent, a five per
cent nominal increase in wages means
a real wage decrease of one per cent.
Negative changes in nominal pay are
not uncommon (we usually call them
“pay cuts”). Negative nominal interest
rates are more unusual. But the US and
eurozone central banks have considered
negative interest rates for the
money that banks keep on deposit with
them. The idea would be to encourage
banks to lend this money to firms rather
than see its nominal value fall.
But the important thing for us all is
not to be blinded by changes in nominal
values. Instead, look at what is happening
to prices — and get real! ■BS
Ian McMaster is editor-in-chief of Business
Spotlight. Read his weekly blog on global
business at www.business-spotlight.de/blogs
Contact: i.mcmaster@spotlight-verlag.de
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 61

LANGUAGE
TEACHER TALK
Take risks and experiment
Sprache muss real und aktiv gelehrt werden. Digitale Medien sind dabei ebenso
wichtig wie das klassische Lehrbuch. DEBORAH CAPRAS sprach mit Keith Harding,
der als Lehrer, Studienleiter — und Stadtführer in London — tätig ist. medium
Who is Keith Harding?
Keith Harding is one of the authors of the new, third edition of International
Express. He has written other books for Oxford University Press, mainly on English
for tourism and ESP. He has been a teacher, teacher trainer, director of
studies and principal in the UK and the US. Now that he is freelance, he spends
a lot of time running ELT management courses. In recent years, this has taken
him to countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, Egypt, Iran and Turkey. He is
also a tutor on the Trinity Diploma in ELT Management and a school inspector
for the British Council.
Home
London, the best city in the world. I live
in a flat with a view over the Thames.
It’s a view that always makes me feel
very happy.
Other languages spoken
I am ashamed to say that, apart from a
bit of French and German, I only speak
English. It is one of the big disappointments
of my life that I’ve never learned
another language fluently. I’ve tried,
but I am a terrible student!
How did you become involved in business
English teaching?
By chance. In the early 1980s, I was
teaching in north London and the
school asked me to take on some incompany
business English teaching at
the nearby Soviet trade delegation. It
was a fascinating experience and got
me hooked on “English beyond general
English”. I became more of an ESP
teacher than a business English
teacher, and got particularly interested
in English for tourism.
What is the role of the teacher?
Lots of things: instructor, facilitator,
helper, guide and so on. It’s one of the
joys of teaching English, that you can
change your role. For me personally, I
believed my main role was to make the
language real and active. It’s why I got
into ESP — and particularly tourism —
because there were real situations in
which my students would be using the
language I taught.
So what type of teacher were you when
you taught regularly?
I like to think my lessons were enjoyable,
a mixture of fun and serious.
When I taught regularly in the UK, I
tried to take every opportunity to get out
of the classroom with my students — or
bring the outside world in. One of the
great things about the digital information
revolution is that it’s made it so
much easier to do that than in my day.
So practising and using the language is
the most important thing?
Yes, I think so. It’s like owning a car.
There’s really no point spending all
your time playing with the engine and
polishing the hubcaps. You’ve got to get
in and drive it. It’s there to take you
places, not just to look at and admire.
It’s the same, really, with the English
language: don’t spend all your time
studying and learning grammar and
by chance
zufällig
[baI (tSA:ns]
ELT (English Language
Teaching)
[)i: el (ti:]
ESP (English for Englisch als
Specific Purposes) Fachsprache
[)i: es (pi:]
facilitator
Moderator(in)
[fE(sIlEteItE]
fluently [(flu:Entli] fließend
freelance [(fri:lA:ns] freiberuflich (tätig)
hooked: get sb. jmdn. nach etw.
~ on sth. [hUkt] ifml. süchtig machen
hubcap [(hVbkÄp] Radkappe
in my day
zu meiner Zeit
[)In (maI deI]
point [pOInt]
hier: Sinn
polish sth. [pQlIS] etw. polieren
principal [(prInsEp&l] Rektor(in)
take sth. on [)teIk (Qn] etw. übernehmen
take sb. places hier: jmdn. auf eine
[(teIk )pleIsIz]
Reise mitnehmen
Thames [temz] Themse
tutor [(tju:tE]
Studienleiter(in)
62 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

Stockbyte
“Get out and use the
English language. Let it
take you places”
presenting interesting topics,
the sort of thing that adults
like to talk about in their own
language. It’s also got some
great video support.
vocabulary. Get out and use it. Let it
take you places.
Do you miss the classroom?
It depends on what you mean by “classroom”.
I’m actually in the classroom
quite a lot these days in my role as a
British Council inspector. So I see a lot
of teaching. But do I miss teaching?
Not really, to be honest, because I do a
lot of training, which gives me the buzz
of interacting with people and helping
them explore different ideas.
What can learners do to improve their
language skills?
Activate the language. In other words,
approach [E(prEUtS]
Blue Badge Tourist
Guide [)blu: bÄdZ
(tUErIst gaId] UK
(badge
buzz [bVz]
challenge [(tSÄlIndZ]
coursebook
[(kO:sbUk] UK
embarrassing
[Im(bÄrEsIN]
face-to-face
[)feIs tE (feIs]
hub [hVb]
publisher [(pVblISE]
resources [ri(zO:sIz]
topic [(tQpIk]
Methode
zertifizierte(r)
Reiseführer(in)
Abzeichen, Emblem)
Begeisterung; hier:
gutes Gefühl
Herausforderung;
schwierige Aufgabe
Lehrbuch
peinlich, beschämend
persönlich
Zentrum; hier:
Dreh- und
Angelpunkt
Verlag
Hilfsmittel
Thema
Interacting with people:
training can give you a buzz
get in the car and drive! Experiment
with the language, take risks. (But
don’t do that when you’re driving!)
How has technology made a difference
to teaching?
It’s given us some fantastic opportunities.
When I started teaching in the early
1980s, we talked about the “communicative
approach”, which then really
meant talking face-to-face or on the
telephone. Now, communication is so
much more diverse — and exciting. But
it’s also a challenge for learners and
teachers to use new media effectively.
And don’t expect technology to do all
the work for you: the basic learning
tools are still needed.
What do you mean by basic learning
tools?
I suppose I mean all the things you will
find in a good coursebook: work on
grammar, vocabulary, functions, skills
and so on. I believe that there is nothing
better than a good coursebook at
the centre of any language-learning
programme. This is true of business
English as well as general English. One
of the things I like about International
Express is the way it links the basic
tools of general English with the world
of work and business. It does this by
What level of support do you
expect from publishers?
Publishers are so important
for our profession. Not just because
they produce books and resources, but
because they are often the hub for
teachers and students in places around
the world. They provide information,
training and contact. We sometimes
forget about this level of support.
Who inspires you?
Anyone who can speak another language.
As I said earlier, I have always
found learning a language difficult and
it’s a bit embarrassing that I only speak
English.
Ambitions and dreams
To go on doing what I’m doing now —
it’s a great mix.
Little-known facts about you
I am also a registered London Blue
Badge Tourist Guide, so I spend a lot of
time taking visitors around London —
the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of
London and so on. In a way, it’s a substitute
for the teaching that I used to do
and enjoy so much. I love London and
I love showing people what a fascinating
and beautiful place it is. ■BS
www You can find more for teachers at
www.business-spotlight.de/teachers
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 63

LANGUAGE PRODUCTS
What’s new?
Sie
wollen noch tiefer ins Englische eintauchen? Wir haben uns
für Sie nach neuen Produkten umgesehen.
medium
Books
When — The Art of Perfect Timing
Not only is what you do important, but also
when you do it. This book presents practical
tips on how to time your activities and uses
case studies to show you how to make the
most of your time. Stuart Albert (Jossey-
Bass/Wiley), $26.95
Numbers — Statistics and Data for the
Non-specialist
This book will help you to present data clearly,
understand statistics, do surveys and
evaluate results. It gives you the language
you need and provides a variety of exercises
to practise your skills. Louis Rogers, Dawn
Willoughby (HarperCollins), £13.99
Murderous Network
Criminal activity in Silicon Valley, murdered
journalists in New Orleans and a dead body
in New York’s financial district form the basis
of these entertaining crime stories, all
with a business background. Gina Billy, Timothy
Woods Palma (Compact), €7.99*
coach [kEUtS]
Trainer(in) und Berater(in)
coach sb./sth. [kEUtS] jmdn. anleiten, etw.
trainieren; hier: steigern
coursebook [(kO:sbUk] UK Lehrbuch
CV (curriculum vitae) [)si: (vi:] Lebenslauf
evaluate sth. [i(vÄljueIt] etw. auswerten
job application
(Stellen-)Bewerbung
[(dZQb ÄplI)keIS&n]
network [(netw§:k]
Netz(werk)
phrase [freIz]
Ausdruck, Formulierung
survey [(s§:veI]
Umfrage, Erhebung
Perfect Phrases for Coaching Employee
Performance
Sometimes, managers who want to improve
the performance of their employees
also have to be coaches. This
book starts with a look at what coaching
is and when it should take place.
It offers tips for employees, teams or
people in new positions. Laura Poole
(McGraw-Hill), €9.60*
Book with audio CDs and DVD-ROM
The Business 2.0 —
Upper Intermediate
This coursebook provides learners
with the basic theoretical
knowledge and practical skills
they need for doing business in
English. Among the subjects
covered are CVs and job applications,
financial control, marketing,
international business
relationships and aspects of fair trade. Each
subject is developed with reading, listening and
speaking activities, related vocabulary, grammar
exercises and a case study. The book includes
an e-workbook with DVD-ROM. Recordings
are also available on audio CDs. John Allison
et al. (Macmillan/Hueber), €37.99
*These products are available at www.sprachenshop.de
Solutions
Vocabulary (p. 44):
a) bread i) knead
b) pretzels j) proofing cabinets
c) ingredients k) loaves
d) rye l) ovens
e) wheat flour m) racks
f) yeast n) slice
g) dough o) crust
h) dough mixer
Grammar at Work (p. 45):
a) need d) hurry
b) fixing e) don’t have to
c) was supposed to
Translation (p. 52):
a) Nach der Aufführung hat die Sittenpolizei
zwei Männer verhaftet.
b) I wouldn’t take the shortcut at night.
English for... call centres
(pp. 58–59):
a–2; b–2; c–1
Legal English (p. 60):
a–2; b–1; c–; d–2; e–2; f–1; g–1
Language Focus (p. 83):
a–2; b–1; c–2
64 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

KEY WORDS
LANGUAGE
Nouns and noun phrases
Verbs
Use this list to practise key words from the current Business Spotlight magazine.
appreciation the feeling of being thankful or grateful Wertschätzung
asylum seeker someone who leaves their own country because they are in danger Asylant(in)
and asks to be allowed to stay in another country
billionaire someone who has more than 1,000,000,000 (one thousand Milliardär(in)
million) dollars/euros/pounds, etc.
damages money that is awarded by a court or judge for a loss or injury Schadensersatz
fortune a very large amount of money or assets Vermögen
job fair an exhibition for employers to meet people looking for work Jobmesse
remote working working from home Telearbeit
repercussion a bad effect that something has, usually one lasting a long time Auswirkung, Konsequenz
sympathy a feeling of kindness and understanding for someone Anteilnahme, Verständnis
catch sth. to understand something (acoustically) etw. mitkriegen
contradict sb. to say that something a person has said or written is wrong and jmdm. widersprechen
that the opposite is true
highlight sth. to point something out, to emphasize something etw. hervorheben
pick up on sth. to refer to something that was said earlier etw. aufgreifen
play sth. down to make something seem less important etw. herunterspielen
release (a song or to make a song or a film available to the public, so that people can (ein Lied oder einen Film)
a film) listen to it, buy it or watch it herausbringen
restrict sth. to put a limit on something etw. beschränken
speak out on sth. to say what you really think about something in public in a offen zu etw. seine
direct and open way
Meinung sagen
sue sb. to initiate formal legal proceedings against another party jmdn. verklagen
Adjectives and adverbs
accredited (of a person, school or course) officially recognized or authorized anerkannt
ambiguous not clear, open to more than one interpretation, having a double mehrdeutig, unklar
meaning
antisocial not wanting to be with other people, not sociable ungesellig
critical extremely important wesentlich
fluently (how a language is spoken) really well and without difficulty fließend
notorious famous, usually for something negative berüchtigt
Idioms and expressions
by chance happening without being planned or expected zufällig
get up to speed on sth. to familiarize oneself with something (by practising or by taking a sich mit etw. vertraut
ifml. course, for example) machen, sich in etw.
einarbeiten
go places ifml. to be (increasingly) successful sehr weit kommen
rule of thumb a broad guide or rule based on experience and practice rather Faustregel
than science
take the rap to accept sole responsibility and blame for something, even if die Schuld auf sich nehmen
ifml.
others are (equally) at fault
Subscribers to Business Spotlight can download the following lists at www.business-spotlight.de/words
n a PDF of this Key Words list with an MP3 audio file of the words, definitions and example sentences
n a PDF of the complete vocabulary list (English–German) for each magazine
www
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 65

Quiet, please
Introvertierte hören lieber zu anstatt zu reden
und ziehen Einzelgespräche Diskussionen in
der Gruppe vor. Dennoch haben sie in unserer
extrovertierten Arbeitswelt Führungspositionen
inne, wie MARGARET DAVIS erklärt. medium US
Hiding? Or just taking
some time to think?
Getty Images

INTROVERTS AT WORK CAREERS
At the end of a presentation
of prototypes for a new
product, the boss asked
everyone in the group to
speak. “You’ve got one
minute to tell us which prototype you
prefer and why. Let’s go around the
room, starting with Margaret.”
“Sorry, I don’t do instant opinions,”
Margaret said, to laughter
from her colleagues.
My name is Margaret and if there’s
one thing I hate, it’s being called upon
to express an opinion on something
I’ve seen for the first time just half an
hour earlier. Give me a few minutes
on my own and I can probably think
of something, but rarely in a group.
This reaction is typical of introverts,
or of people with some introverted
traits, according to Susan
Cain, best-selling author of Quiet:
The Power of Introverts in a World
that Can’t Stop Talking. Cain (see interview
p. 68) says that the modern
workplace, with its emphasis on
group work and open-plan offices, is
designed with extroverts in mind.
This reflects a trend in Western society,
particularly in the U.S., according
to Cain, a former Wall Street lawyer
who describes herself as an introvert.
“The extrovert ideal really came into
Are you an introvert?
“The extrovert ideal came into play
at the turn of the 20th century, with the
rise of big business”
play at the turn of the 20th century,
when we had the rise of big business,”
Cain told National Public Radio
(NPR). “Suddenly, people were
flocking to the cities, and they were
needing to prove themselves in big
corporations, at job interviews and
on sales calls. We moved from what
cultural historians call a culture of
character to a culture of personality,”
she says, adding that “what was
admired was to be magnetic and
charismatic.”
No one is either completely introverted or completely extroverted.
But certain personality traits may be a sign that you have introverted
tendencies. Here are a few of them:
n You prefer listening to talking.
n You prefer one-on-one conversations to group activities.
n You prefer to express yourself in writing.
n You tend to think before you speak.
n You prefer not to show or discuss your work with others until it is
finished.
n You don’t enjoy multitasking.
Source: Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking (Penguin)
Of course, no one is completely introverted
or extroverted: “Such a
man would be in a lunatic asylum,”
said C. G. Jung, the founder of analytical
psychology. And introverted
people are not necessarily shy or
antisocial. They’re just sensitive to the
stimulation that dealing with large
groups tends to produce. They like to
socialize in small groups rather than
at noisy parties, and they need to get
away from their coworkers to concentrate.
Extroverts, on the other
hand, need the stimulation that interacting
with groups provides.
Cain is quick to say that she is not
criticizing extroverts, but she is critical
of the fact that extroversion has
become the workplace ideal. “None
antisocial
ungesellig
[)Änti(soUS&l*]
big business
Großkapital und
[)bIg (bIznEs]
Hochfinanz
called upon: be ~ to aufgefordert werdo
sth.
den, etw. zu tun
[)kO:ld E(pA:n*]
corporation
Unternehmen
[)kO:rpE(reIS&n*]
design sth. [di(zaIn] etw. konzipieren
do: sb. does not ~ sth. etw. ist nicht jmds.
[du:] ifml.
Sache
emphasis [(emfEsIs] Augenmerk,
Gewicht
extroversion
Extrovertiertheit
[)ekstrE(v§:Z&n*]
flock to (a place) zu (einem Ort)
[(flA:k tu*]
strömen
founder [(faUnd&r*] Gründer(in)
go around the room die Anwesenden
[)goU E)raUnd DE (ru:m*] reihum zu Wort
kommen lassen
instant [(InstEnt] sofortig
job interview
Bewerbungsge-
[(dZA:b )Int&rvju:*] spräch
lunatic asylum Irrenanstalt
[(lu:nEtIk E)saIlEm]
magnetic [mÄg(netIk] hier: mit Anziehungskraft
multitask
mehrere Aufgaben
[)mVlti(tÄsk*]
gleichzeitig erledigen
one-on-one
Einzel-
[)wVn A:n (wVn*]
open-plan office Großraumbüro
[)oUpEn )plÄn (A:fEs*]
sales call [(seI&lz kO:l] (telefonisches)
Verkaufsgespräch
sensitive: be ~ to sth. auf etw. empfind-
[(sensEtIv]
lich reagieren
socialize [(soUSElaIz*] Kontakte pflegen;
hier: sich unter
Leute mischen
stimulation
Reiz(e)
[)stImjE(leIS&n*]
trait [treIt]
(Wesens-)Merkmal,
(Charakter-)Zug
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 67

CAREERS INTROVERTS AT WORK
Aaron Fedor
“If we act too often out of character,
we suffer physical and
psychological repercussions”
Best-selling introvert: Susan Cain
Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts
in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
was one of the most successful nonfiction
books of 2012. It has been
translated into more than 30 languages.
In Germany, it is published by
Goldmann with the title Still: Die Kraft
der Introvertierten.
For author Cain, herself an introvert,
producing the book was a labor of love.
Perhaps because she feels so strongly
about the subject, she was also able to
promote the book, giving media interviews
and going on international book
tours. “My year of speaking dangerously”
is how she refers to the promotional
activities.
Susan Cain communicated with
Business Spotlight via e-mail about the
surprising success of her book.
Has your book made it more acceptable
— perhaps even cool — for people to
describe themselves as introverts?
Yes. I have been amazed by the people
who are coming forward to identify
themselves as introverts now. Recently,
I sat on a panel with [media mogul]
amazed [EmeIzd] erstaunt
book tour [(bUk tU&r*] Lesereise
come forward hervortreten
[)kVm (fO:rw&rd*]
dose [doUs*]
Dosis
feel strongly about sth. etw. liegt einem am
[)fi:&l (strO:Nli E)baUt*] Herzen
labor of love: be a ~ aus Liebe zur
[)leIb&r Ev (lVv*] Sache geschehen
niche [nItS*]
Nische
non-fiction book Sachbuch
[)nA:n )fIkS&n (bUk*]
out of character gegen das eigene
[)aUt Ev (kÄrEkt&r*] Naturell
panel: sit on a ~ an einer Podiums-
[(pÄn&l]
diskussion teilnehmen
repercussion
Auswirkung, Konse-
[)ri:p&r(kVS&n*] quenz
restorative
der Regenerierung
[ri(stO:rEtIv]
dienend
speaking engagement Vortrag(stermin)
[(spi:kIN In)geIdZmEnt]
true to oneself: be ~ sich selbst treu sein,
[)tru: tE wVn(self*] sich nicht verleugnen
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
Arianna Huffington, [Bill Clinton’s former
communications director] George
Stephanopoulos, and [actress] Candice
Bergen, and they all claimed to be introverts!
Is it possible for introverts to behave
like extroverts at work? And if so, do
they suffer any physical or psychological
repercussions?
Yes, it’s possible — they do it all the
time. And yes, if we act too often out of
character, as the psychologist Brian
Little says, we suffer repercussions
both physical and psychological. The
key is to step out of character strategically
and in small doses, but to give
yourself what Little calls “restorative
niches” in which to be true to yourself.
As an introvert, how do you prepare for
a book tour or speaking engagement?
I give myself many breaks in between
engagements! It also helps that I’m so
passionate about my subject.
of this is to say that it would be a
good thing to get rid of teamwork
and get rid of group work altogether,”
she told NPR. “It’s more just to
say that we’re at a point in our culture,
and in our workplace culture,
where we’ve gotten too lopsided. We
tend to believe that all creativity and
all productivity comes from the
group, when in fact, there really is a
benefit to solitude and to being able
to go off and focus and put your head
down.” An office made up only of either
introverts or extroverts would
not function well — or at least not for
long. But introverts do bring certain
advantages to their employers. They
are good listeners who are able to
work independently and who can be
creative if given an opportunity to
work on their own. Their managers
need to realize, however, that introverted
workers are unlikely to volunteer
information about their projects,
says workplace psychologist Dr. Marla
Gottschalk. “By nature, introverts
can be less likely to share their
thoughts — which makes it even
more important that you check in
with them regularly. Send them an
e-mail, asking how their projects
by nature
von Natur aus
[)baI (neItS&r*]
check in with sb. sich mit jmdm.
[)tSek (In wIT*] ifml. besprechen
lopsided [(lA:p)saIdId*] einseitig
put one’s head down hier: sich ganz auf
[)pUt wVnz (hed daUn] eine Sache konzenifml.
trieren
solitude [(sA:lEtu:d*] Alleinsein
volunteer information bereitwillig mit
[vA:lEn)tI&r
Informationen
)Inf&r(meIS&n*] herausrücken
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
68 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

are progressing. They can reflect
and respond on their own terms,”
Gottschalk writes on her blog. Introverts
can be seen as passive or aloof,
when in fact, they are just thinking.
To prevent their colleagues or bosses
from getting this impression, they
should politely inform others that
they need to shut their office door
or turn off the phone to get a project
finished.
Introverts often choose careers in
which they can work independently;
for example, as an artist, doctor, musician,
photographer, psychologist,
scientist, or writer. But they can be
good managers, although they may
have to overcome negative stereotypes.
“The status and reputation of
quiet, introverted leadership is undervalued
and underappreciated,”
executive coach Ray Williams writes
in Psychology Today. “[E]xtroverted
leaders are still favored in recruiting
and promoting decisions.” Williams
believes that the emphasis on extroverted
leadership has led to business
failures, most spectacularly the banking
crisis of 2008. A balance between
impulsive, extroverted managers and
cautious, introverted managers and
employees is necessary, he says.
“Introverted bosses need to remember
that their role requires a lot
of engagement — that employees
crave feedback from the boss,” Susan
Cain told The Washington Post. It’s
Getty Images
important for introverted bosses to
get away from their desks, too.
“There was one CEO who had to remind
himself when walking down
the hallway to make eye contact and
greet people, because his natural
inclination would be to walk lost in
thought, solving some problem. But
An office made up only of introverts
or extroverts would not function well –
at least not for long
4
Introverted leaders: don’t
forget to make eye contact
aloof [E(lu:f]
zurückhaltend,
reserviert
cautious [(kO:SEs] vorsichtig, behutsam
CEO (chief executive Firmenchef(in)
officer) [)si: i: (oU*]
crave sth. [kreIv] etw. ersehnen,
erbitten
engagement
Sich-Einlassen
[In(geIdZmEnt]
executive coach Trainer(in) und Be-
[Ig(zekjEtIv koUtS*] rater(in) für Führungskräfte
inclination [)InklI(neIS&n] Neigung
on one’s own terms zu den eigenen
[)A:n wVnz )oUn (t§:mz*] Bedingungen; hier:
nach den eigenen
Vorstellungen
promoting
Beförderungs-
[prE(moUtIN*]
recruiting [ri(kru:tIN] Einstellungsstereotype
[(steriEtaIp] Klischee(vorstellung)
underappreciated: be ~ zu wenig geschätzt
[)Vnd&rE(pri:SieItEd*] werden
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 69

CAREERS INTROVERTS AT WORK
Getty Images
Create your own private space by
getting out of the office
Feeling stressed: time to get out and clear your head
he realized people thought he was being
aloof and dismissive of them.”
Lively and funny, known for his entertaining
talks, Dr. Brian Little has
been called “a cross between Robin
Williams and Einstein.” The influential
Canadian psychology professor,
currently at Cambridge University in
England, has taught at Oxford as
well as a number of major North
American universities, including Harvard.
Little’s talks on YouTube have
attracted thousands of followers. Yet,
he describes himself as an introvert,
and once said on national radio that
after giving a talk, he would escape to
the men’s room and shut himself inside
one of the cubicles. “After a talk,
I’m in cubicle nine,” he said.
Little told The Vancouver Sun that
introverts can be good professors,
even though they find it stressful.
“The risk is that they can burn out
because, in a sense, you’re acting out
of character,” he said. “I do need reflection
time and time to be on my
own. That surprises people.”
Little says both introverts and extroverts
require what he calls “restorative
niches” — places where they can
recover from stress and return to their
true nature. “For an introvert, a
restorative niche may be a quiet walk
on a deserted beach. For an extrovert,
it may be the pulsing conviviality of a
crowded nightclub.” Open-plan offices
are an introvert’s idea of hell. Yet
many companies have them, because
they are believed to increase creativity
and are less expensive to build.
Some open-plan offices do provide
quiet spaces, such as libraries or telephoning
rooms. “If your office doesn’t
have private spaces, you need to
make your own version,” Cain writes
in Bloomberg Businessweek.
“Go to the park or a nearby coffee
shop. And you have to take away the
feeling of guilt — you’re clearing your
head.” She suggests sending phone
calls to voice mail or turning off the
sound on e-mails. Some introverts
agenda [E(dZendE] Tagesordnung
burn out [)b§:n (aUt] sich kaputtmachen
clear one’s head seinen Kopf frei
[)klI&r wVnz (hed*] bekommen
conviviality
Geselligkeit
[kEn)vIvi(ÄlEti]
cross [krO:s*]
Mischung
cubicle [(kju:bIk&l] Kabine
dismissive: be ~ of sb. jmdm. gegenüber
[dIs(mIsIv]
abweisend sein
feeling of guilt Schuldgefühl
[)fi:&lIN Ev (gIlt]
men’s room
Herrentoilette
[(menz ru:m] US
niche [nItS*]
Nische
noise-canceling mit aktiver Geräusch-
[(nOIz )kÄns&lIN] unterdrückung
out of character gegen das eigene
[)aUt Ev (kÄrEkt&r*] Naturell
panelist [(pÄn&lIst] Teilnehmer(in) einer
Podiumsdiskussion
passionate [(pÄS&nEt] leidenschaftlich
pulsing [(pVlsIN] pulsierend
restorative
der Regenerierung
[ri(stO:rEtIv]
dienend
talk [tO:k]
Vortrag
voice mail [(vOIs meI&l] Mailboxnachricht(en)
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
also find using noise-canceling headphones
effective, although this may
not be socially acceptable in all offices.
Brainstorming, group presentations,
and large meetings are often stressful
for introverts. One way to deal with
the stress is to be well prepared. Get
an agenda before the meeting so you
have time to think about the subject.
If you are called upon in a meeting to
express an opinion and you are not
yet ready to do so, tell the group that
you are still thinking about it and that
you will provide an opinion later.
“As introverts, if we remain quiet,
people will assume we’re a) not interested,
b) too shy, or c) not passionate,”
said a panelist at Intuit.com, a
U.S. financial software firm. “The
impression that we give by not saying
anything is different than we intend.”
Good advice. I think I’ll try this at
our next brainstorming meeting. nBS
www Keep up to date with career trends at
www.business-spotlight.de/careers
For more information
BOOK
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that
Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain (Penguin)
WEBSITES
Susan Cain’s TED talk, “The Power of Introverts,”
has been viewed by over four million
people: www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_
power_of_introverts.html
Dr. Marla Gottschalk, workplace psychologist:
https://marlagottschalk.wordpress.com
Dr. Brian Little talks about introverts and extroverts
in this entertaining video:
www.speakers.ca/speakers/dr-brian-little
Margaret Davis is the editor of the
Careers and Global Business sections
of Business Spotlight. Contact:
m.davis@spotlight-verlag.de
70 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

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CAREERS TIPS AND TRENDS
Photodisc
All in a day’s work
Wie sollte ein Foto aussehen, das Sie im geschäftlichen Kontext
verwenden? Warum arbeiten auch Männer zunehmend gerne im
Sekretariat? MARGARET DAVIS gibt Antworten.
medium
Portraits
Picture this
Agood portrait photo is often necessary in business. Whether
it’s on your website, on your business card or on socialmedia
sites such as LinkedIn or Xing, it should be taken by a
professional photographer and renewed every couple of years,
says image consultant Leah Morrigan. “A bad photograph,
seen all too often, looks sloppy and amateurish,” Morrigan
writes in The Toronto Star.
Business photos: time to
look professional
Photographer Mark Jackson recommends keeping your look as natural as possible. Don’t put on too
much make-up or wear evening clothes. Avoid props. “If a prop has meaning, it works,” Jackson says.
“Otherwise it can appear contrived, like lawyers holding books.”
Trend
Oh, boy
ecretarial work” has long
“Sbeen synonymous with
“women’s work”. That may
be changing, however. More
and more young men in
Britain see being a corporate personal assistant (PA) as the
first step to having a career in business.
Two factors are responsible for the trend, according to The
Observer. One is record-high unemployment among university
graduates. The other is the fact that corporate PAs can earn
as much as £75,000 (about €90,000) a year.
“In the past, men felt the salaries weren’t high enough and
there was a stigma attached to administrative, typing-based
roles,” says consultant David Morel. “Guys are seeing that they
can get to a stage where they are providing a lot of business
support to their boss, and that is reflected in their salary.”
Creatas
“Bob, take a
letter”: new role
Away from your desk
DVDs
Who would have thought that
a show about a group of
young nerds would become
the most popular sitcom on
US television? The Big Bang Theory,
about four scientists at Caltech in Pasadena,
California, is now in its seventh season.
The fictional Dr Sheldon Cooper,
played with great charm by Jim Parsons,
even has his own Wikipedia article — and
a real asteroid named after him.
Big Bang [)bIg (bÄN] Urknall
business card [(bIznEs kA:d] Visitenkarte
consultant [kEn(sVltEnt] Berater(in)
contrived [kEn(traIvd] gekünstelt
corporate [(kO:pErEt] Unternehmensgraduate
[(grÄdZuEt] Absolvent(in)
guy [gaI] ifml.
Kerl; hier: Mann
lawyer [(lO:jE]
Rechtsanwalt/-anwältin
prop [prQp]
Requisite
sloppy [(slQpi]
schlampig, nachlässig
stage [steIdZ]
Stufe
typing-based [(taIpIN beIst] mit Schreibarbeit verbunden
72 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

How to...
Work for a new boss
Whether you’ve changed jobs or your boss has,
you may find yourself dealing with a new manager.
Joyce E. A. Russell of The Washington Post
has some tips for making the most of the situation:
■ Start by setting up a one-to-one meeting. This
should happen as soon as possible after the new
boss takes over so that you can find out more about
each other. Ask the boss about her priorities and
be sure to tell her about your current role.
■ Find out what the boss’s working style is. “For
example, does your boss come into the office early,
or stay late, or do both? Does the boss like to
be updated via phone calls, face-to-face meetings
or email? How often does he/she want to be updated?”
■ Help your boss to be successful. “This is critical
for a new boss. Help him/her get up to speed
on the organization,” Russell writes. “At the same
Ingram Publishing
time, remember that your boss is the leader. So,
while you might offer help, you don’t need to step
in to take over.”
■ Be careful what you say about colleagues. “It is
not a good idea to say negative things about your
co-workers or other employees. Be careful about
making comparisons (even positive ones) between
your new boss and the previous boss.”
What’s his style? Find out early so
you can help your boss
iStock
Statistically speaking
Happy oldies
Not enjoying your work? Wait a decade or two. According
to a US study, 90 per cent of workers
over 50 say they are very or somewhat satisfied with
their jobs. One reason seems to be that they are
asked to give advice more often. Another is the fact
that they have reached the top of the career ladder
and have more job security, the report says.
Source: Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs
Research (www.apnorc.org)
critical [(krItIk&l]
engineer [)endZI(nIE]
face-to-face
[)feIs tE (feIs]
fix sth. [fIks]
get up to speed on sth.
[get )Vp tE (spi:d Qn]
ifml.
one-to-one
[)wVn tE (wVn]
previous [(pri:viEs]
research [ri(s§:tS]
update sb.
[Vp(deIt]
wesentlich
Ingenieur(in)
persönlich
hier: etw. reparieren,
in Ordnung bringen
sich mit etw. vertraut
machen, sich in etw.
einarbeiten
Einzelfrühere(r,s)
Forschung
jmdn. auf den neuesten
Stand bringen
Dilbert
www.dilbert.com dilbertcartoonist@gmail.com
© 11/19/2013 Scott Adams, Inc. Dist. by Universal Uclick
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 73

iStock
Switched on: virtual learning
is now firmly established
74 www.business-spotlight.de

TRAINING
MANAGEMENT
Smarter learning
Um auch bei einer schwachen Konjunktur konkurrenzfähig zu bleiben, legen Unternehmen Wert auf
die Fortbildung ihrer Mitarbeiter. Welche Lehrmethoden bringen die besten Ergebnisse? Ersetzt der
virtuelle den traditionellen Unterricht? VICKI SUSSENS hat darüber mit Experten gesprochen. advanced
While training-industry
expert Jeanne Meister is
talking on the phone,
she is walking around
her office and checking
her Nike+ FuelBand, a “smart device”
worn on her wrist that tracks
how active she is. She believes we will
one day be using such wearable smart
devices to help us learn.
This may sound far-fetched, but
by 2017, there will be more mobile
devices on the planet than people,
according to market-research firm
eMarketer. “We will continue to see a
movement to mobilize learning across
all these devices and a future of integrating
learning into wearable smart
devices,” says Meister.
Technology is one key factor changing
the way we learn. But it is not the
only one. Increased work mobility,
the entry into the workforce of the
“millennial generation” (those born
between 1979 and 1999) and the
drive by firms to get more value out
of training are also powerful forces.
“This is an absolutely wonderful
time to be in training,” says Doug
Harward, the CEO and founder of
TrainingIndustry.com, which publishes
training-industry news, research
and best practice.
“The number one trend we see is
away from asking learners what they
want towards training that brings
measurable results for the business,”
Harward says. Training budgets fall
with economic downturns, but to remain
competitive and attract talent,
businesses need well-trained staff. So
firms want to see value for money.
“For this reason, executives are working
more closely with trainers than
ever before. Suddenly, we are pretty
darn important in the company.”
Harward sees technology as the
second-biggest force of change. “Virtual
learning is now mainstream. The
challenge for trainers, therefore, is to
accept this proliferation of online
knowledge and to understand their
role in this learning system.”
That role is to help firms filter the
huge amount of information on the
internet for relevance to their business
and put it into a learning context.
Harward estimates that employees
typically gain 90 per cent of their
knowledge online, but there is a risk
that they might be misinformed. “We
can’t stop staff from using the internet,
but we can point them in the
right direction,” he explains.
Technology is enabling this. Trainers
can put a curation tool called a
“widget” on to a website and programme
into it certain parameters of
information that they want pulled
from that site. For example, only
video, or only information that
matches certain search terms. They
then use their pedagogical skills to
arrange the content into an online
learning portal, where staff can do
online courses or take “bites” of
best practice
beste Methode(n)
[)best (prÄktIs]
bite [baIt]
hier: Häppchen
CEO (chief executive Hauptgeschäftsofficer)
[)si: i: (EU] führer(in)
challenge [(tSÄlIndZ] Herausforderung
competitive
wettbewerbsfähig
[kEm(petEtIv]
curation [kju&(reIS&n] Datenverwaltung
economic downturn Konjunkturab-
[i:kE)nQmIk (daUnt§:n] schwächung
executive [Ig(zekjUtIv] Führungskraft
far-fetched [)fA: (fetSt] weit hergeholt
founder [(faUndE] Gründer(in)
fuelband [(fju:ElbÄnd] Fitnessarmband
mainstream [(meInstri:m] etabliert
market-research firm Marktforschungs-
[)mA:kIt ri(s§:tS f§:m] unternehmen
pretty darn... ganz schön ...
[)prIti )dA:rn*] US ifml.
proliferation
Verbreitung
[prEU)lIfE(reIS&n]
research [ri(s§:tS] Forschung
smart device
„intelligentes“
[(smA:t di)vaIs] Gerät
talent [(tÄlEnt] hier: Nachwuchskräfte
track sth. [trÄk] etw. verfolgen
workforce
erwerbstätige
[(w§:kfO:s]
Bevölkerung
wrist [rIst]
Handgelenk
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
4
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 75

MANAGEMENT TRAINING
“There is something special
about training with a group over
a period of time”
Doug Harward, founder and CEO of TrainingIndustry.com
My favourite course: In 2001, I did an 18-month executive
MBA at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
in Durham, North Carolina. It took place on weekends.
Training: We learned from some of the best thought leaders
in the world. Our professors included former corporate
executives and some of the most widely published
and learned business educators.
What I learned: Many of my classmates became close
friends. There’s something special about learning with
a group over a period of time. It creates a strong bond.
want to learn anytime, anywhere on
a mobile device and not in a classroom.
But this is what baby boomers
want, too. The difference is that baby
boomers are less likely to ask for it.”
Lindsay Pattison — chief global
strategy officer of the media investment
firm GroupM, and the CEO of
Maxus UK — agrees that millennials
are more likely to ask for change and
that firms competing for young talent
are happy to meet their needs.
She says that 70 per cent of her staff
are millennials. The ad industry attracts
young people, who are used to
the fast-paced, always-on, digital
knowledge by viewing videos or
blogs. “In this sense, trainers have
moved from their slightly dictatorial
role of telling people what to learn to
being curators of knowledge,” says
Harward.
Jeanne Meister, founder of the executive
training firm Future Workplace,
says virtual learning provides
opportunities that a trainer could
only have dreamed of 20 years ago.
She gives an example of a large hospital
she worked with that used to
have a long leadership-development
programme, which was classroombased.
The hospital has now integrated
Yammer, a business version of
Facebook, into the programme. The
classroom part has been reduced to a
couple of hours a day. The rest of the
time, participants interact with other
members of their class on Yammer.
For example, they can be in on a
threaded discussion, they can view
videos of leaders or they can communicate
with online mentors.
“We are beginning to see that the
long blocks of classroom training are
not only shortened but the entire
training [process] is a different experience
for the learner,” says Meister. “It
is also how adults learn best — experientially
and by sharing knowledge.”
By 2020, 50 per cent of the US
workforce will be millennials. This
has caused many to talk about the
digital divide and a clash between the
generations, something Meister wrote
about in her bestselling book, The
2020 Workplace: How Innovative
Companies Attract, Develop, and
Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today.
Since she wrote it, however, the
digital divide has started to close. Research
shows that the fastest-growing
age group using Twitter is those between
55 and 64, and the fastest
growing age group using Facebook
and Google’s social-media site,
Google+, is between 45 and 54.
“We are all digital natives now and
firms must recognize that we are seeing
the birth of a new workplace that
is mobile, social and happens in the
cloud,” says Meister. “This impacts
across all generations.”
It is the millennials, however, who
are dictating how those changes
should influence training. “They
want instant feedback rather than
waiting for an annual performance
review,” says Meister. “And they
ad industry [(Äd )IndEstri] Werbebranche
always-on
immer eingeschal-
[)O:lweIz (Qn]
tet; hier: immer
online
annual performance Mitarbeiterjahresreview
[)ÄnjuEl gespräch
pE(fO:mEns ri)vju:]
baby boomer
Angehörige(r) der
[(beIbi )bu:mE]
geburtenstarken
Jahrgänge
block [blQk]
hier: Unterrichtsabschnitt
bond [bQnd]
Bindung
CEO (chief executive Hauptgeschäftsofficer)
[)si: i: (EU] führer(in)
chief global strategy Leiter(in) Globale
officer [)tSi:f )glEUb&l Strategie
(strÄtEdZi )QfIsE]
clash [klÄS]
Aufeinanderprallen
classmate [(klA:smeIt] Kommilitone/Kommilitonin
cloud [klaUd]
Cloud, Rechnerwolke
compete for sb. um jmdn. konkur-
[kEm(pi:t fO:]
rieren
corporate executive Führungskraft bei
[)kO:pErEt Ig(zekjUtIv] einem großen Unternehmen
curator [kju&(reItE] Kurator(in); hier
auch: Verwalter(in)
dictatorial [)dIktE(tO:riEl] diktatorisch
digital native
Person, die mit
[)dIdZIt&l (neItIv] digitalen Technologien
vertraut ist
divide [dI(vaId] Kluft
fast-paced [)fA:st (peIst] schnelllebig
founder [(faUndE] Gründer(in)
impact [Im(pÄkt] Auswirkungen
haben
learned [(l§:nId] gebildet; hier:
fachkundig
school of business betriebswirtschaft-
[)sku:l Ev (bIznEs] liche Fakultät
threaded discussion Diskussionsforum
[)TredId dI(skVS&n]
(thread
hier: Themenstrang)
76 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

“The course gave me permission to look after
all of myself — all the time”
Jeanne Meister, founding partner of Future Workplace
My favourite course: The Corporate Athlete Course in Orlando, Florida, in 2012, run by
sports psychologist Jim Loehr, who trained tennis stars such as Andre Agassi.
Training: The focus over the two and half days was on managing your energy rather
than just your time. Executives have huge demands on their energy but, unlike athletes,
they are not trained to pace themselves, to eat the right foods or to get strength
by using their emotional, mental, physical and spiritual resources. We were taught
to build healthy practices into our daily lives.
What I learned: As my firm grows and I travel more, work becomes physically tiring. I
thought by going to a fitness studio a few times a week, I was taking care of myself.
The course gave me permission to look after all of myself — all the time.
media world. However, they don’t
stay in a job for long. So ad agencies
have to work hard to keep them.
“We reward them with quick career
development and lots of feedback and
training — all factors they tell us they
want,” Pattison says. They wish to
know if they have done something
wrong, so they can move on. And
they expect to be mentored and
coached, something Pattison says she
had never heard of when she started
working 20 years ago.
“Your work will be judged by how you present it”
Lindsay Pattison, chief global strategy officer of the media planning and buying
agency Maxus, and CEO of Maxus UK
My favourite course: The X-Factor, a yearly seminar for eight female leaders
selected from the advertising industry. It is run by Charlotte
Beers, the former chairwoman of Ogilvy & Mather.
Training: Very informal. There were two three-day seminars,
held in New York and Charleston. We did exercises
and listened to Charlotte tell stories.
What I learned: All sorts of things to do with your family
influence on how you behave at work. I was the
youngest of four and my siblings set high standards,
so it’s no wonder that I’m competitive.
I also learned that no matter how good your
work is, it will be judged by how you present
it, and the best way to do this is to tell a story.
Charlotte taught me to step outside of
myself at work and be the best version of
myself. This helps a lot on bad days.
sis: 70 per cent on the job, 20 per cent
through feedback and mentoring, and
10 per cent through formal training.
This last is done through both online
and traditional courses provided
by the Institute of Practitioners in
Advertising, the official organization
for the UK ad industry.
Interestingly, when we asked Harward,
Meister and Pattison which
training courses impressed them
most, they all mentioned traditional,
face-to-face courses. That should be a
relief to those worried about a future
in which our learning comes from an
electronic device on our wrists. ■BS
Another major trend changing the
training industry is increased work
mobility. By 2015, 37 per cent of the
world’s workforce will work from
home, according to market-research
firm International Data Corp.
“All these trends mean learning has
to keep up with the massive changes
taking place in people’s personal
lives,” says Meister.
But this is not the end of traditional
face-to-face courses. Pattison says
her staff train on the “70-20-10” bachairwoman
Vorsitzende
[(tSeE)wUmEn]
chief global strategy Leiter(in) Globale
officer [)tSi:f )glEUb&l Strategie
(strÄtEdZi )QfIsE]
competitive
wettbewerbsfähig;
[kEm(petEtIv]
konkurrenzorientiert
face-to-face
von Angesicht zu
[)feIs tE (feIs]
Angesicht
founding partner Gründungs-
[)faUndIN (pA:tnE] partner(in)
keep up with sth. mit etw. Schritt
[)ki:p (Vp wID]
halten
on the job [)Qn DE (dZQb] während der Arbeit
pace oneself
seine Kräfte ein-
[(peIs wVn)self] teilen
practitioner in
Werbefachmann/
advertising [prÄk)tIS&nEr -fachfrau
In (ÄdvEtaIzIN]
sibling [(sIblIN] Geschwister
Vicki Sussens is a feature writer and
the editor of the Management section
of Business Spotlight. Contact:
v.sussens@spotlight-verlag.de
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 77

MANAGEMENT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
When eBay bought Skype
Um Marktanteil und Gewinn zu erhöhen, fusionieren Unternehmen. Aber wie reagieren
die Kunden? VICKI SUSSENS berichtet über eine fehlgeschlagene Fusion. medium
eBay and Skype: a perfect mismatch
The background
On 14 October 2005, the internet
auction site eBay Inc. bought the internet
telephone company Skype
Technologies for $2.6 billion (then
about €2.1 billion). Only two years
old, Skype had already been downloaded
more than 182 million times
in 225 countries. It was popular because
of its free telephone services
and earned money through premium
services. But it was not profitable.
Other online services such as Amazon
and Google were already developing
beyond their original businesses.
When eBay acquired e-commerce
companies, there was speculation
that it, too, was trying to become a
broader internet portal. eBay’s then
CEO, Meg Whitman, denied this.
The problem
Internet giants can lose favour quickly
if they fall behind in technology,
stop offering the perfect user experience
or, simply, lose their “buzz”.
They can also be eclipsed by the next
upstart, as MySpace was by Face-
book. What’s more, eBay’s growth in
its core market, the US, was slowing.
So it needed to find ways to secure its
position as a top e-commerce site.
The solution
The success of eBay was based on
bringing together buyers and sellers.
It believed Skype could help it further.
eBay’s purchase of PayPal had improved
the ease of online transactions.
Now, eBay hoped the VoIP firm
could help it move into areas such as
new cars, travel and real estate,
where telephone contact between
buyers and sellers is important.
Skype could help eBay in markets
where there is less trust and where
bargaining is part of the culture, such
as China, eastern Europe and Brazil.
The value of both Skype and eBay is
based on membership size and the
two companies hoped to benefit
from each other’s networks, as eBay
had done with PayPal. “Together we
can pursue some very significant
growth opportunities,” Whitman
told Business Week.
Getty Images
What happened next
The merger was a failure. The users
of eBay did not take up the Skype option,
preferring to stick with email.
Although people used Skype to chat,
the groups using eBay — buyers, sellers
and third-party operators — did
not want to talk to each other. The
two firms also had very different cultures.
At eBay, there was a conservative,
bank-like culture, while Skype
was idealistic and informal. And
Skype did not develop into a profitable
business on its own. Four years
after having bought Skype, eBay sold
it at a loss, for $1.9 billion, to a group
of private investors. Today, the eBay/
Skype merger is regularly referred to
as one of the worst of all time. In
2011, Microsoft bought Skype. ■BS
bargaining [(bA:gInIN] Verhandeln
billion [(bIljEn]
Milliarde(n)
buzz [bVz]
Summen; hier:
Reiz, Faszination
CEO (chief executive Geschäftsofficer)
[)si: i: (EU] führer(in)
core market [)kO: (mA:kIt] Kernmarkt
deny sth. [di(naI] etw. abstreiten
ease [i:z]
Leichtigkeit,
Mühelosigkeit
eclipse sb. [I(klIps] jmdn. in den
Schatten stellen;
hier: verdrängen
Inc. (Incorporated) [INk] etwa: AG
merger [(m§:dZE] Fusion
purchase [(p§:tSEs] Kauf
pursue sth. [pE(sju:] etw. verfolgen
real estate
Immobilien
[(ri:əl I)steIt*] US
take sth. up [)teIk (Vp] etw. aufgreifen
upstart [(VpstA:t] Emporkömmling;
hier: neues, erfolgreiches
Unternehmen
VoIP (Voice over Internet Telefonieren über
Protocol) [)vi: EU aI (pi:] Datennetze
* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation.
78 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

EXECUTIVE EYE MANAGEMENT
The importance of trust
Kann man einem Vorgesetzten, der wegen eines Fehlverhaltens in die Schlagzeilen gerät, noch
vertrauen? Und wie müssen Führungskräfte sein, damit ihnen die Mitarbeiter vertrauen?
Unser Management-Experte ADRIAN FURNHAM befasst sich mit diesen Fragen. medium
We are going through a period of
extreme doubt about leadership.
Corrupt bankers and arrogant politicians
have caused the public to lose
trust in people in high places.
Whom, if anyone, do we trust in
the workplace? And what are the
consequences of mistrust? Veronica
Hope Hailey, head of the University
of Bath’s School of Management, has
identified four factors that make
bosses trustworthy.
First, are they trained for the job —
and able to perform? This is
fundamental: you can’t trust
an incompetent person to deliver
the goods. Next, Hope
Hailey uses the word “benevolent”.
It is the opposite of
selfish and disagreeable. People notice
small acts of kindness. Bosses who
praise, give wise advice and help others
are thought of as benevolent.
benevolent [bE(nevElEnt] wohlwollend
disagreeable
unangenehm, un-
[)dIsE(gri:Eb&l]
sympathisch
draw on sth.
sich auf etw. stüt-
[(drO: Qn]
zen
fragile
zerbrechlich, an-
[(frÄdZaI&l]
fällig
metric [(metrIk] Messgröße; hier:
Kriterium
mission [(mIS&n] Mission, Leitziel(e)
neglect sth. [nI(glekt] etw. vernachlässigen;
hier: zu wenig
beachten
predictability
Berechenbarkeit
[pri)dIktE(bIlEti]
put a matter right eine Angelegenheit
[)pUt E )mÄtE (raIt] regeln
selfish [(selfIS]
eigennützig
take the rap
die Schuld auf sich
[)teIk DE (rÄp] ifml. nehmen
visible: be ~
hier: in Erschei-
[(vIzEb&l]
nung treten
In their hands: bosses have the
means to create trust
Third is integrity. This is what people
most want in their boss. Psychologists
regard it as a sign of a developed
superego — seeing oneself as
part of a greater whole, with a responsibility
towards society.
Fourth is predictability. Anyone
who has worked for a neurotic knows
how worrying it is never to know
what state they will be in. We need to
“We trust bosses most when they admit their
mistakes. But they shouldn’t repeat them”
be reasonably certain about how
bosses will think, feel and behave.
Trust should be built up in good
times so that it can be drawn on in
times of crisis. During bad times, bad
bosses hide; good ones are twice as
visible. Bad bosses worry about themselves;
good ones worry about their
staff and customers. Bad bosses make
excuses; good ones take the rap.
This last point is very important.
We trust bosses most when they admit
their mistakes. It is the same as
when an airline loses your bags or a
restaurant serves you bad food — if
they put matters right generously and
quickly, we are more positive about
them than if there had been no problem.
So bosses should learn to admit
mistakes — but not repeat them.
iStock
Trust is a two-way street. Like any
psychological contract — an unwritten
agreement between people about
how they behave towards each other
— a relationship of trust is fragile. It
is also important and powerful. It
may even be a good reason to invest,
or not to invest, in a company. After
looking at all the financial figures, investors
should consider how employees
feel about their company’s leaders
and its mission. This is one of the
most relevant, yet neglected, metrics
in the whole investment game. ■BS
plus Do a reading-comprehension
exercise in Business Spotlight plus
Adrian Furnham is a psychology professor at University
College, London. His latest book is The
Engaging Manager: The Joy of Management and
Being Managed (Palgrave Macmillan).
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 79

Universuty of Illinois
Here today,
gone tomorrow
Champaign and a leading developer
of this technology. He believes that
we may be just “a year or two away”
from testing such electronics in humans,
most likely for surface wounds.
He does not say much about his work
for DARPA, but he admits, “I did eat
one device, and I didn’t feel a thing. It
just dissolved in my mouth.” For
Rogers, today’s electronics are in-
Elektronische Geräte, die sich nach
Gebrauch in Wasser auflösen? Klingt
nach Science-Fiction. Oder könnte es
vielleicht eine Technologie der Zukunft
sein? MARK PIESING berichtet. advanced
Disappearing act: electronics
that dissolve in water
Imagine a microchip inside your
body that can produce enough
heat to kill bacteria and then be
absorbed by your body. Imagine
an oil spill clean-up being measured
by 100,000 sensors dropped
from a plane. When their work is
done, the sensors melt in the ocean.
Or think of a no-longer-loved smartphone
that can actually dissolve in
water.
Then imagine what the military
could do with these “born-to-die”
devices. For example, electronic eyes
and ears that could be sent to a war
zone and then be triggered to dissolve
when their mission was over, or when
they were about to be discovered.
The US Pentagon’s Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is
currently financing the development
of transient electronics: in other
words, ones that can melt away.
In one demonstration of this technology,
when water drops hit the fingernail-sized
integrated circuit, its
clear silk substrate quickly starts to
curl up. This causes the thin strings of
silicon and magnesium inside the circuits
to separate and curl up, too.
After only one minute, what had
been a fully functioning circuit, with
transistors, diodes and capacitors, is
now just a long, dirty string of an undefined
substance. In another demonstration,
it takes only two hours for
an integrated circuit to dissolve in a
glass of water.
Professor John A. Rogers is head of
the Rogers Research Group at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-
capacitor [kE(pÄsItE]
curl up [)k§:l (Vp]
device [di(vaIs]
dissolve [dI(zQlv]
integrated circuit
[)IntIgreItId (s§:kIt]
oil spill [(OI&l spIl]
silicon [(sIlIkEn]
transient
[(trÄnziEnt]
trigger (sth.)
[(trIgE]
Kondensator
sich kräuseln
Gerät
sich auflösen
integrierter Schaltkreis
Ölpest, Ölteppich
Silizium
kurzlebig, vergänglich
Steuerimpuls; etw.
durch Impulse
steuern
80 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

TRANSIENT ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY
“I did eat one device,
and I didn’t feel a thing. It just
dissolved in my mouth”
tended to last forever with no loss in
their ability to function. “However,”
he says, “when we looked to the future
we realized that there was an opportunity
for a new electronics —
transient electronics — that might
function properly for a limited
amount of time and then disappear.”
There are a number of problems
that Rogers has to overcome, however,
such as whether electronics that
dissolve in our bodies harm our
health, or how devices that dissolve in
water can be mass-produced in a production
process that normally uses a
lot of water.
Further ahead lies another significant
problem: how to get these devices
to die on demand or in substances
other than water, so that the
Pentagon doesn’t have to wait for
rain before the proof of its secret mission
disappears.
To solve such problems, Rogers has
been experimenting with materials
commonly found in semiconductors;
for example, by using silicon layers
so thin that they will dissolve in water,
and by using magnesium rather
than copper to conduct electricity.
The whole circuit is enclosed in layers
of silk, and the thickness of this silk
substrate determines how long the
circuit exists. The device is wirelessly
connected to an external power
source.
Other materials, including zinc oxide
and bioresorbable polymers, can
be used in transient technology as
well, giving Rogers “a wide palette of
materials to work from”. The first devices
his team developed were small
and thin, but only partially
transient, explains Rogers.
“The actual eureka moment
came when we had full
transience in everything.”
Rogers’s demonstrations
are impressive, says Professor
Michael McAlpine, who
teaches mechanical engineering
at Princeton University,
but adds that being
able to control exactly
when the sensors will live
or die, called “tunability”,
is essential to the success of
the technology.
There could be triggers other than
water that could also cause the device
to dissolve, suggests Michael Dickey,
a specialist in biomolecular technology
at North Carolina State University.
Triggers such as a remote signal
are particularly important for wider
use of the technology, whether this is
in the body or recording the clean-up
of an oil spill or troop movements
during a battle.
“The dissolution rate of the layers,
the types of materials used to conduct
electricity and the types of materials
that can be used in the transistors”
may be limiting factors, says Teri W.
Odom, professor of chemistry at
Northwestern University in Illinois.
Whether or not the power source can
be built on the electronics themselves
may be another factor, Odom adds.
While Rogers accepts that significant
questions remain, including how
well wireless devices function when
deep inside the body, he believes transience
in dry conditions is possible.
John A. Rogers: making nothing out of something
Other triggers Rogers suggests are
“mechanical shocks, temperature
change, light exposure and chemicalbiological”,
all of which are more
suitable than water in many situations.
Quietly confident, he states:
“It is still very early stages, but we are
very optimistic that transient electronics
will represent a big breakthrough.”
■BS
© Guardian News & Media 2013
bioresorbable
bioresorbierbar
[)baIEUri(sO:bEb&l]
conduct sth. [kEn(dVkt] etw. leiten
copper [(kQpE]
Kupfer
dissolution [)dIsE(lu:S&n] Auflösung
eureka moment
Aha-Erlebnis; hier:
[ju&(ri:kE )mEUmEnt] Wendepunkt
layer [(leIE]
Schicht
light exposure
Lichteinwirkung
[(laIt Ik)spEUZE]
mechanical engineering Maschinenbau
[mI)kÄnIk&l endZI(nIErIN]
remote signal
Steuersignal
[ri)mEUt (sIgn&l]
(remote
entfernt)
semiconductor
Halbleiter
[)semikEn(dVktE]
transience
Kurzlebigkeit, Ver-
[(trÄnziEns]
gänglichkeit
tunability [)tju:nE(bIlEti] Abstimmbarkeit
M. J. Granse
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 81

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Ideas and inventions
Gibt es Neuigkeiten? CAROL SCHEUNEMANN präsentiert technische
Innovationen und neue wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse. medium
Very cool!
What do you do when you need a cold drink — fast? Ask
Kelvin Hall, head of Enviro-Cool, in London. His V-Tex
technology makes drinks ice-cold in less than a minute.
Usually, when beverages are cooled too quickly, some of the
liquid freezes into slush. This can be avoided by shaking the bottle
or can, but that makes carbonated drinks spray everywhere.
V-Tex technology holds drinks next to a cold source, then
spins them to create a vortex. This motion prevents the drink
from getting too fizzy. A stop-start rotational sequence collapses and recreates the vortex, which
speeds up cooling. Rotating the liquid around two axes improves cooling even further because
it interrupts the vortex without stopping the spinning. Hall and his team have also developed
the optimum speed for various types of beverage and drink container. Replacing the large, open
commercial coolers in shops could save up to 80 per cent of the energy costs, says Hall. Consumer
tests will begin in a supermarket in the Netherlands in October.
iStock (4)
Spun, not shaken:
cold V-Tex drinks
In the news
30 years
Length of a study
that shows people
who eat nuts daily
have a 20 per cent
lower rate of death from chronic diseases.
Source: Dr Ying Bao in The New England Journal
of Medicine (www.nejm.com)
Did you know?
By mid-2014, India is expected to have more internet
users than the United States, which
now has about 245 million.
First place is held by China,
with more than 590 million
people online.
Source: Internet and Mobile Association of
India (www.iamai.in)
NEIL
“Never Ending Image Learner” is a computer program
that is teaching itself to recognize images.
Sources: Carnegie Mellon University, www.neil-kb.com
88 million
Litres of potable water produced per day
by a solar-powered desalination plant to
be built in the United Arab Emirates.
Fresh water in the UAE:
I’ll drink to that
Source: Utico Middle East
(www.uticome.com/site)
association [E)sEUsi(eIS&n]
axis [(ÄksIs] (pl. axes [(Äksi:z])
beverage [(bevErIdZ]
carbonated [(kA:bEneItId]
desalination plant
[di:)sÄlI(neIS&n plA:nt]
fizzy [(fIzi]
potable water [)pEUtEb&l (wO:tE]
slush [slVS]
spin sth. [spIn]
vortex [(vO:teks]
Verband
Achse
Getränk
kohlensäurehaltig
Entsalzungsanlage
sprudelnd
Trinkwasser
(Schnee-)Matsch; hier: Flüssigkeit
voller Kristalle
etw. schleudern
Wirbel(strom)
2/2014

LANGUAGE FOCUS TECHNOLOGY
Engineering metals
Eisen, Kupfer oder Stahl? GENEVIEVE BESSER informiert über
Eigenschaften und Verwendung von Metallen. advanced
Ferrous metals (ones that contain iron)
make up by far the largest percentage
of the world’s metal production. Iron is an
element, a simple chemical substance that
consists of only one type of atom. It is inexpensive
and strong, and is used — commonly
in the form of steel — to make
ships, cars, tools and machines.
Non-ferrous metals also play an important
role in the production of goods.
Thanks to its unusual combination of
qualities, aluminium is widely used across
various industries. Corrosion-resistant
and light, it is ideal for building aeroplanes.
Aluminium is not poisonous and
completely watertight, so it is perfect for
food and drink containers as well as for
pots and pans. It is non-magnetic, easy to
form and efficient to recycle.
Copper is another widely used metal.
Because it has high electrical conductivity
and can be easily formed into wire, it
is essential to the electrical industry.
The element chromium can be found in
most electroplated products, for which it
provides a hard, shiny finish. Adding
chromium to stainless steel increases its
hardness as well as its resistance to oxidation
and corrosion. Chromium can also
be used as a catalyst to cause or speed up
chemical reactions.
Engineering metals are usually alloys,
which are mixtures of metals with other
metals or substances. Why? Many pure
metals react with elements in the air or
in water that cause them to lose their
strength. Alloys combine the best of each
element to create better materials. ■BS
Genevieve Besser teaches business and
technical English in companies and educational
institutes. Contact: g.besser@besserkommunikation.com
Vocabulary
acid-resistant [)ÄsId ri(zIstEnt]
säurefest, -beständig
alloy [(ÄlOI]
Legierung
brass [brA:s]
Messing
brittle [(brIt&l]
spröde
cast sth. [kA:st]
etw. gießen
catalyst [(kÄtElIst]
Katalysator, Beschleuniger
chrome plating [)krEUm (pleItIN] Verchromung
chromium [(krEUmiEm]
Chrom
compound [(kQmpaUnd]
Verbindung
copper [(kQpE]
Kupfer
corrosion [kE(rEUZ&n]
Korrosion, Zersetzung
corrosion-resistant [kE)rEUZ&n ri(zIstEnt] korrosionsbeständig, nicht rostend
creep [kri:p]
Kriechen, Kriechdehnung
ductile [(dVktaI&l]
duktil, verformbar
electrical conductivity
elektrische Leitfähigkeit
[i)lektrIk&l )kQndVk(tIvEti]
electroplated [i(lektrEU)pleItId]
galvanisiert
engineering [)endZI(nIErIN]
Technik
engineering metal [endZI)nIErIN (met&l] metallischer Werkstoff
fatigue [fE(ti:g]
Materialermüdung
ferrous metal [)ferEs (met&l]
Eisenmetall
finish [(fInIS]
Finish, Oberflächenbeschaffenheit
forge sth. [fO:dZ]
etw. formen, schmieden
galvanize sth. [(gÄlvEnaIz]
etw. verzinken
grind sth. [graInd]
etw. schleifen
harden sth. [(hA:d&n]
etw. aushärten
iron [(aIEn]
Eisen
lead [led]
Blei
machinable [mE(Si:nEb&l]
zerspanbar
malleable [(mÄliEb&l]
hämmer-, schmiedbar
manufacturing [)mÄnju(fÄktSErIN] Herstellung, Produktion
mercury [(m§:kju&ri]
Quecksilber
metallurgist [me(tÄlEdZIst]
Metallurge/Metallurgin
metallurgy [me(tÄlEdZi]
Metallurgie, Hüttenwesen
non-ferrous metal [)nQn )ferEs (met&l] Buntmetall, NE-Metall
platinum [(plÄtInEm]
Platin
precious metal [)preSEs (met&l]
Edelmetall
pure metal [)pjUE (met&l]
Reinmetall
react [ri(Äkt]
reagieren, eine Reaktion eingehen
roll sth. [rEUl]
etw. walzen
shiny [(SaIni]
glänzend
stainless steel [)steInlEs (sti:l]
Edelstahl, rostfreier Stahl
toughness [(tVfnEs]
Härte
weld sth. [weld]
etw. schweißen
Exercise
Choose the correct terms to complete the sentences.
a) A ferrous metal contains... ■ 1. copper. ■ 2. iron.
b) Food containers are often made of... ■ 1. aluminium. ■ 2. chromium.
c) Pure metals are often weaker than... ■ 1. catalysts. ■ 2. alloys.
Answers on page 64
Photodisc
2/2014
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84 www.business-spotlight.de

3/2014 PREVIEW
Corbis
The importance of charisma
It is often said that managers need to have charisma to
be successful. But what exactly is charisma? Is it inborn
or can it be learned? And how important is it really?
Our Management report investigates these questions.
Test: translation
Translation plays a key role in international business.
Formal texts, informal emails and speech may all have to be
expressed in another language. How well can you translate
in work situations? Find out with our special language test.
K. Winter/Getty Images
iStock
Doing business with Brazil
Brazil is in the headlines this year because
of the FIFA World Cup, which starts in June.
But it is also a major economic power.
We provide tips for doing business there.
also:
LANGUAGE
ARTS AND CULTURE
Improve your business
vocabulary with
our 20-page guide:
SKILL UP!
Grammar: talking about yourself
Easy English: making appointments
English for...: opinion research
BusinessSpotlight 3/2014 is on sale from 9 April 2014
2/2014
www.business-spotlight.de 85

PEOPLE MY WORKING LIFE
Robert Kenny: Pet detective
Was tun, wenn Hund oder Katze entlaufen sind oder gestohlen wurden? VICKI SUSSENS
hat mit einem Tierdetektiv gesprochen, der bei der Suche helfen kann. easy
Languages spoken: English, French
und ein bisschen deutsch!
Skills needed for the job: You need to
be a real Sherlock Holmes and have
the perseverance to find that pet.
Job: I’m Europe’s only certified pet
detective.
Job description: Pet detectives use scientific
methods to find lost, missing
or stolen pets. These include DNA
forensics, creating a behaviour profile
for the missing animal, using satellite
area surveys as well as special search
management techniques.
Home and family: My partner is Linda
Priedniece, who is from Riga, Latvia.
I also have a seven-year-old son, Ben
Jeremy. We live in Dublin, Ireland.
Training for the job: I became a certified
missing animal response technician
after finishing a two-year course in
Fresno, California. The course is accredited
by the US Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). There
are 213 pet detectives worldwide, but
most are in the US and Canada.
Years of experience: I have been a pet
detective for eight years. I’ve found
Ace Ventura: Robert Kenny has helped find 4,500 pets
over 4,500 missing and stolen pets,
including cats, dogs, birds and exotic
reptiles. I am now writing my first
book, The Life and Times of Ace
Ventura, about my experiences.
“Ace” is my nickname.
How I get work: Mostly through publicity.
I have appeared on TV shows,
including children’s programmes in
the US and in Europe, and on radio.
My work has also been written about
in magazines and newspapers.
Time spent working: About 75 hours a
week, on average, and I travel all over
the world. I do a lot of work in Germany
and have a flat in Düsseldorf.
Why I chose this job: I used to work in
finance but my heart was more with
animals. I not only find missing animals,
but years ago, I also set up
Leinster Animal Rescue in Dublin to
help pets that are less lucky than the
17 animals I have. It has found homes
for over 2,000 animals since then.
Favourite part of the job: Bringing a missing
pet home to its family. One of my
favourite cases was a cat, which had
somehow escaped from its cage while
being loaded on to an aeroplane. I
worked out where he had gone by
speaking to people who had seen him,
and then I used dogs to track him.
The reunion got a lot of publicity.
Least favourite part of the job: Bringing
bad news. I’ve learned that animals
are a big part of some people’s lives,
so much so that they are like part of
the family.
■BS
For more, go to www.happytailsdetective.com
accredited [E(kredItId] anerkannt
Ace Ventura
Name des Tierdetek-
[)eIs ven(tjUErE] tivs in einem Film
certified [(s§:tIfaId] staatlich geprüft,
zugelassen
DNA forensics Sicherung von
[)di: en )eI fE(rensIks] DNA-Material
(forensics
Gerichtsmedizin;
Spurensicherung)
emergency
Notfall
[i(m§:dZEnsi]
Latvia [(lÄtviE] Lettland
nickname [(nIkneIm] Spitzname
perseverance Durchhaltever-
[)p§:sI(vIErEns] mögen
pet [pet]
Haustier
rescue [(reskju:] Rettung
response [ri(spQns] Reaktion; hier: Hilfe
survey [(s§:veI] Vermessung; hier:
Überwachung
technician [tek(nIS&n] Techniker(in); hier:
Fachmann/-frau
technique [tek(ni:k] [wg. Aussprache]
86 www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014

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BusinessSpotlight
SKILL UP!
VOKABELTRAINING LEICHT GEMACHT
AUSGABE 25
The language of
innovation
also:
Success from failure | The light-bulb moment

CONTENTS
INNOVATION IS THE FUTURE
Innovation is not an option — it’s a necessity. “Innovate or die” is how Bill
Gates describes it. In this Skill Up!, we present the language you need to
talk about innovation today.
Bill Gates is one of the many entrepreneurs who started their businesses in
a garage. In Picture This! (pp. 4–5), our illustration shows you how one such
start-up could look. We also present adjectives you can use to describe
innovative products that may have started life in a garage. Our Word Bank
(pp. 6–7) takes a closer look at the different kinds of innovation — and at
the different stages of the innovation process. Turn to our In Focus section
(pp. 10–11) to find out how companies can turn failure into a success.
Inventions are an essential part of the innovation process, which is why the
“invent” family is the focus of Close Relations (pp. 14–15). This time, in
Essential Idioms (pp. 12–13), we show you how to use idioms to describe
how innovative ideas become reality. Just think outside the box!
In False Friends (pp. 8–9), you’ll find out that being “virtuous” doesn’t have
anything to do with innovation. And finally, in Small Talk (pp. 16–17), we
look at innovative workplaces and ideas. We hope you’ll find plenty of ideas
for your work — and for your language learning — in this guide.
Deborah Capras, deputy editor
bs.deputyeditor@spotlight-verlag.de
SKILL UP!
Be innovative when you learn. Buy a bright
notebook and some coloured pens. Every
day, write down one word from this guide in
the middle of an empty page. Brainstorm
things that are connected — in any way at
all — with that word. Use your coloured
pens and write the expressions upsidedown,
back-to-front and even from top to
bottom. Be creative and have fun with them.
On the next page, write crazy sentences.
SKILL UP! online
On our website, you’ll find selected
vocabulary from this guide in our
Word of the Day section. To listen to
the words, definitions and example
sentences — and to download the
MP3 file of each word — go to
www.business-spotlight.de/skill-up
2 SKILL UP!
ISSUE 25

The key to innovation?
Bright ideas
iStock
CHECKLIST: WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Below, you will find the contents of this issue of Skill Up! and a checklist of what you should
be able to do with confidence after studying this guide. Ask yourself what you can really do.
If you can’t say yes to every statement, go back and spend more time on learning the relevant
vocabulary. Don’t forget to read our Skill Up! tips and do the online exercises!
Contents Page(s) Checklist
Picture This!
Out of the garage 4–5 I can talk about garage start-ups and use common
adjectives to describe innovative products and services.
Word Bank
The innovation 6–7 I can use the correct terms to talk about different types
process
of innovation and the innovation process.
False Friends
So brave 8–9 I can identify the false friends presented here — and
use the correct translations.
In Focus
Failure is not 10–11 I can use the correct terms to talk about success and
(all) bad
failure in innovation — and how to deal with failure.
Essential Idioms
The light-bulb 12–13 I can correctly use idiomatic business expressions to talk
moment
about innovation.
Close Relations
Be inventive 14–15 I can correctly use the “invent” word family.
Small Talk
Ideas that work 16–17 I can make small talk about offices that encourage ideas.
Your Profile
Who’s innovative? 18 I feel more confident using the vocabulary in this guide.
Preview 19
Not yet A little Yes!
n n n
n n n
n n n
n n n
n n n
n n n
n n n
n n n
ISSUE 25 SKILL UP! 3

PICTURE THIS!
1
4
5
2
3
6
9
7
8
Innovations
start at home
OUT OF THE GARAGE
Many innovative global companies started small — in a cellar, a student room or even
a garage. We look at one possible start-up.
Bernhard Förth
1. garage start-up Garagenfirma
2. home-delivery service Zustellservice
3. venture capitalist Risikokapitalgeber(in)
seed capital
Startkapital
understand the den Geschäftswert
business value erkennen
4. aspiring entrepreneur ehrgeizige(r) Unter-
[)QntrEprE(n§:] nehmer(in)
have a brainwave einen Geistesblitz
ifml.
haben
pitch to investors Investoren Verkaufsargumente
präsentieren
roll sth. out nationwide etw. landesweit auf
dem Markt einführen
5. potential customer potenzielle(r)
Kunde/Kundin
identify a market einen Markt ermitteln
understand the target die Zielgruppe
audience
erfassen
6. ingenious device geniales Gerät
[In(dZi:niEs]
7. 3D printer 3-D-Drucker
cutting-edge technology Spitzentechnologie
8. inventor Erfinder(in)
work 24/7 ifml. rund um die Uhr
arbeiten
tinker (with sth.) (mit etw.) herumbasteln
9. e-commerce destination E-Commerce-Adresse
4 SKILL UP!
ISSUE 25

What are they saying?
Entrepreneur: I’ve identified a market — I just need
some seed capital to roll it out nationwide.
Venture capitalist: It looks like an ingenious device. But
how will the home-delivery service work nationwide?
Talking about innovative designs
It’s different!
artisanal [A:(tIz&nEl]
award-winning
bespoke UK
counter-intuitive
[)kaUntEr In(tju:EtIv]
daring
game-changing
handcrafted
hand-picked
offbeat ifml.
outrageous [aUt(reIdZEs]
quirky
unconventional
unique [ju(ni:k]
unusual
It’s doable!
adaptable
affordable
biodegradable
[)baIEUdi(greIdEb&l]
customizable
[)kVstE(maIzEb&l]
durable [(djUErEb&l]
inflatable
portable
rechargeable
recyclable
[)ri:(saIk&lEb&l]
reliable [ri(laIEb&l]
renewable
reuseable
scalable [(skeI&lEb&l]
sustainable
viable [(vaIEb&l]
wearable [(weErEb&l]
kunsthandwerklich
preisgekrönt
kundenspezifisch
kontraintuitiv
gewagt
marktverändernd
handgefertigt
sorgfältig ausgewählt
ausgefallen
unerhört
eigenartig, schrullig
unkonventionell
einzigartig
ungewöhnlich
anpassungsfähig
erschwinglich
biologisch abbaubar
individuell anpassbar
haltbar
aufblasbar
tragbar
wiederaufladbar
wiederverwertbar
zuverlässig
erneuerbar
wiederverwendbar
größenmäßig anpassbar
nachhaltig
machbar, realisierbar
tragbar
If it’s doable, do it!
rebrand sth.
It’s new!
redesign sth.
refine sth.
review sth.
revitalize sth.
[ri:(vaItElaIz]
revolutionize the
industry
rework sth.
avant-garde [)ÄvQN (gA:d] avantgardistisch
bleeding-edge
aktuell
cutting-edge
hochmodern
experimental
experimentell
forward-looking vorausschauend
groundbreaking bahnbrechend
inventive [In(ventIv] einfallsreich,
erfinderisch
novel
neuartig
optimized
optimiert
pioneering
zukunftsweisend
revolutionary
revolutionär
state-of-the-art auf dem neuesten
[)steIt Ev ði (A:t] Stand der Technik
trailblazing
wegweisend
trendy
im Trend liegend
SKILL UP!
When you read about new products, services
or processes, pay attention to the
adjectives that end in “-able”. They usually
describe the advantages of the innovation.
Can you use any of the ones listed
here to talk about innovative projects that
you have worked on?
etw. neu gestalten, etw. neu
am Markt positionieren
etw. neu konstruieren
etw. ausarbeiten, verfeinern
etw. überprüfen
etw. beleben
die Branche revolutionieren
etw. überarbeiten
ISSUE 25 SKILL UP! 5

WORD BANK
THE INNOVATION PROCESS
The lonely genius who has a eureka moment in the bath is rare. Truly innovative
companies give their employees the time and the space to be creative.
We’ve broken
new ground
What kind of innovation?
Nachahmerinnovation
ein Nachahmer-
produkt herausbringen
Ideen stehlen
Durchbruchinnovation
neue Märkte schaffen
den Status quo
verändern
einen Wettbewerbsvorteil
erlangen
den Markt übernehmen
evolutionäre Innovation
schrittweise
Verbesserungen
durchführen
sparsame Innovation
mehr mit weniger
schaffen
Mittel effizient
einsetzen
kontinuierliche
Innovation
aktuelle Kundenbe-
dürfnisse befriedigen
bestehende Produkte/
Dienstleistungen aufwerten
copycat innovation
release a copycat
product
steal ideas
disruptive innovation
[dIs(rVptIv]
create new markets
disrupt the status quo
gain a competitive edge
take over the market
evolutionary innovation
make incremental
improvements
frugal innovation [(fru:g&l]
create more with less
resource-efficient: be ~
sustaining innovation
satisfy customers’
current needs
upgrade existing
products/services
Big moments
break new ground
create an innovative
ecosystem
[(i:kEU)sIstEm]
do blue-sky research
do exploratory research
focus on rapid
prototyping [)rÄpId
(prEUtEUtaIpIN]
invest in R&D (research
and development)
[)A:r En (di:]
neue Wege gehen
ein neuartiges
Ökosystem
schaffen
wissenschaftlich
motivierte Grundlagenforschung
betreiben
Sondierungsforschung
betreiben
sich auf die
schnelle Herstellung
von Modellen
konzentrieren
in F&E (Forschung
und Entwicklung)
investieren
iStock (2)
6 SKILL UP! ISSUE 25

A few details
Part of the innovation process
share best practices
collaborate with
suppliers
streamline processes
build a working demo
create a mock-up
do regulatory work
do clinical trials
evaluate designs
measure performance
safety-test
obsess over details
die besten Verfahren
austauschen
mit Lieferanten
zusammenarbeiten
Abläufe straffen
eine funktionsfähige
Demoversion erstellen
ein Modell erstellen
sich mit behördlichen
Vorschriften befassen
klinische Studien
durchführen
Designs beurteilen
Leistung(en) messen
Sicherheitstests machen
sich zwanghaft genau bei
Details aufhalten
die Markteinführungszeit
optimieren
Fortschritte verfolgen
etw. feinabstimmen
eine neue weiterent-
wickelte, verbesserte
Version herausbringen
neue Produkte auf den
Markt bringen
prototype sth.
[(prEUtEUtaIp]
iterate (sth.) [(ItEreIt]
promote rapid
iteration [)ItE(reIS&n]
optimize speed
to market
track progress
fine-tune sth.
release a new
iteration [)ItE(reIS&n]
bring new products
to market
einen Prototyp von etw.
herstellen
(etw.) in mehreren kleinen
Schritten weiterentwickeln
und verbessern
schnelle Iteration fördern
A complicated process
Be flexible
change tack
reallocate resources
remain in constant flux
revise goals
die Richtung
ändern
Mittel neu
verteilen
in ständigem
Wandel bleiben
Ziele
überarbeiten
Be inflexible
allocate resources
define goals
set a finite time frame
[(faInaIt]
work within project
constraints
Mittel zuteilen
Ziele definieren
einen begrenzten
Zeitrahmen
festsetzen
innerhalb der
Projektvorgaben
arbeiten
“If I had asked people what they wanted,
they would have said faster horses”
Henry Ford, (1863–1947), American industrialist
Focus on the customers
address customers’ needs
anticipate customers’ needs
appeal to new customers
collect customer insights
create unique customer experiences
identify customer requirements
target promising industries
Kundenbedürfnisse ansprechen
Kundenbedürfnisse vorhersehen
neue Kunden ansprechen
Kundenerkenntnisse erfassen
einzigartige Kundenerlebnisse kreieren
Kundenwünsche ermitteln
vielversprechende Branchen anvisieren
ISSUE 25
SKILL UP! 7

FALSE FRIENDS
SO BRAVE
There are many words in German and English that sound similar but have very different
meanings. They are “false friends”. Learn the correct translations of these terms.
uninspired
brave
iStock
Stockbyte
What’s brav in English?
brav = uninspired, conservative
“To me, the design just looks so uninspired.”
It’s not brave!
brave = mutig
“It was very brave of you to do what you did.”
brilliant
What’s virtuos in English?
virtuos = brilliant(ly)
“Apple combines the latest technology
and design brilliantly.”
It’s not virtuous!
virtuous = tugendhaft
“As a priest, you’re expected to
lead a virtuous life.”
virtuous
8 SKILL UP!
Fuse

prize
price
What’s Preis in English?
Preis = prize [praIz], award [E(wO…d]
“We’re so proud that we won the prize for
best innovation of the year.”
It’s not always price!
price [praIs] = (Kauf-, Waren-)Preis
“The new design isn’t selling well, so maybe we
should think about reducing the price.”
Pixland
Stocbyte
Fuse
What’s gründen in English?
etw. gründen = found sth., set sth. up
“We founded the company a week ago
— and have just moved into our new
offices. Yes!”
It’s not ground!
ground (a plane) = (einem Flugzeug)
Startverbot erteilen
“After the accident, the airline’s planes
were all grounded for over a week.”
found
M
SKILL UP! Audio
Do a related exercise on
Business Spotlight Audio.
ground
Purestock
YOUR PROFILE
Write down example sentences that are useful to you. This makes it easier to remember false
friends and other tricky expressions.
ISSUE 25

IN FOCUS
FAILURE IS NOT (ALL) BAD
Can you learn more from failure than from success? Innovative people often say that
you can. What you may see as a failure at first can turn into a success.
A sure failure?
You may lose backing from someone — and then
win a research grant from somewhere else. You
may get buy-in from management, but finance
might decide to pull the plug anyway. A lavish
budget might not always be a good thing. A tight
budget could make you more innovative. What do
you think can help something succeed — or fail?
Finance
“I have not failed.
I’ve just found
1,000 ways
that won’t work”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931), US inventor
allocate a lavish budget ein üppiges Budget
bereitstellen
boost sales
den Absatz ankurbeln
get resources
Mittel bekommen
impact the bottom das Ergebnis positiv
line positively
beeinflussen
increase earnings Erträge steigern
secure backing Unterstützung
sicherstellen
slash costs
Kosten senken
win a research grant ein Forschungs -
stipendium erhalten
allocate a tight budget
destroy sales
waste resources
impact the bottom
line negatively
decrease revenue
lose backing
increase costs
scare off investors
ein knappes Budget
bereitstellen
den Absatz vernichten
Ressourcen verschwenden
das Ergebnis negativ
beeinflussen
den Ertrag verringern
die Unterstützung
verlieren
Kosten erhöhen
Investoren abschrecken
Management
bring sth. to market
get buy-in
keep a project afloat
launch sth.
support promising
proposals
etw. auf den Markt
bringen
Unterstützung erhalten
ein Projekt über Wasser
halten
etw. auf dem Markt
einführen
vielversprechende
Vorschläge unterstützen
withdraw sth. from
the market
meet resistance to
change
kill a project
pull the plug on sth.
ifml.
reject bold proposals
etw. vom Markt
zurückziehen
auf Widerstand gegen
Veränderungen stoßen
ein Projekt abwürgen
den Stecker bei etw.
ziehen
gewagten Vorschlägen
eine Absage erteilen
10 SKILL UP! ISSUE 25

Legal matters
iStock
file a patent
own copyright
protect intellectual
property rights
win a court case
ein Patent
beantragen
das Urheberrecht
besitzen
Rechte an geistigem
Eigentum schützen
ein Gerichtsverfahren
gewinnen
lose a patent battle
breach copyright
lose intellectual
property rights
lose a court case
einen Patentstreit
verlieren
das Urheberrecht
verletzen
Rechte an geistigem
Eigentum verlieren
ein Gerichtsverfahren
verlieren
Success!
do sth. at a fraction
of the cost
do sth. in half the time
overcome obstacles
set new standards
use emerging
technologies
etw. zu einem Bruchteil
der Kosten tun
etw. in der Hälfte der
Zeit tun
Hindernisse überwinden
neue Standards setzen
neue Technologien
einsetzen
Success from failure
deal with a glitch mit einer Panne fertigwerden
deal with a setback mit einem Rückschlag
fertigwerden
go back to the wieder ganz von vorn anfangen
drawing board
iron out any kinks die Sache geradebiegen
pinpoint a problem ein Problem aufzeigen
recognize pitfalls Fallstricke erkennen
Innovation killers
botch a rollout ifml.
eine Markteinführung
verpfuschen
cling to outdated business an veralteten Geschäftsmodels
modellen festhalten
lose one’s edge
seinen Vorsprung verlieren
overlook the problems
die Probleme übersehen
reach a dead end
in eine Sackgasse geraten
risk-averse innovation
risikoscheue Innovation
create roadblocks US Hürden errichten
focus on day-to-day business sich auf das Tagesgeschäft
konzentrieren
ignore emerging technologies neue Technologien ignorieren
insist on sign-off procedures auf Abnahmeverfahren
US ifml.
bestehen
introduce checks and balances gegenseitige Kontrollen
einführen
SKILL UP!
Failure is not the goal, but
sometimes, failure may help
you to succeed in the future.
It’s about trying things out.
Take a critical look at the
projects you have worked on,
or know about. How did the
team react to obstacles, setbacks
and mishaps? Could
you learn from the mistakes?
Think about the language you
use. Can you be positive
about the failures?
Good or bad?
It’s a long shot.
It’s pretty hit-and-miss right now.
Our research is hit-or-miss at the moment.
We innovate through trial and error.
Es ist reine Spekulation.
Im Augenblick ist alles Glückssache.
Unsere Forschung ist momentan Glückssache.
Wir machen unsere Innovationen durch Ausprobieren.
ISSUE 25 SKILL UP! 11

ESSENTIAL IDIOMS
THE LIGHT-BULB MOMENT
Innovation is a creative process, which is probably why we like to use creative language
to talk about it. Here, we present some common “innovative” idioms.
SKILL UP!
First, read the two versions of the short conversations. Then
cover up the idiomatic version and read the simpler version
again. Can you remember how to say the same things idiomatically?
Check that you’ve understood them with our translations.
I know: I’ve had
a light-bulb moment
First, the idiomatic way
Hugh: When did you have your light-bulb moment?
Cherie: On a train. I’d just spent six months travelling around
the world with my boyfriend. We started bouncing
ideas around. His gut reaction was to focus on food
— we hadn’t eaten well the whole trip!
Now, more simply
Hugh: When did you have your inspirational idea?
Cherie: On a train. I’d just spent six months travelling around
the world with my boyfriend. We started sharing and
discussing ideas. His immediate reaction was to
focus on food — we hadn’t eaten well the whole trip!
Moodboard
Check the translations
light-bulb moment ifml. Aha-Erlebnis
bounce ideas around mit Ideen
ifml.
herumspielen
gut reaction
Bauchentscheidung
First, the idiomatic way
Cherie: We had no experience, so we started from
scratch.
Hugh: You didn’t see that as a problem?
Cherie: Not at all. We had to think on our feet.
And because we wanted to create an innovative
snack, we had to think outside
the box.
Now, more simply
Cherie: We had no experience, so we started from
the very beginning, with no resources.
Hugh: You didn’t see that as a problem?
Cherie: Not at all. We had to react very quickly
and effectively, without planning. And because
we wanted to create an innovative
snack, we had to think in a creative way.
Check the translations
start from scratch
think on one’s feet
think outside the box ifml.
bei Null anfangen
schnell denken und reagieren
unkonventionell denken
iStock
You have to think
outside the box
ISSUE 25

Who set the bar so high?
First, the idiomatic way
Hugh: And it was a huge surprise. You really
started under the radar, didn’t you?
Cherie: Yes, we kept it under wraps as we
wanted to steal a march on the competition.
We also set the bar very high.
We wanted to sell our snacks to the
best stores in London — and we did.
Check the translations
under the radar
keep sth. under wraps
steal a march on sb./sth.
set the bar high
völlig unbemerkt
etw. geheim halten
jmdm./etw. zuvorkommen
die Latte hoch anlegen
iStock
Now, more simply
Hugh: And it was a huge surprise. You really
started without anyone noticing, didn’t
you?
Cherie: Yes, we kept it a secret as we wanted
to have an advantage over the competition.
We also had high expectations.
We wanted to sell our snacks to the
best stores in London — and we did.
First, the idiomatic way
Hugh: So what’s the secret to your success?
Cherie: Basically, we put a spin on some traditional
recipes. That set us apart from
everyone else.
Hugh: Was it a risky business?
Cherie: Not really. We had absolutely nothing
to lose. We gave it a shot. And we
nailed it. Do you like our chocolate
cheeses?
Hugh: Absolutely!
Put a spin on it:
then watch it sell!
Now, more simply
Hugh: So what’s the secret to your success?
Cherie: Basically, we radically changed traditional
recipes. That made us look different
from everyone else.
Hugh: Was it a risky business?
Cherie: Not really. We were already in a bad situation
that couldn’t get worse. We tried
it. And we were extremely successful. Do
you like our chocolate cheeses?
Hugh: Absolutely!
iStock
Check the translations
put a spin on sth. etw. völlig neu
gestalten
set sb. apart from jmdn. von jmdm./etw.
sb./sth.
abheben
have nothing to lose nichts zu verlieren
haben
give sth. a shot ifml. etw. ausprobieren
nail sth. ifml. etw. schaffen
ISSUE 25 SKILL UP! 13

CLOSE RELATIONS
BE INVENTIVE
To be innovative, you have to be inventive, but not necessarily an inventor. We present
the “invent” word family and other expressions you will need to talk about inventive
people and processes.
co- +
co-invent
Stockbyte
re +
reinvent
co- +
co-invention
invent
+ ion invention
re +
reinvention
+ ness
inventiveness
+ ive inventive
un +
uninventive
+ or inventor co- + co-inventor
The family
co-invent sth.
co-invention
co-inventor
invent sth.
invention
inventive
inventiveness
inventor
reinvent sth.
reinvention
uninventive
14 SKILL UP!
etw. miterfinden
Miterfindung
Miterfinder(in)
etw. erfinden
Erfindung; Fantasie
einfallsreich, erfinderisch
Einfallsreichtum
Erfinder(in)
etw. neu erfinden
Neuerfindung
unkreativ, unoriginell
Use the family: invent
l She worked on the product, but I wouldn’t say
she was actually a co-inventor.
l I expected something completely different
— more inventive.
l I’m constantly amazed by his inventiveness.
l Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the
World Wide Web.
l We don’t need to reinvent the wheel!
l The key for the company is reinvention!
l This design is terribly uninventive. Which
company did it?
M
SKILL UP! Audio
Practise these terms on
Business Spotlight Audio.
Be inventive not
uninventive
ISSUE 25

More “creative” families
create sth.
etw. (er)schaffen
create a product ein Produkt kreieren
create a solution
create jobs
creative
develop (sth.)
develop an idea
develop a drug
let’s see how things
develop
developer
development
redevelop (sth.)
software developer
underdeveloped
discover sth.
discovery
make a discovery
engineer [)endZI(nIE]
engineer sth.
eine Lösung finden
Arbeitsplätze schaffen
schöpferisch, kreativ
(etw.) entwickeln,
weiterentwickeln
eine Idee entwickeln
Arzneimittel entwickeln
mal sehen, wie sich die
Dinge entwickeln
Entwickler(in); Bauträger(in)
Entwicklung; Erschließung
(etw.) neu entwickeln
Softwareentwickler(in)
unterentwickelt
etw. entdecken
Entdeckung
eine Entdeckung machen
Ingenieur(in); Techniker(in)
etw. konstruieren
engineering
Ingenieurwesen; Konstruktion
genetically engineered gentechnisch verändert
[dZE(netIk&li]
re-engineer sth.
reverse engineering
[ri(v§:s]
etw. überarbeiten, umkonstruieren
Nachkonstruktion
IN ACTION: CREATIVE VERBS
‡ If you invent something, you make something
that did not exist before:
“Whoever invented pizza was a genius.”
‡ If you innovate, you make changes to
something by introducing new methods,
ideas or products:
“You can’t innovate if you don’t have time
to play with ideas.”
‡ If you develop something, you improve it or
make it better, more advanced or more
elaborate:
“It took us years to develop this system.”
‡ If you discover something, you are the first
to find something that exists:
“We discovered this method purely by
chance.”
‡ If you engineer something, you design and
build it, often using advanced technology
or special skills. If you re-engineer something,
you change the design or structure
of something, using new methods or technology:
“We’ve successfully engineered a whole
new line in car motors.”
“We’ve re-engineered the whole system so
that it works on other platforms, too.”
Make it!
make a product
make it big ifml.
make an impression
make a killing ifml.
make sth. bigger, better,
cheaper, more efficient, etc.
make sth. move, flow,
grow, etc.
make sth. happen
ein Produkt herstellen
groß rauskommen
Eindruck machen
einen Reibach machen
etw. größer, besser, billiger,
effizienter usw. machen
etw. sich bewegen, fließen,
wachsen usw. lassen
etw. geschehen lassen
iStock
ISSUE 25

SMALL TALK
IDEAS THAT WORK
Do you need innovative offices to innovate? It’s a topic that is great for small talk. Here,
we present the language you will need to discuss how some offices encourage ideas.
Situation:
Ruby now works for a software start-up company,
while Paul works at a software giant. They discuss
where and how they work.
Paul: So what’s it like at the innovation hub?
Ruby: It’s amazing, actually. The hub is open round-theclock
and it’s always buzzing. It has a cafe, game
room and the largest nightclub in the area. Some
people even stay overnight.
Paul: We don’t even have a cafe. Your place sounds more
like a college campus.
Ruby: It is a bit. Only better. It’s geared at budding entrepreneurs.
The co-working spaces give us a
chance to tap so many creative minds. We have access
to a huge pool of talent. As I said, amazing.
Paul: What about money? Is your upstart making any yet?
Ruby: Don’t make fun!
Paul: I’m not. I think you have real drive. But it must be
difficult to get funding.
Ruby: It was at first, but not any more. We also have access
to incubators. And crowdsourcing works, especially
for projects like ours. People know we’re on
to something. Our ideas are good — some of them
are even pretty scary.
Paul: My ideas will never see the light of day.
Ruby: Then come join the hub. I’ve seen your designs. You
should give it a go. Work on a moon-shot project!
Paul: But I’ve no money. I can’t risk it.
Ruby: Come with me next week and pitch your ideas to
the founder of the hub. You could develop your
ideas alongside your day job.
Paul: Now, that’s an idea.
alongside your day job neben deiner normalen
Arbeit
budding entrepreneur angehende(r)
[(bVdIN]
Unternehmer(in)
buzzing: be ~ [(bVzIN] voller Aktivität sein
college campus
co-working space
crowdsourcing
founder
gear sth. at sb./sth.
get funding
give sth. a go
have real drive
incubator US
innovation hub [hVb]
moon-shot project
Universitätsgelände
Arbeitsplatz mit
gemeinsam genutzter
Infrastruktur
Schwarmauslagerung,
Crowdsourcing
Gründer(in)
etw. auf jmdn./
etw. abstimmen
Finanzierung bekommen
etw. versuchen
großen Elan haben
Inkubator, Gründerzentrum
Innovationszentrum
Projekt, das anfangs
unmöglich erscheint
on to something: an etw. dran sein
be ~ ifml.
open round-the-clock rund um die Uhr
geöffnet
pitch sth.
pool of talent
see the light of day
stay overnight
tap sth.
that’s an idea
upstart
etw. präsentieren
Talentpool; Begabungspotenzial
das Tageslicht
erblicken
über Nacht bleiben
etw. anzapfen
das ist eine gute Idee
junges innovatives
Unternehmen
I’ve an idea: come
16 SKILL UP!
join our upstart!
ISSUE 25
iStock

SKILL UP!
Start-up or upstart?
As innovation is also about making
changes, the language we use
to talk about it may change, too.
For example, an “upstart” is generally
someone who has suddenly
become wealthy or successful —
and is arrogant about it. The term
is used negatively. Now, it’s also
used to talk about innovative
small companies that have few
resources — but are changing
the way that traditional companies
work. “Start-up” is the more
common term for new companies,
for the moment. When you read
about innovation, look carefully at
the language. What’s new?
I’ve been toying with an idea.
I’d like to float an idea or two.
It’s the perfect place to
nurture ideas.
abandon an idea
evaluate an idea
float an idea
What ideas
have you got?
Don’t abandon my idea yet.
We need the team to evaluate
his idea.
eine Idee aufgeben
eine Idee bewerten
eine Idee vorbringen
nurture an idea [(n§:tSE] eine Idee fördern
toy with an idea mit einer Idee spielen
Entrepreneur or intrapreneur?
An entrepreneur is someone who organizes, starts or runs an organization
and takes risks. Today, many companies like to encourage
entrepreneurialism in their organizations. You will also see the term
intrapreneur to describe this phenomenon.
entrepreneur [)QntrEprE(n§:]
Unternehmer(in)
entrepreneurial [)QntrEprE(n§:riEl] unternehmerisch (denkend)
entrepreneurialism [)QntrEprE(n§:riElIzEm] Unternehmergeist
entrepreneurship [)QntrEprE(n§:SIp] Unternehmertum
intrapreneur [)IntrEprE(n§:]
Binnenunternehmer(in)
intrapreneurship [)IntrEprE(n§:SIp] Binnenunternehmertum
Google
Get the best team
agile [(ÄdZaI&l]
diverse [daI(v§:s]
independent
interdisciplinary
[)IntE(dIsEplInEri]
multidisciplinary
[)mVlti(dIsEplInEri]
world-class
(geistig) beweglich
vielfältig
selbstständig
fachübergreifend,
interdisziplinär
fachübergreifend,
multidisziplinär
Weltklasse
Innovators work together
corporate innovator Innovator(in) in der Firma
engineer [)endZI(nIE]
physicist [(fIzIsIst]
researcher
scientist [(saIEntIst]
social scientist
subject-matter expert
thought leader
Ingenieur(in); Techniker(in)
Physiker(in)
Forscher(in)
Wissenschaftler(in)
Sozialwissenschaftler(in)
Fachexperte/-expertin
Meinungsführer(in)
ISSUE 25

YOUR PROFILE
WHO’S INNOVATIVE?
Personalize this guide by adding your own example sentences — which should reflect
words and expressions you need in order to talk about your circumstances.
AN INNOVATIVE PRODUCT
What’s the most innovative product that your company produces? Or does it offer an innovative service?
Describe the innovation using vocabulary in Picture This! (pp. 4–5).
How does your company deal with failure? How do you deal with it? Describe a project that failed and
what happened next. You’ll find exercises on this vocabulary in Business Spotlight plus.
People who are passionate about their innovations often use idiomatic language to describe their work.
Use expressions from “The light-bulb moment” (pp. 12–13) to talk about your own ideas.
SMALL TALK: PROS AND CONS
Does your office encourage innovation or kill it? Give your reasons. Would you change anything to improve
your working conditions? Write down your views using expressions from our Small Talk section (pp. 16–17).
18 SKILL UP! ISSUE 25

In the next issue:
PREVIEW
O. Scarff/Getty Images
IMPRESSUM
HERAUSGEBER UND VERLAGSLEITER:
Dr. Wolfgang Stock
CHEFREDAKTEUR: Dr. Ian McMaster
STELLVERTRETENDE CHEFREDAKTEURIN:
Deborah Capras
GESCHÄFTSFÜHRENDE REDAKTEURIN (CvD):
Maja Sirola
AUTORIN: Deborah Capras
REDAKTION: Margaret Davis, Hildegard Rudolph,
Michele Tilgner
BILDREDAKTION: Sarah Gough (Leitung),
Thorsten Mansch
GESTALTUNG: loop grafikdesign München
REDAKTIONSASSISTENZ: Michelle Carstens
PRODUKTIONSLEITUNG: Ingrid Sturm
VERTRIEBSLEITUNG: Monika Wohlgemuth
MARKETINGLEITUNG: Holger Hofmann
ANZEIGENLEITUNG: Axel Zettler
VERLAG und REDAKTION:
Spotlight Verlag GmbH
Postanschrift: Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg
Hausanschrift:
Fraunhoferstraße 22, 82152 Planegg
Telefon: +49 (0)89 8 56 81-0;
Fax +49 (0)89 8 56 81-105
Internet: www.business-spotlight.de
LITHO: HWM GmbH, 82152 Planegg
DRUCK: Rotaplan Offset Kammann Druck GmbH,
93057 Regensburg
© 2/2014 Spotlight Verlag, auch für alle
genannten Autoren, Fotografen und Mitarbeiter.
Cover photograph: iStockphoto
ARTS AND CULTURE
Whether you work in the art world, organize
cultural events or just listen to music for fun,
everyone needs a little bit of culture in their
lives. Our next Skill Up! focuses on this topic.
It’s music
to my ears:
turn it up!
PICTURE THIS: a corporate event
FALSE FRIENDS: antiquity, plastic
ESSENTIAL IDIOMS: get the picture
also:
SMALL TALK
Personal taste
ISSUE 25
iStock

Immer und überall –
deine Lieblingssprache
NEU!
dalango mobile
Sprachen online lernen – jetzt auch unterwegs!
Optimiert für Tablet und Smartphone:
www.dalango.de/togo
Ein Produkt des