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.

2005 — December 17
Alan Townend has created the vast majority of the materials and tests you can use on our site. He also publishes our newsletter and if you haven't subscribed to it yet you should really hurry up to make sure you'll receive Alan's December issue in which he talks about your New Year's resolutions and what to do to prevent them from «fizzling out». Well, Alan doesn't just talk about those things. He uses words that describe goals and objectives and he even manages to include Pope Gregory XIII who lived hundreds of years ago. That's what Alan Townend is famous for and very good at: Explaining the meaning of English phrases and idioms in a very effective way. At this point almost 7000 English language fans are reading his newsletter every month and this number is growing. You can join this international community for free by signing up ESL Newsletter.

2005 — December 01
In 2006 we are planning to launch a new service: Corporate communication training that is delivered face-to-face and via Skype or other systems. The idea is to create and maintain a learning process rather than run conventional English classes because their value is usually measured by the number of hours/lessons given. Just think about it: If you need English as a second language in your job and you want to improve your communication skills, how do you think you will achieve your goal? By attending a 1 or 2 hour English class once a week? Most of the employees on our current training programs want to improve their speaking skills. Now, let's say you work 40 hours per week and you spend 1 hour per week in an English class and most of the time you are listening to other students talking. How effective do you think is this approach? Will you improve your speaking skills dramatically after half a year? No? So what could be the solution? It's obvious that you have to practise your skills as often as possible, in fact you should speak English every day because it is not really likely that you will be able to afford a conventional English course? (in terms of time as well as money). There must be another way. The system we are developing will enable you to interact with native English speakers whenever you want and as often you want. It will contain role play activities, online exercises as well as telephone calls.

2005 — November 23
Yes, there has been a lot of talk about how to create new jobs in Germany and only a small number of people have actually been doing anything about it. One them founded a company in Leipzig back in 1990 and since then has been able to turn it into a multi million corporation employing almost 1000 professionals in 10 different countries. Yesterday I met the wife of the company's CEO at a pre Christmas get together. She told me that she had learned French at school and then took up English on her own initiative. What made me take to her from the start was her approach to learning: She said that an American friend of hers gave her an audio book, which she would listen to while driving in her car. That's exactly what I always recommend to anybody who wants to improve their English. Also among the guests of the event last night was an executive of the Leipzig utility service company. She told me English language skills play an increasingly important role in her job since her company now has a Polish subsidiary and a lot of their internal communication is in English which is a neutral language for both parties.

2005 — November 05
Many people in Germany now argue that it won't be possible to reduce the high unemployment rate over the next few years. Some are convinced that the number of job being cut will always be greater than the number of jobs being created. This might very well be the case. However, I'm quite sure that there are lots of opportunities to make money for almost anyone willing to invest time and energy in new ideas. Let's take a look at the facts. While it's true that large companies in particular are constantly cutting jobs, it's also a fact that at the same time new companies are emerging and making millions of dollars which they share with a growing number of entrepreneurs. Read the following quote and try to intepret it: Google's revenue for the quarter totaled $1.58 billion, nearly doubling from $805.9 million last year. After subtracting the commissions that Google paid to other websites in its advertising network, the revenue stood at $1.05 billion, exceeding the Wall Street estimate of $944 million. So what does that mean? This means that within the past three months Google has paid about $500 to independent website owners around the world. You too could be one of them if you had enough ideas to create and maintain your own website.