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.

2004 — August 26
As a netlog reader you are likely to be fairly «internet-savvy», that means you know how to use the various forms of communication such as email which is the oldest Internet service, chatrooms and instant messaging — something especially popular with young people and of course forum participation. Now, which of those channels do you prefer? As for me I like forums most. First, a forum allows a great variety of people to engage in a conversation, second, every message posted by a forum member is stored for further reference and third, a forum enables people to build an e-community. This last feature is probably the most important one when it comes to website promotion. You have to bear in mind that the Internet is the first interactive medium available to virtually anyone in the world. So the driving force behind the staggering growth of the World Wide Web is people's desire to meet other people and share experiences and information. We started our forum in September 2003 and almost a year later you can see how its popularity grows on a daily basis. It goes without saying that in addition to the number of postings the quality of the messages is indicative of the quality of a forum. If you browse through the topics being discussed you will see that our forum members have a great variety of interests and many try to express their opinions in very good English. Here is an example: Language Reform?

2004 — August 25
You can now read and download a dialogue between Elena, one of our forum members from Russia and James K., an American language professor I'm aquainted with. Initially I started to exchange my ideas with James on current events and somehow we got round to talking about attitudes and mentality. Then Elena joined the discussion and she commented on James's answers. As you will see, cross cultural issues are very diverse and you need to study and analyze as many opinions and experiences as possible if you want to form an objective picture. You can download the dialogue in PDF format here: Cross-Cultural Issues

The Internet allows us to talk to people who are divided by continents and often live under different circumstances and therefore have different values, beliefs and principles. However, when you examine all the various cultures that exist on our planet you will find that people no matter where they live on this planet have more in common than what sets them apart. All the little differences and nuances in our lives make this world so colourful and diverse. Unfortunately, all too often people think in categories of «good and bad&rlaquo;, «strong and weak», «ethical/unethical» etc. If people made the extra effort of listening first to what the other party has to say instead of trying to convince them that they are smarter, most conflicts would never happen.

2004 — August 24
Change is the only thing that is constant in this world — this statement applies also of course to a dynamic medium like the Internet . That's why we always try to implement new features and add more content to english-test.net Today we altered the colour combinations of our text pages to match certain areas with their functions. Another important step for us is to integrate the contents of our TOEIC site into english-test.net as a large number of people who arrive at our pages leave within 30 seconds. We think this is because when they search Google for «english test» they expect to find information on English language exams such as the TOEIC, TOEFL, and the Cambridge or LCCI certificates. The type of tests Alan writes are also sometimes called quizzes so in addition to these interactive questions we want to provide information on internationally recognized English certificates as they gain in importance, especially for business purposes. Today one of our forum members who is from Egypt said that he is preparing to take the IELTS exam. IELTS stand for «International English Language Testing Systems» and its organizers claim on their website that IELTS is the first choice international English language test for global opportunity. Well, it seems to me that in comparison to the TOEIC and TOEFL tests IELTS is rather insignificant and if I were to choose I would go for an exam issued and administered by ETS (Educational Testing Services).

2004 — August 23
So, what is the difference between «EFL» and «ESL»? Clearly, both are abbreviations that mean very similar things, «EFL» stands for «English as a Foreign Language» and «ESL» reads as «English as a Second Language». In a few years there will be more people speaking English as a second language than there will be English native speakers so English will no longer be foreign to a great number of people worldwide, that's why I like the abbreviation ESL more than EFL. Maybe, the term of the future is EIC — «English for International Communication»? Regardless of the terminology the market for teaching English will grow as there is a never ending demand for English language learning tools and training services. Especially on the internet new companies and products are popping up at an incredible rate. However, most of them will be out of business in a short period of time because there are too many factors limiting the success of a new venture. You can examine any industry and you will find the same pattern — as soon as a new technology is introduced a lot of companies emerge trying to get their share of the cake. After a while with the daily challenges of running a business euphoria gives way to the survival of the fittest.