Entrepreneur vs. businessman

[Torsten]

I've always felt that the word 'businessman' somehow has a negative connotation. What's more, businessman only refers to men while the word 'entrepreneur' describes males as well as females. Here is an excellent definition of the term 'entrepreneur':

TOEIC listening, question-response: Are you going to the national conference this year?

[Jamie (K)]

Torsten, you know that "businessman" and "entrepreneur" don't mean the same thing. And you also know that "businessman" has a feminine form ("businesswoman") and a neutral form ("businessperson"), so gender is not a problem.

Most businessmen are not entrepreneurs, because they work for employers, take salaries and don't take much risk.
Entrepreneurs work for themselves, don't have salaries and take lots of risks.

And you often hear the term "serial entrepreneur", but there's no such thing as a "serial businessman".

[Torsten]

Jamie, if a person works for an employer, I wouldn't call him an businessman but rather an employee. The president of a company or the general manager is usually employed. I don't think many 'businessmen' are employed, most of them are self-employed or have their own companies.

TOEIC listening, question-response: Where is the nearest ATM machine?

[Jamie (K)]

Torsten, you misunderstand the word "businessman". You're making a German distinction between the words "businessman" and "employee" that doesn't exist in English. A CEO, CFO, manager or salesman for a large corporation is called a businessman because he works for a business.

Businessmen are only called entrepreneurs if they have started the business themselves.

The dictionaries all agree with me:

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/businessman?q=businessman

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/businessman

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/businessman

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/businessman?show=0&t=1327547611

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie, I have a few dictionaries which translate the German word Geschäftsmann as businessman. I'll throw them all out of the window for you ;-) By the way, how would you translate 'Geschäftsmann'? Does the word exist in English? Also, what exactly is the difference between an executive and a businessman?

TOEIC listening, question-response: Are you going to the Christmas party?

[Torsten]

Jamie, in the following paragraph, can you tell whether the businessman has his own company or if he is employed?

We're more likely to believe an important local businessman than a foul-mouthed jerk.

What does 'local businessman' mean? Does it mean he is employed by a local company or does it mean he has his own company in the area?

TOEIC listening, question-response: How many employees are in your division?

[Torsten]

Are the businessmen in the following text employees or do they have their companies? Are the businessmen in this text employees or employers?

Two businessmen each had a small grocery store. The first businessman only had five workers, and the second businessman had twenty. Although there was always a great deal of work to be done, the first businessman's employees worked more happily and effectively than the second businessman's workers. The twenty workers constantly fumbled and grumbled as they went along with their daily tasks. The first businessman was more successful, and his business more profitable, than the second businessman. The reason? The first businessman led his workers using the "Jesus management" style while the second businessman led his workers using the "carrot and stick" style.

TOEIC listening, question-response: Do you know when Ms. Peabody will return?

[Jamie (K)]

An executive is a businessman who holds an executive position.

The German words "Geschäftsmann", "Unternehmer", "Mitarbeiter", "Angestellter", "Kollege", etc., are very hard to translate from German into English, because the semantic fields don't coincide exactly with those of "businessman", "salesman", "enterpreneur", "undertaker", "coworker", "employee" and "colleague". The dictionaries try to do this, but they can only approximate, and they never hit the bull's-eye. To translate them right, you have to know exactly what the person does and what his position is.

Another mess like that is "Freund/in", "guter Bekannter" and "Bekannter" versus "friend", "boyfriend", "girlfriend" and "acquaintance". In English, you have to be rather distant from a person to be called an "acquaintance", but in German you can be quite close to someone and still be called a "Bekannter". Once in Germany I translated "friend" as "Freundin" in regard to some women I knew, and finally some woman angrily blurted out, "Wieviele Freundinnen hast du, eigentlich!" She thought I was like a sailor with a girl in every port, and another German had to explain that these women were my "Bekannten".

[Torsten]

So the texts I posted above are not correct English? I mean, the term businessman can be used to describe a person who owns and runs his own company and has employees, can't it? If so, how often does it refer to a company owner and how often does it describe an employee?

TOEIC listening, question-response: Excuse me, where can I catch the subway going uptown?

[Jamie (K)]

It appears that in the paragraph you gave, the "businessmen" are entrepreneurs who own their businesses. It's rather unusual to refer to them as "businessmen" in this kind of story. We would write it more like this:

[Jamie (K)]

[Beeesneees]

Undoubtedly he ran it like this:
http://www.jesuscentral.com/ji/life-of-jesus-modern/jesus-ceo.php

(You'll like it -- it was written by an American.)
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Cheers m' dears!