Business English Manual

By Chris Fitzgerald

Chris Fitzgerald’s Business English Manual is the perfect book for ambitious people who want to improve their business vocabulary. Comprehensive and challenging, it is the ideal guide for self-study, and offers readers the opportunity to enhance their understanding of business English by supporting and guiding them with detailed notes and useful ideas on how they can improve their ability to communicate within an international business context.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Oct 22, 2020

Book preview

Clube de Autores is a Brazilian book publisher whose address can be found at www.clubedeautores.com.br

Copyright © Chris Fitzgerald 2020

Chris Fitzgerald has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in Brazil in 2020

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the Câmera Brasileira do Livro (CBL).

www.cbl.org.br

ISBN 978-65-991109-4- 8

Printed in Brazil

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BUSINESS ENGLISH MANUAL Chris Fitzgerald

1st Edition 3

ALSO BY CHRIS FITZGERALD

English Demystified: A practical guide to the English language

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For Ana Cláudia and Eric 5

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One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

André Gide

(1869 – 1951)

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CONTENTS

Preface .................................................................................... 11

Introduction: What is business English? .......................... 15

1: How to write your CV........................................................ 1 8

2: Meetings and presentations .............................................. 30

3: Making a presentation....................................................... 4 2

4: Advice for using phrasal verbs .......................................... 50

5: Telephone calls.................................................................. 6 6

6: Writing formal letters and emails ...................................... 69

7: Travel................................................................................. 7 5

Appendix 1: Latin phrases and abbreviations ................... 8 7

Appendix 2: Parts of a letter .............................................. 9 1

Appendix 3: Abbreviations used in business.................... 9 9

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PREFACE

Imagine the following scenario: Chen is a Chinese businessman who wants to do business with Rajesh, who is Indian. There is just one problem: Chen does not speak Hindi and Rajesh does not speak Mandarin, yet they want to do business together. How can they resolve this?

One possible way of overcoming this obstacle is to communicate in a language they can both speak. And that is where speaking English can be useful.

English is known as an ‘international language’ or a ‘global language’, that is, a language spoken by people from different linguistic backgrounds which aims to make communication easier.

My intention for writing this manual-type book is that it provides generalised guidelines for people whose first language is not English and to show how the language can be used in many business contexts. It could also provide some guidance to native speakers of English. This book is partly inspired by my experiences as an

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English language teacher because many of my Brazilian students have needed to improve their English for work. That gave me the idea to write a book about Business English and over the years it has crystalised my thoughts on what speaking English is all about.

This book deals with different topics which are encountered by many businesspeople in a variety o f sectors.

As with my previous book, English Demystified: A practical guide to the English language, I approach the various topics in this book on the level of per spective instead of rules. Everyone has a perspective and I find it is a more effective way of approaching a subject than rules . A rules-based approach can be a bit dictatorial, but a perspective is unique to a reader and can make things much more relevant. However, there will be far less focus on grammar. I also believe that confidence is an important part of speaking and I hope that by reading this book, the reader can understand the concepts of how English is used in the corporate world and develop their confidence

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as they learn and understand how English can be used in a business environment.

This book is not intended to replace those courses which deal with business English because such courses can offer an invaluable opportunity to practice and develop our abilities. My intention for this book is that it should serve as a guide and I hope this