THE JOURNAL OF A SENSEI

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English Editing Correcting Writing Errors 2 cents/word Email me: ed9s At yahoo DOT com collegepaperediting.blogspot.com 17 years experience in editing students’ papers MA-Ed in teaching English as a second language MA in Interpreting Literature

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Effective Business Communication For A Healthy Business

I just finished a fantastic conversation with my friend who serves an HR manager to an esteemed company. She told me that when un-experienced candidates (I purposely didn’t use the word ‘fresher’, I have a strange disliking for the word) join office, they are told of the importance of business communication, right in their induction sessions.

Business/ Market Communication, ‘marcos’ as she sometimes says in her HR lingual, has now become a part of everyone’s JD. Internet has made the world smaller, and businesses large. In a situation where we have large clientele, practically, no work is possible without proper business communication.

She summed it up right at the start of our discussion- that business communication means constant exchange of information- it never stops, not even after the project’s completion. She then goes on to explain how a business communication becomes good business communication:-

Written or oral, BC should be logically structured and targeted at the right audience. It should have a proper start and flow. A speech, email or a letter, all need to be addressed to the right person(s) in the right way(s). If the business partner needs to be addressed through a video conferencing, you can’t just make it with a long distance call. Every communication mode serves a different purpose. Video conferencing is one-to-all, telephoning is just one-to-one. Similarly, if an email needs to reach the marketing head, you cannot just send it to the executive and assume him to inform his supervisor. She opines that when you start a communication, you need to see that it finishes well.

She continues to say about written communication, that it is more effective and permanent and is advisable to use freely for both internal and external business processes. Emails, reports, bulletins, memo, manuals, etc., are to be circulated timely and with accurate precision. Anything in written form should be such that it leaves the other party with no unanswered queries. All-in-all, it should be an impactful and persuasive written piece.

Oral communication is an integral part of the modern business communication. These skills are effectively used in meetings, presentations, tele-communication, video-communication and formal and informal conversations. Spoken communication is riskier in the terms that you need to be very specific of what you say and might even sometimes have to think on your feet.

Communication is more than just talking. It’s building and maintaining relationships. So build best business relationships and tell your employees to do that.

Is Teaching English in China Really for You?

 

Teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in China is big business. Reports indicate that EFL is a 10-billion yuan (USD $1.4 billion) business and that the industry made a 700 million yuan (USD $9,800,000) profit in Beijing alone. It is estimated that of the 37 billion yuan derived annually from book sales in China, EFL-related materials constituted no less than 25 percent of the total market (Qiang and Wolff, 2004, p. 1). This ever-growing market of English language education in China has resulted in a massive recruitment drive of approximately 100,000 foreign teachers per year (People’s Daily Online, 2006) and, in 2006, it was estimated that more than 150,000 foreign experts were employed in China, recruited primarily from Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and the United States (China Daily, 2006).

 

With so much money at stake, the Internet has experienced a burgeoning of China EFL-related websites all vying for the prospective foreign teacher’s attention and, ultimately, business. A Google search on the terms “teaching English in China” returns over 6.4 million results of websites run by Chinese recruiters, private English language schools, and veteran foreign teachers hoping to get in on all the action.

 

All these sites have one thing in common: They all glamorize teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) as a viable way to travel abroad and experience all the exotic mysteries and adventure China has to offer. Virtually every native English speaker with white skin between the ages of 18 and 60 is provided with “expert advice” about where and how to apply, and is presented with enticing advertisements for jobs, guides, manuals, travel gear and books, and just about anything else the traffic will bear.

 

The truth of the matter is that although some Westerners actually thrive as foreign English teachers in China, most do not. Obviously, if everyone who ventured off to China to teach oral English decided to stay, the need and competition for new recruits every year wouldn’t be as great and fierce as they currently are.

 

This article presents essential information that every prospective Westerner should carefully consider before making the life-altering decision to move to China for the purpose of teaching English as a foreign language. It is written by an American doctor and professor of psychology who has lived and worked in China since August 2003, and it contains valuable information adapted from the comprehensive Foreign Teachers’ Guide to Living and Teaching in China, written by the same author.

 

The Question of English in China

 

While the need for proficient English language skills among China’s 1.3 billion people might appear obvious to some, in reality, it is a highly debatable issue.

 

Chinese is the most commonly spoken language in the world today. It is estimated that there are 873 million native speakers of Chinese as opposed to only 343 million native speakers of English (NVTC, 2007). The vast majority of Chinese will never utter even one word of English after passing their comprehensive English examinations and graduating from college. A few will need to read materials written in English as part of their job function and far fewer than that will occasionally need to send an e-mail in English, but most will never need English to function effectively in their day-to-day lives—and Chinese students know this.

 

There is a small percentage of Chinese students, particularly those who come from affluent families, who have dreams of studying abroad and they will need a relatively high level of English language skills if they are to succeed. A few have aspirations of working at the front desk of an international 5-star hotel and others hope to find employment in jointly-owned Western-Chinese companies that may require the daily use of English—but most will return to their second and third tier cities working for the government or private Chinese enterprises where virtually no one uses or can communicate in English.

 

What most prospective foreign teachers do not realize is that English as a foreign language holds a very low position within China’s educational system. Students who score well on their national college entrance exam (the Gao Kao) will be assigned to or choose majors in the hard sciences or technological fields that support China’s 1978 economic reform movement referred to as the Four Modernizations, i.e., agriculture, industry, technology and defense. Fields of study in the humanities, including foreign language, are assigned to those students who scored too poorly on the college entrance exam to be admitted into the far more lucrative and desirable academic majors.

 

The bottom line is that most students simply do not see a clear association between proficient English language skills and direct future benefits. They look at their very successful fathers and the vast majority of China’s national political leaders who cannot speak a single word of English and wonder why they have to take extra classes in oral English with a foreign teacher when they are already studying English with Chinese teachers who, unlike their Western counterparts, can actually help them pass their proficiency exams.

 

If English as an academic discipline is so devalued in China and if the actual need for English language skills is questionable at best, why then does China need so many foreign English teachers?

 

The De-professionalization of English Teaching in China

 

The nearly insatiable need for foreign English teachers in China can be explained by two phenomena: one involving the public sector and the other involving the private sector. First, China’s Ministry of Education promulgated a highly contested and bitterly resented national requirement that states all students of foreign language must be exposed to a native speaker. However, China’s national labor laws prohibit any employer from hiring a foreigner for a position that can be filled by a Chinese national. So, in order to reconcile the two conflicting policies, the teaching of English in China was compartmentalized into two broad areas: professional and lay. The professional certified Chinese English teachers are assigned courses in grammar, reading, and writing, and the lay uncertified and often less educated foreign teachers help facilitate the practice of speaking and listening skills. Thus, although the State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA) recommends a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and two years of field-related work experience, in reality, the vast majority of foreign English teachers in China have neither, because neither are necessary to help students practice their speaking and listening skills. The truth of the matter is any native speaker who is friendly, extremely patient, and enjoys children can do it successfully.

 

The second explanation lies in the fact that private English language schools absolutely need white faces in the school in order to attract customers. Despite the highly debatable reality of the situation, Chinese parents (as well as most foreign English teachers) firmly believe that good English language skills will afford their children both an academic and financial advantage later on in life. Consequently, many will drag their children to private English language schools when they are as young as four-years old, often at great personal financial sacrifice. In order to attract Westerners into China, school owners must offer their foreign teachers up to four times what they are paying their certified Chinese teachers, and the added business expense is hardly appreciated. There isn’t one Chinese school owner or administrator who wouldn’t immediately replace every single one of his culturally-alien and costly foreign English teachers with a much less expensive and, often, better educated Chinese English teacher if he knew doing so wouldn’t cost him his business.

 

The Truth About Housing and the Myth of the “Comfortable” Salary

 

China maintains something of a schizophrenogenic relationship with its foreign English teachers. On one hand they are needed to satisfy a national educational requirement or to stay in business. On the other hand, they are deeply resented for it. This resentment is expressed in a variety of ways, both obvious and subtle.

 

In the vast majority of cases, the housing afforded to foreign English teachers is inferior even by middle-class Chinese standards. It is typically an 800 sq. ft. (or smaller) apartment that is usually in varying states of disrepair, undecorated, starkly furnished with a cheap, rock-hard “mattress,” and a 2-range countertop propane gas stove and a mini-refrigerator for a kitchen. The bathroom consists of a Western toilet, a cold-water sink with a water heater and shower head attached to the wall that is often not separated from the rest of the bathroom inside a shower stall. Requests for repairs or necessary improvements are almost always ignored or endlessly delayed in the hope that the foreign teacher will simply incur the expenses himself.

 

Outside of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, salaries for foreign teachers typically range from RMB3,800 to 6,000 (US$551 to $870) with an average of about 4500 yuan (US$653) per month for 14 to 20 hours of face-to-face teaching per week (depending on qualifications, location and school type). The reality is that this salary can only be considered as adequate, as opposed to comfortable, if the foreign teacher is able to live like a Chinese. Those who buy amenities like cell phones and Western DVD players, choose to eat at 4- and 5-star hotel restaurants for a culinary respite from cheap Chinese food, and otherwise try to replicate a quality of life they enjoyed back home will not be able to do so on 4500 yuan per month. The vast majority of foreign English teachers in China engage in outside part-time contract work in order to supplement their base monthly incomes.

 

So, Is There Any Good News?

 

In the context of students who, for the most part, could accurately be described as unmotivated to learn English, an educational role that is devalued and de-professionalized, managerial and collegial environments that are dismissive and resentful, and a remuneration package that is just barely adequate, does it make sense for anyone to teach English in China? Actually, as it turns out, it does for those who comprise one of two specific sociodemographic groups and go into it well-informed and with their eyes wide open.

 

Westerners who report the greatest degree of satisfaction with their decision to teach English in China comprise recent college graduates who are seeking a short-term adventure before resuming their normal lives back home and early retirees who already enjoyed a successful career, have some money in the bank, and are looking to stretch their savings and pensions in an Asian country. Those who report the least amount of satisfaction as foreign English teachers in China are Westerners between the ages of 30 to 50 who moved to China as a perceived forced choice as a result of having mismanaged their lives back home.

 

Western professors on sabbatical and certified primary and secondary school teachers—who are looking for a short-term teaching assignment—should only consider Project 211 universities and international schools, respectively.

 

Having just written this, there are some middle-aged Westerners who are able to beat the odds and do, in fact, carve out lives for themselves that are better now in China than they were before. Typically these are men who managed to acclimate to the vast cultural differences relatively quickly, married a Chinese national, can speak some Chinese, and now consider China to be their new home.

 

This article is just a brief preview of just some of the essential information contained in the comprehensive Foreign Teachers’ Guide to Living and Teaching in China. If you are seriously considering moving to China to teach English, you owe it to yourself to read that guide.

 

Notes

 

China Daily. (2006, April 4). Number of foreigners working in China soars. People’s Daily Online. Retrieved November 14, 2007 from http://english.people.com.cn/200604/04/eng20060404_255781.html

 

National Virtual Translation Center (2008). Languages of the World. Retrieved January 23, 2009 from http:// www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/worldlanguages.htm.

 

People’s Daily (2006, May 23). China to recruit foreign experts through Internet. People’s Daily Online. Retrieved February 23, 2008 from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200605/23/eng20060523_267892.html

 

Qiang, N. & Wolff, M. (2004). EFL/ESL Teaching in China: Questions, Questions, Questions. Paper presented at the Sixth International Symposium on Applied Linguistics and Language.

Learn English in Canada at ILAC – Clamer France

www.ilac.com This is a real testimonial of Clamer, a student from France who came to learn English in Canada at ILAC and is sharing his experience with us. More info at http

Learn The German Language

Learn the German Language

When you set about to learn the German language online, Visit here http://waystolearngermanfast.blogspot.com

you should know like any other foreign language, there are certain methods and tools that are followed to speed up the process. With audio aids to help you, learning the German language can be fun and easy. This article will introduce you to these learning techniques and apply it to the use of verbs in the German language.

Verbs are critical in German, and apply for both present and past tense. Some of the present and past tenses are also applied to the future tense on some occasions. There are many online software programs that teach sets of grammar and vocabulary lessons with an interactive audiotape. Audio allows you to internalize the meanings and uses of the words more easily then traditional visual learning while showing you the correct pronunciation.

There is also the German case system that guides you through prepositions and the correct usage of words. You can get an idea of nouns that are not always used, some of the weaker nouns and adjectives. While applying the case system you can detect any errors and correct any mistakes you may make while learning audibly.

Verbs and verb types are very strong in German. Proverbs, multiple meanings, figurative expressions and common sayings go into German verbs which are different from those in the English language. Verbs including simple, past tense, and present tense are also used for the future tense in German on some occasions. Every language has a peculiarity and may not always follow the structure of the English language.Visit here http://waystolearngermanfast.blogspot.com

Teleconferencing ? an Advance Tool for Business Communication

Teleconferencing services is the advance technology which is specially designed to facilitates the business firms. Hence, business organizations of almost all the sizes are widely using this technology to manage and enhance their businesses.

Over the past few years, travel-related costs like lodging, airfare, meals are increasing at such a fast pace which is greater than that of inflation rate. Therefore, it turns the meetings an inefficient and costly way to conduct business, particularly when participants must travel a great distance. Hence, an alternative meeting format called teleconferencing may be a solutions which makes the travel budget static or decreased.

Teleconferencing is an advance and effective business communication tool. Nowadays, many organizations are using this technology to sell/buy the products and services. They also advise customers and vendors, conduct research, teach new business applications and implementation of modern theories. Thus, teleconferencing has widely helped the business firms to emerge as an active trade association on the global ground.

Teleconferencing facilitates an active interactive group communication, together under one roof. Distance can never prove to be a hindrance even though they’re separated by hundreds of miles. It connects three or more business clients, customers and other business personnels through an electronic medium. Thus, it saves time and traveling cost of the company.

Today, teleconferencing is used in many ways. There are three basic type of teleconferencing services which are commonly accelerated by the business firm. These includes web conferencing, audio conferencing and video conferencing. The web conferencing helps business communication through keyboard terminals. Video conferencing is television like communication which is further augmented with sound. Lastly audio-conferencing which facilitates verbal communication via the telephone with optional capacity for typewriting.

The telephone conferencing services are broadly used in all the diverse areas such as health care, aerospace, government, pharmaceuticals, education, insurance, finance, banking, manufacturing, etc. It tends to benefit these sectors with various services which includes audio conferenced round tables on applications and implementation It also offers workshops and special events for popular seminars.

Book For MUET

lemon tree

Grade 4 to 6’s in Korea. Lemon tree is a great pop song for teaching english as a second language. The students really enjoy it. This is a music video I made with the students. Enjoy!

Should English be Declared the World?s Official Common Language?

by Philip Yaffe

Anyone who has travelled outside his own country is aware of the thrill—and frustration—of dealing with foreign languages.

The thrill comes from the fact that the languages are foreign. When you hear people speaking differently from you, and see newspapers, magazines, posters and other written materials that look different from what you are used to, you know you have actually gone somewhere.

The frustration also comes from the fact that the languages are foreign. If you really need to say something to someone who doesn’t understand you, or need to read something you don’t understand, frustration is inevitable.

The solution, of course, would be a common language that everyone would understand, everywhere in the world.

Implementing such an idea wouldn’t mean anyone losing his or her native tongue. A Frenchman would still speak French, a German would still speak German, a Chinese would still speak Chinese, etc. However, in addition to their native language, they would also speak “X”, the common language that would allow everyone to communicate with everyone else, no matter where on the planet they might be.

English to a large extent already fulfils this role; however, this has come about by historical accident, not by conscious design. If we really want a worldwide common language, some international body (the United Nations?) would first have to designate it, then diligently work so that everyone on the planet could learn it.

My native language is English; however, I also speak French, used to speak Swahili, and have a working knowledge of Dutch, German, and Spanish. The purpose here is not to promote English as the world’s official common language, but rather to establish some ground rules for selecting such a language.

What makes a language easy to learn?

I believe we can all agree that the official common language should be easy to learn. But what does this mean? If your native language is French, Chinese might seem to be unconquerable. Likewise, if your native language is Chinese, you might find French equally daunting. The fact is, whatever your native language is, certain aspects of any other language are likely to make it appear impossibly difficult.

So, is there an objective way of determining how easy a language would be to learn—for everyone?

This would have to be determined by the concerted efforts of linguists, psychologists, socialists, educationalists, etc. I have no such expertise, but I do have experience. So to get things started, I would like to propose a fundamental criterion for answering this question and see how well English stacks up.

Facility Principle

What you don’t have to do is always easier than what you do have to do.

In other words, the less you have to think about in speaking and writing a language, the more rapidly you will learn it and the fewer mistakes you will make.

English scores very well against this criterion, because its basic grammar lacks most of the complexities that characterise many other languages. Here are a few examples.

1. Gendered nouns

Many languages, and virtually all European languages, have different classes of nouns, often called “gendered nouns”. For example, in French a noun can be either “masculine” or “feminine”. In German a noun can be either “masculine”, “feminine”, or “neuter”. Swahili in fact has four classes of nouns (no, the fourth one isn’t homosexual!). To speak properly, you must learn the gender of each noun individually, which is not always obvious.

English doesn’t have this problem. English can be considered to have only one class of nouns—all neuter.

2. Gendered articles

Each gendered noun is associated with a gendered article. To speak properly, you must put the correct article with the correct noun. For example, in French “le livre” = the book (masculine), but “la lampe” = the lamp (feminine). It would be quite incorrect to say “la livre” or “le lampe”. In English, the definite article is always “’the”; it never changes.

Likewise, “un livre” = a book (masculine), but “une lampe” = a lamp (feminine). In English, the definite article is always “a”; it also never changes.

3. Gendered adjectives

Languages with gendered nouns usually have gendered adjectives. To speak properly, you must correctly associate the adjective with the correct noun. For example, “pain frais” = fresh bread, but “viande fraîche” = fresh meat. It would be quite incorrect to say “pain fraîche” or “viande frais”.

In English, adjectives (like nouns) are all neuter and never change, i.e. both “frais” and “fraîche” = fresh

4. Multiple plurals

Certain languages consider it insufficient to indicate a plural only once, so they have multiple plurals. For example, “le grand livre” = the big book, but “les grands livres” = the big books. It would be quite incorrect to say “le grand livres”, i.e. without making both the article and the adjective plural as well.

English has neither plural articles nor plural adjectives. “The” is always “the” and “big” is always “big”. They never change.

5. Verb classes

Many languages have different classes of verbs. Correctly using a verb depends on knowing its class. French, for example, has at least three verb classes, indicated by distinct endings on the infinitive (mang-er = to eat, prend-re = to take, cour-ir = to run). The ending of each individual verb must be learned; otherwise, mistakes are inevitable.

English has only one class of verbs. All infinitives are indicated by “to” (to run, to jump, to sleep, etc.); mistakes are impossible.

6. Regular conjugations

Certain languages have many more conjugated verb forms than does English. For example, in the present tense you would say: I, we, you, they eat; he, she, it eats. Thus, there are only two conjugated forms (eat, eats). In French there are five conjugated forms and in Spanish there are six.

In the future tense you would say: I, he, she, it, we, they will eat. Thus, there is only one conjugated form (will eat). Spanish still has six conjugated forms, but now so does French. Similar disparities exist in the past tense, and virtually all other verb tenses.

7. Irregular conjugations

Irregular conjugations are common in many languages; however, there are exceptions. Swahili verbs are perfectly regular. If you know the conjugated forms of just one verb, you know the conjugated forms of all verbs.

English, of course, does not have this enviable facility; however, compared to many other languages, its irregularities are few and far between. For example, English is perfectly regular in both the present and future tenses.

The present tense is always formed by removing “to” from the infinitive and adding the appropriate pronoun: to come = I come, he/she/it comes, we come, you come, they come. The future tense is always formed by removing “to” from the infinitive and adding “will”: to come = I will come, he/she/it will come, we will come, you will come, they will come.

French and Spanish are highly irregular in both of these tense, as well as many others.

Does the relative simplicity of basic English grammar give it the inside track to becoming the world’s official common language? Absolutely not! Along with its undeniable attributes, it also has a number of significant drawbacks.

The most obvious one is English spelling, which is far from being phonetic. This means the same sound can have several different spellings (here, hear; there, their; break, brake; clean, keen; said, bed; height, kite; who, blue, new, etc.). French, of course, is much worse than English in this respect; however, German, Italian and Spanish are much better. And Swahili is perfect. In this language, if you can say a word, you can spell it. End of story.

The second major drawback is pronunciation. Most people, and certainly those who have yet to master another language, are unaware of how seriously difficult correct pronunciation in their own native language could be for a foreigner.

English, like many other languages, is cursed with a tonic accent. “Tonic accent” simply means that certain syllables are given more stress than others. For example, “difficult” is pronounced “dif*-fi-cult”; the first syllable carries the tonic accent. It could just as easily be pronounced “dif-fi*-cult”, which is what Spanish prefers. Or even “dif-fi-cult*”, which might be the preference in some other language.

If your native language has a tonic accent, you have grown up with it, so you may not fully appreciate what a burden it really is is. However, when you try to learn another language, the difficulty becomes evident.

The tonic accent will not always go where you think it should (based on your language), so you will constantly be mispronouncing. Worse, if you put the tonic accent on the wrong syllable, your interlocutor might not understand what you are trying to say at all.

Are there any languages with no tonic accent? There may be many, but French is the only one I know.

Technically, French does have a tonic accent, but it is very hard to hear it. For example, in English we say “un-i-ver*-si-ty”. In French, this is “un-i-ver-si-té”, with each syllable being given essential the same stress. Likewise with “rest*-au-rant”, which in French is simply “rest-au-rant”. And so on. Thus, you never have to guess where the tonic accent should go, so you can never make a mistake.

As we have seen, based on the Facility Principle (what you don’t have to do is always easier than what you do have to do), English has a lot to recommend it. However, this is only one criterion. In searching for the best common language for the world, the experts will probably come up with many more. How well English would fare against these additional criteria can only be guessed at.

Editor’s Note

Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional, his recently published book, is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).

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