Learn to say the right things with Business English

Learn to say the right things with Business English

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): That mastery of the English language is
important is no secret. English is the de facto lingua franca.
The reason why students of English at leading Indonesian
universities usually take quite a long time to complete their
studies is because they most probably have started teaching at
various schools and English courses -- and have started earning a
handsome amount of money -- before they get to the last stage of
their undergraduate program. I know this very well, because I've
been there and done that myself.

However, as the world becomes smaller and people become
global, we realize that there is more than one version of
English. No, not in the sense that the world has American
English, British English, Australian English, New Zealand
English, Singlish and even Franclais. It is the fact that we have
colloquial English, business English, scientific English,
literary English and so on.

Personally, learning business English has been on my list of
"wish I could do" for some time. Large bookstores such as Borders
and Kinokuniya have shelves of books that teach both non-native
and native speakers what to say and what not to say in business
settings, but I find most of them not really interesting.

A language would be more effectively taught in real life
situations, rather than through books. So, as CD ROM-based self-
learning multimedia materials became increasingly available, I
started searching and collecting all the CD-ROMs on business
English that I could lay my hands on. As you can guess, some of
them are useful, some are less so.

Among the better ones I have come across is the Business
English (Immersion) series from Syracuse Language, a company
under Havas Interactive. Havas also owns Knowledge Adventure, a
leading maker of CD ROM-based learning materials, including Math
Blaster and Reading Blaster.

The Business English (Immersion) series consists of three CD-
ROMs. Each of the CD-ROMs costs US$79.95, making the program
quite expensive. The first CD-ROM covers the expressions and
terms that you might need to understand and use in formal
meetings, impromptu discussions and financial transactions. The
second deals with telephone contacts, appointments, e-mails,
memos and letters. The third CD-ROM focuses on the language used
in resumes and interviews, in teamwork and problem solving
meetings, as well as in your assignments in the U.K. or U.S

Features

There are actually some fairly good reasons why this language
series is rather expensive, however. The lessons are based on a
series of continuing situations that are professionally played
out in a series of videos. The acting is perfectly natural -- a
far cry from what we normally see on Indonesian TV dramas. On the
right of the video panel we can read the dialog scripts. The
audio recording is crisp and clear. We can listen through the
speakers attached to the sound card or through a headphone set,
which I strongly recommend.

Although the situations are full of business-oriented
expressions such as "You're going to have to do a lot more to
convince me" -- rather than "Your idea stinks", these expressions
are hardly forced into the dialogs. I have found no conversation
that is awkwardly laden with such expressions. Evidently a lot of
thought and effort have been devoted to the preparation of the
materials, and to a large extent it justifies the steep price.

If you want to expand your vocabulary of business terms and
expressions, the program also includes a 50,000-word Random House
Webster's Dictionary of American English. The dictionary panel is
on the bottom left corner of the accompanying picture.

Perhaps another reason why this program is quite expensive is
that it also incorporates ViaVoice, the voice recognition
software from IBM. If you intend to use this feature, it would be
better if you use the headset that normally comes with a voice
recognition program. ViaVoice is most useful in conjunction with
the vocabulary.

When you learn to pronounce a particular word or phrase,
ViaVoice will keep telling you that it does not recognize what
you say until you pronounce it properly. Its feedback is very
quick. Frankly speaking, I was shocked to find that it did not
recognize the simple sentence "It will work", which I said
repeatedly into my microphone. Boy, do I have a long way to go!

An extremely useful feature of this program is its Cultural
Tips, which I have placed on the top right hand corner of the
sample screen. We all know that different cultures have different
ways of interacting with one another. Learning to speak another
language is not complete until we also master the etiquette that
the users are accustomed to. Cultural Tips, for example, explains
how Americans are very protective of their personal space.

Therefore it suggests that we keep a distance of about two
feet when we shake hands after we are first introduced. Another
good example is the explanation of the distinction between the
ordinary "Excuse me" and the sarcastic "Excuse me" spoken in
different tones.

To benefit more from the program, we can also use the Role
Play section. We can choose one of the characters in the story
and we fill in for him or her by speaking into the microphone.
The conversation can be recorded and we can judge how much we
have progressed.

The program is flexible enough so that we can stop in the
middle of a section and jump to another section without any
problem. Multiple users can use the same program, with each being
required to log in first before using it.

A Few drawbacks

Navigation takes some time to get used to, unfortunately. I
think navigation tools can be made simpler, for instance, by
adding more balloon hints. I also wish that the video panel was
much larger. On my 20" Sony monitor with 1024 x 768 resolution,
the video is as small as you can see in the accompanying picture.
However, I do understand that displaying a larger video may
require a lot of computing power and memory, and not everyone has
a Pentium III PC.

All in all, if you want to start mastering business English
according to Hoyle, these three CD-ROMs will help you. They cover
the English expressions that you will need in describing
concepts, discussing problems, expressing opinions, convincing
the other members of your team and even discussing the results of
market research. They are surely a very good starting point. Be
forewarned, though, that the style is very American.
(zatni@cbn.net.id)