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 — October 07
October 7 of 2004 is a remarkable day: Today Denis Gromov is turning one year. You don't know who Denis Gromov is? Well, you should memorize this name as he presents the new generation of the english-test.net community. (for those of you who have joined us only recently you might want to check this entry: Who is Denis Gromov?

In a few years when Denis is able to read these lines his father and his team will have turned english-test.net into one of the most popular ESL websites worldwide. Today we have a clear vision and a definite plan that lists the major steps we have to take on our road to a higher level of independence. By the end of 2004 you will be able to get access to information on how to score high results in the TOEIC and TOEFL tests, you will be have the opportunity to download even more ESL materials as PDF documents as well as ESL software. In addition you it will be much easier for you to use our forum where you can ask for grammar and vocabulary explanations and exchange experiences with other forum members and english-test.net consultants. Slava is now programming a number of new features and at the same time he also putting together a team of professional programmers who are dedicated to increasing the functionality of english-test.net for you. At this point our programmer crew consists of three members — Andrey from Kiev who is currently implementing our TOEIC website into english-test.net and Alexander who grew up in Moldova and moved to Leipzig a couple of years ago. Alex has already done some substantial work — he is the person who made it possible for you to download all of Alan Townend's tests as PDF documents along with the correct answers. Have you ever come across something similar in the whole wide web? I dare doubt it...

2004 — October 06
Group4Falck is the second largest security services provider in the world. It has operations in more than 85 countries one of which of course is Germany. In May 2002 the company bought The Wackenhut Corporation — a giant in the US security market. So, what is the connection between Group4Falck and english-test.net? Well, a few years ago we conducted an English language course at the Leipzig branch and now we are running an English coaching communication programme for Mr Dietmar Herrmann, the Manager of the IT-Department of the German operations. Here is what he said about his motivation to improve his English a couple years ago: Why I need English

Group4Falck has been expanding very fast in the last few years turning the Copenhagen based company into a truly global corporation and it goes without saying that good English language skills are absolutely necessary, in particular for key people in the executive ranks. Interestingly enough, Dietmar Herrmann along with his entire IT Germany team has been receiving our newsletter ever since we conducted that initial English course at their facility. Thanks to the work with Mr Herrmann I have had a great opportunity to learn a lot about the latest developments in computer network administration for security service companies.

2004 — October 03
Last week my friend Hans-Ulrich returned from Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman where he conducted a 10 day seminar about European Management Techniques for representatives of the Central Bank of Oman. Uli said this conference was an excellent opportunity to learn about life and business in the Oman and make personal contacts with key people in the region. He introduced me to a very interesting project that was started in summer 2002: The «Knowledge Oasis Muscat» (KOM). It is some kind of «Think Tank» for young business people with fresh and unique ideas. If you are interested in all the fascinating opportunities provided by the Internet and the IT-industry in general and you think you would be able to turn your thoughts into reality you might get the necessary financial funding from KOM. As of now there is just one single tenant renting office space at the state-of-the-art premises in the heart of Muscat. Or maybe, you are already running an online business while studying at university. Because KOM is closely linked to the Sultan Qaboos University there might be the chance for you to enrol in an academic training programme an apply for a place at KOM the same time.

At any rate the Knowledge Oasis Muscat is worth a visit — at least a virtual one... For more information you can contact Uli direct here: The Knowledge Oasis Muscat

2004 — October 01
Of all German cities Berlin is probably the most exciting and dynamic one. At any rate it's a truly multi-cultural European metropolis. I grew up in a small town where gossip usually travels faster than any other type of news and in 1991 I moved to Leipzig, a medium-sized city in East Germany. Exploring Berlin in 2004 I became aware of a number of things: first of all you can still clearly see that Berlin was a divided city for more than 40 years. Alexanderplatz is the centre of the Eastern part of the city that used to be the capital of the GDR and today it looks run down and abandoned. If you take a 20 minute walk along Leipziger Strasse, you reach Potsdamer Platz which was until a few months ago the largest building site in Europe turning the place into a little city of its own.

In terms of cultural diversity you can certainly compare Berlin with cities like London and Paris.In particular the Russian speaking community in Berlin has grown within the last few years. According to Berlin's first Russian language radio station there are more than 200.000 speakers of Russian in the German capital. That means that the Russian speaking community in Berlin is several times bigger than in Leipzig where we have been publishing the first Russian language newspaper since December 2003. The edition of the October issue of Leipziger.RU is 3800, that's more than double the number of the initial publication so popularity of our town newspaper is constantly growing…