As our site grows every day we want to share some information with you on the way we are operating the project. We call this section «Business Blog» as it is similar to doing a log book where data is recorded in a chronological order. «Blogging» is gaining popularity with more and more people picking up the habit of publishing their experiences and thoughts on the Internet. Our Blog covers various topics — from TOEFL, TOEIC, MBA, GMAT, ESL/EFL test preperation to cultural traditions and current political events.
There will also be some Internet marketing terminology and if you have any questions regarding the information simply let us know.

The Business Blog is written by Torsten Daerr and edited by Alan Townend.

2003 — August 26
Now we have 17 short stories each of which focuses on a particular language item. Number 16 is about the proper use of the definite and the indefinite article and number 17 has a lot of expressions with the word «book». One of the characteristics of the English language is that the same word can very often be used as noun and verb and sometimes even an adjective. You probably know that «book» is a noun but are you also aware that you can use it as a verb, for example: «I’d like to book a flight to New York.»
This fact makes English so flexible — you can express a lot of meanings with a small amount of words by combining them in different ways.

Speaking of English words — have you done your homework yet? Ah, what was it about again? Yes, words that have been introduced into the modern language lately and are used not only in English but other languages as well. Would you like an example? OK, here it is: «browser». If it were not for the internet, HTML and Bill Gates no one would really know what exactly a «browser» is. Today, however, the term is in common use all over the world. Can you think of any more such examples? How are those English words spelled and pronounced in your mother tongue? I’m curious…

2003 — August 25
Last night something unusual happened on German Television: They showed a British movie — «High Fidelity» based on the book by Nick Hornby. I read the book and if you want to get an insight into modern British life Hornby’s book might be your best choice. You will be captivated from the first to the last page, it’s such a fast read with lots of sophisticated humour and very authentic language.

I deliberately didn’t watch the film because I don’t like films that are dubbed. How long will it take before even the Germans understand that you don’t necessarily have to dub a movie to watch it. To the best of my knowledge (correct me if I’m mistaken) the Germans are the only nation (at least in Europe) whose cinemas show almost exclusively American movies 99% of which are dubbed. Do you know how much effort and time it takes to dub a film? You need actors who have studied their original counterparts for years until they can imitated their voices and manner of speaking to a satisfying level. Hey, this is the 21st century, why don’t we just run those films in the original version with German subtitles? Is our educational system so ineffective that after 7 years of state funded English language tuition we still need this linguistic crutch? The vast majority of the dialogues in those films are rather simple with commonly used phrases. I guess the reason for still dubbing every single film is that we have been doing so for the past decades and want therefore still to stick to this great tradition for another 30 years or so. Or maybe all those actors who imitate their American originals are afraid of being forced to play a role in a film instead?

2003 — August 24
Last night Alan completed his 134th test where he plays the role of a newsreader. When I read the first sentences I knew there would be an intriguing punch line which turned out to be right. The idea of using a newsreader as narrator of a story is pretty clever in itself because then you never run out of news to tell. Talking of news reminds me of my plan to write an article on «Englishes on CNN». When we encourage our clients and students to watch CNN instead of broadcasts in their mother tongue they often tell us that they can?t follow the newscasters at CNN because «… they speak so fast and with an American accent…» Now, there are at least two things in that statement which deserve to be looked at more closely. First of all do newscasters really speak too fast or is it that you have to listen more closely to them? Secondly, how many of all the CNN newscaster have got an American accent? I did a little research and was surprised by the outcome myself…

As promised next week we’ll take a look at new English words that don’t have equivalents in other languages and therefore can’t really be considered English words, can they? With new technologies emerging almost on a monthly basis it’s important to keep up with a fast growing lexicon as well. If you like you can think about words you have «picked up» over the last couple of years. You will see that most of them have already become an active part of daily vocabulary…

2003 — August 23
Last night Alan sent me another of his famous stories for me to put online. In his latest creation he once again manages to wrap a very dry grammar item up in an entertaining anecdote. I think his stories will find readers even amongst English native speakers.
By the way, did you know that by 2025 there will be more speakers of English as a second language than speakers of English as a first language? That’s amazing isn’t it? Try to think of all the changes this development will be likely to bring about. For starters, we won’t be teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) — I have never liked the word «foreign» anyway and not even ESL (English as a Second Language) but EIL (English as in International Language). As of now EIL is not an established term yet but I’m sure it won’t take long before it is.
What else do you reckon will change or rather is already changing in this area’

Yesterday 10 people subscribed to our newsletter and I can assure you the current issue will be as interesting as usual. It’ll be about … well, let’s just say it’s seasonal you’ll have to read it to find out of course. Alan will be travelling to mainland Europe — back to the roots of the English language and maybe the next newsletter will be about his latest experiences abroad.

Earlier this week something very positive happened to our site but I won’t tell you right now as it is still too early but it has to do with Mr Gates and his operations.

Tomorrow we’ll look into some new English vocabulary and whether or not there are equivalents to such terms as «browser» or «email» in other European languages so stay tuned …