Business Spotlight Brazil - People, culture & business life (Vorschau)

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EDITORIAL 

Culture time 

Alles wird leicht. 

Ian McMaster, editor-in-chief 

Arts and culture, key aspects 

of any society, offer many 

lively talking points, including 

for small talk with your business partners. That’s why we 

have made this the subject of our 20-page vocabulary guide, 

Skill Up! (p. 55). In the guide, we present hundreds of useful 

words, expressions and idioms for talking about the worlds of 

art and culture. And for 100 more key idioms, see the special 

booklet that comes free with this issue of Business Spotlight. 

The booklet follows a computer programmer, Joy, from the moment 

she gets up to the end of her working day. 

Staying on the subject of 

culture, our intercultural feature 

focuses on business 

culture in Brazil, the host of 

this year’s FIFA World Cup. 

In her article, Vicki Sussens 

takes a close look at Brazil’s 

economic and social development 

and talks to experts 

about doing business with 

Brazilians (p. 36). By the 

way, football in Brazil is as 

Brazilian football: sport or art? 

much an art form as it is a 

sport. And to help you understand the passion that football 

generates, Deborah Capras writes about the history and spirit 

of “the beautiful game” in her Wise Words column (p. 48). 


Contact: i.mcmaster@spotlight-verlag.de 

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CONTENTS 3/2014 

28 Speaking clearly 

12 Test your skills 

iStock 

Digital Vision 

The Big Picture 

6 Ghana 

The growing market in funeral insurance 

Working World 

8 Names and News 

The latest from the world of business 

Language Test 

12 Translation 

Find out how good your skills are 

Global Business 

18 It’s Personal advanced 

Elisabeth Ribbans on attention-seeking architects 

21 Business Press Behind the headlines advanced 

22 Profile 

Mary Barra, the new head of General Motors 

26 Head-to-Head advanced 

Have marketers become spies? 

Business Skills 

28 Series (2): Speaking 

plus 

Ten tips on how to speak clearly and effectively 

33 Training Plan plus 

34 Toolbox 

Ken Taylor’s advice on answering questions 

Intercultural Communication 

36 Brazil plus 

Doing business with the South American giant 

Careers 

66 MOOCS 

The growing popularity of online courses 

70 Tips and Trends 

Looking for a job; meeting others in your firm 

Management 

72 Charisma advanced 

Who needs it and can you learn it? 

76 What Happened Next plus 

McDonald’s and its hot coffee 

77 Executive Eye 

Adrian Furnham on whistleblowers 

Technology 

80 Agricultural Robots 

Do farms still need human hands? 

82 Trends 

Cameras on the goal; timing Monet’s sunset 

83 Language Focus 

Quality management 

People 

86 My Working Life 

advanced 

easy 

Moses Banda, taxi driver in Malawi 

Regular sections 

3 Editorial 

35 Classified Ads 

78 SprachenShop 

84 Feedback / Impressum 

85 Preview 

advanced 

Alamy/Mauritius Images 

READERS’ SERVICE 

Email: abo@spotlight-verlag.de 

Internet: www.spotlight-verlag.de 

Telephone: +49 (0)89/8 56 81-16 

Fax: +49 (0)89/8 56 81-159 

Multimedia learning with Business Spotlight 

Business Spotlight plus 

plus Practise the language used in 

the magazine with our exercise 

booklet. In this issue, we focus on 

useful football expressions, Brazilian 

culture, saying what you mean and 

talking about yourself and your career. 

See page 20 for subscription details. 

Business Spotlight Audio 

Our audio product offers more than 70 minutes of 

texts, dialogues, exercises and interviews. On this CD, you 

can listen to our short story, practise grammar, get tips on 

presentations and learn about Brazilian work culture.

72 Leaders and 

charisma 

Corbis 

55 Useful 

vocabulary 

Language section 

36 Brazil’s culture 

GUIDE 

44 Vocabulary Playing golf easy 

45 Grammar at Work Talking about yourself 

46 Easy English Making appointments easy 

48 Wise Words Deborah Capras on football 

50 Email How to start an email correctly 

51 English on the Move Staying with a host family 

52 Translation False friends and more 

53 Language Cards To pull out and practise 

55 SKILL UP! Arts and culture 

56 Short Story Castles in the air easy 

58 English for… Opinion research advanced plus 

60 Legal English Product liability advanced 

61 Talking Finance Ian McMaster on money 

62 Teacher Talk Interview with Nicky Hockly 

64 Products What’s new? 

65 Key Words Vocabulary from this issue 

plus 

plus 

advanced 

plus 

Language in Business Spotlight 

Articles in the magazine use the style, spelling, punctuation and 

pronunciation of British English unless otherwise marked. 

US American style, spelling, punctuation and pronunciation 

are used in these articles. 

easy Approximately at CEF level A2 

medium Approximately at CEF levels B1–B2 

advanced Approximately at CEF levels C1–C2 

All articles are marked with their level of language difficulty. 

CEF stands for the Council of Europe’s “Common European 

Framework of Reference for Languages”. 

ifml.: informal word or phrase; vulg.: vulgar word or phrase; 

sl.: slang word or phrase; non-stand.: non-standard word or phrase; 

UK: chiefly UK usage; US: chiefly North American usage 

Cover topics 

Cover photograph: Getty Images 

Business Spotlight in the classroom 

This six-page supplement for teachers and 

trainers provides lesson activities based 

on articles in Business Spotlight. It is free 

to those who subscribe to the magazine. 

To order, please send an email to: 

schulmedien@spotlight-verlag.de 

Business Spotlight Online 

www Go to our website for 

language-learning activities, 

as well as news and blogs. 

Subscribers have full access 

to our online premium content. 

www.business-spotlight.de 

www.business-spotlight.de 5

THE BIG PICTURE GHANA 

Time to say goodbye 

coffin [(kQfIn] 

Sarg 

elaborate [i(lÄbErEt] aufwendig 

float [flEUt] 

Festzugswagen 

funeral [(fju:n&rEl] Beerdigung 

household insurance Wohngebäude- 

[)haUshEUld In(SUErEns] UK versicherung 

insurance industry Versicherungs- 

[In(SUErEns )IndEstri] branche 

insurance policy 

Versicherungs- 

[In(SUErEns )pQlEsi] Police 

medium 

No, you are not looking at a colourful 

float in a local parade. That 

fish-shaped object is actually a coffin. 

Funerals in many parts of Africa are 

elaborate — and often include unusual 

coffins. They can also be very expensive, 

which has led to a growing 

market for the insurance industry. 

Since most Africans cannot afford 

cars or other valuable things, the traditional 

market for car or household 

insurance is practically non-existent. 

High death rates and low savings levels, 

however, are making funeralinsurance 

policies more popular. 

Reuters reports that, with a typical funeral 

costing as much as several 

months’ wages, providing such insurance 

is a lucrative new market. ■BS 

6 www.business-spotlight.de 3/2014

L. Gnago/Reuters 

3/2014 


WORKING WORLD 

NAMES AND NEWS 

Action Press 

Innovative products: 

James Dyson 

Corbis 

JAMES DYSON 

Cool cleaning 

medium 

Sir James Dyson’s vacuum cleaners are so cool that even men want 

to use them. “We did some research and discovered that if a couple 

buys a Dyson, the husband is 50 per cent more likely to do the 

vacuuming,” the 66-year-old told WSJ Magazine. 

The Dyson, the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner, went on sale 

in 1993. In 2012, the company sold more than 50 million products 

and had global sales of almost $200 million. 

Not everyone believed the bagless vacuum cleaner would be successful. 

“Market research told us nobody wanted to see dirt, but I 

thought they were wrong and ignored them,” says Dyson. 

“A person who has not 

done one half his day’s 

work by ten o’clock runs 

a chance of leaving the 

other half undone” 

Emily Brontë (1818–48), British author 

(Wuthering Heights/Sturmhöhe) 

Spending on care for the old in OECD 

countries is expected to rise from its 

current rate of 1.5 per cent of gross 

domestic product (GDP) to 4 per cent 

of GDP by 2050. 

Sources: Organisation for Economic Co-operation 

and Development (www.oecd.org); 

Financial Times 

Email use in the US fell by 20 per 

cent between 2008 and 2012. While 

91 per cent of Americans still use 

email daily, social networks and 

services such as instant messaging 

have become more popular. 

gross domestic product 

(GDP) 

[)grEUs dE)mestIk (prQdVkt] 

instant messaging 

[)InstEnt (mesIdZIN] 

research [ri(s§:tS] 

run a chance of doing sth. 

[)rVn E )tSA:ns Ev (du:IN] 

sales [seI&lz] 

vacuum cleaner 

[(vÄkjuEm )kli:nE] 

Source: McKinsey & Company 

(www.mckinsey.com) 

Bruttoinlandsprodukt 

(BIP) 

Sofortnachrichten 

hier: Marktforschung 

hier etwa: riskieren, 

etw. zu tun 

Umsatz 

Staubsauger 

➡ 

➡ 


Getty Images 

U.S. 

Fair chance? 

advanced US 

For ex-convicts, leaving jail is often only the first hurdle 

in the struggle to lead a normal life. Many are immediately 

rejected by potential employers because job 

applications include a box that requires them to say 

whether they have a criminal record. The “Ban the Box” 

campaign wants to ensure that people with past 

convictions do not face discrimination before having a 

chance to prove themselves. 

“We know that employment discrimination against 

people with conviction histories doesn’t just hurt individuals,” 

says Judy Patrick of the Women’s Foundation 

of California, at BanTheBoxCampaign.org, “it hurts 

their families and their communities.” 

According to the StarTribune, retailer Target Corp. 

plans to eliminate the box on its job applications. Target 

has 362,000 employees across the U.S. “The removal 

does not eliminate the background check or drug 

test, but it offers those who’ve been previously incarcerated 

a chance to get their foot in the door,” says 

company spokesperson Dianna Gee. 

A second chance: Target department stores are 

willing to hire former prisoners 

iStock 

49 

Percentage of Britons aged 20 to 

24 who still live at home with 

their parents as a result of high 

youth unemployment 

Sprachkurse 

im Ausland 

Sources: Office for National Statistics (www.statistics.gov.uk); The Guardian 

box [bA:ks*] 

hier: Kästchen 

conviction history: person vorbestrafte Person 

with a ~ [kEn(vIkS&n )hIstri] 

criminal record 

Vorstrafenregister 

[)krImIn&l (rek&rd*] 

ensure sth. [In(SU&r*] etw. sicherstellen 

ex-convict [)eks (kA:nvIkt*] ehemalige(r) Gefängnisinsasse/-insassin 

incarcerated 

eingekerkert 

[In(kA:rsEreItEd*] 

Office for National Statistics britisches Statistik- 

[)QfIs fE )nÄS&nEl stE(tIstIks] amt 

past conviction 

Vorstrafe 

[)pÄst kEn(vIkS&n*] 

reject sb. [ri(dZekt] 

jmdn. ablehnen 

retailer [(ri:teI&l&r*] 

Einzelhandelskette 

* This symbol marks standard US pronunciation. 

3/2014 

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WORKING WORLD NAMES AND NEWS 

Going strong: 

Waterloo, Ontario 

Corbis 

CANADA 

Tech success 

BlackBerry smartphones are no longer the 

flavour of the month. But Waterloo, Ontario, 

the town where the phones were first made (see 

Business Spotlight 4/2013), is thriving. 

Although BlackBerry is laying off about 40 per 

cent of its employees, most of those workers will 

not need to leave town to find new jobs. That’s 

because so many other technology companies 

are either recruiting or moving there. Among 

them are Apple, Facebook, Google, Motorola and 

Cisco Systems. 

backpacker [(bÄkpÄkE] 

density [(densEti] 

flavour of the month: 

be the ~ 

[)fleIvEr Ev DE (mVnT] ifml. 

hostel [(hQst&l] 

lay sb. off [)leI (Qf] 

mobile [(mEUbaI&l] 

processing service 

[(prEUsesIN )s§:vIs] 

recruit sb. [ri(kru:t] 

tech talent 

[(tek )tÄlEnt] ifml. 

thrive [TraIv] 

timeline: have a long ~ 

[(taImlaIn] N. Am. 

Zurich [(zUErIk] 

Listen to this text on Business Spotlight Audio 

(Jugend-)Herberge 

jmdn. entlassen 

mobile Geräte 

Zahlungsdienstleister 

Rucksackreisende(r) 

Dichte; hier: Konzentration 

momentan „in“ sein 

jmdn. einstellen 

Technologienachwuchskräfte 

florieren 

für eine längere Zeitdauer 

planen 

[wg. Aussprache] 

medium 

“The area has a really strong density of tech 

talent,” says Bryan Power, talent director for 

Square, a mobile credit-card processing service 

that recently set up business in the area. “We 

have a long timeline for here. We really want to 

be part of this community,” Power told The New 

York Times. 

$14 $123.60 

Daily cost for a backpacker to 

stay in Pokhara, Nepal, including 

hostel, meals, drinks, 

transportation and a visit to 

a tourist attraction 

Daily cost for a backpacker to 

stay in Zurich, Switzerland, 

including hostel, meals, 

drinks, transportation and a 

visit to a tourist attraction 

Sources: International New York Times; PriceofTravel.com 

“Football is the most 

important of the 

less important things 

in the world” 

Carlo Ancelotti, 54, Italian-born 

manager of Real Madrid football club 

10 www.business-spotlight.de 3/2014 

Corbis

Preferred drink: 

bottled water 

MEXICO 

Safe water 

Have you ever been to Mexico? If so, 

you know it’s not a good idea to 

drink tap water there. In fact, not 

even the locals drink it, which is why 

Mexico is the world’s highest consumer 

of bottled water. 

A new law may make tap water 

safer, at least in Mexico City restaurants. 

These are now required to install 

filters so that customers can 

drink tap water — free of charge — 

without risking illness. 

The government hopes this will 

also encourage people to drink fewer 

sugary soft drinks. “We need to create 

a culture of water consumption,” 

says Mexico City’s health secretary, 

Dr Jose Armando Ahued. “We need 

to accept our water,” Ahued told the 

Associated Press. 

What they said… 

“I always invest in companies an idiot 

could run, because one day, one will” 

Warren Buffett, 83, US investor and billionaire 

“Running a company on market 

research is like driving while looking in 

the rear-view mirror” 

Anita Roddick (1942–2007), British businesswoman 

and founder of The Body Shop 

“Company cultures are like country 

cultures. Never try to change one. Try, 

instead, to work with what you’ve got” 

Peter Drucker (1909–2005), Austrian-born 

management consultant and author 

easy 

iStock 

Listen to this text on 


Country 

Who drinks bottled water? 

Yearly consumption 

(litres per person) 

1. Mexico 243 

2. Italy 187 

3. United Arab Emirates 153 

4. Belgium-Luxembourg 148 

5. Germany 134 

11. Switzerland 108 

20. Austria 91 

Sources: European Federation of Bottled Waters (www.efbw.eu); 

Beverage Marketing Corporation (www.beveragemarketing.com) 

beverage [(bevErIdZ] 

Getränk 

billionaire [)bIljE(neE] 

Milliardär(in) 

bottled water [)bQt&ld (wO:tE] Tafelwasser 

consultant [kEn(sVltEnt] Berater(in) 

federation [)fedE(reIS&n] Verband 

founder [(faUndE] 

Gründer(in) 

free of charge [)fri: Ev (tSA:dZ] gratis 

health secretary 

Gesundheitsbeauf- 

[(helT )sekrEtEri] 

tragte(r) 

market research [)mA:kIt ri(s§:tS] Marktforschung 

rear-view mirror [)rIE vju: (mIrE] Rückspiegel 

tap water [(tÄp )wO:tE] 

Leitungswasser 

United Arab Emirates 

Vereinigte Arabische 

[ju:)naItId )ÄrEb (emErEts] Emirate 

water consumption 

Wasserverbrauch; hier: 

[(wO:tE kEn)sVmpS&n] 

Trinken von Wasser 

www You’ll find more stories online: www.business-spotlight.de/news 

3/2014 


The text experts 

Schriftstücke wie E-Mails und Briefe und andere Texte müssen im internationalen Geschäftsverkehr übersetzt 

werden, vom Deutschen ins Englische und umgekehrt. Finden Sie mit den Übungen von CAROL SCHEUNEMANN und 

HILDEGARD RUDOLPH heraus, wie gut Sie das Übersetzerhandwerk beherrschen. 

all levels 

iStock,Ingram Publishing 

THE SITUATION: 

Located in Berlin, KinoToU is a 

film-marketing agency that 

specializes in independent 

short films and documentaries 

in English. The office manager, 

Simon Schwarz, has to translate 

various types of text, such 

as correspondence, marketing 

material and film details. Let’s 

join him for a typical day.

TRANSLATION LANGUAGE TEST 

1. 

False friends (7 points) 

Simon is trying to translate a German text for a US partner, but he tends to use false friends. 

Replace the false friends in bold with the correct words from the box. 

easy 

a) Our ____________ (actual) collection includes nearly 500 films. 

b) Documentary films often cost less to make than action films, but are 

generally not as ____________ (rentable). 

c) Our company has been in the film ____________ (branch) for 15 years. 

d) Our ____________ (personal) have extensive film-making experience. 

e) We get a ____________ (provision) for supplying the films to independent 

distributors. 

brochures 

commission 

current 

industry 

profitable 

save 

staff 

f) Instead of printing ____________ (prospects), we now post film details online and have a 

searchable database. 

g) We ____________ (spare) a lot of money with this method. 

2. 

US English and UK English (9 points) 

A German partner has provided a text in US English, but Simon would like to change it into 

British English. Write the UK equivalents of the words in bold. 

easy 

Movimento is the oldest a) ____________ (movie theater) in the heart of Berlin. We’re located 

near b) ____________ (downtown), a few steps from the Schönleinstraße c) ____________ 

(subway stop) in Kreuzberg. From there, you take the d) ____________ (elevator) to the 

e) ____________ (first floor). If you’re coming by car, use the f) ____________ (parking garage) 

on Hermannplatz. Today’s matinee is a classic James Bond g) ____________ (movie), Goldfinger. 

For our complete listing, call 263 098 76. If there’s no answer, you can try our 

h) ____________ (cell phone) at 0176/323 232. And you can order tickets online to avoid the 

i) ____________ (lines) at the box office. 

4 

Ein smarter Typ: but 

is he smart, too? 

2/2014 


3. Standard phrases (5 points) 

medium 

There are many set expressions in business correspondence 

that cannot be translated word for 

word. Choose the words that best complete these 

sentences. 

Ingram Publishing 

Unter Bezugnahme auf unser gestriges Telefonat... 

a) With regard / reference to our phone conversation 

yesterday... 

Hiermit bestätigen wir den Eingang Ihres Schreibens. 

b) We confirm receipt / reception of your letter. 

Leider müssen wir Ihnen mitteilen, dass der Film vergriffen 

ist. 

c) We regret / require to inform you that the film is no 

longer in stock. 

Bei Rückfragen stehe ich Ihnen jederzeit gerne zur Verfügung. 

d) Please don’t contemplate / hesitate to contact me 

if you have any questions. 

Wir sehen Ihrer Antwort mit Interesse entgegen und 

verbleiben… 

e) We look forward to hearing / hear from you. 

4. 

medium 

Film titles (8 points) 

Sometimes, customers call and ask Simon what a film’s original title is. Cultural references 

or wordplay make translating some titles nearly impossible. Match these German titles with 

their English originals. 

a) Mein Partner mit der kalten Schnauze 

b) Das grosse Krabbeln 

c) Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier 

d) Zwei glorreiche Halunken 

e) Verschollen 

f) Reine Nervensache 

g) Besser geht’s nicht 

h) Geld stinkt nicht 

Photodisc 

1. Analyze This 

2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 

3. Cast Away 

4. Money Talks 

5. K-9 

6. As Good as It Gets 

7. Groundhog Day 

8. A Bug’s Life 

a – n; b – n; c – n; d – n; e – n; f – n; g – n; h – n 


TRANSLATION LANGUAGE TEST 

5. 

Verb forms (4 points) 

medium 

Simon will be holding a teleconference with several UK film critics. In preparation, he writes down 

what he wants to say. For each sentence, choose the best version in English. 

a) Vielleicht sollten wir uns zuerst vorstellen. 

1. Maybe we’ll introduce ourselves first. 

2. Maybe we should have introduced ourselves 

first. 

3. Maybe we should introduce ourselves first. 

c) Ein Protokoll müssen wir heute nicht 

schreiben. 

1. We mustn’t take minutes today. 

2. We don’t have to take minutes today. 

3. We may not take minutes today. 

b) Wer möchte als Erster? 

1. Who shall go first? 

2. Who likes to go first? 

3. Who would like to go first? 

d) Machen wir eine kurze Pause. 

1. We have a short break. 

2. We are having a short break. 

3. Let’s have a short break. 

medium 

6. Prepositions (12 points) 

Simon wants to translate a description of a scene from an action film. Finish his text with prepositions 

from the box. Use each word only once. 

Eine schöne Frau spaziert durch den Park und schiebt einen Kinderwagen. 

Plötzlich droht ein vom Himmel herabstürzender Meteorit sie zu erschlagen. 

Justin sprintet über die Straße, direkt vor einem rasenden Auto. Das Auto 

weicht aus, fährt aber nun direkt auf die Frau zu. Gerade rechtzeitig reißt 

Justin das Baby aus dem Kinderwagen. Die Frau versucht, hinter Justin auf 

einer Brücke über den Fluß zu laufen, fällt aber von der Brücke ins eisige 

Wasser. Sie muß gegen den starken Strom schwimmen. Justins mutiger 

Schäferhund rettet sie, kurz bevor sie ertrinkt. 

across 

after 

against 

before 

from 

in 

in front of 

into 

out 

over 

through 

towards 

A beautiful woman is walking a) ________ a park and pushing a baby carriage. Suddenly, a falling meteor 

threatens to crush her. Justin runs b) ________ the street, directly c) ________ a speeding car. The 

car swerves, but is now heading d) _________ the woman. Justin pulls the baby e) _______ of the carriage 

just f) _______ time. The woman tries to run g) _______ Justin on a bridge h) ________ a river, 

but falls i) ________ the bridge j) ________ the icy water. She has to swim k) __________ a strong 

current. Justin’s fearless German Shepherd dog saves her just l) ________ she drowns. 

4 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE TEST TRANSLATION 

advanced 

7. Word choice in context (5 points) 

Simon uses a computer program to translate a marketing text. For certain 

words, he has to choose between several meanings. Select the 

correct translation in context for the words in bold. 

Der Regisseur ist Meister seines Fachs. 

a) The director is a master of his ______. 

1. drawer 2. tray 3. trade 

Der Film entstand aus einer Folge der TV-Serie „Moon Rising”. 

b) The idea for the film came from a(n) _____ of the TV series Moon Rising. 

1. consequence 2. episode 3. sequence 

Wir werden die Handlung hier nicht verraten. 

c) We won’t _____ the plot here. 

1. reveal 2. betray 3. identify 

Die Szene besteht aus einer langen, wilden Autojagd. 

d) The scene _____ of one long, wild car chase. 

1. passes 2. consists 3. insists 

Leider wurden die Dreharbeiten zur Fortsetzung eingestellt. 

e) Unfortunately, the shooting of the sequel has been ______. 

1. stopped 2. adjusted 3. hired 

Translation tips 

n It’s important to translate 

the meaning of a phrase, 

rather than translating word 

for word. Try to express the 

idea behind the words. 

n Bilingual dictionaries and 

translation software or websites 

may give you several 

choices. Look for the word or 

term that is correct in the 

context of the sentence. 

n If you have time, do a 

rough translation first, then 

look at the translated text 

again later. 

n There is generally more 

than one way of translating a 

text. The words may vary 

greatly and still be correct. 

advanced 

8. Informal and idiomatic language (10 points) 

English-language films may have German subtitles. Translate this dialogue 

from a US documentary about a truck driver. Pay attention to the expressions 

in bold. Most of these cannot be translated directly. 

Mike: You build trucks here, don’t you? 

a) ______________________________________________________________ 

Mechanic: You bet. They last forever. They never break down, either. 

b) ______________________________________________________________ 

Mike: Seems a bit quiet right now... Say, I could use a job — I’m a driver. 

c) ______________________________________________________________ 

Mechanic: Come back again first thing on Wednesday. Looks like we’ll be 

hiring pretty soon. Try showing up at eight. Ask for Jake. 

d) ______________________________________________________________ 

_____________________________________________________________ 


How did you do? 

50–60 points: Congratulations! You understand nuances 

of German and English and you can successfully 

complete general translation tasks. 

40–49 points: Good. You are able to translate many 

general texts. 

30–39 points: Fair. Your translation skills are rather 

basic, but you can provide the general idea. 

0–29 points: Nice try. Before you start translating, 

however, you may need to improve your English skills. 

Erweitern Sie Ihren 

Business-Englisch- 

Wortschatz! 

Answers 

1. False friends 

a) current = aktuell (actual = tatsächlich) 

b) profitable = rentabel (rentable = vermietbar) 

c) industry = Sektor, Branche (branch = Ast; 

Zweigstelle, Niederlassung) 

d) staff = Personal, Mitarbeiter(innen) (personal 

= persönlich) 

e) commission = Provision (provision = Bestimmung) 

f) brochures = Prospekte (prospect = Aussicht) 

g) save = sparen (spare = erübrigen; schonen) 

2. US English and UK English 

a) cinema 

b) the city centre 

c) underground station 

d) lift 

e) ground floor = Erdgeschoss 

f) car park 

g) film 

h) mobile 

i) queues = (Warte-)Schlangen 

3. Standard phrases 

a) reference 

b) receipt 

c) regret 

d) hesitate = zögern 

e) hearing 

4. Film titles 

a–5 (“K-9” refers to police dogs. When spoken, 

it sounds like “canine” [(keInaIn], 

another word for “dog”.) 

b–8 (Insects are called “bugs” in American 

English. The title A Bug’s Life is similar 

to the expression “a dog’s life”, 

which refers to an unhappy existence, 

and was the name of a Charlie Chaplin 

film from 1918.) 

c–7 (Groundhog Day is on 2 February in 

North America. According to folk legend, 

the groundhog (Murmeltier) 

comes out of its hole on this day. If it 

sees its shadow, there will be six more 

weeks of winter.) 

d–2 (The original title in Italian is Il buono, 

il brutto, il cattivo, or “The Good, the 

Ugly, the Bad”, but the order of the 

Carol Scheunemann is an editor at 

Business Spotlight, and coordinates 

Business Spotlight Audio. Contact: 

c.scheunemann@spotlight-verlag.de 

words was changed in English. The 

phrase is now used to talk about positive, 

negative and unpleasant aspects of 

a situation.) 

e–3 (A “castaway” is a person who is stranded 

after a shipwreck.) 

f–1 (During a conversation, a person may 

verbally attack another by repeating a 

word, and add a “this!”, often accompanied 

by a threat of violence. For example, 

Person A: “We have to discuss 

your attitude.” Person B shows his fist 

(geballte Faust) and says: “Oh, yeah? 

Well, discuss this!”) 

g–6 (“As good as it gets” means “the situation 

can’t become any better”. The 

more positive version is: “It doesn’t get 

much better than this.”) 

h–4 (“Money talks” means that wealthy people 

have a lot of influence.) 

5. Verb forms 

a–3; b–3; c–2; d–3 

6. Prepositions 

a) through e) out i) from 

b) across f) in j) into 

c) in front of g) after k) against 

d) towards h) over l) before 

7. Word choice in context 

a–3; b–2; c–1; d–2; e–1 

8. Informal and idiomatic language 

(These are suggestions. Other alternatives 

are possible.) 

a) Mike: Ihr baut hier Lastwagen, nicht 

wahr? 

b) Mechaniker: Klar doch. Die gehen nie kaputt. 

Die haben auch nie eine Panne. 

c) Mike: Scheint momentan etwas ruhig zu 

sein. Aber ich brauche einen Job. Bin 

Fahrer. 

d) Mechaniker: Dann schau am Mittwoch 

nochmal vorbei, gleich in der Früh. Sieht 

so aus, dass wir bald jemanden einstellen 

werden. Versuch’s so gegen acht 

— frag nach Jake. 

Hildegard Rudolph is a certified 

translator and a freelance editor, 

teacher and book author. Contact: 

bs.lektorat@spotlight-verlag.de 

Die Business 

Spotlight-App: 

Pro Tag ein englischer Begriff 

mit Audio-Datei für das 

Aussprache-Training 

mit Erklärung und Beispielsatz 

auf Englisch 

Übersetzung ins Deutsche 

GRATIS! 

Über iTunes Store oder Android Market 

business-spotlight.de/apps 

Find more exercises on this topic on Business Spotlight Audio 

You can do more language tests at www.business-spotlight.de/vocabulary 

www 

3/2014

GLOBAL BUSINESS IT’S PERSONAL 

The power of architecture 

Der architektonische Stil des neuen Hochhauses, das den Londoner Finanzdistrikt überragt, 

ist nicht nach jedermanns Geschmack. Auch ELISABETH RIBBANS bleibt nichts anderes übrig, 

als sich damit abzufinden, wie sicher noch viele Generationen nach ihr. 

advanced 

There’s a new giant on London’s 

skyline. Its official name is also its address: 

20 Fenchurch Street. But this 

City monolith is commonly known as 

the “Walkie-Talkie” because of its concave, 

top-heavy shape. The nickname 

also indicates that the building seems 

to shout at everything around it. 

Some 160 metres tall and increasingly 

wide towards the top, the commercial 

tower, designed by Uruguayan 

architect Rafael Viñoly, dominates 

most of its neighbours by height and 

the rest by girth. As if to demonstrate 

its power, sun reflecting from its glass 

walls during construction melted parts 

of a car in the street below. 

English Heritage, which advises the 

government on historic buildings, 

was against the design, calling it 

“oppressive” and “attention-seeking”. 

Viñoly said his building respects the 

boast [bEUst] 

Prahlerei 

bold [bEUld] 

kühn 

City [(sIti] UK Londoner Finanz - 

distrikt 

density [(densEti] Dichte 

deny sth. [di(naI] etw. (ver)leugnen 

developer [di(velEpE] Bauträger(in) 

disempowered: feel ~ sich klein und 

[)dIsIm(paUEd] unbedeutend fühlen 

girth [g§:T] 

Umfang 

groundbreaking bahnbrechend 

[(graUnd)breIkIN] 

interior design Innenarchitektur 

[In)tIEriE di(zaIn] 

nickname [(nIkneIm] Spitzname 

novelty [(nQvElti] Neuheit 

oppressive [E(presIv] erdrückend 

realm [relm] 

Bereich; hier: Raum 

selfishness 

Egoismus; hier: 

[(selfISnEs] 

übergroße Dominanz 

sqm (square metre) qm (Quadratmeter) 

[)skweE (mi:tE] 

top-heavy 

hier: nach oben hin 

[)tQp (hevi] 

breiter werdend 

Overpowering? London’s new 

“Walkie-Talkie” tower 

contours of the river and 

streets below; its supporters 

called it groundbreaking. 

There is nothing more personal 

than taste. But unlike 

most expressions of style, 

from cars to clothes to interior 

design — all relatively 

short-lived or even private 

— architecture is essentially 

“We must all, for generations, live with the 

preferences of architects and their clients” 

permanent and public. We must all, 

for generations, live with the preferences 

of architects and their clients. 

Steven Bee, chairman of The Academy 

of Urbanism, said recently of 20 

Fenchurch Street: “It is another building 

that doesn’t just ignore, but denies 

its context. Such selfishness has no 

place in the public realm of a great 

city, or anywhere else.” 

I agree. When I look at the Walkie- 

Talkie, I feel disempowered. And 

what about those who will work inside 

the Walkie-Talkie? The website 

says that it’s “designed for maximum 

efficiency, with a density for all services 

of 1 person per 8 sqm”. That 

sounds more like a warning than a 

boast, but let’s hope the views from 

its 37 floors are worth it. 

Bill Bryson perhaps said it best in 

his 1991 travel book, Neither Here 

nor There: “I have nothing against 

novelty in buildings ... but I just hate 

the way architects and city planners 

and everyone else responsible for urban 

life seem to have lost sight of 

what cities are for. They are for people 

... [but] for half a century we have 

been building cities that are for almost 

anything else: for cars, for businesses, 

for developers, for people with 

money and bold visions who refuse to 

see cities from ground level, as places 

in which people must live and function 

and get around.” ■BS 

Elisabeth Ribbans is a British journalist and editorial 

consultant. She is also a former managing 

editor of The Guardian newspaper in London. 

Contact: eribbans@yahoo.com 

pr 


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BUSINESS PRESS GLOBAL BUSINESS 

Behind the headlines 

Headlines in the English-language media are often difficult to understand because they use jargon and 

wordplay, and leave out words. Here, we look at the meaning of recent business headlines. advanced 

The Economist 

The Guardian 

Old: This refers to people over 50, often called 

“baby boomers”. 

cold: This is used symbolically to refer to the subject 

of the story: US ski resorts. It also alludes to 

the fact that the money the baby boomers spend 

on skiing is going to “go cold”, that is, come to 

an end, when they stop skiing because of their age. 

splurging gold: To “splurge” means to “spend money 

extravagantly”. “Gold” stands for “money” and 

rhymes with “cold” and “old”. Baby boomers, 

who have the money and time to go skiing, are 

important contributors to the skiing industry. 

In simple English: Baby boomers are spending extravagantly 

on skiing, but this will end one day. 

HSBC: The British multinational banking and financial 

services company. 

shares soar on: HSBC shares. Note that “soar” is the 

verb in the headline. “On” here means “after”. 

fat finger mistake: A mistake caused by a“fat finger 

trade”, that is, when a trader accidentally types in 

the wrong figure when placing an order to buy or 

sell shares. In this case, HSBC’s share prices rose 

by ten per cent within minutes. Trading in the 

shares was temporarily stopped so that the stock 

exchange could investigate the dramatic rise. 

In simple English: HSBC shares rose by ten per cent 

after a trader mistakenly typed the wrong order. 

Financial Times 

The Wall Street Journal 

www Are you confused by the language in the press? Keep your 

English up to date at www.business-spotlight.de/news 

Majors: This is short for “supermajors”, a term 

used for the world’s largest publicly owned oil and 

gas companies, also known as “big oil”. 

tightening their capex belts: If you “tighten your belt”, 

you start spending less than before. Here, it refers 

to a trend among the big oil companies to reduce 

their capital expenditure (“capex”) — the money 

spent on projects or assets that are expected to 

bring value in the future. 

In simple English: The world’s main oil and gas firms 

are cutting their capital spending. 

Merkel: The German chancellor, Angela Merkel. 

pushes: Here, “push” means to “take action”, and 

refers to a bill to reform German pension laws. 

retirement age drop: This is a compound noun meaning 

a fall (“drop”) in the official retirement age. 

Compound nouns become clearer if read backwards: 

a “drop” in the “age” of “retirement”. 

pension rise: What’s meant here is a rise in pension 

payments for some German workers. 

In simple English: Angela Merkel has taken action to 

reduce the retirement age and to raise pensions. 

allude to sth. [(Elu:d tu] 

auf etw. anspielen 

assets [(Äsets] 

Anlagewerte 

bill [bIl] 

Gesetzesvorlage 

capital expenditure [)kÄpIt&l Ik(spendItSE] Investitionsausgaben 

compound noun 

zusammengesetztes 

[)kQmpaUnd (naUn] 

Substantiv 

share [SeE] 

Aktie 

ski resort [(ski: ri)zO:t] 

Skiurlaubsort 

soar [sO:] 

stark ansteigen 

stock exchange [(stQk Iks)tSeIndZ] Aktienbörse 

3/2014 


R. Cooke/Reuters 

From intern to CEO: new 

GM boss Mary Barra

PROFILE GLOBAL BUSINESS 

In the driver’s seat 

Ihre erste Autoliebe war ein Chevrolet Cabrio, heute fährt sie einen Cadillac. Einst war sie Praktikantin, 

seit Mitte Januar ist sie Konzernchefin von General Motors. MARGARET DAVIS berichtet vom Werdegang 

der Elektroingenieurin Mary Barra, von der man sagt, dass in ihren Adern Sprit fließt. medium US 

In the 1980s, legendary Chrysler 

boss Lee Iacocca appeared in television 

commercials praising his 

company’s products with the slogan 

“If you can find a better car, 

buy it.” Twenty-five years later, 

Daimler-Chrysler’s Dieter Zetsche 

confounded American viewers with 

his German accent in the “Ask Dr. Z” 

advertising campaign. 

Don’t expect anything like that 

from engineer Mary Barra [(bA:rA:]. 

The new CEO of General Motors — 

the first woman to head a global car 

company — wants the world to concentrate 

on GM’s cars, not on her. 

“If you are thinking the oldfashioned 

way of sticking her in a 30- 

second TV commercial, I don’t think 

that is the best use of her,” says Tim 

Mahoney, head of global marketing 

for Chevrolet. “I don’t think that’s 

her style,” Mahoney told The Wall 

Street Journal. “We need to have her 

speaking at conferences and being an 

inspiration for students and engineers.” 

Barra, 52, took the top job on January 

15, 2014. She has been working 

for Detroit-based GM for over 30 

years, starting as an intern on the 

factory floor as part of her electrical 

engineering studies at the GM Institute 

(now Kettering University) in 

Flint, Michigan. The car company, 

seeing her management talent, sponsored 

Barra’s MBA at Stanford University 

in California. Working her 

way up through the ranks, she was 

executive assistant to former CEO 

Jack Smith before becoming head 

of internal communications, running 

a Pontiac assembly plant and — 

unusually for a future CEO — serving 

as head of HR. Her last position before 

becoming CEO was as the head 

of global product development. 

Born near Detroit, Barra is often described 

as “the woman with gasoline 

in her veins,” not only because of her 

many years at GM, but also because 

of her family connection with the 

company. Her father, Ray Makela, 

worked as a die maker at the company’s 

Pontiac factory for 39 years. She 

met her husband, management 

consultant Tony Barra, when they 

were students at the GM Institute. 

They have two teenaged children. 

Barra says she was ten when she 

first fell in love with a car — a late 

1960s-model Chevrolet Camaro 

convertible owned by an older cousin. 

“It was just a beautiful, beautiful 

vehicle,” she told Stanford Magazine. 

“The first vehicle where I went, 

‘Wow, that is cool.’” When it came 

time to buy her first car, at 18, she put 

a down payment on a sporty Pontiac 

Firebird but then decided her college 

assembly plant Fertigungswerk 

[E(sembli plÄnt*] 

based: ...-based [beIst] mit Sitz in ... 

CEO (chief executive Konzernchef(in) 

officer) [)si: i: (oU*] 

commercial [kE(m§:S&l] Werbespot 

confound sb. [kEn(faUnd] jmdn. verwirren 

convertible [kEn(v§:tEb&l] Cabriolet 

die maker [(daI )meIk&r*] Formenbauer(in) 

electrical engineering Elektrotechnik 

[i)lektrIk&l )endZI(nIrIN*] 

engineer [)endZI(nI&r*] Ingenieur(in) 

executive assistant Assistent(in) der 

[Ig)zekjEtIv E(sIstEnt*] Geschäftsführung 

factory floor 

Fabrikhalle 

[)fÄktri (flO:r*] 

gasoline [(gÄsEli:n] US Benzin 

head of HR (human Personalchef(in) 

resources) [)hed Ev 

)eItS (A:r*] 

intern [(Int§:n] Praktikant(in) 

management consultant Unternehmens- 

[)mÄnIdZmEnt berater(in) 

kEn(sVltEnt] 

MBA (Master of Busi- Managementness 

Administration) Aufbaustudiengang 

[)em bi: (eI] 

put a down payment eine Anzahlung für 

on sth. [)pUt E )daUn etw. leisten 

(peImEnt A:n*] 

rank [rÄNk] 

Rang; hier: Hierarchiestufe 

stick sb. in sth. hier: jmdn. bei 

[)stIk (In] 

etw. einsetzen 

vehicle [(vi:Ek&l*] Fahrzeug 

vein [veIn] 

Ader 


4

GLOBAL BUSINESS PROFILE 

GM (3) 

Chic Chevrolet: 1950s glamour 

America’s love affair with the automobile has 

cooled in the past 30 years 

Sporty: Barra shows U.S. Vice President Joe Biden a 2014 Corvette 

budget was better suited to a less 

glamorous Chevrolet Chevette. 

Although she now drives a luxury 

Cadillac, Barra still has a pragmatic 

approach to budgeting. As head of 

human resources after GM’s 2009 

government bailout, she reduced bureaucracy 

and ended the company’s 

ten-page dress code. The bailout, 

which cost nearly $50 billion, gave 

the U.S. government a 61 percent 

interest in GM — and led to the 

nickname “Government Motors.” The 

government sold the last of its shares 

in the company in December 2013. 

“Hard work beats talent if talent 

doesn’t work hard,” Barra told students 

at Kettering University in a 

2013 commencement speech. In fact, 

this could be her own motto: Barra is 

frequently at her desk at 6 a.m. 

“Problems don’t go away when you 

ignore them — they get bigger,” she 

added. “In my experience, it is much 

better to get the right people together, 

to make a plan, and to address 

every challenge head-on.” One of 

Barra’s initiatives as head of product 

development was getting GM engineers 

to work at car dealerships so 

that they could see for themselves 

what customers wanted. 

In a rare interview, Barra was asked 

by ABC News whether she ever 

thought she would one day be CEO. 

“No, I stayed focused on the job I 

was doing,” she said. “I think that 

sometimes in industry, people are too 

focused on the next job, rather than 

on the job they’re really doing. When 

I started working here 33 years ago, 

I had no idea that this would be the 

role I’d be playing. I approached 

every position like I was going to do 

it for the rest of my life.” 

Barra avoids questions about how 

being a woman has affected her career. 

At the North American International 

Auto Show in Detroit in January 

2014, she was asked whether being 

a woman gave her an advantage 

in selling cars, since studies show that 

women are involved in 70 to 80 percent 

of car-buying decisions. “It’s a 

team sport and we’ve got a great 

team,” she commented. Still, the car 

industry is clearly male-dominated. 

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, writing on the 

Harvard Business Review Blog Network, 

says that as a young professor 

and consultant, she visited a number 

of corporations while writing her 

book Men and Women of the Corporation. 

“The old GM was the most 

address sth. [E(dres] 

affect sth. [E(fekt] 

approach [E(proUtS*] 

auto show [(O:toU SoU*] 

bailout [(beI&laUt] 

billion [(bIljEn] 

budgeting [(bVdZEtIN*] 

car dealership 

[(kA:r )di:&l&rSIp*] 

challenge [(tSÄlIndZ] 

etw. angehen 

sich auf etw. auswirken 

Haltung, 

Einstellung 

Autosalon 

Rettungsaktion 

Milliarde(n) 

Budgetplanung 

Autohaus 

Herausforderung, 

schwierige Aufgabe 

commencement speech Rede bei der 

[kE(mensmEnt spi:tS] Diplomverleihung 

US 

vor Universitätsabsolvent(inn)en 


corporation 

Unternehmen 

[)kO:rpEreIS&n*] 

head-on [)hed (A:n*] direkt 

interest [(IntrEst] Beteiligung 

nickname [(nIkneIm] Spitzname 

share [Se&r*] 

Anteil, Aktie 



GM facts 

n 212,000 employees 

n 396 plants 

n Brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun, 

Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall, and Wuling 

macho and woman-unfriendly of 

them all.” Kanter sees Barra as a 

force for change, not just because she 

is a woman. “Mary Barra is good for 

GM first and foremost because she’s 

an engineer who cares about cars,” 

Kanter writes. “She is good for GM 

because she reflects the new culture of 

teamwork and collaboration. She 

knows the people side as the former 

head of HR.” 

As head of global product development, 

Barra was responsible for promoting 

award-winning new cars and 

trucks. Before the bailout, according 

to analyst Amy Edmondson, a management 

professor at Harvard, GM 

was an “old-fashioned, out-of-touch, 

hierarchical, siloed” organization, 

known for “bureaucratic, top-down 

management.” The company’s cars 

were “described as ‘cookie-cutter’ or 

worse,” Edmondson writes in the 

Harvard Business Review. Barra put 

it more bluntly. “No more crappy 

cars!” she said when she took over 

the job in 2010. Edmondson says “it 

was Barra’s ability to encourage team- 

For more information 

WEBSITES 

Lee Iacocca’s commercial for Chrysler 

LeBaron: www.youtube.com/watch?v= 

v6nmCFTmPnE 

“Ask Dr. Z” campaign for Chrysler: 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp95QkfelWA 

Mary Barra’s commencement speech 

at Kettering University in 2013: 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOokPTtXZYQ 

Barra’s interview with ABC News: 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/gmceo-mary-barra-stayed-focused-21511259 

Source: General Motors (www.gm.com) 

ing that catapulted her to the top of 

an organization with 212,000 employees.” 

Her former professor Mo Torfeh 

agrees. “She was great in getting jobs 

done, putting a team together, and 

making sure that it’s being done right. 

She was always the person who took 

charge.” 

Those who know her unfailingly 

mention Barra’s “people skills.” In 

1999, as head of internal communications, 

she was appointed to deal 

with the United Auto Workers (UAW) 

union after a strike. The then-president 

of UAW Local 22 at the plant, 

George McGregor, said she was 

appoint sb. [E(pOInt] jmdn. ernennen 

brand [brÄnd] 

Marke 

collaboration 

Zusammenarbeit 

[kE)lÄbE(reIS&n] 

crappy [(krÄpi] vulg. sl. Scheiß-, beschissen 

decline [di(klaIn] Rückgang 

dough [doU*] 

Teig 

driver’s license Führerschein 

[(draIv&rz )laIs&ns*] US 

emphasize sth. etw. hervorheben 

[(emfEsaIz] 

first and foremost in erster Linie, 

[)f§:st En (fO:rmoUst*] vor allem 

out-of-touch 

realitätsfremd 

[)aUt Ev (tVtS] 

people side: the ~ hier: die Anliegen 

[(pi:p&l saId] 

der Mitarbeiter(innen) 

people skills 

soziale Kompeten- 

[(pi:p&l skIlz] 

zen 

plant [plÄnt*] 

Werk 

purchase [(p§:tSEs] Kauf 

put sth. bluntly etw. unverblümt 

[)pUt (blVntli] 

sagen 

siloed [(saIloUd*] auf einzelne (Unternehmens-)Bereiche 

fokussiert 

take charge 

die Führung über- 

[)teIk tSA:rdZ*] nehmen 

top-down 

hierarchisch von 

[)tA:p (daUn*] 

oben nach unten 

unfailingly 

stets 

[Vn(feIlINli] 

union [(ju:njEn*] Gewerkschaft 


Red-hot machine: 

1963 Corvette Sting Ray 

Language point 

A cookie cutter is a metal 

or plastic object used to 

cut dough into shapes before 

baking. Used figuratively, 

it means a copy, or 

something that looks exactly 

like all the other products 

on the market. In the 

past, GM was criticized for 

producing cars that were 

unoriginal. 

“great to work with.” Kettering University 

president Robert McMahan 

says, “In meetings, she listens when 

you talk.” But, he adds, “When she 

speaks, you better listen.” 

As Barra rebuilds GM’s reputation, 

she faces a number of challenges at 

home and abroad. Further costcutting 

lies ahead, as well as developing 

new markets in India and South 

America. 

Meanwhile, in the U.S., America’s 

love affair with the automobile has 

cooled in the past 30 years, especially 

among young people. Between 

2007 and 2012, new car purchases by 

18- to 34-year-olds fell by 30 percent, 

according to the car-buying website 

Edmunds.com. There has also been a 

decline in the number of young 

Ameri cans getting driver’s licenses. 

It was different back in the 1980s, 

when Mary Barra was a young car 

enthusiast. But by emphasizing the 

electronics that attract young consumers, 

Barra hopes to get more of 

them to buy GM’s new machines. It 

won’t be easy, but then Barra knows 

all about hard work. nBS 

Margaret Davis is the editor of the 

Careers and Global Business sections 

of Business Spotlight. Contact: 

m.davis@ spotlight-verlag.de 

3/2014 


GLOBAL BUSINESS HEAD-TO-HEAD 

Have marketers become spies? 

Spione bespitzeln Regierungen, Marketingexperten trachten nach Verbraucherdaten. 

Aber macht sie das zu Spionen? VICKI SUSSENS präsentiert zwei Meinungen. advanced 

Yes! 

“Marketers put the 

US government’s 

spies to shame” 

Jonathan Salem Baskin 

We marketers have always 

been spies, only bad ones. 

Now, we have the technology 

to know everything we 

ever wanted to know about our customers. 

We can track their every 

move, online or off, and use that 

knowledge to control the information 

they receive. We put the US government’s 

spies to shame, and we’re very 

proud of our newly found powers. 

We fool ourselves into thinking 

consumers have asked us to spy on 

them. They may want meaningful 

content on demand (they always 

have), but we’ve never told them 

what they must give up for that. 

Do we marketers really think our 

neighbours or family know how 

closely they’re being watched, or just 

how that monitoring changes what 

they actually see online? 

Of course not, and we are fooling 

ourselves when we claim that customers 

support this scrutiny because 

they click “I approve” buttons. They 

do so because it is easier than reading 

the privacy mouseprint. 

We are experts at making sure that 

consumers understand the details of 

how a deodorant works, but we see 

to it that they stay uninformed about 

how their personal data is gathered 

and used. 

Worse, most company policies on 

how consumer data will be used are 

vague, meaning that there’s no limit 

to what we might do once a new 

technology becomes available. 

We marketers are continually extending 

our reach into consumers’ 

lives through new tools like location 

tracking, machine learning and predictive 

search. We want the world to 

trust us that we’ll track them fairly, 

but we control the right to decide 

what “fair” means. 

Just wait until consumers decide 

they don’t like what we say it means. 

Consumers’ reactions could make responses 

to the US spying scandal 

seem mild. They could reject not only 

our technology but also the brands 

we are pushing using that technology. 

Other markets have done just fine 

with regulations. Certification re- 

quirements create trustworthy markets 

for health, law and other professional 

services. 

Consumers’ personal data should 

not be a resource for marketers to 

harvest and exploit. In the data marketplace, 

consumers are a major participant 

group — one that has been 

denied information, protection and, 

thereby, full freedom of choice. 

We need the government to provide 

the regulatory framework so that it 

can function fairly. This will not only 

save marketers from themselves, but 

perhaps also save us from our customers’ 

wrath. 

Jonathan Salem Baskin is a brand and reputation 

expert based in the US. His eighth book, The End 

of Anonymity, will be published this year. 

brand [brÄnd] 

Marke 

deny sb. sth. [di(naI] jmdm. etw. verweigern 

exploit sth. [Ik)splOIt] sich etw. zunutze 

machen 

harvest sth. [(hA:vIst] etw. ernten; hier: 

ausschöpfen 

location tracking Standortverfolgung 

[lEU(keIS&n )trÄkIN] 

marketer [(mA:kItE] Marketingfachkraft 

monitoring 

Überwachung, 

[(mQnItErIN] 

Abhören 

mouseprint 

Kleingedrucktes 

[(maUsprInt] ifml. 

predictive search vorausschauendes 

[pri)dIktIv (s§:tS] Suchen 

privacy [(prIvEsi] Datenschutz 

regulatory framework Regelwerk; hier: 

[regju)leItEri (freImw§:k] rechtlicher Rahmen 

reject sth. [ri(dZekt] etw. ablehnen 

scrutiny [(skru:tIni] Überprüfung; hier: 

Kontrolle 

shame: put sb. to ~ jmdn. beschämen 

[SeIm] 

spy (on sb.) [spaI] Spion(in); jmdn. 

bespitzeln 

track sth. [trÄk] etw. (nach)verfolgen 

wrath [rQT] 

Zorn 


iStock 

No! 

“Power rests in 

the hands of 

the consumer” 

Mike Hemmings 

liver something useful for the end 

user so they want to react to it. 

There are now more incentives to 

use this data in a positive way than 

ever before. The latest EU privacy 

laws and directives help guide the 

ethical use of data. But consumers 

have powers themselves. They can 

stop buying from a firm they feel is 

misusing their data. 

Our firm, Amscreen, uses face 

detection software in advertising 

screens. While on the surface, this 

might seem like Big Brother, in reality, 

this type of software does not recognize 

individuals or record data. It 

simply identifies age and sex, and 

then groups this insight to provide 

trends about what kinds of consumers 

are likely to go into the store. 

This allows for more relevant content 

on the screen. It also provides a 

far clearer idea of the type of person 

seeing the ad, as well as where and 

This is my life: is it OK that marketers sell this information? 

As 21st-century consumers, we 

are all aware that every step 

we take leaves some form of 

digital signature, providing 

opportunities for data owners to use 

this insight in many different ways. 

The simple fact is that the digital 

world is part of our lives, and its 

benefits are unquestionable. Some of 

these are more obvious — our grocery 

shopping history allows supermarkets 

to send us relevant offers 

and promotions. But there are less 

visible, even more important uses, 

such as being able to identify traffic 

jams, based on the density of GPSactivated 

mobile phones. 

So, can we really call the collection 

and use of data to provide relevant 

content for consumers “spying”? No, 

spying does not provide a mutual 

benefit for both parties, as it does for 

advertisers and consumers. For digital 

advertising to be effective, it must dewhen. 

We cannot and would not 

identify or track individuals. 

Mobile and online advertisers work 

similarly. They also group individuals 

based on habits, demographics and so 

on, which ensures anonymity. 

While technology evolves, the “spying” 

debate will continue, but in the 

end, the power rests in the hands of 

the consumer. If data owners keep using 

the insights they gain to improve 

and enrich our lives, as they currently 

do, the majority of people will 

continue to welcome digital advertising 

in all its forms. 

■BS 

Mike Hemmings is the international marketing director 

for Amscreen, a UK outdoor advertising 

screen business, which does business in the UK 

and across Europe. 

advertising screen Werbebildschirm, 

[(ÄdvEtaIzIN skri:n] -display 

allow sth. [E(laU] hier: etw. ermöglichen 

density [(densEti] Dichte; hier: 

Konzentration 

enrich sth. [In(rItS] etw. bereichern 

ensure sth. [In(SO:] etw. gewährleisten 

evolve [i(vQlv] 

sich entwickeln 

face detection 

Gesichtserkennung 

[(feIs di)tekS&n] 

grocery shopping history Lebensmittel- 

[(grEUsEri )SQpIN )hIstri] bestellhistorie 

incentive [In(sentIv] Anreiz 

insight [(InsaIt] Einblick(e); auch: 

Wissen 

mutual [(mju:tSuEl] wechsel-, beiderseitig 

traffic jam 

Verkehrsstau 

[(trÄfIk dZÄm] 

visible [(vIzEb&l] erkennbar 

3/2014 

Listen to more views on this topic on Business Spotlight Audio 


Choosing your words 

Was hilft alles Reden, wenn Ihnen niemand richtig zuhört? Im zweiten Teil unserer Serie gibt 

Ihnen BOB DIGNEN nützliche Tipps, wie Sie sich die Aufmerksamkeit Ihrer Gesprächspartner 

sichern und das, was Sie zu sagen haben, verständlich vermitteln. 

medium 

SERIES Part Two

Corbis 

SPEAKING BUSINESS SKILLS 

This article is the second part of our special skills series. In 

each article, Bob Dignen provides ten top tips for a key area of 

business communication — and each time, a training plan (see 

p. 33) is included, so that you can structure your learning. In 

Part One (Business Spotlight 2/2014): tips for improving your 

listening skills. 

In our last article, we examined the 

principles of effective listening. 

This time, we will be looking at the 

other side of the communication 

coin: effective speaking. If you are 

unable to express yourself in the right 

way, it will be a struggle for others to 

listen to you and you will not communicate 

your message optimally. 

In this article, we provide ten key 

ideas for effective speaking to help 

you to get your messages across clearly 

and with impact. 

TIP 1 Create safety and credibility 

The first point to consider is a psychological 

one. If you want your listeners 

to be open to your message, 

you need to create a sense of safety 

and credibility. Don’t pose a threat to 

your listeners, or they are likely to 

become defensive. And if you do not 

appear to have credibility, your message 

may be regarded as worthless. 

Here are some methods you can use: 

Show respect for the listener: 

n I heard you’ve been very successful 

with the project. 

Mention your contacts: 

n I think you know John, who works in 

Rome. 

Refer to your status in the organization 

to add authority: 

n I report directly to… 

Talk about your track record: 

n I worked with Pia on another project. 

Emphasize your analytical skills: 

n I’ve studied this matter in great 

detail and… 

Speakers who are articulate, confident 

and polite generally have more 

credibility. Different people will define 

and respond to each of these qualities 

in slightly different ways, of course. 

But if you are seen as being hesitant, 

impolite or lacking in confidence (or 

indeed overconfident!), you will find 

it hard to keep the attention of your4 

articulate [A:(tIkjUlEt] fähig, sich klar 

auszudrücken 

become defensive eine Abwehrhal- 

[bi)kVm di(fensIv] tung einnehmen 

coin [kOIn] 

hier: Medaille 

confident [(kQnfIdEnt] selbstbewusst 

credibility [)kredE(bIlEti] Glaubwürdigkeit 

emphasize sth. [(emfEsaIz] etw. betonen 

get one’s message across (s)eine Botschaft 

[)get wVnz (mesIdZ E)krQs] rüberbringen 

hesitant [(hezItEnt] unschlüssig, 

unsicher 

impact [(ImpÄkt] Wirkung 

lacking in... 

etwa: mit man- 

[(lÄkIN In] gelndem ... 

pose a threat 

bedrohlich wirken 

[)pEUz E (Tret] 

report to sb. 

jmdm. unterstellt 

[ri(pO:t tu] 

sein 

track record 

Erfolgsbilanz 

[(trÄk )rekO:d] 

Every time you speak, ask 

yourself why anyone should listen 

to what you are saying 

Clear speaking: 

an essential skill 


BUSINESS SKILLS SPEAKING 

Photodisc 

Adapt to your listeners: which style do they prefer? 

listeners. So remember: every time 

you speak, ask yourself why anyone 

should listen to what you are saying. 

TIP 2 Think about your purpose 

There are two main types of purpose: 

those that the speaker makes clear to 

the listener and those that remain 

hidden. One can debate, both from 

an ethical and a cultural standpoint, 

whether a direct, open style is better 

than indirect communication. Both 

styles can be effective in different contexts. 

But whichever style you use, it 

is important to have a clear purpose 

and to show that you have thought 

about the needs of your listeners. This 

will make it easier for others to rehighlight 

sth. [(haIlaIt] 

in charge of: be ~ sth. 

[)In (tSA:dZ Qv] 

in tune: be ~ with sth. 

[In (tju:n] 

linking [(lINkIN] 

personnel [)p§:sE(nel] 

phrase [freIz] 

sequencer [(si:kwEnsE] 

topic [(tQpIk] 

etw. hervorheben 

für etw. verantwortlich 

sein 

mit etw. in Einklang 

stehen 

anknüpfend 

Personal 

Ausdruck, 

Formulierung 

Gliederungssignal 

Thema; auch: thematisch 

spond to you. Here are some ways of 

doing this: 

Highlight your positive intention: 

n In case you need help, I can… 

Highlight the relevance of your message 

to the listener: 

n The reasons I’m saying this is because 

you’re in charge of… 

Highlight the benefits of your message 

to the listener: 

n If we agree, then you will be able to… 

TIP 3 Structure your message 

Think about what type of information 

you need to communicate — and 

how much of it. Certain phrases can 

help you to express your message in 

a short and simple way: 

n The main point is… 

n What I’m saying is… 

“Sequencers” can also help listeners 

to follow your message and analysis: 

n First(ly),… Second(ly),… Third(ly), 

... And finally,… 

It is also important to use “linking” 

words and phrases to combine your 

thoughts in clear, structured ways: 

n However, we also need to… 

n That brings me to… 

n Despite this, I believe… 

Finally, saying things twice — maybe 

in different ways — can be helpful for 

listeners, particularly those whose 

English is not at a high level. 

Remember the four “Ss”: short, 

simple, structured, said twice. 

TIP 4 Adapt to your listeners 

In order to be heard and understood, 

you need to be in tune with the motivations, 

concerns and preferences of 

your listeners. First, you need to connect 

at the topic level — for example, 

being able to talk about finance, production 

or personnel matters when 

necessary. But effective speakers also 

adapt their style to that of their listeners: 

giving more details to those 

who like them; communicating creatively 

with listeners who are more 

innovative; or debating ideas forcefully 

with those who like such discussions. 

Speaking a “common language” 

in this way helps to build 

communication bridges. 


iStock 

To develop self-awareness, 

video yourself during a discussion 

or presentation 

It can also help to use the same 

words and phrases as the people you 

are speaking to. Look at how John integrates 

Jackie’s own language into 

what he says: 

John: So, Jackie what do you think we 

should do? 

Jackie: I really think we need to reduce 

our production costs. If revenue 

keeps falling, we can protect profits 

this way. 

John: I agree that costs are the key. 

And, yes, that would certainly help us 

to protect our profits. 

Using someone else’s language like 

this can be very motivating for the listener. 

But if you do this clumsily or 

too often, it could be seen as unnatural 

and manipulative. 

TIP 5 Spice up your speech 

One risk for second-language speakers, 

even those at a high level of English, 

is that their speech can focus 

too much on facts, narrated in a 

somewhat dry manner. To increase 

the engagement of your listeners, try 

to spice up your speech by using diffe - 

rent methods. Here are a few: 

Overstatement 

n I think this would be a complete disaster. 

(I think it’s a mistake.) 

Humour 

n Not bad for a couple of days’ work. 

(We worked very hard on this.) 

Rhetorical questions 

n Can we avoid doing this? Clearly not! 

(We need to do this.) 

Idiomatic language 

n There’s light at the end of 

the sales tunnel. (Sales 

are rising again.) 

Think beyond TIP 

TIP 6 words 

The most important tool 

for any speaker is their 

voice. Here are some important 

aspects to think 

about in relation to your 

own voice: 

How fast are you? 

Some listeners see fast 

speakers as engaging and 

convincing. On the other hand, some 

listeners are confused by rapid speech 

and quickly become nervous. 

How loud are you? 

Some listeners think loud speakers are 

insensitive and arrogant. Others find 

quieter speakers timid and insecure. 

What is your tone? 

Some listeners think a harsh tone 

demonstrates good leadership qualities. 

On the other hand, some listeners 

regard soft tones as showing 

strength and an ability to listen. 

What is your pitch? 

Some listeners find steady, low tones 

boring. Others think that high tones 

sound immature. 

There are also many non-verbal 

aspects of communication (see also 

Business Spotlight 1/2012), including 

Body language: how do people see you? 

your appearance and body language. 

To develop greater self-awareness, 

ask a colleague to make a video of 

you during a discussion or presentation. 

Then watch the video and note 

what you think you do well and what 

needs to be improved. Focus on these 

three main areas: 

clumsily [(klVmsIli] ungeschickt 

engagement 

Einbindung, 

[In(geIdZmEnt] Einbeziehung 

engaging [In(geIdZIN] (für sich) gewinnend 

harsh [hA:S] 

rau, streng 

immature [)ImE(tjUE] unreif 

insensitive 

unsensibel, wenig 

[In(sensEtIv] 

einfühlsam 

narrate sth. [nE(reIt] etw. erzählen 

overstatement 

übertriebene 

[)EUvE(steItmEnt] Darstellung 

pitch [pItS] 

Tonhöhe, Stimmlage 

rapid [(rÄpId] 

schnell 

revenue [(revEnju:] Einnahmen 

sales [seI&lz] 

Absatz, Umsatz 

spice sth. up [)spaIs (Vp] etw. aufpeppen 

steady [(stedi] 

gleichbleibend 

timid [(tImId] 

schüchtern 

4 

3/2014 


BUSINESS SKILLS SPEAKING 

Wavebreak Media 

■ Posture: how you stand, sit, face 

others, hold your hands, etc. 

■ Facial expressions: smiling, frowning, 

mouth open, eye contact, etc. 

■ Gestures: pointing, hand open or 

closed, scratching one’s head, etc. 

TIP 7 Watch your impact 

One of the key things you need to do 

as a speaker is not speak! You need to 

watch your listeners closely to check 

their levels of engagement and understanding. 

If you are saying the wrong 

thing in the wrong way, you should 

be able to see levels of disinterest or 

confusion in their body language — 

for example, through loss of eye contact 

or folding of arms. Be careful, 

however: listening styles vary so 

much across cultures — for example, 

in the use of silence — that it is impossible 

to give universal rules. But if 

people stop commenting or asking 

questions, this may be a sign that they 

are no longer listening to you. At that 

point, think about whether you 

should change the topic, ask more 

questions yourself or even end the 

conversation. 

TIP 8 Check for understanding 

The Irish playwright George Bernard 

Shaw once said that the “single 

biggest problem in communication 

is the illusion that it has taken 

place”. 

In other words, many people will 

not understand what you say, but 

you won’t realize it. Or they will 

conclude sth. [kEn(klu:d] etw. folgern 

confirm sth. [kEn(f§:m] etw. bestätigen 

facial [(feIS&l] 

Gesichtsfrown 

[fraUn] 

die Stirn runzeln 

fruitless [(fru:tlEs] vergeblich, erfolglos 

gesture [(dZestSE] Geste 

playwright [(pleIraIt] Dramatiker(in) 

posture [(pQstSE] Körperhaltung 

scratch sth. 

(sich) an etw. 

[skrÄtS] 

kratzen 

smart [smA:t] 

schlau, klug 

think, wrongly, that they did understand 

you. 

To avoid these problems, you need 

to check regularly with your listeners, 

using phrases such as these, which 

can help to create common understanding: 

■ What do you think about this? 

■ Do you see what I mean? 

■ Maybe I’m wrong here. How do you 

see it? 

Although these are simple phrases, 

too few speakers use them to check 

understanding. But they are essential 

if you wish to confirm that listeners 

understand your messages. 

TIP 9 Don’t say it all at once 

Patience is an important attribute for 

a speaker. We often want to tell others 

everything at once: what we are 

thinking, have thought in the past 

and have concluded about a topic. 

This is a particular danger in decision-making 

situations, where we 

want to explain fully why we have the 

best idea. 

In reality, we often overestimate 

the capability of others to listen — 

and waste both their time and ours in 

fruitless speaking. Smart speakers 

speak little but often, coming back to 

the same topic later on (in the same 

meeting or in the next one). They add 

more detail until the listener gets the 

message as the speaker intended it. 

Simple phrases such as these can 

help you to do this: 

Loss of interest? Watch your impact 

■ Let’s leave that there for the moment. 

■ Maybe we should move on. 

■ Oh, another thing I wanted to say before 

I forget,… 

TIP 10 Start listening 

The most effective speakers know 

when to speak and when to listen. 

The art of speaking well depends on 

being able to listen, stop talking and 

give others space and priority. Unless 

you show good listening skills yourself, 

others are unlikely to listen to 

you. And as speakers, we often get 

the listeners that we create ourselves. 

So if someone isn’t listening to you, 

that probably tells you more about 

your capability as a speaker than 

about theirs as a listener. ■BS 

In the next issue 

In Part Three of our special series, 

Bob Dignen will provide ten top tips 

for improving your writing skills. 

Do an exercise on this topic on 


plus You can find related exercises in 


www Watch our “Business with Bob” series 

of videos for more tips on how to 

improve your communication skills: 

www.business-spotlight.de/videos/bob 

Bob Dignen is a director of York Associates 

(www.york-associates.co.uk), 

and author of many books. Contact: 

bob.dignen@york-associates.co.uk 


TRAINING PLAN 

BUSINESS SKILLS 

In this training plan, you will find suggestions on how to structure your learning to improve your speaking skills. 

We have divided the activities into five weekly blocks, each of which includes an exercise and two tasks based on 

Bob Dignen’s ten top tips. You can adapt the timing of the plan to suit your own schedule. 

Week Exercise Tasks Done 

WEEK 1 

Exercise: Read the article on 

pages 28–32, paying particular 

attention to the first two tips. Make 

a note of any unfamiliar words and 

create a list of useful phrases. 

n 

Task 1: In your conversations at work, try to communicate respect for your 

listeners; for example, by talking about their recent successes or showing 

appreciation for their support. Watch how they react. Do they become more 

open towards you? 

Task 2: When making your next proposal in a meeting, explain how your 

suggestion can help the other participants. 

n 

n 

WEEK 2 

Exercise: Reread the third and 

fourth tips on pages 30–31. 

plus Then do the language exercises 

in Business Spotlight plus 

(pp. 8–9). 

n 

Task 3: Structure your comments in meetings using the four “Ss”. Time how 

long you speak with a stopwatch. Limit your contributions to 60 seconds. 

See whether this helps you improve the clarity of your communication. 

Task 4: Meet your colleagues for a coffee break and discuss the outlook for 

your organization in the second half of 2014. As you exchange opinions, include 

words and phrases used by your colleagues in your comments. 

n 

n 

WEEK 3 

Exercise: Reread the fifth and 

sixth tips on pages 31–32. 

Do the exercises on listening 

on Business Spotlight Audio 

(tracks 6–10). n 

Task 5: In your next presentation, try to integrate each of the techniques 

mentioned in this article: overstatement, understatement, rhetorical questions 

and idiomatic language. Note how the audience responds. 

Task 6: Get some feedback from a trusted colleague on the following aspects 

of the way you use your voice: speed, volume, tone and pitch. Then 

record yourself during a presentation and view the video. Decide which aspects 

of your voice you would like to improve. 

n 

n 

WEEK 4 

Exercise: Reread the seventh and 

eighth tips on page 32. 

www Watch the three-minute 

video Getting started from the 

“Business with Bob” series at 

www.business-spotlight.de/speak 

n 

Task 7: Over the next week, choose a variety of situations, both at work and 

in your private life, to observe closely the people you are speaking to. How 

carefully are they listening to you? Try to identify what it is that you say or 

do that increases other people’s level of attention. 

Task 8: Ask these two questions regularly in your conversations: 

l What do you think? l Do you see what I mean? 

Observe your listeners. Are you getting your messages across clearly? 

n 

n 

iStock (2) 

WEEK 5 

Exercise: Reread the ninth and 

tenth tips on page 32. Make a note 

of the speaking strategies and 

phrases you have used successfully 

in the past few weeks. Write 

down some new things you could 

do to improve your speaking skills. 

n 

Task 9: In your next meeting — or other situation in which you want to persuade 

others of something — practise not saying everything at once. Instead, 

divide your contributions up into a number of shorter comments. Observe 

whether this method is more effective. 

Task 10: Observe how well others listen to you, and score them on a scale 

from one (low) to ten (high). Then observe and score how well you listen to 

others. Think about how you could encourage others to listen to you by becoming 

a better listener yourself. 

n 

n 

3/2014 


BUSINESS SKILLS TOOLBOX 

Monkey Business 

Answering questions 

In dieser Rubrik nutzt KEN TAYLOR seine internationalen 

Erfahrungen. Hier geht es um den Umgang mit Fragen, die 

während einer Präsentation gestellt werden. medium 

“Yes, a question 

from the back?” 

1. What do I say if I don’t understand a listener’s question? 

Don’t try to bluff your way through an answer if you are not 

sure you have understood the question. There are several 

techniques you could use in this situation: 

n Try to paraphrase what you think was asked: “So what you 

are asking is... Is that right?” 

n Ask the person to rephrase the question: “Sorry. I didn’t 

quite understand your question. Could you rephrase it for me, 

please?” 

n Ask for more information: “I’m not quite sure I understand. 

Could you tell me more?” 

n If a word or phrase is missing, ask a specific question:“Sorry. 

I didn’t catch the name. Whose report are you referring to?” 

n If none of these methods work, ask the audience for help: 

“I’m still not sure I’ve understood completely. Can anyone 

help me out here?” 

Credit 

2. What if I don’t know the answer? 

You do not have to answer a difficult question 

immediately. Here’s how to deal with it: 

n You can gain thinking time by asking the 

person to repeat or rephrase the question. 

n If you don’t know the answer, be honest 

and offer to find the answer. 

n Arrange to answer the question in a private 

discussion. Get agreement on this. 

n Questioners often want to show off their 

own knowledge. Say something like, “I’m 

not sure about this. What’s your experience?” 

n Ask the rest of the group. Usually, someone 

has some knowledge of the subject. 

n Answer the question later. Say, “Could I just 

leave that question for now? It’s rather complicated, 

so I’d like to come back to it at the 

end. Is that OK?” 

3. How do I keep control if there is conflict? 

If you think your presentation will be controversial, make it clear 

in your introduction that you will take questions and comments 

only at the end. Get the audience’s agreement on this and stick to 

it! This will give you time to develop your ideas without interruptions. 

Here are some tips for dealing with hostile questions: 

n Do not become emotional, angry or confrontational yourself. 

Stay calm. 

n Be firm in your replies — try not to sound hesitant. 

n Keep eye contact with the whole group during your answer. 

Looking only at the questioner encourages them to continue 

and can begin an uncontrollable dialogue. 

n If you are in real trouble, you can isolate a hostile questioner 

by turning away to the rest of the group, getting their approval 

for your answer and moving quickly on to the next point. 

n If the questioner persists, arrange for a private discussion later 

and get agreement on this. 

nBS 

Practise these skills on 


audience [(O:diEns] Zuhörer(innen) 

bluff one’s way through sich durch etw. 

sth. [)blVf wVnz hindurchmogeln 

)weI (Tru:] 

catch sth. [kÄtS] etw. verstehen 

confrontational provokativ 

[)kQnfrVn(teIS&nEl] 


eye contact 

Blickkontakt 

[(aI )kQntÄkt] 

firm [f§:m] 

bestimmt 

hesitant [(hezItEnt] unschlüssig 

hostile [(hQstaI&l] feindselig; hier: angriffslustig 

paraphrase sth. etw. umschreiben 

[(pÄrEfreIz] 

persist [pE(sIst] beharrlich bleiben 


Ausdruck, Formulierung 

rephrase sth. [)ri:(freIz] etw. umformulieren 

show sth. off [)SEU (Qf] mit etw. angeben 

Ken Taylor is a communication consultant 

and author of 50 Ways to Improve 

Your Business English (Summertown). 

Contact: KTaylor868@aol.com 


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Finding their own voice 

Kaum ein Land ist so multikulturell und sozial so unterschiedlich wie Brasilien. VICKI SUSSENS blickt 

auf die Menschen und die Wirtschaft des Gastlandes der Fußball-WM 2014, das trotz rückläufiger 

Wachstumsziffern für ausländische Firmen und Investoren nach wie vor attraktiv ist. 

medium 

36 www.business-spotlight.de

BRAZIL 

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 

4 

3/2014 

Here’s to victory: 

Brazilian football fans 

Mariana Ribeiro has a mission. 

The 36-year-old 

Brazilian from São Paulo 

plans to collect folk histories 

from the poorest 

areas of Brazil, where she will read 

them to audiences in libraries and 

schools, and later write about her experiences 

in a blog. She believes cultural 

education can play a key role in 

bridging the social gap in Brazil. 

The dark-eyed beauty recently returned 

home after a four-year stay in 

Europe, where she studied and 

worked in cultural management in 

Spain and Scotland. She took home a 

wealth of knowledge about how to 

run cultural projects — as well as 

contacts to European theatre, music 

and dance groups, which she now 

hopes to bring to Brazil. 

“I love projects that involve mixing 

cultures,” says the second-generation 

Brazilian, whose grandparents were 

Italian and Portuguese, and who lives 

in one of the most multicultural countries 

in the world. Indeed, São Paulo, 

which turned 460 this year, was built 

on the small cottage industries startaudience 

[(O:diEns] 

cottage industry 

[)kQtIdZ (IndEstri] 

folk history 

[(fEUk )hIstri] 

gap: bridge a ~ 

[gÄp] 

wealth [welT] 

Zuhörer(innen) 

Heimindustrie 

volkstümliche 

Überlieferung 

eine Kluft überbrücken 

hier: Fülle 

Alamy

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION BRAZIL 

Alamy 

Brazil: fast facts 

Traditional cowboys in the Pantanal wetlands 

Government: 

Federal republic 

Capital: 

Brasília 3.8 million (2011) 

Main urban areas: 

São Paulo 20 million; Rio de 

Janeiro 11.8 million (2011) 

President: 

Dilma Rousseff (since January 

2011) 

Population: 

201 million (July 2013) 

Main religion: 

Roman Catholic 73.6% (2000) 

Median age: 

30.3 years (2013 est.) 

GDP (at purchasing power parity): 

$2.4 trillion (2014 est.) 

GDP (real growth rate): 

2.0% (2014 est.) 

Unemployment: 

4.3% (December 2013) 

Inflation: 

5.7% (2014 est.) 

Main trading partners: 

China, US, Argentina, Netherlands, 

Germany, South Korea (2012) 

strongly after freeing itself from a 

21-year military dictatorship in 1988. 

With its legacy of political corruption 

and social inequality, it now sees itself 

as an ecosystem that must be carefully 

protected and managed for the 

good of all. The ruling Workers’ Party, 

in power since 2003, has put “social 

inclusion” at the centre of its poli- 

economic research Wirtschafts- 

[i:kE)nQmIk ri(s§:tS] forschung 

est. (estimate) [(estImEt] Schätzung 

forecast [(fO:kA:st] Prognose 

GDP (gross domestic BIP (Bruttoproduct) 

[)dZi: di: (pi:] inlandsprodukt) 

median age 

Durchschnitts- 

[)mi:diEn (eIdZ] 

alter 

purchasing power parity: at ~ kaufkraft- 

[)p§:tSEsIN )paUE (pÄrEti] bereinigt 

trillion [(trIljEn] 

Billion(en) 

Sources: CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html ); Brazilian Institute of Geography and Satistics; 

forecasts by Allianz Economic Research (7.2.2014) 

ed by immigrants from Portugal, 

Italy, Spain and Germany in the 19th 

and 20th centuries. Later, immigrants 

from Syria, Lebanon and Japan 

added to the melting pot. Now they 

are being joined by Spaniards and 

Portuguese fleeing the eurocrisis. 

“Our rich European, American Indian 

and African heritage has allowed 

us to produce many things unique to 

Brazil,” says Ribeiro (see interview 

p. 40). These include the samba, 

bossa nova and other exciting sounds, 

which she says “gives us our soul”. 

In many aspects of life, Brazil has 

developed its own voice. This may be 

because it is the only Portuguesespeaking 

country in South America, 

says Cristiano Zen, a Brazilian business 

consultant in Munich, who helps 

German and Swiss firms do business 

in Brazil. “Although Brazil has ten 

neighbours, it didn’t have language or 

cultural ties to the rest of Latin America,” 

he explains. “Nor were its ties to 

Portugal as strong as those of British 

colonies to the British Empire.” 

Brazil is certainly an island of creative 

energy, one that has grown 

heritage [(herItIdZ] Erbe 

legacy [(legEsi] Vermächtnis; hier: 

Geschichte 

melting pot [(meltIN pQt] Schmelztiegel 

tie [taI] 

Verbindung 

unique [ju(ni:k] einzigartig 


Alamy/Mauritius Images 

Doing the samba: Brazilians dancing to a live band 

Serious by day: Brazil’s business centre, São Paulo 

laif 

Brazil’s economy contracted in the 

third quarter of 2013, and just avoided 

entering a recession in the fourth 

quarter. With financial investors withdrawing 

from emerging markets, the 

Brazilian real losing value, inflation 

rising and commodity prices falling, 

GDP growth is not expected to rise 

much above two per cent in 2014. 

Alamy 

Brazil sees itself as an ecosystem that must 

be carefully protected and managed 

cies, committing itself to reducing inequality 

and giving citizens a voice in 

that process. Brazilians now keep a 

sharp eye on the government to make 

sure it sticks to its promises. This explains 

the protests against the World 

Cup, which kicks off on 12 June. 

While Brazilians have won the cup 

five times and are football-mad, thousands 

of citizens felt that the huge 

sums spent on the event should have 

gone into education and health care. 

Learning for life: Xingu Indian children at school 

At the same time, President Rousseff 

faces accusations of protectionism, 

because of high barriers to trade 

aimed at protecting local jobs and 

businesses. 

These accusations have become 

louder as Brazil’s economy appears to 

have had a voo de galinha, or “chicken-flight” 

growth — a reference to 

Brazil’s tendency to enjoy high 

growth spurts followed by a rough 

landing. 

But the jury is out as to whether the 

chicken has landed. Forty economists 

surveyed by Reuters in December 

2013 said they believed the economy 

accusation 

Vorwurf, 

[)Äkju(zeIS&n] 

Anschuldigung 

barrier to trade 

Handelsschranke 

[)bÄriE tE (treId] 

commodity price Rohstoffpreis 

[kE(mQdEti praIs] 

contract [kEn(trÄkt] schrumpfen 

emerging market Schwellenland 

[i)m§:dZIN (mA:kIt] 

face sth. [feIs] 

mit etw. konfrontiert 

werden 

GDP (gross domestic BIP (Bruttoproduct) 

[)dZi: di: (pi:] inlandsprodukt) 

growth spurt [(grEUT sp§:t] Wachstumsschub 

health care [(helT keE] Gesundheitswesen 

jury: the ~ is out es ist noch nicht 

[(dZUEri] 

entschieden 

kick off [)kIk (Qf] beginnen 

quarter [(kwO:tE] Quartal 

real [reI(Aːl] 

Real (Währung) 

rough landing 

harte Landung 

[)rVf (lÄndIN] 

sharp eye: keep a ~ jmdn. genau 

on sb. [SA:p (aI] 

beobachten 

survey sb. [(s§:veI] jmdn. befragen 

4 

3/2014 



Two views on five Brazilian stereotypes 

Stereotype 1: Brazilians can’t say “no”. 

Weishut: Brazilians will often say “yes” 

or “sure”, but if you look in their eyes, 

they mean: “Well, we’ll see.” This often 

turns out to be a “no”. Foreigners 

think they’ve got an agreement but 

then nothing happens. So you have to 

be very sure you’ve understood your 

business partner properly. 

Ribeiro: I confirm 

every agreement in 

an email and ask 

for a confirmation. 

Sometimes at work, 

“An opportunity to earn 

money isn’t enough of an 

incentive for a Brazilian to 

work with you” 

Ruben Weishut, Dutch owner of 

Weishut Management, in Rio de 

Janeiro, which helps foreigners 

develop businesses in Brazil 

if you give someone a job, they may say 

they’ll do it even if they don’t know 

how. So you have to keep checking 

that they know what to do. 

Stereotype 2: You have to chase Brazilians 

up to get things done. 

Weishut: Brazilians are very enthusiastic, 

so people come here on a trade 

mission and leave feeling very enthusiastic. 

They return and meet potential 

clients and partners, who all seem positive, 

but then nothing seems to move. 

In Brazil, it is polite to be positive, but 

if Brazilians don’t hear from or see 

their foreign business partners, nothing 

will happen. You cannot do business 

here without active input. 

Ribeiro: I don’t think our productivity 

is optimal. It’s not as if Brazil doesn’t 

function well, otherwise we wouldn’t 

be one of the richest countries in the 

world. We just work in a different way. 

But I do find it annoying that a job can 

go months over an agreed date. I usually 

give a shorter deadline. 

Stereotype 3: Brazilians are sensitive. 

Weishut: It is not acceptable to confront 

a Brazilian. You will lose their cooperation 

if you do. So you have to be 

friendly and firm at the same time. 

Ribeiro: Brazilians really like to please 

people, but they also want affection. 

That is why people think we are sexy. 

We are not aware of this. We are just 

always trying to find recognition. So 

never yell at a Brazilian, or be too direct. 

Criticize gently but firmly. 

Stereotype 4: Brazilians have no sense 

of time. 

Weishut: It’s better to accept that 

things may not be done quickly. Sometimes, 

there is even sense in what 

seems inefficient. A business lunch can 

take two hours, with only 15 minutes 

spent on work. But because personal 

relationships are so important, those 

15 minutes will be far more valuable 

than a 15-minute telephone call. 

Ribeiro: We have a different sense of 

time. It’s not wrong and it certainly 

doesn’t prevent people from working. 

Brazilians respect people who work 

hard. We’re not afraid to work long 

hours. If you go into a shop just before 

it closes, they’ll keep it open for as 

long as you need — and keep on smiling. 

We really offer the best customer 

service. 

Credit 

“If you have empathy like 

us, then you will be 

successful in Brazil” 

Mariana Ribeiro, Brazilian cultural 

manager and journalist in São Paulo 

Stereotype 5: Brazilians put people 

relations above all else. 

Weishut: An opportunity to earn money 

isn’t enough of an incentive for a 

Brazilian to work with you. For an 

economist like me, this seems to be 

a strange attitude to competition. 

Brazilians first need to like you and 

want to spend time with you. But if 

they like you, they are very loyal. They 

won’t drop you for a company that 

charges less. 

Ribeiro: If you have empathy like us, 

then you will be successful in Brazil. 

affection [E(fekS&n] 

annoying [E(nOIIN] 

chase sb. up 

[)tSeIs (Vp] 

competition 

[)kQmpE(tIS&n] 

confirm sth. [kEn(f§:m] 

confirmation 

[)kQnfE(meIS&n] 

confront sb. 

[kEn(frVnt] 

drop sb. [drQp] 

empathy [(empETi] 

incentive [In(sentIv] 

input [(InpUt] 

sensitive [(sensEtIv] 

trade mission 

[(treId )mIS&n] 

work long hours 

[w§:k )lQN (aUEz] 

yell at sb. [(jel æt] 

Zuneigung 

ärgerlich, nervig 

jmdm. Dampf 

machen 

Wettbewerb 

etw. bestätigen 

Bestätigung 

jmdn. (mit einem 

Problem) direkt 

konfrontieren 

jmdn. fallen 

lassen 

Einfühlungsvermögen 

Anreiz 

Beitrag; hier: 

Einsatz 

hier: empfindlich 

Handelsmission, 

-delegation 

lange arbeiten, 

Überstunden 

machen 

jmdn. anschreien 

iStock 


iStock 

Rich and poor: 

favelas in São Paulo 

“Doing business in Brazil is not easy, 

it is not cheap and it is not quick money” 

Ruben Weishut, Dutch business consultant in Rio de Janeiro 

would pick up speed again. The 

World Bank also writes in its online 

review of countries that Brazil’s overall, 

macroeconomic framework is solid 

and sustainable in the medium 

term, that its banking system is 

resilient and that its strong domestic 

credited: sb. is ~ with jmdm. wird etw. 

sth. [(kredItId] zugeschrieben 

domestic consumption Inlandsverbrauch 

[dE)mestIk kEn(sVmpS&n] 

domestic market Binnenmarkt 

[dE)mestIk (mA:kIt] 

emerge from sth. aus etw. hervor- 

[i(m§:dZ frQm] gehen 

ensure sth. [In(SO:] etw. sicherstellen 

family allowance Familienbeihilfe 

[)fÄmli E(laUEns] 

framework 

grundlegende 

[(freImw§:k] 

Struktur 

maintain sth. [meIn(teIn] etw. aufrechterhalten 

medium term: in the ~ mittelfristig 

[)mi:diEm (t§:m] 

overall [)EUvEr(O:l Gesamtper 

capita [pE (kÄpItE] pro Kopf 

pick up speed 

Fahrt aufnehmen 

[)pIk Vp (spi:d] 

resilient [ri(zIliEnt] widerstandsfähig 

review [ri(vju:] Beurteilung 

sustainable [sE(steInEb&l] trag-, zukunftsfähig 

vaccinate sb. [(vÄksIneIt] jmdn. impfen 

vulnerable [(vVlnErEb&l] anfällig 

well fed [wel (fed] ausreichend ernährt 

market has become less vulnerable to 

external crisis. 

Brazil, which has a population of 

more than 200 million, is the seventhlargest 

economy in the world, the 

strongest in Latin America and, after 

China, the second-most-important in 

the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and 

China) group. In December 2013, unemployment 

was a record 4.3 per 

cent, down from 8.7 per cent in 2001. 

Brazil also emerged from the financial 

crisis of 2008 stronger than 

before because of healthy domestic 

consumption, its large international 

reserves and effective action taken 

during the crisis to maintain liquidity 

in the banking system. In 2010, while 

most of the world sank into depression, 

Brazil’s GDP growth rate was 

7.5 per cent — its highest in 25 years. 

Income is growing fastest among 

the poor. Between 2002 and 2012, 

GDP per capita grew 6.4 per cent for 

the 20 per cent poorest Brazilians 

compared to only 2.5 per cent for the 

Lessons from Brazilian 

executives 

Brazilian executives are in demand 

at home and in more developed 

markets, according to a report by Boyden 

World Corporation, a global executive-search 

firm. It says Brazilian 

managers are valued for their ability to 

deal with complex environments and 

work under extraordinary economic 

circumstances. This gives them the experience, 

adaptability and flexibility 

their more protected European and US 

colleagues do not have. 

The report, which included interviews 

with heads of multinationals in 

Brazil, advises foreign firms working in 

Brazil to employ local executives because 

they have their own networks 

and understand the Brazilian culture. 

In particular, they understand the need 

to create a “home away from home” 

for employees. 

Source: www.boyden.com/media/3989/44/ 

the_boyden_report_brazil/index.html 

adaptability 

[E)dÄptE(bIlEti] 

circumstances 

[(s§:kEmstÄnsIz] 

demand: be in ~ [di(mA:nd] 

environment 

[In(vaI&rEnmEnt] 

executive [Ig(zekjUtIv] 

executive search 

[Ig)zekjUtIv (s§:tS] 

network [(netw§:k] 

Anpassungsfähigkeit 

Umstände 

gefragt sein 

Umfeld 

Führungskraft 

Vermittlung von 

Führungskräften 

Netzwerk 

20 per cent richest. About 25 million 

Brazilians have joined the middle 

classes. This success is mostly credited 

to former president Luiz Inácio Lula 

da Silva’s Bolsa Família (“family 

allowance”) programme. Introduced 

when he came to power in 2003, it 

provides cash benefits to Brazil’s 

poorest families in return for ensuring 

that their children are vaccinated, 

well fed and attend school. 

4 

3/2014 



A good future: Brazil has low 

youth unemployment 

Good to know 

“I’ve seen many business deals fail 

because of intercultural problems” 

Cristiano Zen, owner of the business consultancy Brazil, Land of the 

Future, located in Munich 

Luck has also been kind to the Latin 

American giant. In 2006, Brazil’s oil 

and gas firm Petrobras made one of 

the world’s largest oil discoveries in 30 

years just off the coast of Rio de 

Janeiro, followed by an even bigger oil 

discovery close by in 2010. 

Brazil’s increasing energy independence, 

strong consumer demand, 

healthy job creation, decreasing income 

inequality and strong financial 

reserves are all signs of health missing 

in much of the developed world. 

Another sign of strength are the 

Brazilian firms starting to challenge 

challenge sb. 

jmdn. heraus- 

[(tSÄlIndZ] 

fordern 

decreasing [di(kri:sIN] geringer werdend 

endemic [en(demIk] allgemein verbreitet 

healthy [(helTi] hier: solide 

join the ranks of sb. zu jmdm. auf- 

[)dZOIn DE (rÄNks Qv] schließen 

off the coast 

vor der Küste 

[)Qf DE (kEUst] 

poverty line [(pQvEti laIn] Armutsgrenze 

Alamy 

n Spend time working on developing relationships. 

This will be key to success. 

n Respect Brazilians’ political sensitivities. 

Avoid topics such as social inequality 

and the destruction of rainforests. 

Don’t refer to the US as America, 

because Brazilians see themselves 

as part of the Americas. Don’t ever refer 

to Brazil as a third-world country. 

n Brazilians will often say “yes” or “we’ll 

see” when they mean “no”. 

n Brazilians are often informal. They might 

touch you on the back or arm, or kiss or 

hug you as a form of greeting. This isn’t 

a sign of special attention. However, be 

careful: there’s a fine line between friendliness 

and flirting. 

n Looking good at work is essential, with 

clothing reflecting one’s importance. 

n In Brazil, showing emotion is a sign of 

enthusiasm and not necessarily of anger 

or loss of control. 

n Brazilian businesses are strictly hierarchical 

but usually have complex webs of 

political alliances. So make sure you are 

dealing with a decision-maker. 

n Give people in teams time to build relationships. 

Managers are expected to manage, 

but importance is placed on fairness. 

Americas: the ~ 

[E(merIkEz] 

anger [(ÄNgE] 

fine line [)faIn (laIn] 

hierarchical 

[haI&(rA:kIk&l] 

hug sb. [hVg] 

sensitivity [)sensE(tIvEti] 

topic [(tQpIk] 

web [web] 

der amerikanische 

Kontinent 

Ärger 

schmaler Grat 

[wg. Aussprache] 

jmdn. umarmen 

Empfindlichkeit 

Thema 

Netz, Gefüge 

global businesses at home and internationally. 

The cosmetics firm Niely, 

for example, has overtaken L’Oréal 

and Wella, market leaders in Brazil 

for the past 50 years. And fashion 

weeks in São Paulo and Rio de 

Janeiro are starting to join the ranks 

of those in Milan, London and Paris. 

There is still work to do, however. 

About 20 per cent of the population 

still live below the poverty line. And 

although Bolsa Família has encouraged 

parents to send their children to 

school, feed them well and get them 

vaccinated, little has been done to 

improve education and health care. 

At the same time, political corruption 

is endemic, with Brazil currently 

experiencing its biggest corruption 

case ever. It concerns a vote-buying 

scandal that made the headlines in 

2005 and involved many of Lula’s 

cabinet (but not Lula himself). 

Yet, despite these problems, the 

current president, Dilma Rousseff, remains 

the favourite to win Brazil’s 

elections in October 2014. 

Foreign firms wanting a piece of 

Brazil’s growing consumer market, 

its healthy agriculture and energy industries, 

and large infrastructure projects 

discover there are conditions. 


Mauritius Images 


BOOKS 

Brazil: Culture Shock!, Volker Poelzl 

(Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company) 

Brazil: Culture Smart, Sandra Branco, 

Rob Williams (Kuperard) 

Brazil on the Rise, Larry Rohter (Palgrave 

Macmillan) 

WEBSITES 

Brazil, Land of the Future: 

www.brazil-future.de 

LIDE Business Leadership Group: 

www.lidedeutschland.com/deutsch 

This is typical of emerging economies, 

which often expect investors to help 

develop the markets they want to 

benefit from. Brazil has combined 

high import duties with tax incentives 

to encourage investors to manufacture 

their products locally, form partnerships 

with Brazilian firms and 

source supplies locally. The idea is to 

create jobs and transfer global technology 

and skills to Brazilians. 

BMW is currently taking advantage 

of incentives offered by the state of 

Santa Catarina to manufacturing and 

agricultural industries. The car firm 

will spend more than €200 million 

assemble sth. [E(semb&l] etw. montieren 

business consultant Unternehmens- 

[(bIznEs kEn)sVltEnt] berater(in) 

chief of sales 

Vertriebsleiter(in) 

[)tSi:f Ev (seI&lz] 

component [kEm(pEUnEnt] Bauteil 

corporate citizen Unternehmens- 

[)kO:pErEt (sItIzEn] bürger(in) 

distributor 

Vertriebs- 

[dI(strIbjUtE] 

händler(in) 

import duty [(ImpO:t )dju:ti] Einfuhrzoll 

manufacture sth. etw. herstellen 

[)mÄnju(fÄktSE] 

plant [plA:nt] 

Werk 

small and medium-sized kleine und mittelbusinesses 

[)smO:l En ständische 

)mi:diEm saIzd (bIznEsIz] Firmen 

source sth. [sO:s] etw. beschaffen 

tax incentive 

steuerlicher 

[(tÄks In)sentIv] Anreiz 

vehicle [(vi:Ik&l] 

Fahrzeug 

water treatment 

Wasserauf- 

[(wO:tE )tri:tmEnt] bereitung 

win-win 

für alle Parteien 

[)wIn (wIn] 

vorteilhaft 

Beach, football, sun: Brazilians enjoy their lives 

building its first Brazilian factory, in 

Araquari. In return, it will enjoy tax 

incentives to set up the plant, as well 

as lower import duties on vehicles. 

BMW expects to create 1,300 jobs 

when the plant opens in autumn 

2014. It will source components locally 

and run a training centre for employees. 

“We consider training to be 

an important way of bringing value 

to the region,” says BMW’s chief of 

sales and marketing, Ian Robertson. 

BMW has experience in other developing 

markets, such as South Africa, 

where it plays its part by, for example, 

supporting schools and kindergartens. 

“It’s all about being a good 

corporate citizen,” says Robertson. 

Many global giants have established 

themselves in the Brazilian market 

and are now being joined by small 

and medium-sized businesses. One 

of them is Ruben Weishut, a Dutch 

business consultant who moved to 

Rio de Janeiro four years ago with his 

half-Brazilian wife and their children. 

“We loved the country and wanted to 

be part of its economic success,” he 

says (see p. 40). 

Weishut helps North American and 

EU firms do business in Brazil and 

acts as a representative. “Doing business 

here is very difficult. It’s not 

cheap and it’s not quick money,” he 

says. “The biggest difficulties are bureaucratic 

and intercultural. If you accept 

these problems, there are lots of 

opportunities.” 

He recently helped a US watertreatment 

firm find a distributor in 

Brazil for Latin America. To reduce 

the costs of importing the full water 

treatment system, he found a local 

firm to assemble part of it in Brazil. 

“It was a win-win situation,” he says. 

Ruben Weishut and Cristiano Zen 

agree that it’s almost impossible for 

foreign firms to do business in Brazil 

without local help. Brazilians regard 

personal relationships as more important 

than a good business deal. 

“They want a good, long and harmonious 

relationship,” says Zen. 

“I’ve seen many business deals fail because 

of intercultural problems.” 

For Mariana Ribeiro, this is positive. 

“The best thing about Brazil is 

its people,” she says. “We have good 

social skills and care for others. I 

think many people around the world 

want to see more of these values in 

business today.” 

■BS 

Listen to an interview with Cristiano 

Zen on Business Spotlight Audio 

plus You’ll find a quiz on intercultural 

awareness in Business Spotlight plus 

www To read more on Brazil, go to 

www.business-spotlight.de/brazil 

Vicki Sussens is a feature writer and 

the editor of the Management section 


v.sussens@spotlight-verlag.de 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE VOCABULARY 

Playing golf 

In 

dieser Rubrik präsentieren wir nützliche Begriffe aus der 

Arbeitswelt. Von CAROL SCHEUNEMANN 

easy 

4 

5 

6 

3 

2 

21 

19 

16 

13 

12 

22 

20 

18 

17 

15 

14 

23 

11 

7 

8 

1 

1. golf course [(gQlf kO:s] Golfplatz 

2. golfer [(gQlfE] Golfspieler(in) 

3. tee off [)ti: (Qf] abschlagen 

tee shot [(ti: SQt] 

Abschlag 

4. golf swing [(gQlf swIN] Golfschwung, -schlag 

(golf) stroke [strEUk], shot (Golf-)Schlag 

5. golf club [(gQlf klVb] Golfschläger 

6. driver [(draIvE] Driver, Holz 1 

7. teeing ground [(ti:IN graUnd], Abschlagplatz 

tee box [(ti: bQks] 

8. golf ball [(gQlf bO:l] Golfball 

9. tee [ti:] Aufsatz, Tee 

10. divot [(dIvEt] Rasenloch 

11. golf trolley [(gQlf )trQli] Trolley 

12. putter [(pVtE] Putter 

13. wood [wUd] Holz 

14. iron [(aIEn] Eisen 

15. water hazard [(wO:tE )hÄzEd] Wasserhindernis 

16. golf cart [(gQlf kA:t] Golfmobil, -wagen 

17. (putting) green [((pVtIN) gri:n] Green 

18. hole [hEUl] Loch 

19. pin [pIn], flagstick [(flÄgstIk] Flaggenstock 

20. fairway [(feEweI] Fairway 

21. out of bounds [)aUt Ev (baUndz] Aus 

22. bunker [(bVNkE] (US also: Bunker, Sandgrube 

sand trap [(sÄnd trÄp]) 

23. rough [rVf] Rau 

10 

9 

Exercise: Tournament news 

Fill in the missing vowels to create words from the list. 

Some of the city’s best a) g_lf_rs met this week for a charity 

tournament at the Pebble Beach b) g_lf c_ _rse. To begin, 

Rex Smith chose a titanium c) dr_v_r, and he started 

with a clean, straight d) t_ _ sh_t of 290 yards. Once on 

the e) f_ _rw_y, still about 150 yards out, Smith chose a 

f) 7-_r_n. The g) g_lf b_ll flew over the h) w_t_r h_z_rd 

and landed at the edge of the i) gr_ _n. Smith sank it in two 

putts, completing the j) par-4 h_l_. John Rogers started 

with a nice drive, but the ball landed k) __t _f b__nds 

on his second shot. “Just a bad day, I guess,” Rogers said. 

He had to take a one-stroke penalty (Strafschlag). 

Answers on page 64 

Ken Raut 


GRAMMAR AT WORK 

LANGUAGE 

Talking about yourself 

In Vorstellungsgesprächen, im Berufsalltag, beim Small Talk: Das eigene Leben ist immer 

wieder Thema. ANNA HOCHSIEDER lenkt den Blick auf die relevante Grammatik. medium 

Justin has been invited to a job interview. Here are some of the things he 

tells his interviewers. 

Well, I was born in Delhi in 1986. My father’s a diplomat. I went to primary 

school in Nairobi and Rome, and then my parents sent me to boarding 

school in England. While I was studying for my school-leaving exams, 

my mother died. I dropped out of school for a while, but I returned the following 

year and finished school in 2005. 

I studied philosophy and politics, and I’ve been working in adult education 

ever since I finished university. I’m writing my PhD thesis at the moment. 

I’m going to hand it in next month. 

I love travelling — I guess it’s in my genes. I’ve travelled all over Asia, 

Africa and Europe. I’m fluent in Italian, and I also speak French. I used 

to speak Swahili, too, but it’s a bit rusty now. 

6. Use going to + infinitive to talk about 

future plans: 

■ I’m going to hand it in next month. 

7. Used to + infinitive refers to things 

that you did in the past, but don’t do 

any smore: 

■ I used to speak Swahili. ■BS 

Exercise 

Fill in each gap below with the correct 

form of the verb “work”. 

Explanations 

1. Use was born (not “am born”) to talk 

about your birth, and put place before 

time: 

■ I was born in Delhi in 1986. 

2. Use the past simple to talk about 

completed events, events that happened 

at definite times: 

■ I went to primary school in Nairobi. 

■ I finished school in 2005. 

The past simple is also used for events 

that happened one after the other: 

■ I went to primary school, and then 

my parents sent me to boarding 

school. 

3. Use the past continuous to talk 

about activities that were in progress 

around a certain time in the past: 

■ While I was studying for my schoolleaving 

exams… 

These activities are often interrupted by 

a more important event, which is referred 

to in the past simple: 

■ While I was studying for my schoolleaving 

exams, my mother died. 

4. Use the present perfect simple to 

talk about experiences up to now: 

■ I’ve travelled all over Asia and Europe. 

Use the present perfect continuous to 

emphasize that an activity that began 

in the past is still continuing: 

■ I’ve been working in adult education 

ever since graduating. 

5. Use the present continuous to talk 

about activities that are in progress at 

the time of speaking: 

■ I’m writing my PhD thesis at the moment. 

Use the present simple to talk about 

general facts: 

■ I also speak French. 

I a) _______________ in sales ever since 

I left school. I b) _______________ in 

several different positions. At the 

moment, I c) _______________ as the 

assistant manager of our flagship store. 

I’m 55 now, so I d) _______________ for 

another ten years before I retire. 

You’ll find a related exercise on 



plus Do more exercises on this topic in 


www More exercises can be found at 

www.business-spotlight.de/grammar 

Anna Hochsieder is a Munich-based 

teacher of English who writes regularly 

in Business Spotlight. Contact: 

a.hochsieder@googlemail.com 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE 

EASY ENGLISH 

Moodboard 

Wednesday at 11? 

Yes, that’s fine 

Making appointments 

Wie schafft man es, in einem mehr als vollen Terminkalender spontan noch Zeit für 

eine wichtige Besprechung unterzubringen? MIKE HOGAN liefert Ihnen Tipps und 

sprachliche Wendungen, wie sich Termine vereinbaren und ändern lassen. easy 

Strategies for appointments 

Most people have busier schedules at 

work today than they did in the past 

and can no longer be as spontaneous as 

they used to be. It is therefore often essential 

to schedule appointments for 

phone calls or meetings with colleagues 

or business partners. Here, we look at 

how to make and change appointments. 

Read the following telephone dialogue 

and email and think about the 

answers to these questions: 

n How does Carl explain why he wants 

to have the meeting? 

n How does Carl make sure that there 

is no misunderstanding about the 

time and place of the appointment? 

n Instead of cancelling the appointment, 

what options does Carl suggest 

in his email? 

Carl: Hi, Sandra. It’s Carl here. 

Sandra: Oh, hi, Carl. How are things going 

with you? 

Carl: Well, I’m having trouble with the 

next phase of the project. As you 

know, I’ve taken over from Suzanne, 

who’s left the company, and I’m a bit 

confused by some of the milestones 

in this phase. Do you think we could 

schedule a meeting to go through 

this? 

Sandra: Sure, no problem, Carl. Would 

you like to come over to my office on 

Friday to discuss things? 

Carl: Thanks, Sandra. How about in the 

morning — at 11? 

Sandra: Oh, that will be difficult. I have 

something else until 12 noon in the 

factory. Could you do 3 p.m. instead? 

Carl: I have a meeting with some colleagues 

then, but it shouldn’t be a 

problem to change that. 

Sandra: OK, great. 

Carl: So that’s 3 p.m. on Friday in your 

office, right? 

Sandra: Yes. I’m looking forward to 

seeing you then. Bye, Carl. 

Carl: Bye, Sandra. 

appointment [E(pOIntmEnt] 

Termin 

do: could you ~ ... ? [du:] hier etwa: könntest du um ...? 

look forward to doing sth. 

sich darauf freuen, etw. zu tun 

[lUk )fO:wEd tE (du:IN] 

milestone [(maI&lstEUn] 

Meilenstein, abgeschlossener 

Projektabschnitt 

schedule (sth.) [(Sedju:l] 

Termin-, Zeitplan; etw. zeitlich festlegen 

spontaneous [spQn(teIniEs] 

spontan 


Useful phrases for appointments 

t 

From: carl.james@inh.co.uk 

To: sandra.dear@inh.co.uk 

Subject: Change of plan 

Dear Sandra 

I’m very sorry, but something’s 

come up and I need to be in our 

Manchester office on Friday. 

Instead of cancelling our appointment, 

would it be possible to meet 

virtually (or schedule a phone call)? 

I think meeting virtually would be 

better, as we could both look at the 

same documents then. 

Alternatively, I’ll be back in London 

on Monday and could come over to 

your office any time in the afternoon. 

Please let me know which of these 

options you prefer. 

Best wishes 

Carl 

come up [)kVm (Vp] 

confirm sth. [kEn(f§:m] 

cover for sb. [(kVvE fO:] 

face-to-face [)feIs tE (feIs] 

make it [(meIk It] 

move sth. [mu:v] 

off sick: be ~ [)Qf (sIk] 

push sth. back [)pUS (bÄk] 

subject [(sVbdZekt] 

work for sb. [(w§:k fE] 

Here are the answers to the questions: 

■ Carl explains why he wants to have a 

meeting by stating the problem to be 

solved. He also gives some background 

information on the situation. 

■ Carl makes sure that there is no misunderstanding 

about the appointment 

by confirming the day, time and 

place at the end of the call. 

■ Instead of cancelling the appointment, 

Carl suggests keeping the day 

and time, but switching to a phone 

call or virtual meeting. As an alternative, 

he also suggests another date. 

Preparation points 

■ Decide if a face-to-face meeting 

is really necessary. 

■ Don’t be too “last minute” with 

your request for a meeting. 

■ Offer a range of dates and times. 

■ Show respect by preparing for 

the appointment. 

hier: dazwischenkommen 

etw. bestätigen 

für jmdn. einspringen 

direkt, persönlich 

es schaffen 

hier: etw. verschieben 

krankgeschrieben sein 

etw. auf später verschieben 

Betreff 

hier: für jmdn. gehen 

a) Suggesting an appointment 

■ Do you think we could schedule a meeting 

to go through this? 

■ It would be helpful to talk about this. 

■ We should meet to discuss the details. 

■ It would be useful for me to meet you 

and your team. 

b) Suggesting a day/time 

■ Would Wednesday the 13th suit you? 

■ How about in the morning — at 11? 

■ I’m on a trip until the 22nd. What about 

the week after? 

c) Accepting / saying no to a suggestion 

■ Sure. Would you like to come over to my 

office on Friday? 

■ Yes, that’s fine. 

■ I’m sorry, I can’t make it then. 

■ Oh, that will be difficult. 

■ I have a meeting with some colleagues 

then, but it shouldn’t be a problem to 

change that. 

d) Making changes 

■ I’m (very) sorry, but something’s come 

up. Can we move our appointment? 

■ Can we push it back by one hour? 

■ Sorry, but I need to cancel. My colleague’s 

off sick and I need to cover for her. 

e) Suggesting alternatives 

■ Could you do 3 p.m. instead? 

■ Would the 27th also work for you? 

■ How about scheduling a phone call? 

Grammar: looking forward to… / look forward to… 

Look at this sentence from the dialogue: 

■ I’m looking forward to seeing you then. 

Another way of saying the same thing is: 

■ I look forward to seeing you then. 

The second sentence is a little more formal and might be used with people 

you don’t know well. Sometimes, “I’m/I” are left out, too. 

Note the structure of these sentences. You have two options: 

■ (I’m) looking + forward to + -ing… 

■ (I) look + forward to + -ing… 

In both cases, forward to is followed by the -ing form of the verb. 

f) Confirming an appointment 

■ So that’s 3 p.m. on Friday in your office. 

■ I’m looking forward to meeting you. 

■ OK, see you on Wednesday morning. 

■ Yes, see you then. 

■BS 

plus Find related exercises on this topic 

in Business Spotlight plus 

Mike Hogan is a director of York Associates 

(www.york-associates.co.uk) 

and a coursebook author. Contact: 

mike.hogan@york-associates.co.uk 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE 

WISE WORDS 

It’s a beautiful game 

Bei Ballsportarten steht Kickoff für den Anstoß, im Geschäftsalltag für den Start 

eines neuen Projekts. DEBORAH CAPRAS wirft einen Blick auf Wendungen aus der 

Welt des Fußballs, die auch im Geschäftsleben benutzt werden. medium 

Corbis 

When footballers show 

great sportsmanship, 

we say they have 

Corinthian spirit. It’s 

the right spirit. 

Iwas a football hooligan once. I sang 

in the stadium and I shouted at the 

ref. I really entered into the spirit of 

things. But it was the wrong spirit. 

In football, the choice is always between 

sportsmanship and gamesmanship. 

Players can choose to knock the 

ball out of play when an opponent is injured 

(sportsmanship) — or dive when 

they’re in the penalty box (gamesmanship). 

When footballers show great 

sportsmanship, we say they have 

Corinthian spirit. It’s the right spirit. As 

is true of so many expressions, there’s 

an obvious Greek connection. There’s 

ancient [(eInSEnt] 

cheat [tSi:t] 

Corinthian [kE(rInTiEn] 

Corinthians [kE(rInTiEnz] 

dive [daIv] 

eternal crown [I)t§:n&l (kraUn] 

gamesmanship [(geImzmEnSIp] 

out of play: knock the ball ~ [)aUt Ev (pleI] 

penalty box [(pen&lti bQks] 

public school [)pVblIk (sku:l] UK 

ref (referee) [ref ()refE(ri:)] ifml. 

sportsmanship [(spO:tsmEnSIp] 

also a surprising London one — and a 

Brazilian one. 

From Corinth to London 

In ancient Greece, the Isthmian Games 

were held every two years in Corinth. 

Before the games, the athletes swore 

that they would not cheat. Anyone who 

antik 

betrügen, mogeln 

korinthisch 

Korintherbrief 

eine Schwalbe machen 

Krone des ewigen Lebens 

Gerissenheit beim Spiel 

den Ball ins Aus schießen 

Strafraum 

Privatschule 

Schiedsrichter(in) 

Sportsgeist, Fairness 

Sportsmanship or gamesmanship? 

did was disqualified. These games were 

so popular that even the Apostle Paul 

went to Corinth (not to participate). In 

1 Corinthians 9:25, he wrote about the 

athletes’ self-discipline and compared 

the “crown” the athletes wanted to win 

to the “eternal crown” that Christians 

would have in heaven. He didn’t really 

win them over. 

The London connection doesn’t go 

back as far — it just goes back to Victorian 

times. In the 19th century, we 

had amateur and professional footballers. 

The amateurs had a public 

school background — and were independently 

wealthy. They weren’t paid. 

The professional players were. They 

had a working-class background and 


needed the money. But it was a group 

of ex-public schoolboys who started 

the English Football Association in 

1863 and were some of the first to 

write down the rules of football. They 

put the emphasis on fair play. 

Amateur fair play 

One London team personified this idea 

of amateur fair play: The Corinthians. 

As ex-public schoolboys, they knew all 

about ancient Greece and named their 

team after the ancient Corinthians. The 

key to their Corinthian spirit was that a 

player should not use any tricks to win. 

The team refused to take penalties 

when they were introduced in 1891, as 

they believed that the opposing team 

could not possibly commit a deliberate 

foul. (Maybe today’s England team 

would have more luck if they tried this 

tactic, too.) They also believed that 

players should control their anger. The 

team toured the world. In 1910, 

Brazil’s Sport Club Corinthians Paulista 

was created after the London team 

In the news 

anger [(ÄNgE] 

association [E)sEUsi(eIS&n] 

blow the whistle [)blEU DE (wIs&l] 

commit sth. [kE(mIt] 

deliberate [di(lIbErEt] 

goalpost [(gEUlpEUst] 

headbutt sb. [(hedbVt] UK 

kick off [)kIk (Qf] 

kick-off [(kIk Qf] 

penalty [(pen&lti] 

put the emphasis on sth. 

[)pUt Di (emfEsIs Qn] 

referee [)refE(ri:] 

score a goal [)skO:r E (gEUl] 

star [stA:] 

trickery [(trIkEri] 

played in São Paulo. It’s still a worldclass 

team (unlike the original English 

Corinthians). 

It’s coming home 

Brazil is often called the spiritual home 

of football, or, in the words of one of the 

world’s greatest footballers, Pelé, the 

home of the beautiful game. When the 

opening match for the 2014 FIFA World 

Cup between Brazil and Croatia kicks 

off in São Paulo on 12 June, what do 

you expect to see? Anger and trickery 

or the beauty of the Corinthian spirit? 

Something like Zidane’s headbutting 

of Marco Materazzi in 2006? Or 

Maradona’s “hand of God” in 1986? Or 

the beauty of England bringing home 

the Cup? 

I won’t turn into a hooligan if we 

don’t win. It’s been a while since I 

played that role. I only did it for three 

nights, when I starred in Zigger Zagger, 

a play about English football hooliganism 

in the 1970s. Thankfully, those 

days are over. 

“Fitness and finance change face 

of the beautiful game” 

In this headline, the Financial Times uses “the beautiful game” to refer 

to football. Many British newspapers use this expression and there 

is no chance of readers misinterpreting it. It can refer only to football. 

Ärger 

Verband 

pfeifen 

etw. verüben 

absichtlich 

Torpfosten 

jmdm. einen Kopfstoß versetzen 

losgehen; anstoßen 

Anstoß 

Strafe; hier: Strafstoß, Elfmeter 

das Hauptaugenmerk auf etw. legen 

Schiedsrichter(in) 

ein Tor schießen 

eine (Film-)Rolle spielen 

Trickserei(en) 

Useful expressions 

During the World Cup, you can’t avoid using 

football expressions in business situations. 

Here are some of the most popular. 

blow the whistle (on someone) 

In football, the referee blows the whistle to 

stop the game after a foul or to signal the 

end of the game. In business, if you “blow 

the whistle (on someone)”, you inform 

people that someone is doing something illegal 

or unethical. Since Edward Snowden 

blew the whistle on the US government’s 

spying, “whistleblower” has become a German 

word, too: 

■ When I saw the damage they were doing, 

I had to blow the whistle. 

game plan 

Football managers should have a game 

plan. In business, it’s a strategy that you 

decide on before doing something: 

■ What’s our game plan for the meeting? 

kick something off 

A football game begins with the kick-off. In 

business, if you “kick something off”, you 

start something: 

■ Let’s kick off this meeting with a quick 

look at the new designs. 

move the goalposts (US move the goalpost) 

It’s impossible to move the goalposts during 

a game of football, but if someone did, 

it would be very hard to score a goal. In the 

world of business (and elsewhere), however, 

people can move the goalposts, which 

makes things more difficult. This means 

that they change the rules or conditions 

that had already been agreed on: 

■ We did everything they asked, but then 

they moved the goalposts again. ■BS 

Do an exercise on this topic on 


plus For exercises on the language of 

football, see Business Spotlight plus 

Deborah Capras is deputy editor of Business 

Spotlight. You can read her blog, Wise Words, 

and do her online language exercises at 

www.business-spotlight.de/blogs 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE EMAIL 

Dear... : get off to 

a good start 

Starting an email 

Auch eine E-Mail beginnt mit der Anrede und 

einem Einleitungssatz. ANNA HOCHSIEDER gibt 

formelle und informelle Beispiele. medium 

iStock 

Dear Sir or Madam (1) 

I am writing to enquire about your 

English courses. (2) Could you 

please… ? 

(1) This salutation can be used if you are writing to someone whose name you don’t 

know. Less formally, the company name or department is sometimes used: “Dear Amazon”, 

“Dear customer service”. Some users of British English put a comma at the end 

of the first line, while others don’t. In US English, the comma is standard. 

(2) Always include an opening sentence in formal emails. Here, the sender explains why 

she is writing before making her request. 

Dear Ms Smith (3) 

Thank (4) you for your email of 

2 June enquiring about our… (5) 

(3) In formal correspondence, it is common to use the recipient’s surname. For women, 

the title “Ms” is normally used, not “Mrs” or “Miss”. Like “Mr” and “Dr”, “Ms” is written 

without a full stop in British English, and with a full stop (or “period”) in US English. 

The title “Professor” is not normally shorted to “Prof.”. Also, professor and doctor 

titles are not combined: we simply write “Dear Professor Brown”. 

(4) Remember always to start with a capital letter after the salutation. 

(5) Again, the writer includes an opening sentence stating what her email refers to. 

Hello Rob (6) 

As you probably know, I am preparing 

a report on… (7) 

(6) First names are commonly used among colleagues and business partners. “Hi Rob” 

and “Dear Rob” could be used, too. 

(7) Informal business emails also often include an opening sentence. Leaving it out 

could make you seem unfriendly. 

(Hi) Jane (8) 

Just wanted to check if I left my blue 

pen on your desk. Can you let me 

know? (9) 

Großbuchstabe 

Gedankenstrich; hier auch: minus 

Abteilung 

Punkt 

Punkt 

Bindestrich; hier auch: minus 

hier: Einleitungs- 

Empfänger(in) 

Anrede (in Brief oder E-Mail) 

Unterstrich 

capital letter [)kÄpIt&l (letE] 

dash [dÄS] 

department [di(pA:tmEnt] 

dot [dQt] 

full stop [)fUl (stQp] UK 

hyphen [(haIf&n] 

opening [(EUpEnIN] 

recipient [ri(sIpiEnt] 

salutation [)sÄlju(teIS&n] 

underscore [(VndEskO:] 

(8) In emails between close colleagues, some people start with “Hi” or just the name 

of the recipient. If several emails are exchanged, the salutation is often left out. 

(9) Very informal emails often do not include an opening sentence, especially if you write 

to each other frequently or the subject of the email has already been discussed. ■BS 

www Improve your writing skills at 


IN THE NEXT ISSUE: tips on how to end an email 

How to say your email address 

You write: amy.smith@mail.co.uk 

You say: Amy dot Smith at mail dot co dot U K 

You write: b_jones@english-courses.com 

You say: B underscore Jones at English dash / 

hyphen courses dot com 

Anna Hochsieder is a Munich-based teacher of English 

who writes regularly in Business Spotlight. Contact: 

a.hochsieder@googlemail.com 


ENGLISH ON THE MOVE 

LANGUAGE 

Fuse 

Staying with a host family 

Sind auch Sie vor der ersten Begegnung mit Ihrer Gastfamilie 

aufgeregt? KEN TAYLOR steht Ihnen sprachlich bei. medium 

Before leaving 

June: When do you leave for England? 

Sylvia: Sunday afternoon. I’m really 

looking forward to the course. But 

I’m a bit nervous, too. 

June: Nervous? Why? It’s just a business 

English course. Your English is 

fine. You just need a bit more time to 

practise because of your new job in 

after-sales. 

Sylvia: It’s not the course that worries 

me. It’s the thought of staying with a 

host family. I know it will be good for 

my English, but what if we don’t like 

each other? 

June: It’s only five nights, and you’ll be 

out during the daytime. 

Sylvia: Still, it’s a strange feeling to be 

staying with people you’ve never met 

before in your life! 

Arriving 

George: You must be Sylvia. I’m 

George, and this is my wife, Beth. 

after-sales [)A:ftE (seI&lz] Kundendienst 

charge: be in ~ [tSA:dZ] zuständig sein 


en-suite [)Qn (swi:t] UK eigenes Bad 

facilities: the ~ 

hier: das 

[fE(sIlEtiz] 

Badezimmer 

green fingers 

grüner Daumen 

[)gri:n (fINgEz] UK ifml. 

guidebook [(gaIdbUk] Reiseführer 

help oneself to sth. sich etw. von 

[)help wVn(self tu] etw. nehmen 

host family [(hEUst )fÄmli] Gastfamilie 

loo [lu:] UK ifml. Klo 

look forward to sth. sich auf etw. 

[)lUk (fO:wEd tu] 

freuen 

oak [EUk] 

Eiche 

show sb. around 

jmdn. herum- 

[)SEU E(raUnd] 

führen 

utility room 

Hauswirtschafts- 

[ju(tIlEti ru:m] 

raum 

walls: the ~ [wO:lz] hier: Stadtmauer 

white [waIt] 

hier: mit Milch 

Beth: Nice to meet you, Sylvia. 

Sylvia: It’s nice to meet you, too. 

George: Come into the living room and 

relax for a bit. 

Beth: Would you like a cup of tea or 

coffee? 

Sylvia: I’d love some coffee, if it’s not 

too much trouble. 

Beth: Black or white? Sugar? 

Sylvia: Black, please. No sugar. 

George: After coffee, I’ll show you your 

room and the facilities. We’ll be having 

dinner around seven. Then you’ll 

meet our youngest, John. He’s 17 

and still at school. Grace, our daughter, 

is at Exeter University. It’s her 

room you’ll be sleeping in. 

Beth: Do help yourself to the chocolate 

cake. I baked it this morning. 

Being shown around 

George: Let me show you around the 

house. There’s a downstairs loo. And 

this is the dining room. 

Sylvia: That’s a lovely table. 

George: It’s from Beth’s family. It’s oak. 

The kitchen is just through there. 

We’ve also got a small utility room, so 

if you need to do any washing while 

you’re here… 

Sylvia: Oh, thank you. Your garden 

looks beautiful. 

George: It takes a lot of looking after. 

Beth’s in charge. She’s the one with 

the green fingers. Let’s go upstairs. 

This is your room. I’ve put your things 

over there. 

Sylvia: It’s a really nice, light room. 

George: And a lot tidier than when 

Grace was living here! The bathroom 

is opposite. Beth and I have an 

Ready to go: learn English with a family 

en-suite, so you’ll be sharing with 

John. Kick him out if he takes too long 

getting ready to meet his girlfriend! 

At dinner 

George: Have you been to England before, 

Sylvia? 

Sylvia: Yes, a few times, but only to 

London with my work. 

Beth: So this is the first time you’ve 

been to York? 

Sylvia: Yes. From the taxi, it looked like 

a charming place. 

George: It is. I found this guidebook 

for you. It tells you all about the history 

of the city and the places you 

should see. 

Sylvia: Thank you. That’s kind of you. 

The school is taking us on a walking 

tour tomorrow. They said something 

about the walls. 

John: Yes, you can walk around on the 

old city walls. You get some good 

views from there. And if you’re in - 

terested, I can show you some great 

pubs. 

Beth: John, really! You’re much too 

young for that! 

■BS 

Ken Taylor is a communication consultant 

and author of 50 Ways to Improve 

Your Business English (Summertown). 

Contact: KTaylor868@aol.com 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE TRANSLATION 

False friends 

You mean… You should say… Don’t say… As this means… 

blamieren embarrass/make a fool of blame jmdm. die Schuld 

Ich kann nicht singen. Ich I can’t sing. I would make a geben 

würde mich total blamieren. complete fool of myself. 

Hochschule university/college high school Schule auf Sekundar- 

Er hat an der Hochschule He studied at Aalen University. ebene 

Aalen studiert. 

Kostüm suit costume Verkleidung 

Sie trägt immer ein Kostüm. She always wears a suit. 

Do an exercise on false friends on 


medium 

Don’t confuse... 

mistake and fault 

n If you make a mistake (Fehler), 

you do the wrong thing: “I made a 

terrible mistake in the report.” We 

often talk about grammar or 

spelling mistakes, or about mistakes 

in calculations. 

n A mistake can also be something 

you do that you later wish you had 

not done, often because it causes 

problems: “It would be a mistake 

to change the system.” 

n If you do something by mistake 

(aus Versehen), you did not plan or 

want to do it: “I sent him the old 

version of the report by mistake.” 

n Fault (Schuld) refers to a person’s 

responsibility for a mistake or for 

something that goes wrong: “It’s my 

fault that we’re late. I’m sorry.” 

n A fault ((Charakter-)Schwäche) is a 

bad feature of a person’s character: 

“He’s clever, but you shouldn’t ignore 

his faults.” 

n A fault (Defekt, Störung) is a problem 

with a machine or piece of 

equipment that stops it from working 

properly: “An electrical fault 

caused the fire.” 

Tricky translations by Mike Seymour 

How do you say “proof” in German? 

“Proof” is something that demonstrates — or proves (beweisen) — that something 

is true: “We have proof!” It can be translated as Beweis or Beweise. Wir haben Beweise! 

Legal experts refer to the “burden of proof” (Beweislast). 

In publishing, a “proof” is a trial print copy of a document that is checked before 

the final printing. It is often translated as Druckprobe or Korrekturfahne. This is why 

we say that we “proofread” something (etw. Korrektur lesen). 

“Proof” is the standard for measuring the strength of an alcoholic drink, as in 

“high-proof rum” (hochprozentiger Rum). 

The verb “proof” means to “protect something from being damaged by water, oil, 

etc.”. It is translated as imprägnieren or beständig/dicht machen. The suffix “-proof” 

means “resistant to” or “protected against”, as in “waterproof” (wasserfest, 

wasserdicht), “soundproof” (schalldicht) and “foolproof” (idiotensicher). 

How do you say Führung in English? 

In business situations, Führung often refers to the responsibility for and control over 

a group of people, an organization or a process. Sein Führungsstil ist vorbildlich. 

It is best translated as management or leadership: “His management style is exemplary.” 

A Führungskraft is an executive or manager. 

In travel and tourism, a Führung involves being shown around a city, site or monument, 

often by an expert: Die Führung dauert zwei Stunden. It is translated as 

(guided) tour: “The guided tour lasts two hours.” 

In IT language, Führung describes the way users are guided through software 

applications: Die Menüführung könnte verbessert werden. It is best translated as 

navigation: “The menu navigation could be improved.” 

Finally, in sport, in Führung means “in the lead”: Er ging schnell in Führung. 

This is translated as: “He quickly took the lead.” 

Exercise 

Translate the following sentences. 

a) We need concrete proof before we can do anything. 

b) Bieten Sie auch Führungen in Spanisch an? 



y Deborah Capras 

CARDS 

LANGUAGE 

Grammar 

Grammar 

Complete this sentence with the correct 

pronoun. 

“They happen to know each other/themselves 

quite well. They first met at university.” 

Complete this sentence with the correct form 

of the verb in brackets. 

“How about ________ (ask) Paul?” 



Translation 

Translation 

Translate this sentence into English. 

Was auch immer das heißen soll. 

Translate this sentence into German. 

“I see it as a stepping stone.” 



Word choice 

Word choice 

Which word is correct? 

“So, in a(n) eggshell/nutshell, things are 

not going well.” 

Which word is correct? 

“John says he would like to call a meeting. 

Apparently/Obviously, there’s something 

wrong with the update. I can’t think what.” 



Business talk 

Business talk 

What does the speaker mean? 

The New York group has a $200 million 

war chest. 

What does the speaker mean? 

“The MINT economies could grow faster 

than China’s economy.” 


www.business-spotlight.de

LANGUAGE CARDS 

“How about asking Paul?” 

To make a suggestion, we can use “How about” 

followed by the -ing form of the verb or by a 

noun phrase (“How about Chinese for dinner?”). 

“They happen to know each other quite well.” 

We use each other to show that each person 

knows the other or others (einander kennen). 

The reflexive pronoun “themselves” would mean 

that each person knows himself or herself only, 

not the others. It doesn’t make sense here. 

BS 3/2014 BS 3/2014 

Ich sehe es als Sprungbrett. 

A stepping stone is a rock that you can step on 

to get to the other side of a river. In business, 

it’s a point in a process that can help you to get 

somewhere else: “This job is just a stepping 

stone to a career in sports journalism.” 

BS 3/2014 

“Whatever that’s supposed to mean.” 

The expression was auch immer can be translated as 

“whatever”. We often translate soll as “suppose to” 

and heißen as “mean”. 

BS 3/2014 

You use apparently (anscheinend) to show that you 

are repeating information you have learned, but 

when you’re not sure whether it is true. You use 

“obviously” (offensichtlich) when something can 

easily be seen to be true. 

If we say something in a nutshell, we say it 

with very few words: we summarize it and 

say it very simply. 

kurz gesagt 

BS 3/2014 BS 3/2014 

In 2001, the economist Jim O’Neill created the 

term “BRIC” as a label for the four emerging 

economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. He 

has now created MINT, a label for a new group: 

Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. These are 

the countries that he regards as the next 

economic powerhouses. 

A war chest is the money that an organization 

can spend for a certain purpose. Originally, the 

term described the money that a government 

could spend fighting a war. 

Sonderfonds 

BS 3/2014 

BS 3/2014

SKILL UP! 

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BUSINESS VOCABULARY 

with our essential guide 

RECENT TOPICS: 

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n Talking about production, no. 20 (3/2013) 

n Your holidays, no. 21 (4/2013) 

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3/2014 


LANGUAGE 

SHORT STORY 

Stockbyte 

Royal residence: inspiration 

for a fantasy business 

Castles in the air 

Wären auch Sie gerne Schlossherr? Die geniale Geschäftsidee zweier Freunde 

könnte ihnen dazu verhelfen. Oder bleibt alles am Ende doch nur ein Luftschloss? 

Von JAMES SCHOFIELD 

easy 

said Jim as they looked 

at the photographs. “This is a 

“Horst,” 

gold mine!” Horst agreed. 

“We’ll write ‘Your chance to own a castle’ 

and they’ll go crazy!” 

An outsider would have been surprised 

at their enthusiasm. Schloss 

Hoffenburg was a small 18th-century 

castle just outside Leipzig. The windows 

and doors had been boarded up 

for ten years and there were holes in the 

roof. Dr Frankenstein might have been 

persuaded to move in, but even he 

would have demanded rent reduction. 

However, Horst and Jim had always 

been optimists. They’d met in the 

1950s, when Jim was a young soldier 

and he’d caught Horst stealing ciga- 

rettes and whisky from a storeroom at 

the British Army base in Paderborn to 

sell on the black market. After Horst 

had explained the enormous return on 

investment and offered to make Jim his 

partner, Jim decided to go into business 

with him. They made an excellent team 

and, by the time Jim left the army, the 

base had ordered enough tobacco and 

alcohol to poison the entire regiment. 

Luckily, Horst and Jim had diverted the 

goods into the local economy. 

Jim decided to stay in Germany, and 

the two of them lived quite well during 

the boom years of the 1960s, selling 

fake Beatles records that they’d recorded 

with a local cover band. In the 

1970s, they moved into what they 

called “financial consultancy”. This 

mainly involved taking suitcases full of 

banknotes to Zurich for rich doctors 

who wanted to avoid paying income tax. 

But the 1980s were bad. Horst lost 

army base [(A:mi beIs] 

boarded up 

[)bO:dId (Vp] 

divert sth. [daI(v§:t] 

fake [feIk] 

financial consultancy 

[faI)nÄnS&l kEn(sVltEnsi] 

go crazy 

[)gEU (kreIzi] ifml. 

income tax 

[(InkVm tÄks] 

rent reduction 

[(rent ri)dVkS&n] 

return on investment 

[ri)t§:n Qn In(vestmEnt] 

storeroom [(stO:ru:m] 

Militärstützpunkt 

mit Brettern 

vernagelt 

etw. umleiten 

gefälscht 

Finanzberatung 

durchdrehen, 

ausflippen 

Einkommensteuer 

Mietminderung 

Rentabilität, 

Kapitalrendite 

Lagerraum 


It was on a holiday visit to Schloss 

Neuschwanstein that Jim found the answer 

money financing a football club that 

went from the first division to the fourth 

in the time it takes most people to 

brush their teeth. Jim managed to do 

the same with expensive divorces from 

Gloria and Heidi. 

So when the Berlin Wall came down 

in November 1989, the two men 

rubbed their hands and thought about 

how they could introduce the new citizens 

in the eastern part of reunited Germany 

to the joys of capitalism. Unfortunately, 

this didn’t prove as easy as 

they’d hoped. The new citizens didn’t 

have much money and, by the early 

1990s, they had even less, as the government 

shut down all their factories 

and made them unemployed. 

“We need to look at what they’ve got, 

and then find people elsewhere who 

want it,” said Horst. “But what is it? 

And who will buy it?” 

It was on a holiday visit to Schloss 

Neuschwanstein that Jim found the 

answer. 

“Castles,” he said the next time he 

saw Horst, “and Americans. Americans 

love castles and Germany is full of 

them.” 

appropriate sth. sich etw. aneignen 

[E(prEUprieIt] 

classy [klA:si] ifml. nobel 

come down [)kVm (daUn] fallen 

confiscate sth. 

etw. beschlag- 

[(kQnfIskeIt] 

nahmen 

division [dI(vIZ&n] hier: Liga 

divorce [dI(vO:s] Scheidung 

investigation 

Nachforschung 

[In)vestI(geIS&n] 

lawyer [(lO:jE] 

Anwalt/Anwältin 

processing fee 

Bearbeitungs- 

[(prEUsesIN fi:] 

gebühr 

reckon [(rekEn] ifml. meinen 

reunited [)ri:ju(naItId] wiedervereinigt 

scam [skÄm] ifml. Schwindel, 

Gaunerei 

Transylvania 

Transsilvanien, 

[)trÄnsIl(veIniE] Siebenbürgen 

voluntarily [)vQlEn(terEli] freiwillig 

Jim had discovered that nobody was 

quite sure who some of the castles in 

eastern Germany belonged to. They’d 

been voluntarily or involuntarily handed 

over to the National Socialists in the 

1930s, were confiscated by the Russians 

in the 1940s and appropriated by 

the East German government in the 

1950s. 

“You mean we sell castles to Americans?” 

asked Horst doubtfully. “When 

we don’t even own them?” 

“No,” answered Jim. “We sell the 

dream of a castle to Americans! Here’s 

how…” 

The plan was simple. First, they got 

addresses of people in the US with 

German-sounding names. Then, they 

printed brochures showing attractive 

pictures of Schloss Hoffenburg. They 

wrote a letter, pretending to be lawyers 

representing the administrators of the 

castle, saying that ownership was unclear 

and that there was the possibility 

the person receiving the letter was the 

rightful owner. If the person sent family 

details and a processing fee of 

$199, Horst and Jim would carry out 

the necessary investigations and see 

whether this was indeed the case. 

To their delight, the scam was an instant 

success. 

They sent out thousands of letters, 

and only a small percentage of people 

replied with any money, but this was 

more than enough. Horst and Jim waited 

a few weeks and then sent each 

client a polite letter saying the castle 

unfortunately belonged to someone else 

after all. The processing fee, however, 

was not returned. So, life was looking 

very good until the morning Howard 

Schmidtlein III from Texas came to visit 

them in their modern new office in 

Berlin. 

“Y’all the gentlemen that sent me the 

brochure ’bout a castle?” he asked 

with an accent that left both Jim and 

Horst scratching their heads. “Well, 

y’all ain’t no lawyers. Maybe the police 

would like to know about this...” 

After some discussion, it became 

clear that Howard actually was more interested 

in a deal than in making troub - 

le. What he wanted was a castle on his 

ranch in Texas. “My neighbours all 

reckon they’re pretty classy, but they 

ain’t none of them got a castle,” said 

Howard. “You get me a castle — a real 

castle — and I won’t say nothing about 

your little scam…” 

Horst and Jim got started. But the 

towns of eastern Germany were unwilling 

to export their castles, even though 

they couldn’t afford to repair them. After 

six months, Horst and Jim hadn’t 

managed to find anything, and Howard 

was getting impatient. 

“There must be a castle somewhere,” 

said Horst, almost without hope, “that 

the local people want to get rid of. But 

where is it?” 

It was on a holiday visit to Transylvania 

that Jim found the answer… ■BS 

Language point 

Howard’s speech contains elements 

of slang and dialect. Y’all (you all) is 

often used in the US south to talk to 

a group, or even to one person. The 

contraction ain’t means “isn’t/ 

aren’t” and “hasn’t/haven’t”. Saying 

they ain’t none of them uses a 

double subject, however this is nonstandard. 

A double negative, such as 

won’t say nothing, does not result 

in a positive statement. 

You can listen to this short story on 


James Schofield is co-author of the 

Double Dealing series. Find more of 

his stories in English and his blog at 

http://jrtschofield.blogspot.de 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE 

ENGLISH FOR... 

Photodisc 

A pollster at work: 

gathering views 

Opinion research 

Meinungsumfragen liefern der Wirtschaft und Politik wichtige 

und zuverlässige Daten über die Wünsche von Verbrauchern 

und Wählern. MIKE SEYMOUR informiert. 

advanced 

Finding out what consumers, voters 

and citizens think is essential in 

business and politics. And although 

advertising may influence people’s 

opinions, its real effect is difficult 

to measure. As US merchant John 

Wanamaker (1838 –1922) is credited 

with saying: “Half the money I spend 

on advertising is wasted — the trouble 

is I don’t know which half!” 

Exercise: Making choices 

Choose the correct term in each sentence. 

One of the pioneers of opinion 

research was George Horace Gallup, 

who developed survey-sampling methods 

for measuring public opinion in the 

1930s. In the US, the Gallup poll still 

conducts 1,000 interviews per day, 350 

days a year, for its surveys on citizens’ 

health and well-being, and their attitudes 

towards politics or the economy. 

Traditional opinion research has depended 

on pollsters who carry clipboards 

and stop people on the street to 

ask them about their preferences. Increasingly, 

research over the telephone 

and through digital means are taking 

over. Telemarketers conduct surveys or 

opinion polls by cold-calling consumers 

at home. Call-centre automation allows 

telemarketers to make hundreds of 

calls at the same time, but also produces 

“silent calls”. This is when more 

numbers are called than call-centre 

staff can handle. Many people try to opt 

out of receiving such calls. In extreme 

cases, they change their telephone 

number. 

Opinion research is also a major aspect 

of market research by companies. 

If Wanamaker were in business today, 

he would know more about the effectiveness 

of his advertising. Social media 

has removed much of the uncertainty 

and expense of collecting opinions. 

Every time we “like” something on 

Facebook, or share messages on Twitter, 

we are giving firms valuable information 

about our preferences and 

purchasing behaviour. 

“Big data” is the term used to describe 

transactional and behavioural 

information we leave behind us as we 

surf the internet, travel with smartphones, 

shop online and communicate 

through social media. (See also Headto-Head, 

pp. 26–27.) 

But opinion research isn’t aimed only 

at getting consumers’ views. Firms use 

engagement surveys to measure staff 

job satisfaction and motivation. By giving 

their opinions, employees may help 

the company to develop strategies that 

keep them happy and prevent them 

from leaving. 

a) Traditionally, market researchers carried 

clipboards / whiteboards. 

b) An unexpected telephone call from a 

telemarketer is a cold / silent call. 

c) Buying online gives the seller data on 

your expense / purchasing behaviour. 

d) Firms collect staff opinions through 

satisfaction / engagement surveys. 


cold-call sb. [(kEUld kO:l] 

conduct sth. [kEn(dVkt] 

credit sb. with sth. [(kredIt wID] 

engagement survey [In(geIdZmEnt )s§:veI] 

merchant [(m§:tSEnt] 

opinion research [E(pInjEn ri)s§:tS] 

opt out of sth. [)Qpt (aUt Ev] 

poll [pEUl] 

pollster [(pEUlstE] 

purchasing behaviour [(p§:tSEsIN bi)heIvjE] 

survey sampling [(s§:veI )sA:mp&lIN] 

telemarketer [(teli)mA:kItE] 

jmdn. kalt/unverlangt anrufen 

etw. durchführen 

jmdn. etw. zuschreiben 

Umfrage zum Mitarbeiterengagement 

Händler(in) 

Meinungsforschung 

sein Nichteinverständnis für etw. 

erklären 

(Meinungs-)Umfrage 

Meinungsforscher(in) 

Kaufverhalten 

Erhebung von Stichproben 

Telefonverkäufer(in) 


Giving your opinion 

n In my view/opinion,... 

n If you ask me,... 

n I think... / I feel... 

n What I’m trying to say is... 

n I would say (that)... 

n Some people would say/argue... 

n It could be... 

n My preference would be... 

Using negatives 

It sounds more diplomatic to say 

“I don’t think that’s correct” rather than 

“I think that’s not correct”. 

Research, surveys, polls 

clipboard [(klIpbO:d] Klemmbrett 

desk-based [(desk beIst] Sekundär-, am 

Schreibtisch 

field-based [(fi:&ld beIst] durch Feldunter - 

suchungen 

focus group [(fEUkEs gru:p] Fokusgruppe 

market research 

Marktforschung 

[)mA:kIt ri(s§:tS] 

online poll [)QnlaIn (pEUl] Online-Befragung 

opinion poll [E(pInjEn pEUl] Meinungsumfrage 

opinion research 

Meinungsforschung 

[E(pInjEn ri)s§:tS] 

opt in [)Qpt (In] 

sein Einverständnis 

erklären 

opt out [)Qpt (aUt] sein Nichteinverständnis 

erklären 

polling company 

Meinungsforschungs- 

[(pEUlIN )kVmpEni] institut 

questionnaire [)kwestSE(neE] Fragebogen 

random [(rÄndEm] zufällig, wahllos 

representative sample repräsentative 

[repri)zentEtIv (sA:mp&l] Auswahl 

survey [(s§:veI] 

Umfrage, Erhebung 

survey sampling 

Erhebung von 

[(s§:veI )sA:mp&lIN] Stichproben 

telemarketing 

Telefonverkauf, 

[(teli)mA:kItIN] 

-marketing 

People 

interviewer [(IntEvju:E] 

Interviewer(in), Befrager(in) 

market researcher [)mA:kIt ri(s§:tSE] Marktforscher(in) 

opinion researcher [E(pInjEn ri)s§:tSE] Meinungsforscher(in) 

pollster [(pEUlstE] 

Meinungsforscher(in) 

respondent [ri(spQndEnt] 

Befragte(r) 

sample (of a survey) [(sA:mp&l] 

Befragte(r) (einer Umfrage) 

Privacy matters 

cold call [(kEUld kO:l] 

Kaltakquise 

dropped call [)drQpt (kO:l] 

abgebrochener Anruf 

ex-directory number [)eks dE)rektEri (nVmbE] Geheimnummer (die nicht im 

(US unlisted number [Vn)lIstId (nVmb&r*]) Telefonverzeichnis steht) 

expose sth. [Ik(spEUz] 

etw. enthüllen 

invasion of privacy [In)veIZ&n Ev (prIvEsi] Verletzung der Privatsphäre 

silent call [)saIlEnt (kO:l] 

abgebrochener Anruf 

track sb. [trÄk] 

jmds. Spur verfolgen 


Consumer behaviour 

BOGOF (buy one, get one free) [(bQgQf] zwei Artikel zum Preis von einem 

endorse sth. [In(dO:s] 

etw. bewerben 

loss-leader [(lQs )li:dE] 

Lockartikel, -vogelangebot 

peer pressure [(pIE )preSE] 

Gruppendruck, sozialer Druck 

prefer sth. [pri(f§:] 

etw. bevorzugen 

preference [(pref&rEns] 

Präferenz, Vorliebe 

product endorsement [)prQdVkt In(dO:smEnt] Produktempfehlung 

product placement [)prQdVkt (pleIsmEnt] Produktplatzierung 

promotion [prE(mEUS&n] 

Werbung, Werbeaktion 

purchase history [(p§:tSEs )hIstri] 

Kauf-, Bestellhistorie 

special offer [)speS&l (QfE] 

Sonderangebot 

tempt sb. [tempt] 

jmdn. locken 

Employee engagement 

employee retention [Im)plOIi: ri(tenS&n] Mitarbeiterbindung 

engagement score [In(geIdZmEnt skO:] Umfang des 

Mitarbeiterengagements 

engagement survey [In)geIdZmEnt (s§:veI] Umfrage zum 

Mitarbeiterengagement 

staff turnover [)stA:f (t§:nEUvE] 

Mitarbeiterfluktuation 


BOOKS 

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: The Manipulation of 

Public Opinion in America, Michael Wheeler (W. W. 

Norton & Co) 

The Opinion Makers: An Insider Exposes the Truth 

behind the Polls, David W. Moore (Beacon Press) 

WEBSITES 

European Society for Opinion and Market Research: 

www.esomar.org 

Gallup: www.gallup.com 

YouGov (UK polling company): www.yougov.co.uk 

Survey ter ms 

carry out / conduct a poll 

[)kÄri )aUt / kEn)dVkt E (pEUl] 

election research [i(lekS&n ri)s§:tS] 

exit poll [(eksIt pEUl] 

extrapolate data [Ik)strÄpEleIt (deItE] 

floating voter [)flEUtIN (vEUtE] 

forecast (a result) [(fO:kA:st] 

psephologist [si(fQlEdZIst] 

psephology [si(fQlEdZi] 

swing voter [(swIN )vEUtE] 

voting behaviour [(vEUtIN bi)heIvjE] 

voting pattern [(vEUtIN )pÄt&n] 

eine Umfrage durchführen 

Wahlforschung 

Befragung von Wähler(innen) 

nach Verlassen der Wahllokale 

Daten extrapolieren 

Wechselwähler(in) 

(ein Ergebnis) prognostizieren 

Psephologe/Psephologin, 

Wahlforscher(in) 

Psephology, Wahlforschung 

Wechselwähler(in) 

Abstimmungs-, Wahlverhalten 

Abstimmungsmuster, -verhalten 

Mike Seymour is the author of English for 

Insurance Professionals (Cornelsen) and writes 

regularly for Business Spotlight. Contact: 

www.mikeseymour.com 

plus Find related exercises on this topic in Business Spotlight plus 

www You can find more job vocabulary at www.business-spotlight.de/vocabulary 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE LEGAL ENGLISH 

Clearly dangerous: too hot to handle 

Product liability 

Die Schadensersatzklage eines Kunden wegen 

eines Gerätemangels unterliegt den Regeln der 

Produkthaftung, wie MATT FIRTH erklärt. advanced 

Exercise: Strictly liable? 

Choose the words that best complete the text. 

If a person is injured by a defective 

product — one that is in some way 

dangerous — the person may have 

the right to sue for damages. Product 

liability refers to laws that govern the 

right to sue, as well as to measures taken 

to prevent the production of dangerous 

goods. 

A product is not considered defective 

simply because it is of poor quality or 

because a safer version is later made 

available on the market. A defective 

product is generally defined as one 

that does not meet reasonable expectations 

of safety. It is poorly designed, 

incorrectly produced or not safe for its 

intended use. 

Strict liability, sometimes called nofault 

liability, imposes legal responsibility 

on product makers or on sellers — 

whether or not they acted negligently — 

for any injuries or losses suffered by another 

party that resulted from their use 

of the defective goods. 

Laws have been introduced that aim 

to standardize product liability throughout 

Europe, particularly regarding se - 

rious injury and death. Within the EU, 

the Product Liability Directive (PLD) of 

1985 imposes strict liability on producers 

and importers, but not on distributors 

or sellers. 

The General Product Safety Directive 

(GPSD) took effect in 2004, with the 

aim of making certain that “only safe 

consumer products are sold in the EU”. 

The philosophy behind this directive is 

that it is better to avoid accidents 

caused by defective goods than to wait 

until someone is injured. Producers 

must also warn consumers of any risks 

associated with using their goods. 

A key difference to other laws on 

product liability is that the GPSD is a 

public law rather than a civil law. This 

means that EU member states are responsible 

for making producers obey 

the directive. It is intended to prevent 

Product liability is the area of the law governing payment of damages 

for injuries caused by a) damaged / defective goods. Many 

countries have introduced b) absolute / strict liability laws. These 

make sure that producers are held responsible for their goods, 

even if they did not act c) negligently / negatively. Some laws 

intend to prevent d) actions / accidents from happening at all. 

For example, laws have been introduced across the EU that require 

member states to make sure that producers obey product 

liability e) philosophy / directives. 

Not my fault! 

When goods are defective, the 

products’ makers have ways to 

defend themselves. They may 

claim the defect was caused by 

obeying certain regulations; that 

a supplier is not a commercial 

producer; that the defect didn’t 

exist when the goods were made; 

that the product was later 

changed; or that scientific and 

technical knowledge at the time 

of production meant that the 

producer couldn’t have been expected 

to notice the defect. 

injuries resulting from the use of defective 

goods. But it does not give consumers 

the right to sue individuals. ■BS 

Product liability 

[)prQdVkt laIE(bIlEti] 

civil law [)sIv&l (lO:] 

defect [(di:fekt] 

defective [di(fektIv] 

distributor 

[dI(strIbjUtE] 

impose sth. on sb. 

[Im(pEUz Qn] 

injured: be ~ [(IndZEd] 

injury [(IndZEri] 

negligently 

[(neglIdZEntli] 

no-fault liability 

[)nEU )fO:lt laIE(bIlEti] 

obey sth. [E(beI] 

strict liability 

[)strIkt laIE(bIlEti] 

sue for damages 

[)sju: fE (dÄmIdZIz] 

Produkthaftung 

Zivilrecht; hier: 

Privatrecht 

Fehler, Mangel 

fehler-, mangelhaft 

Händler(in), 

Vertriebsfirma 

jmdm. etw. auferlegen 

verletzt werden 

Verletzung 

fahrlässig 

verschuldensunabhängige 

Haftung 

etw. befolgen 

Gefährdungshaftung 

auf Schadensersatz 

klagen 

Matt Firth teaches legal English and 

helped establish the European Legal 

English Teachers’ Association. 

Contact: matthew.firth@unisg.ch 

iStock 



TALKING FINANCE 

LANGUAGE 

Money, leaves, bitcoins 

Was haben Geld, Blätter an Bäumen und Bitcoins miteinander zu tun? 

IAN MCMASTER geht dieser rätselhaften Frage auf den Grund. advanced 

“Our bank balances are simply 

numbers in a computer” 


My first job after leaving university 

in 1980 was as an economics 

teacher in London. At the 

time, a standard homework task was for 

pupils to write an essay about money 

and its functions. 

As any teacher knows, reading a large 

number of more or less identical essays 

can be enough to send you to sleep. 

One boy’s essay, however, I will always 

remember. He was not the best of 

pupils, but at least he didn’t copy his 

answers from the textbook. After writing 

(correctly) that for something to function 

as money, it needs to be limited in 

supply, he added: “Leaves, for example, 

could never be used as money. Because 

if they were, it would be true that 

money grew on trees.” Lovely. 

Parents often tell their children that 

“money doesn’t grow on trees” to make 

clear to them that they can’t have 

everything they want. Yet it seems that 

this advice is incorrect. Last year, 

small quantities of gold were discovered 

in eucalyptus leaves in Australia. 

The metal had got into the tree in water 

via the roots and was a sign that 

gold deposits lay under it. 

But back to the functions of money. 

There are three important ones: to be a 

“unit of account” for measuring prices, 

wages, etc.; to be a “store of value” over 

time; and, most importantly, to be a 

“medium of exchange” used to pay for 

goods and services and to settle debts. 

These functions are connected. If money 

loses value quickly, it will stop being 

used to measure prices, and people will 

be much less willing to accept it in exchange 

for goods and services, even if 

it is legal tender. 

Most modern money has little or no 

intrinsic value: notes and most coins 

are worthless, and our bank balances 

are simply numbers in a computer. 

(Don’t think too much about this, or you 

might start to panic.) 

A new form of virtual, non-governmental 

money was created in 2009: bitcoins. 

allegation [)ÄlE(geIS&n] Behauptung, 

Unterstellung 

bank balance 

Kontostand 

[(bÄNk )bÄlEns] 

bargepole: not touch sth. die Finger von 

with a ~ [(bA:dZpEUl] ifml. etw. lassen 

(bargepole 

Bootsstange) 

deposit [di(pQzIt] Vorkommen 

eucalyptus [)ju:kE(lIptEs] [wg. Aussprache] 

intrinsic value 

Substanzwert 

[In)trInsIk (vÄlju:] 

legal tender 

gesetzliches 

[)li:g&l (tendE] 

Zahlungsmittel 

medium of exchange Tauschmittel 

[)mi:diEm Ev Iks(tSeIndZ] 

mine sth. [maIn] etw. fördern, 

gewinnen 

money laundering Geldwäsche 

[(mVni )lO:ndErIN] 

settle debts 

Schulden 

[)set&l (dets] 

begleichen 

store of value 

Wertanlage 

[)stO:r Ev (vÄlju:] 

textbook [(tekstbUk] Lehrbuch 

unit of account 

Verrechnungs- 

[)ju:nIt Ev E(kaUnt] einheit 

Does money grow on trees? 

The answer is not simple 

These are produced (or “mined”) by using 

computers to solve complicated 

maths problems. Their total supply will 

be limited to 21 million and their main 

potential benefit is in providing a faster, 

cheaper form of online payment. 

At present, the use of bitcoins as a 

unit of account and medium of exchange 

is limited, although you can buy 

burgers with them in at least one shop 

in London. And the anonymity of the 

virtual currency has led to allegations 

that it is being used for drug dealing 

and money laundering. Finally, the 

volatile changes in its dollar price make 

it a less-than-ideal store of value. 

Despite the optimism of some experts 

and the potential future benefits 

for online payments, my advice to investors 

at the moment is simple: don’t 

touch bitcoins with a bargepole. ■BS 

Ian McMaster is editor-in-chief of Business 

Spotlight. Read his weekly blog on global 

business at www.business-spotlight.de/blogs 

Contact: i.mcmaster@spotlight-verlag.de 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE 

TEACHER TALK 

Digital skills are the future 

Mobile Geräte können die Methoden des Sprachunterrichts tiefgreifend ändern. 

Das erfuhr DEBORAH CAPRAS von Nicky Hockly, die Business-Englisch lehrt und 

pädagogische Leiterin einer Onlineberatungsfirma ist. 

medium 

Who is Nicky Hockly? 

Nicky Hockly has been involved in English Language Teaching (ELT) and teacher 

training since 1987. She is director of pedagogy at The Consultants-E, an online 

teacher-training and development consultancy. She is co-author of a number 

of books, including How to Teach English with Technology (2007), Teaching 

Online (2010) and Digital Literacies (2013). She has published an e-book, 

Webinars: A Cookbook for Educators (2012), and is currently working on a 

book on mobile learning with Gavin Dudeney. She refers to herself as a technophobe 

turned technophile. 

Website: www.theconsultants-e.com 

Blog: www.emoderationskills.com 

Contact: nicky.hockly@theconsultants-e.com 

Home 

Barcelona, Spain, although I’m from 

Cape Town, South Africa. 

Other languages spoken 

Spanish, Catalan and (bad) French. 

How did you become involved in business 

English teaching? 

Like many people, I fell into teaching. 

I had just finished university and was 

living in the UK, but I hated the weather. 

I desperately wanted to live somewhere 

warm, near the Mediterranean, 

and Spain seemed like a good choice. 

Teaching English was the way to be 

able to live in Barcelona and pay the 

rent. 

How will English teaching change in 

the next five years? 

Teaching hasn’t really changed much in 

the last hundred years, so I don’t think 

it will change much in the next five! 

Even with new technologies, there are 

still plenty of traditional classrooms 

with teachers standing at the front — 

even if they have the latest interactive 

whiteboard technology behind them. 

We need teachers to understand that 

their role is not to deliver information, 

but to support learning. And for that to 

happen, many teacher-training programmes 

need a paradigm shift. 

What are the key principles that promote 

effective language learning? 

Input, output and a strong desire to 

learn. 

What can learners do on their own to 

improve their language skills? 

Get as much English exposure and 

practice outside the classroom as possible. 

Technology can definitely help 

with this — internet resources, video 

podcasts on their mobile phones, social 

networks in English. There are so many 

more options now than there were ten 

years ago. 

Is there a secret to learning vocabulary? 

Definitely not — you still need a good 

memory to remember words. But good 

vocabulary apps on your phone can 

Cape Town [(keIp taUn] Kapstadt 

Catalan [(kÄtElÄn] Katalanisch 

consultancy [kEn(sVltEnsi] Beratungsfirma 


digital literacies 

digitale Kompe- 

[)dIdZIt&l (lIt&rEsiz] tenzen 

(literacy 

Fähigkeit zu lesen 

und zu schreiben) 

exposure [Ik(spEUZE] Ausgesetztsein; 

hier: Kontakt 

fall into sth. 

hier: zufällig zu 

[)fO:l (Intu] 

etw. kommen 

Mediterranean 

Mittelmeer 

[)medItE(reIniEn] 

paradigm shift 

Paradigmen- 

[(pÄradaIm SIft] wechsel 

pedagogy [(pedEgQdZi] [wg. Aussprache] 

resource [ri(zO:s] Quelle 

technophile 

Technikbegeis- 

[(teknEUfaI&l] 

terte(r) 

technophobe 

Technikfeind(in) 

[(teknEUfEUb] 


Wavebreakmedia 

“Mobile devices allow us 

to take learning beyond 

the classroom walls” 

help. Research (by people like Paul Nation 

and Averil Coxhead) has shown 

that regular use of such apps can support 

more effective vocabulary learning. 

What non-language skills do you focus 

on and why? 

One of my big areas of interest is digital 

literacies. These are not just basic 

technical skills, but also an awareness 

of the social practices that surround the 

appropriate use of technologies. So for 

example, not just knowing how to put 

allow sb. to do sth. hier: jmdm. ermög- 

[E)laU tE (du:] 

lichen, etw. zu tun 

appropriate [E(prEUpriEt] richtig, sachgemäß 

at a pinch 

zur Not 

[)"t E (pIntS] UK 

attribute sth. 

hier: auf die 

[E(trIbju:t] 

Urheber schaft von 

etw. hinweisen 

barely [(beEli] 

kaum 

camper van 

Wohnmobil 

[(kÄmpE vÄn] UK 

carry meaning 

für das Verständnis 

[)kÄri (mi:nIN] 

wichtig sein 

fluent speaker: be a ~ eine Fremdsprache 

[)flu:Ent (spi:kE] fließend sprechen 

get by [)get (baI] klarkommen 

intelligible [In(telIdZEb&l] verständlich 

issue [(ISu:] 

Thema, Frage 

language acquisition Spracherwerb 

[(lÄNgwIdZ ÄkwI)zIS&n] 

mobile device 

Mobilgerät 

[)mEUbaI&l di(vaIs] 

on the spot [)Qn DE (spQt] an Ort und Stelle 

research [ri(s§:tS] Studien 

stage [steIdZ] 

Phase, Stadium 

vital [(vaIt&l] 

unerlässlich 

It’s an opportunity to learn: 

wherever you are 

an image in a document, but also 

knowing that you can’t just take any old 

picture from Google Images — you need 

to check copyright, you need to know 

where to find copyright-free images 

and you need to know how to attribute 

these images in your work. Digital literacies 

are absolutely vital for the 21st 

century — for students and teachers. 

How important is grammar? 

At higher levels, it is clearly important, 

but you can get by at lower levels with 

the key words that carry meaning. Accurate 

grammar is all very well, but in 

the early stages of language acquisition, 

vocabulary is what will help you 

communicate at a pinch. 

How important is it to speak English 

correctly? 

Well, that depends on what is meant by 

“correctly”, and on what your goals are. 

If you want to persuade someone to 

make a business deal with you, you 

may not be taken seriously if your En - 

glish is very poor and you are barely 

intelligible. However, communication 

is more than just words, so good communication 

skills are also essential, 

even if you’re a fluent speaker. I definite - 

ly don’t think that students need to try 

to sound like native speakers though. 

Has any new kind of technology made 

a difference to how you teach or how 

learners learn? 

For me, mobile devices are making a 

difference. I can now have students 

bring in photos or recordings made out 

of class on their devices, which we can 

then work on in class. Or we can start 

doing something in class, and then students 

can continue their work out of 

class. For example, they may need to 

find a piece of advertising in English in 

the street, take a photo with their mobile 

device and share it on the spot via 

our Facebook group. Mobile devices 

allow us to take learning beyond the 

classroom walls, and to bring the out - 

side world into the classroom. These 

sorts of “bridging” activities are actually 

relatively easy to carry out with mobile 

devices. 

Must-read: ELT 

Mark Pegrum’s 2009 book From Blogs 

to Bombs: The Future of Digital Technologies 

in Education. It’s a fascinating 

book, which covers social issues, politics 

and the environment. An absolute 

must-read for any educator interested 

in technology in education. 

Ambitions and dreams 

I have a very old camper van, and my 

partner and I would like to drive from 

Spain all the way across Asia, over a 

couple of years! I’ll probably need to 

sell quite a few more books to get the 

money together for it to happen. ■BS 

www You can find more for teachers at 

www.business-spotlight.de/teachers 

3/2014 


LANGUAGE PRODUCTS 

What’s new? 

Sie 

wollen noch tiefer ins Englische eintauchen? Wir haben uns 

für Sie nach neuen Produkten umgesehen. 

medium 

Books 

Vocabulary newsletter 

Dear Ken... 101 Answers to Your Questions about 

Business English 

Which tense do I need? Which preposition is 

right? Which phrases do I use to start and finish 

a letter or an email? How can I sound 

more polite? These are only four of the 101 

questions that non-native speakers of English 

asked Business Spotlight author Ken Taylor. 

Lulu Publishing, €12.99* 

Business English ganz leicht — Lernwortschatz 

Business English ganz leicht — Wortschatztraining 

If you are learning English for your job or 

need English at work, these two books will 

help you to learn and practise your business 

English vocabulary. Among the subjects included 

are job applications, business correspondence, 

marketing, trade, travelling, 

meetings and conferences. Barry Baddock, 

Susie Vrobel (Hueber), €6.99 each* 

Global Leaders in Islamic Finance 

This book focuses on the key figures in Islamic 

finance, from the 1970s, when the 

first Islamic commercial bank was opened, to 

today. The author looks at banking and the 

capital market, international standard-setting 

and sharia law. Emmy Abdul Alim (Wiley), 

€30.90 

*These products are available at www.sprachenshop.de 

Pictorials for Engineers / 

Bildwörterbücher für 

Ingenieure & Techniker 

This free online newsletter 

is useful for engineers and 

learners of technical English. 

It offers subscribers 

a labelled picture twice a 

week, making it easier to learn and remember technical vocabulary. 

http://inchbyinch.de 

Book with audio CD 

commercial bank 

[kE)m§:S&l (bÄNk] 

engineer [)endZI(nIE] 

impact [(ImpÄkt] 

job application 

[(dZɒb ÄplI)keIS&n] 

labelled [(leIb&ld] 


sharia law [SE(ri:E lO:] 

subscriber [sEb(skraIbE] 

tense [tens] 

Writing for Impact 

To communicate in a foreign language, 

speaking, listening and 

reading is not enough. You also 

need to write clearly. This book 

includes the most frequent types 

of written business communication, 

such as emails, letters and 

reports. Tim Banks (Cambridge 

University Press/Klett), €24.99* 

Geschäftsbank 

Ingenieur(in); Techniker(in) 

Wirkung, Effekt 

(Stellen-)Bewerbung 

beschriftet 

Formulierung 

Scharia (islamisches Recht) 

Abonnent(in) 

Tempus, Zeit(form) 

Solutions 

Vocabulary (p. 44): 

a) golfers 

b) golf course 

c) driver 

d) tee shot 

e) fairway 

f) iron 

g) golf ball 

h) water hazard 

i) green 

j) hole 

k) out of bounds 

Grammar at Work 

(p. 45): 

a) have been working / 

have worked 

b) have worked 

c) am working 

d) am going to work 

Translation (p. 52): 

a) Wir brauchen konkrete 

Beweise / einen 

konkreten Beweis, 

bevor wir etwas tun 

können. 

b) Do you offer (guided) 

tours in Spanish? 

English for... opinion 

research (pp. 58–59): 

a) clipboards 

b) cold 

c) purchasing 

d) engagement 

Legal English (p. 60): 

a) defective 

b) strict 

c) negligently 

d) accidents 

e) directives 

Language Focus 

(p. 83): 

a) verify 

b) validate 

c) efficient 


KEY WORDS 

LANGUAGE 

Vocabulary trainer 

Listen and learn! 

You can download an MP3 

file of this Key Words list on 

our website. 

Nouns and noun phrases 

capital letter the large form of a letter (“A”, not “a”) Großbuchstabe 

driver’s license US a document that permits someone to drive a car or other vehicle Führerschein 

industry expertise expert knowledge of a particular sector or type of business Branchenkenntnisse 

mouseprint ifml. the details on a document or contract that are hard to read Kleingedrucktes 

but that contain important, often unfavourable, conditions 

pitch UK the area on which football is played Spielfeld 

processing fee the money you pay for someone to officially deal with something Bearbeitungsgebühr 

so that something else can happen 

Verbs 

cold-call sb. to make an unexpected (and often unwanted) phone call to jmdn. kalt/unverlangt 

someone with the intention of selling something 

anrufen 

hire sth. out UK to provide something for someone’s use for a period of time for an etw. vermieten, verleihen 

agreed payment 

push sth. back to delay something, to move something to a later date etw. auf später verschieben 

reject sb. to refuse to accept someone for a job or a course jmdn. ablehnen 

reward sb. to give someone something good because of something they did jmdn. belohnen 

show sb. around to act as a guide to someone when they visit a place the first time jmdn. herumführen 

Adjectives and adverbs 

classy ifml. stylish, elegant and sophisticated nobel 

confrontational behaving in a way that shows you want to argue or fight provokativ 

with someone 

elaborate having a lot of complicated features that make something special aufwendig 

negligently failing to give proper care and attention to something, especially fahrlässig 

when this causes harm or damage 

unanimously agreed upon by everyone in the group einstimmig 

Idioms and expressions 

Use our Key Words list to learn vocabulary from the current Business Spotlight. The 

definitions will help you understand the expressions — and build your vocabulary. 

at a pinch UK if really necessary and if you have no other possibility zur Not 

first and foremost most importantly in erster Linie, vor allem 

flavour of the month: to experience a short period of popularity momentan „in“ sein 

be the ~ 

get one’s message to communicate something in a way that makes it easily (s)eine Botschaft 

across understood rüberbringen 

next big thing: the ~ something that is or will be extremely popular, the next trend der neueste Trend 

off sick: be ~ to be absent from work because you are not well krankgeschrieben sein 

Subscribers to Business Spotlight can download the following lists at www.business-spotlight.de/words 

n a PDF of this Key Words list with an MP3 audio file of the words, definitions and example sentences 

n a PDF of the complete vocabulary list (English–German) for each magazine 

www 

3/2014 


A rising tide 

Die Zahl der Onlinekurse, die auch renommierte Universitäten und Institute im Angebot 

haben, ist heute so groß wie nie. CAROL SCHEUNEMANN gibt Auskunft über die Entstehung, 

Dauer, Zulassungsbedingungen und Anbieter solcher Kurse. 

medium US 

Lots to learn: so many 

courses and so little time 

Mauritius

MOOCS CAREERS 

What really surprised innovator 

and educator 

Salman Khan about online 

learning is that students 

said they would 

rather watch videos of lessons than 

listen to someone explaining the subject 

in person. He was telling a story 

about helping his cousins with their 

math. At the time, he was working as 

a hedge fund analyst in Boston, and 

his cousins were in New Orleans. So 

he put a few simple video tutorials on 

YouTube. “I saw no reason to make 

it private, so I let other people watch 

it,” Khan told listeners at the 2011 

TED conference, a regular event that 

brings together experts on technology, 

entertainment and design. 

Before long, Khan says, tens of 

thousands of learners around the 

globe had watched his math lessons, 

and he began to dream of “a global 

one-world classroom.” This led him 

to start the Khan Academy in 2008, a 

provider of free online lessons in 

math and other subjects. His videos 

also inspired other organizations to 

offer massive open online courses 

(MOOCs) via the Internet. 

One of Khan’s listeners at the 2011 

TED conference was Sebastian 

Thrun, a research professor at Stanford 

University, in California. As he 

listened, Thrun silently calculated 

that he would never reach as many 

students in his entire career as Khan 

had with a few videos. Within six 

months, Thrun put together an online 

course on artificial intelligence, and 

A CLOSER LOOK 

What is a MOOC [mu:k]? A “massive open online 

course” offers training from universities, institutes, 

experts, or firms, and is available to 

anyone, usually for free. Most courses consist of 

videos of lectures, homework, and a final exam. 

They generally lead to a certificate, but you can 

take part without having to finish the course. 

Many lessons include lively animation 

or game-like elements 

posted it on Stanford’s site. Some 

160,000 students signed up. Convinced 

that he was seeing the future 

of education, Thrun started Udacity, 

a platform offering courses from 

Stanford and other top universities — 

for anyone, anywhere, and for free. 

Distance learning and online education 

have been around for decades. 

And individual MOOCs had been 

available since about 2008, when the 

name itself was created. But suddenly, 

they were the next big thing. Private 

and public universities and institutes 

rushed to offer courses. 

Udacity was quickly followed by 

Coursera, a platform with an even 

larger offering of high-status universities, 

and by edX, a joint effort by 

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

(MIT) and Harvard. The New 

York Times called 2012 “The Year of 

the MOOC.” By late 2013, Europe’s 

providers included FutureLearn in the 

UK and iversity, which offers courses 

primarily from German universities. 

(See the box on page 69 for details 

about the platforms.) 

The character and structure of 

MOOCs vary widely. Some are lectures 

filmed in a classroom, whereas 

others look like a friendly chat in the 

professor’s office. Many lessons include 

lively animation or game-like 

elements. There may be multiplechoice 

questions to answer during 

some lectures. What they all have in 

common is that you can watch the 

videos as many times as you want to 

or need to. And, although the majority 

of MOOC courses are in English, 

some of the videos have English subtitles, 

provide the full text, or are 

user-translated. 

Balakrishnan Srinivasan, 45, a 

computer engineer in Bangalore, India, 

told The New York Times that he 

frequently replayed the videos, which 

made him “feel as if I had a personal 

tutor.” 

Assignments are graded by computer, 

by teaching assistants, or 

through “peer assessment,” which 

means that students grade each other’s 

work. Social-media chat rooms 

and forums bring tens of thousands 

of students together digitally to exchange 

ideas, and to help and teach 

each other. 

Because it’s so easy to sign up for 

MOOCs, participants feel little obligation 

to finish the courses. High 

drop-out rates are the result. Some students 

just watch the lectures, but don’t 

do any assignments. Others jump from 

one course to another, looking for the 

subject or presentation they like best. 

Some 95 percent of participants don’t 

finish the courses. And according to a 

recent MIT-Harvard study, close to 40 

assignment 

(Haus-)Aufgabe 

[E(saInmEnt] 

computer engineer Computer- 

[kEm)pju:t&r endZI(nI&r*] techniker(in) 

distance learning Fernstudium, 

[(dIstEns )l§:nIN] -unterricht 

dropout rate 

Abbrecherquote 

[(drA:paUt reIt*] 

educator 

Pädagoge/ 

[(edZEkeIt&r*] 

Pädagogin 

final exam 

Abschlussprüfung 

[)faIn&l Ig(zÄm] 

grade sth. [greId] US etw. benoten 

lecture [(lektS&r*] Vorlesung, Vortrag 

next big thing: the ~ der neueste Trend 

[)nekst bIg (TIN] 

peer assessment Beurteilung durch 

[)pI&r E(sesmEnt*] Mitlernende 

personal tutor 

Privatlehrer(in) 

[)p§:s&nEl (tu:t&r*] 

research professor Forschungs- 

[(ri:s§:tS prE)fes&r*] professor(in) 

sign up [)saIn (Vp] sich anmelden 

tutorial [tu(tO:riEl*] Unterrichtseinheit 


4 

3/2014 


CAREERS MOOCS 

MOOC basics 

How much do they cost? 

MOOCs are usually free, or a minimal 

fee is charged — usually around €50 

— for a final exam, “badge,” or certificate. 

Some models offer free videos 

and membership in discussion groups, 

but cost about €90 per month for services 

such as individual feedback. 

How much time do they take? 

Total time per week varies from an 

hour (just watching the videos) to more 

than eight hours, including assignments. 

The videos are commonly divided 

into 10- to 15-minute segments. 

Most courses run six to ten weeks, but 

some take just two weeks, others nearly 

six months. 

What qualifications do you need? 

No admission requirements exist and 

there is no application process. You just 

sign up using your e-mail address. 

Some subjects require you to have specific 

knowledge, for example, algebra or 

programming experience. 

Do you get university credits? 

Universities and other MOOC providers 

normally do not give credits for courses, 

but there are a few that do. In Europe, 

certain courses provide credits that are 

recognized by the European Credit 

Transfer and Accumulation System 

(ECTS). A few degree programs are being 

developed that will include “blended 

learning” methods, with tutors, 

admission requirement Zulassungs- 

[Ed(mIS&n 

bedingung 

ri)kwaI&rmEnt*] 

application process Bewerbungs- 

[ÄplI(keIS&n )prA:ses*] verfahren 

assignment [E(saInmEnt] (Haus-)Aufgabe 

badge [bÄdZ] 

Abzeichen 

blended learning integriertes Lernen 

[)blendId (l§:nIN] 

credit [(kredIt] Leistungspunkt 

degree program Studienprogramm, 

[di(gri: )proUgrÄm*] das zu einem 

akademischen 

Abschluss führt 

final exam 

Abschlussprüfung 

[)faIn&l Ig(zÄm] 

résumé [(rezEmeI*] US Lebenslauf 

sign up [)saIn (Vp] sich anmelden 

work sample 

Arbeitsprobe 

[(w§:k sÄmp&l*] 


mentors, and real-life study centers. 

These are not free, however. 

Can I learn English with a MOOC? 

A group of Australian universities has 

started a MOOEC (massive open online 

English course) platform. The British 

Council is working with FutureLearn to 

offer courses and preparation for the International 

English Language Testing 

System (IELTS) tests. 

Can the courses help me in my career? 

Few employers would accept these 

courses in place of a traditional university 

degree. But you can learn new 

job-related skills, such as analytical 

thinking or app design. Many courses 

focus on projects, during which you create 

work samples that you can show to 

employers. You can list any certificates 

on your résumé or social-media profile. 

Taking MOOCs signals to employers 

that you want to continue learning and 

to improve your chances of getting, 

and/or keeping, a job. 

percent of the people who sign up for 

the courses never even start them. 

The study also showed that the people 

who sign up for online courses are 

not your typical college kids. MOOC 

students are older and tend to have 

had a university education. Almost 

three out of four participants come 

from outside the United States, and 

about six percent of students are aged 

50 or older. 

In his blog, Udacity’s Sebastian 

Thrun says “students’ average age is 

between 25 and 44. ... Eighty percent 

have an undergraduate or master’s 

degree and are looking to explore a 

career transition or gain additional 

credentials.” Thrun adds that the 

overlap with traditional university 

students is “as close to zero as you 

can imagine.” 

But can giving away education for 

free be a good business model? Universities 

are investing in MOOCs because 

it’s good for their reputation, 

lets them promote their organizations 

and expand their educational reach. 

They can experiment with new teaching 

methods, too. Although mostly 

free, MOOCS even offer revenue potential. 

For example, universities can 

license videos to other educational institutes, 

to companies, or partner 

with publishers. They can also earn a 

finder’s fee from headhunters or firms 

looking for candidates with specific 

skills. By early 2014, the MOOC 

landscape had begun to change. 

career transition beruflicher Wechsel 

[kE(rI&r trÄn)zIS&n*] 

credentials 

etwa: Qualifika- 

[krE(denS&lz] 

tionen 

finder’s fee 

Finderlohn; hier: 

[(faInd&rz fi:*] 

Erfolgsprämie 

overlap [(oUv&rlÄp*] Überschneidung 

publisher [(pVblIS&r*] Verlag; Verleger(in) 

reach [ri:tS] 

Reichweite 

revenue [(revEnju:] Einnahmen 

undergraduate or Bachelormaster’s 

degree oder Master- 

[Vnd&r)grÄdZuEt O:r Abschluss 

(mÄst&rz di)gri:*] 



Away from paper: 

you can learn 

new skills online 

MOOC students are older and tend to 

already have a university education 

Udacity has reinvented itself, now offering 

mainly career-oriented skills 

building. It has partnered with firms, 

including Adobe and Salesforce.com, 

to create an Open Education Alliance, 

in which companies provide the 

course content and a promise to recognize 

the certificates. 

At the start of this year, Coursera 

had 6.5 million students, edX had 1.8 

million, while Udacity had 1.6 million. 

The Khan Academy now has ten 

million visitors per month. Together, 

these and other providers offer hundreds 

of courses in computer science, 

economics, medicine, music, teacher 

training and more. 

Although MOOCs may not replace 

a traditional university education, 

they offer a way to explore new subjects 

or keep your job skills current. 

Anant Agarwal, president of edX, has 

described online learning as “a rising 

tide that will lift all boats.” In other 

words, there’s more education for 

everyone. And if the tide is rising, it’s 

probably wiser, and better for your 

career, to be sitting in a boat than 

treading water. 

nBS 

computer science Informatik 

[kEm)pju:t&r (saIEns*] 

reinvent oneself sich neu erfinden; 

[ri:In(vent wVn)self] hier: sich neu 

orientieren 

rising tide [)raIzIN (taId] ansteigende Flut 

tread water 

Wasser treten; hier 

[)tred (wO:t&r*] auch: auf der Stelle 

treten 


www Keep up to date with career trends at 

www.business-spotlight.de/careers 

Carol Scheunemann is an editor at 

Business Spotlight and coordinates 

Business Spotlight Audio. Contact: 

c.scheunemann@spotlight-verlag.de 

iStock 

Main providers 

These platforms offer courses from various institutions. 

Many other providers of MOOC-style training exist. 

Coursera www.coursera.org The largest provider, with 

more than 100 partner organizations and universities, offering 

more than 600 courses in fields such as business, 

education, the humanities, and social sciences. 

edX www.edx.org Offers courses from some 30 leading institutions, 

including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

and Harvard. In 2014, edX will start mooc.org, an 

open platform for building new courses. 

FutureLearn www.futurelearn.com The first UK-led MOOC 

provider. It is owned by the Open University, a distancelearning 

organization. 

iversity https://iversity.org A European MOOC platform 

that offers courses in English and German, primarily from 

German universities. 

Khan Academy www.khanacademy.org Perhaps not a true 

MOOC provider, this platform offers short lessons, rather 

than a multi-week course, mainly in math and science. 

MOOEC www.mooec.com Australian universities have created 

this MOOC platform specifically for learning English. 

Udacity www.udacity.com As of January 2014, this is primarily 

a company-oriented, skills-specific provider, but it 

still offers some university courses. 

n See also www.mooc-list.com or www.class-central.com 

You can browse here for MOOCs by subject, institution, 

country, or language. 

n Find a playlist of TED videos about MOOCs at 

www.ted.com/playlists/141/moocs_101.html 

distance learning [(dIstEns )l§:nIN] 

humanities: (the) ~ [hju(mÄnEtiz] 

Fernstudium, -unterricht 

Geisteswissenschaften 

3/2014 


CAREERS TIPS AND TRENDS 

Stockbyte 

All in a day’s work 

Wie hält man die Suche nach einem neuen Job geheim? Mit 

wem geht man zum Mittagessen? Wie gestaltet man sein Profil in 

sozialen Netzwerken? MARGARET DAVIS gibt Antworten. medium 

Job search 

Keep it quiet 

Looking for a new job without your boss finding out can be 

difficult. But there are ways to keep the search secret, says 

British business communication trainer Clare Whitmell. 

“Don’t make the mistake of becoming the model employee 

overnight, then asking for a reference a few days later,” Whitmell 

writes in The Guardian. You should also be very careful 

about posting on job sites, especially if your company uses 

these sites to advertise jobs, Whitmell says. 

Someone’s watching: keep 

your job search secret 

So glad we met: 

working lunch 

Trend 

Lunch roulette 

If you always have lunch with the same colleagues, you could 

be missing a networking opportunity. That’s at least what the 

people at LunchRoulette.us think. The company has developed 

an app that randomly matches colleagues who want to 

get together with others for lunch. Co-designer David Thompson 

told the Harvard Business Review that the app allows colleagues 

at all levels of a company to meet and learn from each 

other. “After all, if we don’t have people who can learn both 

up and down, then we have the wrong people in both levels,” 

Thompson says. 

Photodisc 

Away from your desk 

Book 

Anheuser-Busch is perhaps 

the most famous brewery in 

the US. In Bitter Brew: The 

Rise and Fall of Anheuser- 

Busch and America’s Kings of 

Beer (HarperCollins), William 

Knoedelseder tells the colourful 

story of the beer-making family. Complete 

with “hard drinking, fast driving, 

womanizing and gunplay”, this book is as 

entertaining as it is informative. 

Gebräu 

Brauerei 

Schießereien 

Jobbörse im Internet 

Muster- 

Gelegenheit zu Kontaktaufbau 

und -pflege 

zufällig 

Arbeitszeugnis 

hier: von Ranghöheren 

und -niedrigeren 

Frauengeschichten 

brew [bru:] 

brewery [(bru:Eri] 

gunplay [(gVnpleI] US 

job site [(dZQb saIt] 

model [(mQd&l] 

networking opportunity 

[(netw§:kIN QpE)tju:nEti] 

randomly [(rÄndEmli] 

reference [(ref&rEns] 

up and down 

[)Vp En (daUn] 

womanizing [(wUmEnaIzIN] 


World Wide Web activity: don’t let it hurt your career 

How to... 

Manage your social-media profile 

These days, many of us use social media both for 

work and for fun. Australian career experts Edwin 

Trevor-Roberts and Jocelyn Hunter have some 

useful suggestions for making sure your posts 

aren’t career killers: 

n Draw a line between professional sites like 

LinkedIn and social networks like Facebook. 

Trevor-Roberts advises using LinkedIn for business 

or work contacts and reserving Facebook for 

friends. “Do you want your colleagues to see 

everything you do on Facebook? Only accept them 

on to Facebook if they are a true, genuine friend,” 

he told The Sydney Morning Herald. 

n Don’t post pictures of children, pets or alcoholic 

drinks on LinkedIn. Such unprofessional behaviour 

immediately disqualifies anyone who applies for a 

job with her company, says Jocelyn Hunter, head 

of a Melbourne PR agency. “If I saw them there 

iStock 

with their cat, I just can’t think they would make 

the grade,” Hunter comments. 

n Don’t opt out of social media completely. Not 

posting at all can be bad for your career, according 

to Trevor-Roberts. “The process of recruitment 

has reversed and people are now googling you before 

interviews,” he says. “People may lift their 

eyebrows and ask, ‘Why are you not on LinkedIn?’” 

iStock 

Statistically speaking 

More maths, please 

Americans who study advanced mathematics 

in high school make more money, according 

to a US study. Jonathan James, a former bank 

researcher, found that pupils who took advanced 

maths were three times more likely to finish college. 

“The more math one takes, the more one 

earns on average, and the more likely one is to have 

a job,” James writes. Source: The Wall Street Journal 

advanced mathematics 

[Ed)vA:nst mÄTE(mÄtIks] 

executive [Ig(zekjUtIv] 

genuine [(dZenjuIn] 

interview [(IntEvju:] 

make the grade 

[)meIk DE (greId] ifml. 

opt out of sth. 

[)Qpt (aUt Qv] 

recruitment [ri(kru:tmEnt] 

researcher [ri(s§:tSE] 

reverse [ri(v§:s] 

ROI (return on investment) 

[)A:r EU (aI] 

show up for sth. 

[)SEU (Vp fO:] 

hier: Mathematik 

als Leistungsfach 

Führungskraft 

echt 

Bewerbungsgespräch 

den Anforderungen 

gerecht werden 

sich gegen etw. 

entscheiden 

Personaleinstellung 

Forscher(in) 

sich umkehren 

Rentabilität, 

Kapitalrendite 

bei etw. erscheinen 

Dilbert 

www.dilbert.com dilbertcartoonist@gmail.com 

© 09/24/2013 Scott Adams, Inc. Dist. by Universal Uclick 

3/2014 


Getty Images 

Following 

the leader 

Die griechischen Götter und Persönlichkeiten aus Wirtschaft, 

Politik und Religion besaßen es. Führungskräfte von heute hätten 

es gerne. Wir reden von Charisma. Ist es eine natürliche Gabe oder 

lässt es sich erlernen? VICKI SUSSENS geht dem nach. advanced 

Bill Clinton: regarded as 

having extraordinary 

powers to move people

CHARISMA 

MANAGEMENT 

Clinton is so sexy, 

he eats you up with his 

eyes,” writer Jackie 

Collins once told a reporter. 

“I don’t know “Bill 

whether it is magic, or a trick, but it 

is the best act I have ever seen.” Clinton’s 

ability to mesmerize people is 

well-known. “Before I met the man, I 

hated him,” one Republican politician 

once told charisma coach Olivia 

Fox Cabane. “After I met him, I hated 

him. But while I was meeting him, 

did I ever love the man!” 

This mysterious quality, which has 

fascinated mankind since the term 

khárisma was first used by the ancient 

Greeks to describe the “grace” of the 

gods, is seen as essential in leadership. 

But what is it exactly? Can we learn 

it? And is it always valuable in corporate 

life? 

Business history is filled with 

charismatic leaders whose firms still 

carry their names, including Heinz, 

Hipp and Ford. Yet charisma was not 

regarded as an essential management 

quality until the 1980s, with the birth 

of transformational leadership theory. 

In this, visionary leaders were seen as 

role models, whose “idealized influence” 

could transform organizations 

and inspire staff to reach the highest 

levels of motivation and morality. 

Lee Iacocca, who became head 

of a struggling Chrysler in 1979, was 

regarded as the personification of 

the transformational leader (see also 

p. 23). He turned the company into a 

profitable business, cutting costs, producing 

good products and paying 

back a massive government loan 

within a few years. 

By the mid-1980s, he had become a 

folk hero and was described by The 

Saturday Evening Post as “the sex 

symbol of America”. There was even 

talk of him becoming president. But 

by the end of the 1980s, America was 

in a recession and the company began 

to struggle again. Iacocca, who had 

once accepted a one-dollar-a-year 

salary from Chrysler to help the firm 

through its financial difficulties, was 

paid $18 million in 1987, at a time 

when public anger at high executive 

salaries was just beginning. The hero 

had fallen. 

Steve Jobs was considered one of 

the most charismatic modern leaders, 

despite being awkward in his early 

years. With time, Jobs improved his 

public performance. Biographer Walter 

Isaacson says the Apple boss 

learned his unblinking stare from a 

college friend and rehearsed every 

speech he made. This has led some to 

say that Jobs “learned charisma” and 

that others can, too. 

Jobs had the charismatic qualities 

described by German sociologist Max 

Weber (1864–1920), the first person 

to define charismatic leadership (see 

box p. 74). These include extraordinary 

insight and performance, but 

most of all, “power of authority” — 

the ability to persuade others and inspire 

loyalty. 

Jobs believed in what he was doing, 

never lost sight of his goals and 

pushed his staff as hard as he did himself. 

The resulting turnaround of Apple 

is legendary. Jobs’s ability to generate 

excitement about each new 

product resulted in a cult around his 

personality. In fact, after his death in 

2011, many feared the “real Apple” 

would die. Yet, Jobs had a competent 

successor in place, Tim Cook. Staff 

did, however, pay for Jobs’s extreme 

talent. He was said to be mercurial, 

favouring some staff over others, and 

of having temper tantrums. 

“You either have that X factor that 

is genuine charisma or you don’t,” 

says Ronald E. Riggio, psychologist 

and co-author of The Charisma Quotient: 

What It Is, How to Get It, How 

to Use It. However, he says you can 

learn the skills that make people appear 

to be charismatic. These Riggio 

defines as a complex mixture of social 

and emotional skills, including exact 

[Äkt] 

Darbietung, Nummer 

awkward [(O:kwEd] unbeholfen, 

linkisch 

charisma [kE(rIzmE] [wg. Aussprache] 

corporate life 

Unternehmens- 

[)kO:pErEt (laIf] alltag 

executive [Ig(zekjUtIv] Führungskraft 

folk hero [(fEUk )hIErEU] Volksheld(in) 

goal [gEUl] 

Ziel 

grace [greIs] 

Gnade 

insight [(InsaIt] Einblick, 

Verständnis 

mankind [)mÄn(kaInd] die Menschheit 

mercurial [m§:(kjUEriEl] launisch 

mesmerize sb. jmdn. faszinieren; 

[(mezmEraIz] 

hypnotisieren 

rehearse sth. [ri(h§:s] etw. proben 

role model [(rEUl )mQd&l] Vorbild 

struggling [(strVg&lIN] hier: ums Überleben 

kämpfend 

successor [sEk(sesE] Nachfolger(in) 

temper tantrum Wutanfall 

[(tempE )tÄntrEm] 

turnaround 

Kehrtwende, 

[(t§:nE)raUnd] 

Umschwung 

unblinking stare unverwandter 

[Vn)blINkIN (steE] Blick 

X factor [(eks )fÄktE] (das) gewisse Etwas 

4 

3/2014 


MANAGEMENT CHARISMA 

Getty Images 

pressiveness, control and sensitivity, 

that allow individuals to connect to 

others at a deep emotional level. 

Fox Cabane, an executive charisma 

coach for Fortune 500 companies, 

goes further, saying charisma is based 

on primitive signals that we can acquire. 

The author of The Charisma 

Myth: How Anyone Can Master the 

Art and Science of Personal Magnetism 

bases her ideas on studies by the 

MIT Human Dynamics Lab. By examining 

the way people communicate 

using body language, facial expressions 

and tone of voice, they identified 

the signals that enable people to 

make deep emotional connections. 

These include standing tall to give 

an impression of power, copying the 

gestures of the person in front of 

them to show identification and listening 

with full concentration. 

Fox Cabane sees charisma as a 

combination of warmth, power and 

presence. Her three tips to improve 

charisma are: “Stare like a 

lover, stand like a gorilla and 

speak like a preacher.” 

Supporters of charismatic 

leadership tend to focus only 

on the positive aspects of 

charisma. But there is a dark 

side, too. Hitler, for example, 

had extraordinary charisma. 

This is one reason Germans 

are suspicious of charismatic 

leaders and strongly admire 

their quiet but effective 

Mutti, Angela Merkel. 

It is also why Peter Drucker, 

the father of modern 

management, who fled Nazi 

Germany in 1933, did not 

accept the idea of charisma 

in business. He even rejected 

the word “leadership” to describe 

management. 

So when is charisma in leadership a 

good thing? History shows that 

charismatic leaders are at their best in 

extreme situations, where people look 

“When you have a celebrity, the company turns 

into the one genius with 1,000 helpers” 

Jim Collins, management guru and author of Good to Great 

Steve Jobs: did he 

learn charisma? 

to saviours to lead them out of uncertainty. 

Nelson Mandela, for example, 

was perfect to lead South Africa 

into democracy. However, he was less 

inspiring as an everyday president. 

Indeed, charismatic leaders often 

come in pairs: Jesus and Peter, Gandhi 

and Nehru, and Google’s Larry 

Page and Sergey Brin. The first were 

visionaries. The second, who were 

What is charisma? 

“Charisma” comes from the Greek word khárisma meaning “a favour freely given” 

or “a gift of grace”. The ancient Greeks used the word to describe the 

divine qualities of their gods. Along its etymological journey, however, charisma 

developed both a religious and a secular meaning. In the religious sense, 

it means a God-given quality, inspiring awe and devotion, usually found in holy 

figures such as prophets, saints or gurus. 

The German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) was the first to use it to 

describe leadership more generally. Weber defined charisma as a quality that 

is not found in ordinary people, and that is seen as giving them “supernatural, 

superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities”. On the basis 

of these powers, the individual concerned is treated as a leader. If a leader 

fails his followers, however, the charisma, or “power of authority”, is quickly lost. 

John Potts, an Australian media professor, writes in A History of Charisma 

that by the 1950s, the term was being used loosely to mean “personal charm”. 

However, it kept its connection to that mysterious quality described by Weber. 

awe [O:] 

Ehrfurcht 

devotion [di(vEUS&n] Ergebenheit, 

Auf opferung 

divine [dI(vaIn] göttlich 

facial [(feIS&l] 

Gesichtsgestures 

[(dZestSEz] Gestik 

gift of grace 

Gnadengabe 

[)gIft Ev (greIs] 

master sth. [(mA:stE] etw. beherrschen 

MIT (Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology) 

[)em aI (ti:] 

myth [mIT] 

Mythos 

preacher [(pri:tSE] Prediger(in) 

reject sth. [ri(dZekt] etw. ablehnen, 

zurückweisen 

saint [seInt] 

Heilige(r) 

saviour [(seIvjE] Retter(in), 

Erlöser(in) 

sensitivity [)sensE(tIvEti] Feinfühligkeit 

stare [steE] 

starren; 

hier: blicken 

suspicious: be ~ of sb. jmdm. mit Argwohn 

[sE(spISEs] 

begegnen 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034362831@N01/2505321929/ 

Dream team: Google’s Sergey 

Brin (left) and Larry Page 

A recent study of Europe’s 100 oldest 

firms found the most successful 

leaders had “conservative intelligence” 

rather than charisma. “They 

succeeded by listening to their people 

and relying on industry expertise,” 

according to the head of the study, 

Christian Stadler, associate professor 

at the Warwick Business School in 

“Stare like a lover; 

stand like a gorilla; speak 

like a preacher” 

Virgin 

less charismatic leaders, put that vision 

into action. CNN Money recently 

called the partnership of Page, 

Google’s CEO, and Brin, the man behind 

the scenes, as “the most successful 

in business history”. 

Richard Branson, who heads the 

Virgin Group, seems to have understood 

the power and limits of charisma. 

He uses his vision to start innovative 

businesses, but lets others run 

them. And if he leads a life of excess, 

nobody cares, as he uses his talent to 

support socially important projects. 

With the growing number of scandals 

involving overpaid, unethical 

CEOs, there are now demands to 

review the idealization of leadership, 

which has led to the idea that without 

exceptional CEOs, a firm cannot be 

competitive. Critics say this — and 

exorbitant salaries — has attracted 

the wrong sort of leader to the top. 

“Destructive narcissism is now a 

significant problem in organizations,” 

writes Roy Lubit, an expert on emotional 

intelligence, of the Academy of 

Management. “Although charismatic 

leaders can charm the masses with 

their rhetoric, they are emotionally 

distant, don’t tolerate criticism, are 

poor listeners and can be brutally 

exploitative,” he says. 

Joseph Raelin, who is the Knowles 

chair of practice-oriented education 

at Northeastern University in Boston, 

says hero worship is out of date, and 

that it takes away a community’s 

power. “We have to deconstruct the 

romantic view of charismatic leadership,” 

he wrote recently in Training 

and Development. 

Management guru Jim Collins 

writes in Good to Great that the 

world’s best leaders are mostly shy 

and anonymous. “When you have a 

celebrity, the company turns into the 

one genius with 1,000 helpers. It creates 

a sense that the whole thing is 

really about the CEO,” he says. 

Olivia Fox Cabane, executive charisma 

coach and author of The Charisma Myth 

Coventry, England. Stadler gives the 

example of John Loudon, Royal 

Dutch Shell’s leader in the 1950s and 

1960s, whose business model generated 

growth for more than 30 years. 

“If your company is heading in the 

right direction, a charismatic leader 

will get you there faster,” says Stadler. 

“However, if you’re heading in the 

wrong direction, charisma will get 

you there faster, too.” ■BS 

associate professor außerordentliche(r) 

[E)sEUsiEt prE(fesE] Professor(in), Dozent(in) 

business school wirtschaftswissen- 

[(bIznEs sku:l] schaftliche Fakultät 

celebrity [sE(lebrEti] Prominente(r) 

CEO (chief executive Firmenchef(in) 

officer) [)si: i: (EU] 

chair [tSeE] Vorsitzende(r) 

charm sb. [tSA:m] jmdn. verzaubern 

competitive wettbewerbsfähig 

[kEm(petEtIv] 

deconstruct sth. etw. dekonstruieren; 

[)di:kEn(strVkt] hier: mit etw. aufräumen 

exploitative ausbeuterisch 

[Ik(splOItEtIv] 

industry expertise Branchenkenntnisse 

[)IndEstri )eksp§:(ti:z] 

out of date 

überholt 

[)aUt Ev (deIt] 

rely on sth. [ri(laI Qn] sich auf etw. stützen 

review sth. [ri(vju:] etw. überdenken 

Vicki Sussens is a feature writer and 

the editor of the Management section 


v.sussens@spotlight-verlag.de 

Bad taste, big heart: 

Richard Branson 


MANAGEMENT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT 

McDonald’s hot coffee 

Sind die USA ein Paradies für horrende und oft absurde Schadensersatzforderungen? 

VICKI SUSSENS berichtet von einer Frau, die eine Fastfoodkette verklagte. medium 

cover medical expenses and $2.7 million 

in punitive damages. The punitive 

damages were later reduced to 

$480,000, a fact that got lost in the 

publicity that followed. 

“I’m hot”: coffee at 82 ºC can cause third-degree burns 

The background 

People in the US file the most tort 

actions in the world. These are civil 

lawsuits whereby one party claims 

damages from another. Damages include 

compensation for expenses, 

such as medical costs, as well as 

punitive damages — compensation 

for pain and suffering. US tort actions 

are controversial, and there is an ongoing 

reform debate. Reformists say 

they are excessive, are often frivolous 

and can destroy businesses. They 

want to limit the ability to file claims 

and the size of damages. Those 

against reform say it is an attempt by 

businesses to avoid liability. The Mc- 

Donald’s “hot coffee case” remains 

one of the most frequently mentioned 

lawsuits in the debate. 

The problem 

In 1992, a 79-year-old woman named 

Stella Liebeck spilled a McDonald’s 

coffee on her lap, while parked in a 

car at a McDonald’s drive-through in 

Albuquerque, New Mexico (not, as 

was often claimed, while driving). 

Because the car had no cupholder, she 

had put her coffee between her legs 

and spilled it while removing the lid. 

It caused burns on 16 per cent of her 

body, including third-degree burns 

on her groin. The medical bills were 

$10,000 and she asked McDonald’s 

to reimburse her. McDonald’s refused 

to pay more than $800. 

The solution 

Liebeck sued. At the time, McDonald’s 

served coffee at between 82 °C 

and 88 °C. A burn expert testified 

that liquid at 82 °C could cause thirddegree 

burns within 15 seconds. 

Liebeck’s lawyer produced evidence 

that between 1982 and 1992, some 

700 people had claimed to have been 

burned by McDonald’s coffee. Mc- 

Donald’s argued that it sold about ten 

billion cups of coffee in that period, 

so the figure was statistically irrelevant, 

and that the temperatures were 

an industry standard. The jury were 

shown photos of Liebeck’s terrible 

burns and decided unanimously in 

her favour, awarding her $160,000 to 

Getty Images 

What happened next 

The case made international headlines, 

with most of the media focusing 

on how absurd it was. ABC News 

called it a classic example of frivolous 

lawsuits. Liebeck was portrayed as an 

opportunist. However, McDonald’s 

did reduce the temperature of its coffee. 

Recently, a film by the lawyer 

Susan Saladoff, Hot Coffee (2011), 

argued that Liebeck was unfairly 

judged, and that her case has been 

used by America’s right wing to promote 

the interests of big business. ■BS 

billion [(bIljEn] Milliarde(n) 

civil lawsuit 

zivilrechtliche Klage 

[)sIv&l (lO:su:t] 

claim damages Schadensersatz 

[)kleIm (dÄmIdZIz] fordern 

compensation 

Entschädigung 

[)kQmpEn(seIS&n] 

evidence [(evIdEns] Beweis(e) 

file (an action) [faI&l] (eine Klage) einreichen, 

erheben 

frivolous [(frIvElEs] schikanös 

groin [grOIn] 

Leistengegend 

industry [(IndEstri] hier: branchenüblich 

lap [lÄp] 

Schoß 

lawyer [(lO:jE] 

Anwalt/Anwältin 

liability [)laIE(bIlEti] Haftung 

lid [lId] 

Deckel 

punitive damages Strafschadens- 

[)pju:nEtIv (dÄmIdZIz] ersatz 

reimburse sb. [)ri:Im(b§:s] jmdn. entschädigen 

spill sth. [spIl] etw. verschütten 

sue [sju:] 

klagen 

tort action 

Klage aus unerlaub- 

[(tO:t )ÄkS&n] 

ter Handlung 

unanimously 

einstimmig 

[ju(nÄnImEsli] 

76 www.business-spotlight.de 

Do a listening exercise on Business Spotlight Audio 

plus For reading-comprehension exercises, see Business Spotlight plus

EXECUTIVE EYE MANAGEMENT 

Don’t turn staff into enemies 

Wie die NSA-Affäre zeigt, kann auch ein Insider und dessen Wissen eine Organisation 

bedrohen. Doch wie wird ein einst loyaler Mitarbeiter zu einer Gefahr für das Unternehmen? 

Unser Management-Experte ADRIAN FURNHAM gibt Antwort auf diese Frage. 

medium 

Governments and other organizations 

are deeply concerned about 

what is called the “insider threat”. 

This was dramatically illustrated by 

Edward Snowden, who leaked classified 

documents from America’s National 

Security Agency (NSA) to the 

media in June 2013. But whistleblowers 

can also damage businesses. 

How can this insider threat be 

stopped? The simple answer is: don’t 

employ the wrong people. For this 

reason, government agencies and the 

security services choose staff 

very carefully; they know the 

cost of getting it wrong. 

But whistleblowers often 

don’t start with the motive of 

betraying their organization. 

This means that companies have to be 

careful not to turn employees into the 

“enemy from within” by treating 

them badly. Here are five reasons 

betray sb. [bi(treI] jmdn. verraten 

bully [(bUli] 

Tyrann(in) 

clarify sth. [(klÄrEfaI] etw. klären 

classified document Geheimdokument 

[)klÄsIfaId (dQkjumEnt] 

dishonesty [dIs(QnEsti] Verlogenheit 

distrust [dIs(trVst] Misstrauen 

hold sb. back 

jmdn. am Aufstieg 

[)hEUld (bÄk] 

hindern 

leak sth. [li:k] 

etw. zuspielen 

morale [mE(rA:l] (Arbeits-)Moral 

outburst [(aUtb§:st] Ausbruch 

pack of lies: a ~ Lug und Trug, 

[)pÄk Ev (laIz] ifml. ein Haufen Lügen 

peculiarity 

Eigenheit 

[pI)kju:li(ÄrEti] 

resentment [ri(zentmEnt] Groll 

resilient [ri(zIliEnt] belastbar 

revenge [ri(vendZ] Rache 

reward sb. [ri(wO:d] jmdn. belohnen 

spy on sb. [(spaI Qn] jmdn. ausspionieren 

threat [Tret] 

Bedrohung 

Feeling helpless: one reason 

employees may get angry 

employees might become subversive 

and leak information: 

■ Dishonesty. In this case, a firm presents 

an image of being a caring, honest 

organization to the public, but it 

is all a pack of lies. Employees may 

not want to live this lie. 

■ Injustice. When people are not fairly 

promoted and rewarded at work 

but are held back while a few succeed 

“Whistleblowers often don’t start with the 

motive of betraying their organization” 

unfairly, this can cause a great deal of 

resentment. 

■ A bully at the top. The workplace 

attracts all types, and we all have to 

adapt to the peculiarities of management. 

We can forgive the occasional 

emotional outburst or unkind remark, 

but not chronic aggression. 

■ Distrust. If an organization installs 

systems (often electronic) to spy on 

staff, it gives the impression that it 

cannot trust its workers with information, 

money or materials. Why, 

then, should staff give it the trust and 

loyalty it demands? 

■ Broken promises. In such cases, employees’ 

expectations are not met and 

they feel powerless to get ahead. For 

example, there may have been no attempt 

to clarify the criteria for promotion, 

training or salary increases, 

Fuse 

or false promises were made to them 

about the future. 

In all five situations, hopeful, potentially 

productive and loyal employees 

can quickly become disappointed 

and cynical, causing a drop in 

morale and productivity. This can last 

months or even years. Some people 

will simply leave. Others may not 

have that option. For yet others, there 

is another possibility: revenge. 

To avoid being “betrayed”, firms 

must make sure that none of these situations 

arises and, if they do, to stop 

them immediately. 

■BS 

Adrian Furnham is a psychology professor at University 

College, London. His latest book is The 

Resilient Manager: Navigating the Challenges of 

Working Life (Palgrave Macmillan). 

3/2014 


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Worker with a camera: pick 

only the red strawberries! 

A growing 

business 

Getty Images 

Gehört das Bild von Menschen, die in der Landwirtschaft körperlich schwer arbeiten, bald voll der 

Vergangenheit an? Die Umweltjournalistin FIONA HARVEY stellt Roboter vor, die selbst Aufgaben, die 

bisher von Menschenhand ausgeführt werden mussten, übernehmen könnten. 

advanced 

Anew vision of robots patrolling 

the pastures and 

fields of the UK may seem 

dark and evil to some, but 

according to farmers and 

the government, it is the future. It will 

bring efficiencies and benefits and an 

end to many of the back-breaking 

jobs around the farm. 

An increasing number of “farm 

bots” — robots that do farmwork — 

are being developed to handle a range 

of tasks traditionally done by humans, 

and that have not been possible 

with large agricultural machines. 

For example, a “lettuce bot” can hoe 

away ground weeds from around the 

base of plants. A “wine bot” rolls 

through vineyards pruning vines. 

Other bots may soon check the 

growth of crops, their need for water 

and whether signs of disease are pres - 

ent or not. 

Owen Paterson, UK secretary of 

state for environment, food and rural 

affairs, enthusiastically supported the 

idea at the Oxford Farming Con - 

ference this past January, saying: 

“I want our farmers and food producers 

to have access to the widest 

possible range of technologies, from 

new applications of robotics and sensor 

technology to new LED lighting 

in greenhouses and cancer-fighting 

broccoli.” 

back-breaking job schwere körperliche 

[)bÄk )breIkIN (dZQb] Arbeit, Knochenjob 

cancer [(kÄnsE] Krebs 

crop [krQp] 

Nutzpflanze 

greenhouse [(gri:nhaUs] Gewächshaus 

ground weeds 

Ackerunkraut 

[(graUnd wi:dz] 

hoe sth. away [)hEU E(weI] etw. weghacken 

lettuce [(letIs] 

(Kopf-)Salat 

pasture [(pA:stSE] Weide 

prune sth. [pru:n] etw. beschneiden, 

stutzen 

robotics [rEU(bQtIks] Robotertechnik 

rural affairs 

Angelegenheiten 

[)rUErEl E(feEz] 

der Landregionen 

secretary of state Minister(in) 

[)sekrEtEri Ev (steIt] UK 

vine [vaIn] 

Rebstock 

vineyard [(vInjEd] Weinberg 


AGRICULTURAL ROBOTS TECHNOLOGY 

“It is certainly an exciting time 

to be involved in farming” 

For the first time, the UK government 

has announced an “agri-tech” 

strategy that it will support with £160 

million (€195 million). Of this 

amount, about £70 million (€85 million) 

will go to commercializing new 

agricultural technologies, including 

robots, and £90 million (€110 million) 

will be spent on creating centres 

for agricultural innovation that will 

seek to develop farm technology for 

export, with the help of UK Trade & 

Investment. There will even be a new 

“agri-tech business ambassador”, 

said Paterson, whose duties will include 

developing strategies for increasing 

exports of new agri-tech 

products and services. 

It is not just on the ground that 

technology promises to transform 

farming. Unmanned air vehicles, or 

drones, are already being used on 

farms. In South America, with its 

large ranches, drones are in the sky 

for noting the positions of widely 

spread herds and for observing crop 

growth, and in Japan, smaller models 

spray pesticides on crops. In the US, 

drones are being tested for checking 

plant damage, and even for herding. 

In the UK, there is likely to be less 

need for drones — farms are smaller 

and easier to manage on the ground, 

and the idea of filling the sky with a 

large number of small drones is likely 

to raise safety concerns. 

Peter Kendall, president of the National 

Farmers Union, said technology 

had been key to raising farm productivity. 

He pointed out that many 

large dairy farms use automated 

milking machines. These can milk 

many cows at a time, sometimes on a 

platform that turns to lift the cows to 

the milking station. Some research 

suggests this could be better for the 

cows and improve milk production. 

Arable farmers and vegetable growers 

have also used GPS for making maps 

of crops, he added, for observing 

plant growth and weed frequency, as 

well as for the collection of further 

data, all leading to “real rewards”. 

Kendall said, “The use of unmanned 

robots is rather more futuristic, 

but people are working on it. In 

addition to field operations, there is 

potential in fruit harvesting and even 

livestock management. It is certainly 

an exciting time to be involved in 

farming.” 

But there is also scepticism. Emma 

Hockridge, head of policy at the Soil 

Association, said, “The potential use 

of robots on farms has been discussed 

for years, but we haven’t yet seen anything 

practical close to reaching the 

market.” 

Although the possibility of replacing 

seasonal workers with robots may 

be attractive for farm bosses looking 

to increase the size of their business, 

farmworkers may be less pleased. 

Hockridge said that the government 

and farmers should concentrate on 

making better use of existing technologies. 

“In food and farming, 

which is now our biggest manufacturing 

industry, we think the priority 

should be creating more and goodquality 

meaningful jobs. Organic 

farms provide almost 50 per cent 

more jobs per hectare and over 30 per 

cent more jobs than non-organic 

farms,” she said. 

But even supporters of agri-tech 

admit that complex robots will take 

years and probably decades before 

they reach the commercial stage. Professor 

Simon Blackmore, head of 

engineering at Harper Adams University, 

said at the Oxford Farming 

Conference that his vision was for 

“farming with robots in 2050”. 

Some visions may never actually 

become reality. Perhaps the strangest 

robot under development — and 

most unusual for anyone familiar 

with traditional farming practices — 

is the one for herding livestock. The 

bot wheels around pastures, bringing 

slower animals back to the herd, 

though without having to nip at their 

heels. Most likely, the dog-bot dreams 

of electric sheep. 

■BS 

ambassador 

[Äm(bÄsEdE] 

arable farmer 

[)ÄrEb&l (fA:mE] 

dairy farm [(deEri fA:m] 

engineering 

[)endZI(nIErIN] 

harvesting [(hA:vIstIN] 

herding [(h§:dIN] 

livestock [(laIvstQk] 

manufacturing industry 

[mÄnju)fÄktSErIN 

(IndEstri] 

nip at sb.’s heels [)nIp 

Ät )sVmbEdiz (hi:&lz] 

organic [O:(gÄnIk] 

soil [sOI&l] 

spray sth. [spreI] 

unmanned air vehicle 

[Vn)mÄnd (eE )vi:Ik&l] 

© Guardian News & Media 2014 

A CLOSER LOOK 

dream of electric sheep Written 

by Philip K. Dick in 1968, the science-fiction 

novel Do Androids 

Dream of Electric Sheep? inspired 

the film Blade Runner (1982). The 

title refers to the practice of counting 

sheep to fall asleep. In the futuristic 

story, it is nearly impossible 

to tell the difference between people 

and androids, which are very 

human-like robots. 

Botschafter(in) 

Ackerbauer(in) 

Milchfarm 

Konstruktionstechnik, 

Maschinenbau 

Ernte(arbeit) 

Hüten (von Tieren) 

Vieh(bestand) 

Fertigungsindustrie, 

verarbeitendes 

Gewerbe 

jmdm. in die 

Fersen zwicken 

biologisch (wirtschaftend), 

Bio- 

(Erd-)Boden 

etw. (ver)sprühen 

unbemanntes 

Luftfahrzeug 

3/2014 


TECHNOLOGY TRENDS 

Ideas and inventions 

Gibt es Neuigkeiten? CAROL 

SCHEUNEMANN 

präsentiert technische Innovationen und neue 

wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse. medium 

Watching the game 

Did the ball cross the line? At the 2014 FIFA World 

Cup Brazil this summer, goal-line technology (GLT) 

may help to answer that key question. The GoalControl-4D system positions 14 high-speed 

cameras around the stadium, so that seven focus on each goal. No changes must be made 

to the ball or goalposts. The cameras follow the movement of the ball, but filter out the players 

and officials on the pitch. Every two milliseconds, image-processing software measures 

x-, y - and z- positions of the ball — with a precision of a few millimetres — on the threedimensional 

coordinates of the pitch. The fourth dimension consists of vibrations and optical 

signals, which are sent to the officials’ watches when the ball crosses the goal line. But 

officials will still take the final goal-or-no-goal decisions. The scenes of goals and near-goals 

can be replayed as often as necessary, and shown on large screens in the stadium and on TV. 

For the replays, GoalControl also creates a simulation of the ball moving across the pitch 

as seen from the goal line. 

A good shot: time 

for goal-line technology? 

In the news 

.guru 

A new top-level domain 

that became 

available in January. 

Others include .bike, 

.singles and .clothing. 

Hundreds more are planned for 2014. 

Source: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 

(ICANN; www.icann.org) 

12 per cent 

The increase in citations of a scientist’s papers 

once he or she has received a high-profile award. 

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Management Science 

Claude Monet, The Cliff, Étretat, Sunset, North Carolina Museum of Art 

Did you know? 

Claude Monet’s painting The Cliff, Étretat, Sunset 

shows what the artist saw at 4.53 p.m. on 5 February 

1883. To determine the exact day and time of the 

scene, physicists and astronomers used planetarium 

software to study the position of the sun, and visited 

the Normandy coast to observe the weather and measure 

the tide level. They also calculated that Monet 

stood 388.6 metres from the Porte d’Amont. 

Source: Professor Donald Olson, Texas State University 

7 

The age at which we start forgetting 

our early-life events (those before 

the age of three). 

Source: Patricia J. Bauer, Marina Larkina, 

Emory University, Memory 

iStock (3) 

assign sth. [E(saIn] 

citation [saI(teIS&n] 

goal-line technology (GLT) 

[)gEUl laIn tek(nQlEdZi] 

goalpost [(gEUlpEUst] 

image processing 

[(ImIdZ )prEUsesIN] 

Normandy [(nO:mEndi] 

paper [(peIpE] 

pitch [pItS] UK 

tide level [(taId )lev&l] 

etw. zuweisen; hier: vergeben 

zitierte Stelle, Zitat 

Torlinientechnologie 

Torpfosten 

Bildverarbeitung 

Normandie 

Abhandlung 

Spielfeld 

Gezeitenstand 

Baby memories: he’s 

forgetting them already 

3/2014

LANGUAGE FOCUS 

TECHNOLOGY 

Quality management 

Mängelfreie Produkte bedürfen der Qualitätssicherung. 

ROLAND SHOLL erklärt, was alles dazugehört. advanced 

To consumers, “quality” suggests that 

products are made to high standards. 

For firms, it means making products that 

meet the customer’s requirements and 

demonstrate “fitness for purpose”, which 

means the products do what they are intended 

to do. 

The focus of a quality management 

system (QMS) is to satisfy the customer. 

To do this, firms develop strategies for 

continuous improvement, using measurements 

and statistical control, but also 

through corrective and preventive actions. 

Quality assurance (QA) aims to prevent 

mistakes or defects in products. Validation 

tests make sure that the right product was 

built. Verification tests check that the 

product was built right. 

A key element of a quality management 

system is having formally documented 

processes. A quality manual must contain 

the contents and scope of the QMS, the 

details of any exclusions, the documented 

processes and the interactions between 

them. Supporting documents, such as 

guidelines, work instructions and checklists, 

are also needed. 

Many firms implement quality management 

systems using international standards 

such as ISO 9001. Certification of 

the QMS by a third-party auditor, long 

required by the car industry, is now standard 

in many other industries, too. 

Having a good quality management 

system improves the efficiency of processes, 

raises productivity, reduces waste and 

rework, and thus increases the value of 

the business. 

■BS 

Roland Sholl is a quality management expert 

based near Stuttgart. He is also a coach for 

international communication, business and 

technical English. Website: www.sholl.eu 

Vocabulary 

certification [)s§:tIfI(keIS&n] 

Zertifizierung 

compliance [kEm(plaIEns] 

Übereinstimmung, Ordnungsmäßigkeit 

comply with sth. [kEm(plaI wID] 

etw. erfüllen 

conform to sth. [kEn(fO:m] 

einer Sache entsprechen 

continuous/continual improvement 

kontinuierliche Verbesserung 

[kEn)tInjuEs/kEn)tInjuEl Im(pru:vmEnt] 

corrective action [kE)rektIv (ÄkS&n] 

Korrekturmaßnahme 

customer satisfaction 

Kundenzufriedenheit 

[)kVstEmE )sÄtIs(fÄkS&n] 

defect [(di:fekt] 

Mangel 

document control [(dQkjumEnt kEn)trEUl] Dokumentenlenkung 

effective [E(fektIv] 

effektiv, wirksam 

efficient [E(fIS&nt] 

effizient, wirtschaftlich 

exclusion [Ik(sklu:Z&n] 

Ausschluss 

fit for purpose [)fIt fE (p§:pEs] 

gebrauchstauglich 

fitness for purpose [)fItnEs fE (p§:pEs] Gebrauchstauglichkeit 

guideline [(gaIdlaIn] 

Richtlinie 

nonconformity [)nQnkEn(fO:mEti] 

Abweichung 

perceived quality [pE)si:vd (kwQlEti] gefühlte Qualität 

preventive action [pri)ventIv (ÄkS&n] Vorbeugemaßnahme 

procedure [prEU(si:dZE] 

Ablauf, Verfahren 

process [(prEUses] 

Prozess, Verfahren 

process approach [(prEUses E)prEUtS] prozessorientierter Ansatz 

process description [)prEUses di(skrIpS&n] Prozessbeschreibung 

process instruction (PI) [)prEUses In(strVkS&n] Verfahrensanweisung (VA) 

qualification [)kwQlIfI(keIS&n] 

Qualifizierung 

quality assurance (QA) [(kwQlEti E)SO:rEns] Qualitätssicherung (QS) 

quality management system (QMS) 

Qualitätsmanagementsystem 

[(kwQlEti )mÄnIdZmEnt )sIstEm] 

(QMS) 

quality manual [(kwQlEti )mÄnjuEl] Qualitäts(management)handbuch 

quality objective [)kwQlEti Eb(dZektIv] Qualitätsziel 

release [ri(li:s] 

Freigabe 

review [ri(vju:] 

Nachprüfung 

rework [(ri:w§:k] 

Nacharbeit 

scope [skEUp] 

Anwendungsbereich 

sustainability [sE)steInE(bIlEti] 

Nachhaltigkeit 

systems approach [(sIstEmz E)prEUtS] systemintegrierender Ansatz 

third-party auditor [)T§:d )pA:ti (O:dItE] externe(r) Auditor(in)/Prüfer(in) 

traceability [)treIsE(bIlEti] 

Rückverfolgbarkeit 

validation test [)vÄlI(deIS&n test] 

Validierungstest 

verification test [)verIfI(keIS&n test] Kontrollprüfung 

Exercise: Getting better 

Choose the correct term to complete each sentence. 

a) We verify / validate a product’s design before production begins. 

b) We use tests to verify / validate that a product meets the requirements. 

c) An efficient / effective process functions in the best possible manner. 


Getty Images 

3/2014 


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The Editor 

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84 www.business-spotlight.de

4/2014 PREVIEW 

Key tips for writing 

The ability to write clearly — whether it be emails, letters or 

business reports — is an important success factor in business. 

In the third part of our special Business Skills series, Bob 

Dignen provides ten key tips to help you improve your writing. 

iStock (2) 

Working with the British 

The United Kingdom is an important member 

of the European Union, both politically and 

economically. In our Intercultural feature, we 

look at how to do business with the British. 

LANGUAGE 

New series: finding a job 

Modern technology has radically changed how we search 

for a job. In our new Careers series, we show you how it’s 

done, whether you’re just out of school or in mid-career. 

Getty Images 

also: 

INSURANCE 

Improve your business 

vocabulary with 

our 20-page guide: 

SKILL UP! 

Easy English: customer care 

Grammar: terms and conditions 

English for... tax returns 

BusinessSpotlight 4/2014 is on sale from 11 June 2014 

3/2014 


PEOPLE MY WORKING LIFE 

Moses Banda: Taxi owner 

Er ist mit Leib und Seele Taxifahrer in Lilongwe, der Hauptstadt von Malawi. Sein Traum 

ist ein eigener Autoverleih. VICKI SUSSENS sprach mit ihm. 

easy 

Credit 

have to help. I can’t afford to lose 

customers with all the competition! 

Be my guest: Moses Banda with 

his taxi in Lilongwe, Malawi 

Job: Taxi driver. 

Age and family: I’m 33-years-old, 

married, with two children, Collings 

(8) and Edda (3). 

Home: Lilongwe, capital of Malawi. 

Income: I am happy; I can take care of 

my family with the money I earn. 

English, so a friend, a former customer, 

helps me write emails. 

Why I chose this job: I was a taxi driv - 

er in my last job and saw that it was 

a good business. 

Skills needed: Being skilled at offensive 

driving. Knowing how to make 

customers feel at home in your car. 

What the job has taught me: To be 

hard-working and to accept that the 

business requires sacrifices. I have 

also learned to have respect for people, 

because they are the ones who 

provide me with my daily bread. 

Most difficult customer: This was a 

customer who did not have money to 

pay for hiring me. Because I trusted 

him, I lent him money — and I never 

saw it again. The man had talked 

about his problems the whole trip 

and I realized later this was his way 

of getting money from me. 

Ambitions: I would like to have a fleet 

of cars and start my own car-hire 

company. 

■BS 

For more, go to http://mosestaxi.webs.com 

How I get customers: I’m based at a 

hotel, where people often need taxis. 

I’m also hired by various organizations 

where members share my details 

online. I have an email address and 

my own website. But most importantly, 

I make sure that my fees are 

fair and that I provide a good service. 

Working hours: I have to be available 

24 hours a day! 

Languages needed: English for my foreign 

customers, the local language, 

Chichewa, for Malawians. My spoken 

English is good, but not my written 

Main changes in the taxi business: 

Growing competition. Many people 

drive taxis and hire out cars without 

licences. This takes business away 

from registered drivers. 

Favourite part of the job: I love meeting 

so many different people, being taken 

to the places they want to go to 

and learning about how they live and 

think. 

Least favourite part of the job: Sometimes, 

I really need to rest, but then a 

call will come in, and because I am 

the only one the customer trusts, I 

at home: make sb. dafür sorgen, dass 

feel ~ [)Ät (hEUm] sich jmdn. wohlfühlt 

based: be ~ (at a place) (an einem Ort) 

[beIst] 

stationiert sein 

car-hire company Leihwagenfirma 

[(kA: )haIE )kVmpEni] UK 

Chichewa [tSI(tSeIwE] Chichewa (Amtssprache 

von 

Malawi) 

competition 

Konkurrenz 

[)kQmpE(tIS&n] 

fee [fi:] 

Gebühr 

fleet [fli:t] 

Flotte 

hire sth. out 

etw. vermieten, 

[)haIEr (aUt] UK verleihen 

Malawian [mE(lA:wiEn] Malawier(in) 

registered [(redZIstEd] mit Lizenz 

rest [rest] 

eine Pause machen 

sacrifice [(sÄkrIfaIs] Opfer 

take care of sb. für jmdn. sorgen 

[)teIk (keEr Ev] 


Deutsch hat 

viele Gesichter! 

Einfach Deutsch lernen: Kultur entdecken und 

Menschen verstehen. Jeden Monat neu. 

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SKILL UP! 

VOKABELTRAINING LEICHT GEMACHT 

AUSGABE 26 

Arts and culture 

also: 

Artwork and artists | Tasteless or tasteful?

CONTENTS 

ART MATTERS 

Art has a unique role to play in society, but it also has an important role to 

play in the business world. In this Skill Up!, we present the language you 

need to talk about art and culture. 

Our guide starts with an art exhibition. In Picture This! (pp. 4–5), the illustration 

shows the important moments before an exhibition opens — and 

what can go wrong. We also focus on the terms you will need to talk about 

the financing of art events. In Word Bank (pp. 6–7), we present an overview 

of many different kinds of artwork — and artists. Not all works of art are 

original or legal, which is why our In Focus section (pp. 10–11) looks at the 

problem of art forgeries and art theft. 

Turn to Close Relations (pp. 14–15) to discover that there’s a lot more to 

“cult” and “art” than you might think. In False Friends (pp. 8–9), you’ll 

find out that “antique” is not as old as the “antiquities”. We show you how 

to use “art” idioms in business situations in Essential Idioms (pp. 12–13). 

We hope you get the picture. 

Not everyone reacts the same way to a work of art. In Small Talk (pp. 16–17), 

our dialogue shows how to be honest about your personal tastes — especially 

when you think something is totally tasteless. 

Deborah Capras, deputy editor 

bs.deputyeditor@spotlight-verlag.de 

SKILL UP! 

Can you “draw” the meaning of words? A 

simple drawing may be all you need to help 

you to remember a new expression. If you 

are a talented artist, why not draw a situation 

and create a dialogue to go with it? Use 

your imagination and you may discover 

some hidden talents — and a talent for 

learning languages. The more time you 

spend on new expressions, the more likely 

you are to remember them. 

SKILL UP! online 

On our website, you’ll find selected 

vocabulary from this guide in our 

Word of the Day section. To listen to 

the words, definitions and example 

sentences — and to download the 

MP3 file of each word — go to 

www.business-spotlight.de/skill-up 

2 SKILL UP! 

ISSUE 26

Getty Images 

Art exhibition: a place 

for highbrow culture 

CHECKLIST: WHAT CAN YOU DO? 

Below, you will find the contents of this issue of Skill Up! and a checklist of what you should 

be able to do with confidence after studying this guide. Ask yourself what you can really do. 

If you can’t say yes to every statement, go back and spend more time on learning the relevant 

vocabulary. Don’t forget to read our Skill Up! tips and do the online exercises! 

Contents Page(s) Checklist 

Picture This! 

A corporate event 4–5 I can use the correct terms to talk about the 

financing of public and corporate art events. 

Word Bank 

All about art 6–7 I can talk about different types of art, artwork and 

artists, as well as the places where you will find art. 

False Friends 

It’s antique, not 8–9 I can identify the false friends presented here — and 

plastic 

use the correct translations. 

In Focus 

Buy, sell or steal? 10–11 I can describe the auction process using the correct 

terms and talk about art scandals and theft. 

Essential Idioms 

Pictures and plots 12–13 I can correctly use idiomatic expressions from the art 

world in business situations. 

Close Relations 

Cultured and artistic 14–15 I can correctly use the “cult” and “art” word families. 

Small Talk 

A question of taste 16–17 I can make small talk about personal tastes. 

Your Profile 

Be an artist 18 I feel more confident using the vocabulary in this guide. 

Preview 19 

Not yet A little Yes! 

n n n 

n n n 

n n n 

n n n 

n n n 

n n n 

n n n 

n n n 

ISSUE 26 SKILL UP! 3

PICTURE THIS! 

A work of art? 

Not to everyone 

1 

3 

9 

2 

4 

6 

5 

8 

10 

7 

12 

11 

Bernhard Förth 

A CORPORATE EVENT 

Companies sponsor art exhibitions to promote their products and services. Our illustration 

shows a local art event that has gone wrong — just before the art lovers arrive. 

1. museum of Museum für zeitcontemporary 

art genössische Kunst 

[kEn(temp&rEri] 

private view 

Vorabbesichtigung, 

Vernissage 

temporary exhibition temporäre Ausstellung 

2. art lover Kunstfreund(in), 

-liebhaber(in) 

3. corporate signage Firmenschild 

[)kO:pErEt (saInIdZ] 

event sponsor Veranstaltungssponsor(in) 

4. sculpture [(skVlptSE] Plastik, Skulptur 

topple [(tQp&l] wackeln 

5. ticket office (Museums-)Kasse 

6. art critic Kunstkritiker(in) 

laugh one’s head off sich halb totlachen 

7. curator [kju&(reItE] Konservator(in) 

be appalled entsetzt sein 

8. public relations Beauftragte(r) für 

officer 

Öffentlichkeitsarbeit 

9. art installation Kunstinstallation 

10. cleaner Reinigungskraft 

rubbish (US trash) Müll 

ruin sth. 

etw. zerstören 

11. controversial work umstrittenes 

of art [)kQntrE(v§:S&l] Kunstwerk 

12. award-winning artist preisgekrönte(r) 

Künstler(in) 

be lost for words sprachlos sein 

4 SKILL UP! 

ISSUE 26

What are they saying? 

Curator: What do you think you’re doing? Don’t 

touch the art installation! 

Cleaner: This is a work of art? I’m sorry, but I 

thought it was rubbish! 

Great artists? 

acclaimed 

distinguished 

eminent 

famous 

forgotten 

pretentious [pri(tenSEs] 

unknown 

unsung 

umjubelt 

bemerkenswert 

hoch angesehen 

berühmt 

in Vergessenheit 

geraten 

anmaßend 

unbekannt 

wenig bekannt 

Art lovers 

donor [(dEUnE] 

make a generous 

donation 

founder 

art foundation 

patron [(peItrEn] 

patronage 

[(pÄtrEnIdZ] 

philanthropist 

[fI(lÄnTrEpIst] 

philanthropy 

[fI(lÄnTrEpi] 

sponsor 

sponsorship 

supporter 

support 

trustee [)trV(sti:] 

art trust 

Geldgeber(in) 

eine großzügige Spende/ 

Schenkung machen 

Stifter(in) 

Kunststiftung 

Schirmherr(in), Mäzen(in) 

Schirmherrschaft, 

Mäzenatentum 

Philanthrop, 

Menschenfreund 

Philanthropie, 

Menschenliebe 

Sponsor(in), Gönner(in) 

finanzielle Förderung 

Förderer/Förderin 

Förderung, Unterstützung 

Kurator(in) 

Kunstkartell 

Great exhibition? 

arrangement 

artwork 

composition 

display 

be on display 

put sth. on display 

piece 

Anordnung 

künstwerk; grafische 

Darstellung 

künstlerisches 

Werk 

Ausstellung (eines 

Kunstwerks) 

ausgestellt sein 

etw. ausstellen 

Exponat 

iStock 

Art and business 

award a grant to sb. 

commission sth. 

donate sth. 

exhibit sth. [Ig(zIbIt] 

found sth. 

grant money to sb./sth. 

raise funds 

receive public funding 

sponsor sth. 

support sth. 

unveil sth. [)Vn(veI&l] 

jmdm. eine Finanzhilfe gewähren 

etw. in Auftrag geben 

etw. spenden, als Schenkung 

überlassen 

etw. ausstellen 

etw. (be)gründen, stiften 

für jmdn./etw. Geld bewilligen 

Gelder beschaffen 

öffentliche Gelder bekommen 

etw. finanziell unterstützen 

etw. unterstützen 

etw. enthüllen 

“A work of art 

that did not 

begin in emotion 

is not art” 

Paul Cézanne, 1839–1906, 

French artist 


WORD BANK 

ALL ABOUT ART 

The arts cover a lot of different areas. Here, we present the language you will need to 

talk about different kinds of artists, the work that they do and where you can find it. 

Every single one is 

a work of art! 

Fine art and modern art 

(schöne Kunst und moderne Kunst) 

animation 

ceramics [sE(rÄmIks] 

computer-generated 

imagery [(ImIdZEri] 

craft work 

drawing 

illustration 

literature [(lItrEtSE] 

painting 

photography [fE(tQgrEfi] 

poetry [(pEUEtri] 

sculpture [(skVlptSE] 

street art 

textile art [(tekstaI&l] 

video mash-up 

visual art [(vIZuEl] 

Animationskunst 

Keramik 

Computeranimation 

Kunsthandwerk 

Zeichnen 

Illustrationskunst 

Literatur 

Malerei 

Fotografie 

Lyrik 

Bildhauerei 

Straßenkunst 

Textilkunst 

Video-Mashup 

darstellende/ 

bildende Kunst 

SKILL UP! 

Is there any kind of art that is important to you, 

your company or your area of work? Imagine 

that you have visitors to your company. What 

could you recommend that they go to see in their 

free time? Many events have websites in several 

languages. Check them out and then discuss 

your ideas with a colleague in English. 

Applied arts 

(angewandte Künste) 

architecture 

fashion design 

industrial design 

interior design 

jewellery [(dZu:Elri] 

Performing arts 

(darstellende Künste) 

ballet [(bÄleI] 

cinema 

show a film 

dance 

perform sth. 

performance 

opera 

theatre 

amateur dramatics 

[(ÄmEtE drE)mÄtIks] 

play 

Architektur 

Modedesign 

Industriedesign 

Innenarchitektur 

Schmuck 

Ballet 

Filmkunst, Kino 

einen Film zeigen 

Tanz 

etw. aufführen 

Aufführung 

Oper 

Theater 

Laienspiel, 

-theater 

(Theater-)Stück 

Getty Images 

6 SKILL UP! ISSUE 26

Where to find it? 

art fair 

art festival 

author reading 

closing event (also: 

finissage [)fInI(sA:Z]) 

exhibition 

literary festival 

opening event (also: 

vernissage [)v§:nI(sA:Z]) 

private viewing (also: 

vernissage [)v§:nI(sA:Z]) 

It’s a work of art! 

autobiography 

[)O:tEUbaI(QgrEfi] 

cartoon 

collage [kQ(lA:Z] 

comic 

crime novel 

Dutch master [dVtS] 

engraving 

fiction 

historical artefact 

landscape painting 

masterpiece 

memoir [(memwA:] 

monument 

non-fiction 

novel 

nude [nju:d] 

oil painting 

poem 

pottery 

romantic novel 

(self-)portrait [pO:(trEt] 

short story 

sound installation 

statue 

still life 

watercolour(s) 

Kunstfestival; 

Kunstmesse 

Kunstfestival 

Autorenlesung 

Schlussveranstal- 

tung (auch: Finissage) 

Ausstellung 

Literaturfestival, 

Literaturtage 

Eröffnungsver- 

anstaltung (auch: 

Vernissage) 

Vorabbesichtigung 

(auch: Vernissage) 

Autobiografie 

Karikatur; Zeichentrickfilm 

Collage 

Comic, -heft 

Krimi 

holländischer Meister 

(Kupfer-, Stahl-)Stich 

Belletristik, Prosa 

historisches Artefakt 

Landschaftsbild, -malerei 

Meisterwerk 

Memoiren 

Denkmal 

Sachbuch 

Roman 

Akt 

Ölgemälde 

Gedicht 

Keramik, Töpferware(n) 

Liebesroman 

(Selbst-)Porträt 

Kurzgeschichte 

Klanginstallation 

Statue 

Stillleben 

Aquarell 

Places and events 

charity event 

concert hall 

dress/final rehearsal 

[ri(h§:s&l] 

premiere [(premieE] 

stage 

Wohltätigkeitsveranstaltung 

Konzertsaal 

Generalprobe 

Premiere 

Bühne 

Everyone’s an artist! 

architect 

Architekt(in) 

author 

Schriftsteller(in) 

commercial artist Werbegrafiker(in) 

digital artist Digitalkünstler(in) 

goldsmith [(gEUldsmIT] Goldschmied 

graffiti artist Graffitikünstler(in) 

graphic artist Grafiker(in) 

novelist 

Romanschriftsteller(in) 

poet [(pEUEt] Dichter(in) 

sculptor [(skVlptE] Bildhauer(in) 

Art or arts? 

The term “the arts” includes everything from 

painting to performing. “Art” often means 

“fine art”, but it can also describe anything 

that requires creativity or artistic talent. 

The term “applied arts” refers to the application 

of art and design to everyday objects. 

Or a performer! 

actor 

actress 

ballet dancer 

cabaret artist 

[(kÄbEreI] 

cast 

musician 

pianist [(pi:EnIst] 

violinist [)vaIE(lInIst] 

opera singer 

performer 

Schauspieler(in) 

Schauspielerin 

Balletttänzer(in) 

Kabarettist(in) 

Besetzung 

Musiker(in) 

Pianist(in) 

Geiger(in), 

Violinist(in) 

Opernsänger(in) 

darstellende(r) 

Künstler(in) 

Ingram Publishing 

ISSUE 26 

SKILL UP! 7

FALSE FRIENDS 

IT’S ANTIQUE, NOT PLASTIC 

There are many words in German and English that sound similar but have very different 

meanings. They are “false friends”. Learn the correct translations of these terms. 

sculpture 

plastic 

iStock (2) 

What’s die Plastik in English? 

die Plastik = sculpture 

“His sculpture has angered a lot of people.” 

It’s not plastic! 

plastic = Kunststoff 

“It’s made of plastic, so it’s not very strong.” 

Other translations 

antiquities = die Altertümer 

“Greece wants its stolen antiquities back.” 

antique 

8 SKILL UP! 

What’s Antiquität in English? 

Antiquität = antique 

“I love looking around the antique 

shops, don’t you?” 

It’s not antiquity! 

antiquity = das Altertum, 

die Antike 

“The exhibition on Greek antiquity 

opens on Saturday.” 

antiquity 

Getty Images iStock

appraise 

tax 

Getty Images 

iStock 

What’s taxieren in English? 

taxieren = appraise, value 

“You should have the painting appraised. 

Maybe it’s an original!” 

It’s not tax! 

tax = besteuern 

“The painting has increased in value, but you 

will only be taxed when you sell it.” 

More translations 

Art = way, manner, kind 

“I don’t like this kind of painting.” 

Kunst = art 

“I studied art at university.” 

Artist = circus performer 

“I always wanted to be a circus performer!” 

Künstler(in) = artist 

“He’s a famous artist in the US.” 

photographer 

What’s Fotograf in English? 

Fotograf(in) = photographer 

“There were so many photographers 

waiting outside!” 

Getty Images 

It’s not photograph! 

photograph = Foto 

“This photograph of the sky is my 

favourite. The colours are beautiful.” 

M 

SKILL UP! Audio 

Do a related exercise on 

Business Spotlight Audio. 

photograph 

iStock 

ISSUE 26 

SKILL UP! 9

IN FOCUS 

BUY, SELL OR STEAL? 

The art world is not just about pretty pictures. There’s 

a lot of money involved, both legally and illegally. We 

focus on buying, selling, stealing and faking art. 

Getty Images 

What’s your bid? 

It’s priceless! 

The auction 

art collector 

Kunstsammler(in) 

art dealer 

Kunsthändler(in) 

attribute sth. to sb. jmdm. etw. zuschreiben 

auction [(O:kS&n] Auktion, Versteigerung 

auctioneer [)O:kSE(nIE] Auktionator(in) 

auction house 

Auktionshaus 

auction sth. off 

etw. versteigern 

authenticate a work of art ein Kunstwerk für echt 

befinden 

certificate of 

Ursprungszeugnis 

authenticity 

bid for sth. 

für etw. bieten 

bidder 

Bieter(in), Bietende(r) 

bid up the price den Preis nach oben treiben 

outbid sb. 

jmdn. überbieten 

flip artwork 

mit Kunstwerken 

spekulieren 

owner 

Besitzer(in), Eigentümer(in) 

own sth. 

etw. besitzen 

rightful owner rechtmäßige(r) Besitzer(in) 

provenance [(prQvEnEns] Herkunft, Ursprung 

put in a bid for sth. ein Gebot für etw. abgeben 

put sth. on the (auction) etw. zur Versteigerung 

block 

anbieten 

sell sth. at auction etw. (für $...) versteigern 

(for $...) 

How much? 

appraise sth. 

evaluate sth. 

fetch a price 

retail value 

sell for an 

outrageous 

price [aUt(reIdZEs] 

worth a small 

fortune: 

be ~ [(fO:tSEn] 

etw. schätzen 

etw. bewerten 

einen Preis bringen 

Verkaufswert, -preis 

zu einem unerhört 

hohen Preis 

verkaufen 

ein kleines 

Vermögen wert 

sein 

10 SKILL UP! 

I think this is 

worth a fortune!

“It sold at 

auction but it’s 

a worthless 

fake” 

The value and the price 

affordable erschwinglich unaffordable unerschwinglich 

inflated überteuert cut-price Billiginvaluable 

unschätzbar worthless wertlos 

priceless unbezahlbar cheap billig, preiswert 

valuable wertvoll, kostbar valueless wertlos 

Is it the real thing? 

counterfeit [(kaUntEfIt] 

counterfeit sth. 

make a counterfeit 

fake 

fake sth. 

fake work of art 

forgery [(fO:dZEri] 

art forger [(fO:dZE] 

forge sth. [fO:dZ] 

fraud [frO:d] 

defraud sb. [di(frO:d] 

fraudster 

[(frO:dstE] 

Fälschung 

etw. fälschen 

eine Fälschung 

anfertigen 

Fälschung 


gefälschtes 

Kunstwerk 

Fälschung 

Kunstfälscher(in) 


Betrug; Schwindel 

jmdn. betrügen 

Betrüger(in); 

Schwindler(in) 

phoney [(fEUni] ifml. Fälschung; Blüte; 


phoney work of art gefälschtes 

Kunstwerk 

plagiarism [(pleIdZE)rIzEm] Plagiat 

plagiarize sth. etw. plagiieren 

[(pleIdZEraIz] 

replica [(replIkE] Replik, Nachbildung 

replicate sth. 

etw. replizieren, 

[(replIkeIt] 

nachbilden 

reproduction 

Nachbildung, Kopie 

reproduce sth. etw. nachbilden, 

kopieren 

unauthorized 

unerlaubte Nachbilreproduction 

dung/Kopie 

Getty Images 

Is it criminal? 

disputed artwork 

looted artwork 

missing artwork 

stolen artwork 

art heist [haIst] ifml. 

art thief 

burglar [(b§:glE] 

con artist [(kQn )A:tIst] ifml. 

scam artist ifml. 

tomb raider 

dupe sb. (into doing sth.) 

flood the market [flVd] 

fool the experts 

plunder a gallery [(plVndE] 

steal sth. from sb. 

swindle sb. 

umstrittenes Kunstwerk 

erbeutetes Kunstwerk 

verschollenes Kunstwerk 

gestohlenes Kunstwerk 

Kunstraub 

Kunstdieb(in) 

Einbrecher(in), Dieb(in) 


Betrüger(in) 

Grabräuber(in) 

jmdn. verleiten, (etw. zu tun) 

den Markt überfluten 

die Experten täuschen 

eine Galerie ausrauben 

jmdm. etw. stehlen 

jmdn. beschwindeln 

SKILL UP! 

“Forgery”, “fake”, “pho - 

ney” and “counterfeit” 

all mean “not genuine”. 

We often use “counterfeit” 

to describe money 

that is not real, “forgery” 

to describe an artwork 

that is an illegal copy of 

an original and “fake” to 

describe anything that is 

not genuine. A “phoney” 

can be a person who is 

not who they say they are: 

“He’s a phoney.” 


ESSENTIAL IDIOMS 

PICTURES AND PLOTS 

We can use idioms from the art world to talk about business situations. Here, we present 

some of the most common expressions. 

SKILL UP! 

First, read the two versions of the short conversations. Then 

cover up the idiomatic version and read the simpler version 

again. Can you remember how to say the same things idiomatic - 

ally? Check that you’ve understood them with our translations. 

The elephant in the 

room: a problem? We start with 

a broad-brush look 

First, the idiomatic way 

Mark: Well, this report paints a grim picture. 

Selina: I know. But you mustn’t lose sight of the bigger picture 

here. It’s just a broad-brush look at our automobile 

business. 

Mark: That’s why I’m worried. 

Now, more simply 

Mark: Well, this report describes things in a way that shows 

how bad they are. 

Selina: I know. But you mustn’t forget the whole situation here. 

It’s just a general look at our automobile business. 

Mark: That’s why I’m worried. 

iStock 

Check the translations 

paint a grim picture ein düsteres Bild 

zeichnen 

broad-brush grob, allgemein 

lose sight of the das Gesamtbild 

bigger picture aus den Augen 

ifml. 

verlieren 


Mark: I want to call a meeting with the whole 

team. We need to put everyone in the 

picture. 

Selina: Do you want me to give the presentation? 

Mark: No, I will. I’ve had to give bad news before, 

so I have it down to a fine art. I can strike 

the right note. 


Mark: I want to call a meeting with the whole 

team. We need to let everyone know what’s 

happening. 

Selina: Do you want me to give the presentation? 

Mark: No, I will. I’ve had to give bad news before, 

so I’ve become very good at it through experience. 

I can say it exactly the right way. 


put sb. in the picture 

have/get it down to a fine art 

strike the right note 

jmdn. ins Bild setzen 

den Bogen heraushaben 

den richtigen Ton treffen 

iStock 

Very nice: she has it 

down to a fine art 

ISSUE 26

She has a good 

reason to make a 

song and dance 


Selina: Mark’s presenting the report at two. 

Tom: Oh, no. Watching him present is like 

watching paint dry. 

Selina: Don’t let him hear you say that. 

Tom: He’s going to make a song and dance 

about the sales figures again, isn’t he? 

Selina: This time, he could be right. He has to 

draw the line somewhere. 

Hemera 


like watching paint 

dry: be ~ 

make a song and dance 

about sth. UK ifml. 

draw a line 

todlangweilig sein 

eine Staatsaffäre aus 

etw. machen 

eine Grenze setzen 


Selina: Mark’s presenting the report at two. 

Tom: Oh, no. Watching him present is boring. 

Selina: Don’t let him hear you say that. 

Tom: He’s going to complain in an annoy - 

ing way about the sales figures again, 

isn’t he? 

Selina: This time, he could be right. He has to 

set a limit somewhere. 


Mark: Look at the figures! If something doesn’t 

change soon, it’ll be curtains for us. 

Tom: Mark, I think you’ve completely lost the 

plot! 

Selina: Tom, let Mark finish. 

Mark: This is serious. Do you know how many 

companies are waiting in the wings for 

us to fail? Do you? 

Tom: OK, I get the picture. 


Mark: Look at the figures! If something doesn’t 

change soon, it’ll be the end for us. 

Tom: Mark, I think you’ve completely lost the 

ability to cope with the situation! 

Selina: Tom, let Mark finish. 

Mark: This is serious. Do you know how many 

companies are ready to take over from us 

when we fail? Do you? 

Tom: OK, I understand the situation. 

This could mean it’s 

curtains for us all! 

Zoonar 


curtains: it is ~ for jmd. ist weg vom 

sb. ifml. 

Fenster 

(curtain 

Vorhang) 

lose the plot UK ifml. den Überblick verlieren 

(plot 

Handlung) 

wait in the wings hinter den Kulissen 

warten 

get the picture ifml. begreifen, kapieren 


CLOSE RELATIONS 

SO CULTURED AND ARTISTIC 

A cultivated person understands and appreciates the arts. Here, we present useful 

expressions from the “cult” word family and the world of art. 

+ ivate cultivate 

+ ed cultivated un + uncultivated 

+ ion cultivation 

Getty Images 

cult 

+ al cultural 

inter + 

cross- + 

intercultural 

cross-cultural 

+ ure culture 

+ ed cultured 

un + 

uncultured 

counter + 

counterculture 

sub + 

subculture 

The family 

counterculture 

cross-cultural 

cult 

cultivate sth. 

cultivated 

cultivation 

cultural 

culture (sth.) 

cultured 

intercultural 

subculture 

uncultivated 

uncultured 

14 SKILL UP! 

Gegenkultur 

kulturübergreifend 

Kult; Kultgemeinschaft, Sekte 

etw. kultivieren; an-, bebauen; 

pflegen; züchten 

(Person) kultiviert, zivilisiert, gebildet; 

(Land) bebaut, bestellt 

Kultivierung, Urbarmachung 

kulturell 

Kultur; etw. züchten 

(Person) kultiviert, zivilisiert, gebildet; 

(Zellen) gezüchtet 

interkulturell 

Subkultur 

(Person) unkultiviert, unzivilisiert, 

un ge bildet; (Land) brachliegend 

(Person) unkultiviert, unzivilisiert, 

ungebildet 

Use the family: cult 

l She’s a very cultivated lady. 

l You should probably go on an intercultural 

training course before 

you go to China. 

l Is there still a punk subculture in 

London? 

l Open computer systems probably 

grew out of the hippie counterculture 

of the 1960s. 

l Pulp Fiction is a cult movie. 

l You know, I’m sure he must be a 

member of some cult! 

l In some cultures, it’s considered 

uncultured to eat like that. 

l Events like these can improve 

cross-cultural understanding.

Get me one: it’s 

a cult camera 

Hemera 

IN ACTION: CULTURE AND CULTIVATE 

‡ Both cultured and cultivated are used to describe someone 

who has good manners, a good education and refined 

tastes: 

“He’s a cultured/cultivated man.” 

‡ The verbs culture and cultivate are used to talk about 

the growing of cells in biology: 

“The cells were cultured/cultivated overnight.” 

‡ We use cultivate to refer to the growing of plants or to 

gardening, particularly on a commercial scale: 

“It would take us at least a week to cultivate a piece of 

land this size.” 

‡ If you cultivate a friendship, you try hard to develop a relationship 

with someone, often to be able to use that 

friendship for your own goals: 

“He decided to cultivate a friendship with the politician 

he met at an arts fair.” 

‡ If you cultivate a business you try hard to make a successful 

business: 

“She cultivated a business around her hobby.” 

SKILL UP! 

Check out the expressions in German that use 

Kunst and find the translations in English. You 

may be surprised to learn that many of the 

English idioms don’t refer to art at all. 

It’s not art 

Das ist eine brotlose Kunst. 

Das ist keine Kunst. 

mit seiner Kunst am Ende sein 

seine Kunst an etw. versuchen 

Was macht die Kunst? 

There’s no money in it. 

It’s a piece of cake. 

be at a total loss 

try one’s hand at sth. 

How are things? 

photoobjects.net 

Culture in many areas 

agriculture 

company culture 

cult movement 

cultural monument 

cultured pearl 

culture shock 

culture vulture ifml. 

drug culture 

pop(ular) culture 

youth culture 

Landwirtschaft 

Unternehmenskultur 

Kultbewegung 

Kulturdenkmal 

Zuchtperle 

Kulturschock 

Kulturhyäne 

Drogenkultur 

Pop(ulär)kultur 

Jugendkultur 

The “art” family 

artefact 

Artefakt, 

prähistorisches 

Werkzeug 

art for art’s sake Kunst als 

Selbstzweck 

artful 

kunstvoll 

artfully 

kunstvoll 

art historian Kunst - 

historiker(in) 

art house 

Kunsthaus 

artistic 

künstlerisch 

artistic director Intendant(in) 

arts and crafts Kunstgewerbe, 

-handwerk 

arty (US artsy) ifml. pseudokünstle - 

(also: arty-farty; risch; auf Künst - 

US artsy-fartsy) ler machend 

inartistic 

unkünstlerisch; 

ohne Kunstverständnis 

state-of-the-art letzter Stand der 

Technik 


SMALL TALK 

A QUESTION OF TASTE 

Not everyone feels the same way about art. You can discuss how you feel in small-talk 

conversations. Here, we provide you with useful expressions and adjectives. 

Situation: 

Harry and Kylie are good friends, but they have very 

different tastes in music and art. They are having 

dinner in a trendy restaurant. 

Harry: Fantastic restaurant! 

Kylie: It’s different, I’ll give you that. I’m not sure I like 

looking at naked bums while I’m eating, though. 

Harry: Why not? It’s art. Don’t be such a prude. I love 

these paintings. They’re all by a local artist. 

Kylie: A prolific artist — who likes women’s bums. 

Harry: So do I. I’m a keen admirer of her work. 

Kylie: Exactly. That’s my point. They’re sexist. They appeal 

to men. To women, they’re degrading. I’ve 

taken an instant dislike to them! 

Harry: But the artist is a woman. 

Kylie: So what? That’s no excuse. And I can’t believe 

they’re playing that misogynistic song again. 

Harry: What song? 

Kylie: Blurred Lines. 

Harry: Oh yeah, that one. I can’t stand it either. 

Kylie: It’s so catchy that you actually forget how derogatory 

it is towards women. It’s a real earworm. I 

can’t bear it! And the lyrics! Just awful. 

Harry: I can’t get it out of my head now. The beat is so 

repetitive. OK, next time, you choose the place. 

Kylie: There’s a restaurant down the road. It has lovely 

impressionist murals. And every Friday, they have 

a string quartet. We should add a bit of culture 

to our lives. Classical music is the way to go. 

Harry: Hmm, chamber music while you eat... Not exactly 

my cup of tea. I think I’m busy Friday. 

iStock 

appeal to sb. 

beat 

can’t bear sth.: 

sb. ~ 

can’t stand sth.: 

sb. ~ ifml. 

catchy 

chamber music 

cup of tea: not my ~ 

ifml. 

degrading: be ~ 

derogatory [di(rQgEtEri] 

earworm 

get sth. out of 

one’s head 

I’ll give you that 

keen admirer UK 

lyrics [(lIrIks] 

misogynistic 

[mI)sQdZE(nIstIk] 

mural [mjUErEl] 

naked bum UK ifml. 

prolific artist 

[prEU(lIfIk] 

prude: be a ~ [pru:d] 

repetitive [ri(petEtIv] 

So what? 

string quartet 

[(strIN kwO:)tet] 

take an instant 

dislike to sth. 

jmdm. zusagen, 

jmdn. ansprechen 

Takt, Rhythmus 

jmd. kann etw. 

nicht ertragen 

jmd. kann etw. 

nicht ausstehen 

einprägsam 

Kammermusik 

nicht mein 

Geschmack 

erniedrigend sein 

abwertend, abfällig 

Ohrwurm 

etw. aus dem Kopf 

bekommen 

das muss man dir 

lassen 

große(r) Verehrer(in) 

(Lied-)Text 

frauenfeindlich 

Wandgemälde 

nackter Po 

sehr produktiv(e)r 

Künstler(in) 

prüde sein 

sich wiederholend 

Na und? 

Streichquartett 

auf Anhieb eine 

Abneigung gegen 

etw. empfinden 

M 

SKILL UP! Audio 

Do a related exercise on 

Business Spotlight Audio. 

Look at me — not 

at the paintings 

ISSUE 26

SKILL UP! 

Which adjectives do you understand 

— and which can 

you use to talk about art, 

music and literature? If there 

are any adjectives that you are 

not sure about, run a search 

for the words on the internet, 

but include the search terms 

“artwork” or “music”, too. 

Choose a news story that interests 

you. Don’t try to understand 

everything, just focus on 

the adjectives and how they 

are used. This is a quick activity 

you can do during a fiveminute 

break from work. 

What do you prefer? 

alternative alternativ traditional traditionell 

contemporary zeitgenössisch vintage klassisch, 

nostalgisch 

conventional herkömmlich unconventional unkonventionell 

highbrow anspruchsvoll; lowbrow anspruchslos, 

hochgestochen 

geistlos 

mainstream im Trend liegend fringe avantgardistisch 

period antik modern modern 

surreal surreal naturalistic naturalistisch 

Classic or not? 

classic 

a classic 

classic Dalí painting 

the classics 

classical 

classical music 

neoclassical frieze 

ein Klassiker 

klassisches 

Dalí-Gemälde 

Altphilologie 

klassische 

Musik 

klassizistisches 

Fries 

Good or bad? 

controversial umstritten 

degenerate 

disturbing 

edgy ifml. 

hackneyed 

moving 

pleasant 

respectable 

simple 

subversive 

entartet 

aufwühlend 

trendig 

abgedroschen 

ergreifend 

gefällig 

anständig 

schlicht 

subversiv 

SKILL UP! online 

Listen to a selection of these 

adjectives at www.businessspotlight.de/skill-up26 

Sarah Murray/www.flickr.com/people/37174512@N03 

How would you describe it? 

eclectic eklektisch dull langweilig 

inflammatory aufwieglerisch conservative konservativ 

offensive anstößig inoffensive harmlos 

provocative provozierend boring langweilig 

revolutionary revolutionär run-of-the-mill gewöhnlich 

seminal herausragend overrated überbewertet 

tasteful geschmackvoll tasteless geschmacklos 

understated subtil elaborate aufwendig 

Highbrow art: so 

moving, so tasteful 

ISSUE 26 

SKILL UP! 17

YOUR PROFILE 

BE AN ARTIST 

Personalize this guide by adding your own example sentences — which should reflect 

words and expressions you need in order to talk about your circumstances. 

MAKE ROOM FOR CULTURE 

If your company were to sponsor an art exhibition or trendy event, what kind of event would it be? Write 

down some ideas using the vocabulary from Picture This! (pp. 4–5) and Word Bank (pp. 6–7). 

Be more artistic in the language that you use. Which of the idioms in “Pictures and plots” (pp. 12–13) 

could you imagine using at work? Write them down and personalize them for your situation. 

Are you interested in art scandals? Use vocabulary from In Focus (pp. 10–11) to describe a recent art 

scandal you have heard about. 

SMALL TALK: YOUR PERSONAL TASTES 

What kind of artwork do you prefer? Write down your views using expressions from our Small Talk section 

(pp. 16–17). You’ll find exercises on this vocabulary in Business Spotlight plus. 

18 SKILL UP! ISSUE 26

In the next issue: 

PREVIEW 


IMPRESSUM 

HERAUSGEBER UND VERLAGSLEITER: 

Dr. Wolfgang Stock 

CHEFREDAKTEUR: Dr. Ian McMaster 

STELLVERTRETENDE CHEFREDAKTEURIN: 

Deborah Capras 

GESCHÄFTSFÜHRENDE REDAKTEURIN (CvD): 

Maja Sirola 

AUTORIN: Deborah Capras 

REDAKTION: Margaret Davis, Hildegard Rudolph, 

Michele Tilgner 

BILDREDAKTION: Sarah Gough (Leitung), 

Thorsten Mansch 

GESTALTUNG: loop grafikdesign München 




ANZEIGENLEITUNG: Axel Zettler 

VERLAG und REDAKTION: 


Postanschrift: Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg 

Hausanschrift: 

Fraunhoferstraße 22, 82152 Planegg 

Telefon: +49 (0)89 8 56 81-0; 

Fax +49 (0)89 8 56 81-105 

Internet: www.business-spotlight.de 

LITHO: Mohn Media Mohndruck GmbH, 33311 

Gütersloh 

DRUCK: Rotaplan Offset Kammann Druck GmbH, 

93057 Regensburg 

© 3/2014 Spotlight Verlag, auch für alle 

genannten Autoren, Fotografen und Mitarbeiter. 

Cover photograph: iStockphoto 

ISSUE 26 

INSURANCE 

If you’re young, fit and healthy, you probably 

think you don’t need any insurance. That will 

change! Our next Skill Up! looks at the personal 

and business side of the insurance world. 

Insurance 

fraud: who’s 

a criminal? 

PICTURE THIS: what a disaster 

WORD BANK: Which insurance for me? 

ESSENTIAL IDIOMS: cover your ass 

also: 

SMALL TALK 

Insurance crime 

Photos.com


und erleben. 

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100 

KEY 

IDIOMS 

FOR YOUR JOB 

Mit Sprachtest 

A language survival guide

Gut für 

den Kopf! 

Besser mit Sprachen. Land und Leute 

verstehen – und nebenbei die Sprache 

lernen. Jeden Monat neu. 

4 

Ausgaben 

zum Preis 

von 3! 

www.spotlight-verlag.de/4fuer3

Get cracking!* 

Idioms play a key role in any language, 

and many learners have a lot of fun 

discovering the idiomatic forms of a 

new language. Although you should be 

careful when using idioms — because small mistakes can easily 

lead to misunderstandings — it is important to have a good passive 

knowledge when communicating internationally. In this booklet, 

Deborah Capras, Hildegard Rudolph and Carol Scheunemann 

present 100 key English idioms that you may encounter in your 

daily working life. We hope you find our special booklet useful and 

look forward to your feedback. 


i.mcmaster@spotlight-verlag.de 

Impressum 

HERAUSGEBER UND VERLAGSLEITER: Dr. Wolfgang Stock 

CHEFREDAKTEUR: Dr. Ian McMaster 

STELLVERTR. CHEFREDAKTEURIN: Deborah Capras 

GESCHÄFTSFÜHRENDE REDAKTEURIN: Maja Sirola (CvD) 

REDAKTION: Margaret Davis, Hildegard Rudolph, 

Carol Scheunemann, Michele Tilgner 

AUTOREN: Deborah Capras, Hildegard Rudolph, 

Carol Scheunemann 

BILDREDAKTION: Sarah Gough, Thorsten Mansch 

GESTALTUNG: loopgrafikdesign München 



ANZEIGENLEITUNG: Axel Zettler 


VERLAG UND REDAKTION: Spotlight Verlag GmbH 

Postanschrift: Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg 

Hausanschrift: Fraunhoferstraße 22, 

82152 Planegg, Telefon: (0049) 89 856 81-0 

Internet: www.business-spotlight.de 

LITHO: Mohn Media Mohndruck GmbH, 33311 Gütersloh 

DRUCK: teNeues, 47906 Kempen 

© 3/2014 Spotlight Verlag, auch für alle genann ten Autoren, 

Fotografen und Mitarbeiter. 

Contents 

It’s a wake-up call 4 

All in a day’s work 6 

On track 8 

Food for thought 10 

A win-win situation? 12 

Make a killing 14 

At the end of the day 16 

Put it to the test 18 

*The idiom to “get cracking” means 

to “start working on something 

immediately”: “There’s a lot to do 

today. We’d better get cracking!” 

BusinessSpotlight 3

Did you know? 

It’s a wake-up call 

Situation: 

Joy is a programmer at 

Zeppee, a company that 

makes apps. Two potential 

clients will be visiting her 

company today. 

Stockbyte 

At home 

Joy needs to start work early, 

but her day doesn’t start well. 

Joy: Oh, no. I wanted to be in 

the office by 9. 

Zack: It’s nearly 8.30 already. 

Shouldn’t you be making a 

move? You’re cutting it a bit 

fine. 

Joy: Could you drive me? 

Zack: Sorry, no dice. You’ll 

have to take a taxi. 

In a hotel, a “wake-up” call 

is a phone call from reception 

that wakes up a guest. 

In business, a “wake-up call” 

is an event that alerts people 

to a bad situation and warns 

them to change things. 

She’s cutting it a bit fine 

In the taxi 

Joy calls her colleague from 

the taxi. 

Joy: Mark, it’s Joy. Look, I’m 

stuck in traffic. I’m going to 

be a little late. 

Mark: OK, but this won’t go 

down well. 

Joy: I’m not exactly thrilled to 

bits. 

Mark: Well, tell the driver to 

step on it. 

programmer Informatiker(in) 

stuck in traffic: be ~ im Stau stecken 

4 BusinessSpotlight

KEY IDIOMS 

From the dialogue 

Shouldn’t you be making a move? 

You’re cutting it a bit fine. 

Sorry, no dice. US 

This won’t go down well. 

I’m not exactly thrilled to bits. 

Tell the driver to step on it. 

Solltest du dich nicht allmählich 

auf den Weg machen? 

Das hast du wirklich knapp 

kalkuliert. 

Das ist leider nicht drin. 

Das wird nicht gut ankommen. 

Meine Begeisterung hält sich 

auch in Grenzen. 

Sag dem Fahrer, er soll Gas 

geben. 

Early-morning idioms 

It’s a wake-up call for our company. Es ist ein Warnsignal für 

I got up at the crack of dawn. 

Wake up and smell the coffee! US 

unsere Firma. 

Ich bin in aller (Hergotts-) 

Frühe aufgestanden. 

Wach(t) endlich auf! 

Travel idioms for business 

Could you bring me up to speed? 

He was asleep at the wheel. 

Let’s cross that bridge when we 

come to it. 

They took us for a ride. 

We need to go the extra mile. 

Kannst du mich auf den 

neuesten Stand bringen? 

Er hat nicht aufgepasst. 

Alles zu seiner Zeit. 

Sie haben uns reingelegt. 

Wir müssen noch eins 

draufsetzen. 


Did you know? 


Arriving at the office 

Joy’s colleagues are waiting 

for her in the conference 

room. 

Mark: Hi, Joy. Come in 

and catch your breath. 

Joy: Sorry I overslept. 

Could you fill me in? 

Mark: The clients arrive at 

11.30 for the presentation. 

Then we’ll take 

them to lunch. 

Nyla: The thing is, we’ve 

hit a snag with the 

presentation. 

Joy: What exactly do you 

mean? 

We use “all in a day’s work” 

to show that we do something 

because it is part of 

our normal work, even when 

the task seems difficult to 

other people. You can use 

this expression to show that 

doing the task is not a problem 

or any trouble. 

Talking about tasks 

The team needs to talk about work 

duties. 

Mark: So, who can do the heavy 

lifting on the slides? We’ll need 

about an hour to update them. 

Nyla: Don’t look at me. Honestly, 

I’ve got enough on my plate. 

Mark: Joy, would you mind? 

Joy: Well, I’m really snowed under, 

but OK. 

oversleep 

slide 

snag 

Is he pulling his weight? 

verschlafen 

Folie 

gezogener Faden 

Stockbyte 


KEY IDIOMS 


Catch your breath. 

Could you fill me in? 

We’ve hit a snag. 

Who can do the heavy lifting? 

Don’t look at me. 

I’ve got enough on my plate. UK 

I’m really snowed under. 

Idioms for effort 

I’m swamped. 

She’s making an all-out effort. 

He goes above and beyond what’s 

necessary. 

He’s not pulling his weight. 

Work idioms 

It’s all in a day’s work. 

We have our work cut out for us. 

We’ve been working flat out. 

He worked his arse off. vulg. 

Atme erst einmal tief durch. 

Könntest du mich kurz 

informieren? 

Wir sind auf Schwierigkeiten 

gestoßen. 

Wer kann die Hauptarbeit 

erledigen? 

Vergiss es! 

Ich habe genug um die Ohren. 

Ich ersticke in Arbeit. 

Ich bin (mit Arbeit) überschwemmt. 

Sie gibt sich die allergrößte 

Mühe. 

Er tut weit mehr als nötig. 

Er tut sein Teil nicht dazu. 

Das ist doch selbstverständlich. 

Wir haben alle Hände voll zu 

tun. 

Wir haben auf Hochtouren 

gearbeitet. 

Er hat hart gearbeitet. 


Did you know? 

On track 

We’ll deliver 

the goods 

The reaction 

The clients are not convinced. 

Stockbyte 

The presentation 

Joy is presenting the new 

app to the clients, Alex 

and Lee. 

Joy: We’ve been keeping 

this under wraps for 

weeks, but today, I’m 

going to show you our 

new app: Busybody. 

Lee: Busybody? Hmm, 

nice. What does it do? 

Joy: In a nutshell? Our 

app helps you to manage 

your time more efficiently. 

Alex: Interesting. They’re 

all the rage right now. 

Alex: It’s cool, but unless you 

can make it more interactive, 

it’s not going to fly. 

Lee: It doesn’t blow me away. 

Joy: Tell us what you want and 

we’ll deliver the goods. We’ll 

start from scratch if necessary. 

We can have it up and 

running in a month. 

busybody 

wrap 

A “track” is a line of rails 

that a train travels along. 

If a project is “on track”, 

everything is going as 

planned. You are making 

progress and will finish on 

schedule and on budget. 

Wichtigtuer(in) 

Umhangtuch 


KEY IDIOMS 


We’ve been keeping this 

under wraps. 

In a nutshell? 

They’re all the rage right now. 

It’s not going to fly. US 

It doesn’t blow me away. 

We’ll deliver the goods. 

We’ll start from scratch. 

We can have it up and running 

in a month. 

Idioms for projects 

Everything’s on track. 

It’ll never get off the ground. 

Is there anything else in 

the pipeline? 

Wir haben dies geheim 

gehalten. 

In aller Kürze? 

Mit ein paar wenigen Worten? 

Sie sind jetzt der letzte Schrei. 

Es wird kein Renner sein. 

Es reißt mich nicht vom 

Hocker. 

Wir werden liefern. 

Wir werden ganz von vorne 

anfangen. 

Wir können es in einem Monat 

komplett fertig haben. 

Es verläuft alles nach Plan. 

Es wird sich nie realisieren 

lassen. 

Ist noch irgendetwas in 

Vorbereitung? 

Understanding 

Are we all on the same page? Meinen wir wirklich alle das 

US 

Gleiche? 

Sorry, I can’t make head or Es tut mir leid, daraus werde 

tail of it. 

ich nicht schlau. 

I think it’s time for a reality check. Ich denke, es ist an der Zeit, 

den Tatsachen ins Auge zu 

blicken. 


Did you know? 

Food for thought 

The lunch break 

Mark and Joy offer to take 

the customers to lunch. 

Hemera 

Lee: I hate to say this, but 

the proposal still sounds 

half-baked to me. 

Alex: Let’s not jump the gun, 

Lee. Give them time to explain. 

Mark: Thanks. Should we 

grab a bite to eat first? 

Lee: That’s a great idea. I 

could eat a horse. 

Joy: Do you fancy Italian? 

There’s a nice place 

across the street. 

Alex: Perfect! 

“Food for thought” refers 

to a subject that is worth 

considering. We intuitively 

believe that the 

mind works on complex 

ideas much like the 

stomach digests a meal. 

day off 

fancy sth. UK 

spare time 

I could eat a horse! 

Time for small talk 

Joy and Mark get to know 

the customers a little better. 

Joy: So, Alex, what do you 

do in your spare time? 

Alex: Oh, I have to get away 

from it all. I go camping. 

Mark: What about you, Lee? 

Lee: Well, I’m a real couch 

potato. On my days off, I 

like to just soak up the 

sun at the beach. 

freier Tag 

Lust auf etw. 

haben 

Freizeit 


KEY IDIOMS 


The proposal still sounds 

half-baked. 

Let’s not jump the gun. 

Should we grab a bite to eat? 

I could eat a horse. 

I have to get away from it all. 

I’m a real couch potato. 

I like to just soak up the sun. 

Food idioms 

You’ve given me some 

food for thought. 

There’s no such thing as 

a free lunch. 

I’d take his advice with a pinch 

(grain) of salt. 

Are you nuts? 

Sports and free time 

She’s skating on thin ice. 

My hotel was off the beaten track. 

I need to recharge my batteries. 

Der Vorschlag hört sich noch 

immer unausgegoren an. 

Lass uns nicht voreilig 

handeln. 

Sollen wir schnell eine 

Kleinigkeit essen? 

Ich könnte einen halben 

Ochsen essen. 

Ich muss mal abschalten. 

Ich bin ein echter Stubenhocker. 

Ich möchte einfach die Sonne 

genießen. 

Sie haben mir Stoff zum 

Nachdenken / einen Denkanstoß 

gegeben. 

Man bekommt im Leben nichts 

geschenkt. 

Ich würde seinen Rat mit 

Vorsicht genießen. 

Bist du verrückt? 

Sie bewegt sich auf dünnem 

Eis. 

Mein Hotel lag abseits. 

Ich muss neue Kräfte tanken. 


A win-win situation? 

Stockbyte 

They’re dragging 

their feet 

The discussion 

Mark and Joy still haven’t got 

the agreement they want. 

Mark: Lee, I understand you’re 

having second thoughts. 

Lee: Well, we need to discuss a 

few things in more detail. We 

don’t exactly see eye to eye 

on everything. 

Joy: Tell us what you need. 

We’re all ears. 

Alex: Off the top of my head, I’d 

say a bigger discount on the 

hourly rate. 

discount 

dotted line 

hourly rate 

Preisnachlass 

gestrichelte 

Linie 

Stundensatz 

Did you know? 

If something is a 

“win-win situation”, 

then everyone 

will benefit 

from it in some 

way. There are 

no losers. 

The agreement 

An hour later, Alex and Lee 

are convinced. 

Alex: OK, I like your suggestions. 

We’re on board. 

Joy: Fantastic! So, can we 

set the wheels in motion? 

Lee: We’ll have to run it 

past our boss before we 

can sign on the dotted 

line. But that shouldn’t 

be a problem. 


KEY IDIOMS 


You’re having second thoughts. Sie haben Zweifel. 

We don’t exactly see eye to eye. Wir sind nicht ganz einer 

Meinung. 

We’re all ears. 

Wir sind ganz Ohr. 

Off the top of my head... Ohne lange nachzudenken ... 

We’re on board. 

Wir sind dabei. 

Can we set the wheels in motion? Können wir die Dinge ins Rollen 

bringen? 

We’ll have to run it past our boss. Wir brauchen noch die 

Zustimmung unseres Chefs / 

unserer Chefin. 

We can sign on the dotted line. Wir können formell zustimmen. 

Agreeing and disagreeing 

We can meet you halfway. 

It’s a bit of a sticking point. 

It’s a win-win situation. 

Wir können Ihnen auf halbem 

Weg entgegenkommen. 

Das ist ein leicht kontroverser 

Punkt. 

Jeder hat etwas davon. 

More body idioms 

On the one hand..., on the Einerseits ..., andererseits ... 

other hand... 

They’re dragging their feet. 

We’ve had a change of heart. 

Let’s play it by ear. 

Sie lassen die Sache schleifen. 

Wir haben es uns anders überlegt. 

Lass uns spontan entscheiden. 


Did you know? 

Make a killing 

We’re not made 

of money 

Getting financing 

Mark is talking to Ruth 

Wilkins, head of finance. 

Mark: I tell you, Ruth, Busybody 

is fabulous. It’s a licence 

to print money. 

Joy: How much will this set 

us back? 

Mark: Well, we estimate that 

it’ll be to the tune of 

€100,000. 

Ruth: Mark, we’re not made 

of money. 

Mark: I know, but our clients 

will cough up half. 

Although “kill” sounds 

negative, to “make a 

killing” refers to making 

a large amount of money 

and a healthy profit. 

Also, a “killer app” is a 

software application that 

is so valuable that users 

feel they must have it. 

A successful deal 

Finally, Mark and Joy celebrate 

their success. 

Joy: Done! Can you believe it? 

Mark: It’s too good to be true. 

We’re running with the big 

dogs now. 

Joy: We have to celebrate. Care 

for a drink at the pub? 

Mark: But of course! It’s a redletter 

day, for sure. 

care for sth. 

estimate 

too good to be true 

Lust auf etw. 

haben 

schätzen 

zu schön, um 

wahr zu sein 

Stockbyte 


KEY IDIOMS 


It’s a licence to print money. 

How much will this set us back? 

We estimate (that) it’ll be to the 

tune of €100,000. 

We’re not made of money. 

Our clients will cough up half. 

We’re running with the big 

dogs now. 

It’s a red-letter day, for sure. 

Money idioms 

He made a killing with his 

investment. 

Show me the money. 

They’re rolling in dough. 

We’ve hit the jackpot. 

Idioms for success 

The sky’s the limit. 

We’ll take the market by storm. 

This company is going places. 

Es ist ein Bombengeschäft. 

Um wie viel wird uns das 

ärmer machen? 

Wir schätzen, es wird in Höhe 

von €100.000 sein. 

Wir sind doch nicht Krösus. 

Unsere Kunden werden die 

Hälfte rausrücken. 

Wir mischen jetzt ganz oben 

mit. 

Das ist sicherlich ein ganz 

besonderer Tag. 

__________ 

Seine Investition hat ihn sehr 

reich gemacht. 

Genug geredet. Wie viel kriege 

ich dafür? 

Sie schwimmen in Geld. 

Wir haben das große Los 

gezogen. 

Nach oben sind keine Grenzen 

gesetzt. 

Wir werden den Markt im 

Sturm erobern. 

Diese Firma wird es zu etwas 

bringen. 


Did you know? 

At the end of the day 

She’s pleased 

as Punch! 

Home at last 

Joy arrives at home to talk to 

Zack. 

Stockbyte 

Leaving the office 

Joy and Mark get ready to 

leave the office. 

Joy: Let’s call it a day, Mark. 

The pub’s waiting. 

Mark: I’d like to wrap this up 

first. I’m almost done. 

Joy: An email to Alex and 

Lee? Are you afraid that 

we’ll lose our window of 

opportunity? 

Mark: Yes. I can’t get it out 

of my mind. I’m summarizing 

what was agreed. 

exhausting 

get comfy ifml. 

summarize sth. 

anstrengend 

es sich gemütlich 

machen 

etw. zusammenfassen 

Zack: Hi, Joy. How was your 

day? 

Joy: Well, long story short — 

it was exhausting, but we 

closed the Busybody deal! 

I can’t believe we’re home 

and dry. 

Zack: Well done. You must 

be pleased as Punch! 

Shall we go out? 

Joy: Can we just get comfy 

and open a bottle of red? 

I’m brain-dead. 

“At the end of the day” 

signals that we have 

reached a conclusion after 

considering all the alternatives. 

But be careful! 

This idiom is an example 

of business jargon, which 

many people dislike. 



KEY IDIOMS 

Let’s call it a day. 

Machen wir Schluss für heute. 

I’d like to wrap this up. 

Ich möchte dies festmachen. 

We’ll lose our window of 

Wir verpassen unsere 

opportunity. 

einmalige Gelegenheit. 

I can’t get it out of my mind. Das geht mir nicht aus dem 

Kopf. 

Well, (to make a) long story short... Nun, um es kurz zu machen... 

I can’t believe we’re home Ich kann es nicht glauben, 

and dry. UK 

dass wir es geschafft haben. 

You must be (as) pleased as Punch! Du musst dich freuen wie ein 

Schneekönig! (Mr Punch = 

eine englische Kasperlpuppe) 

I’m brain-dead. 

Ich bin völlig fertig. 

Idioms for emotions 

At the end of the day, it 

all worked out. 

She’s walking on air. 

My gut feeling tells me 

that he’s wrong. 

Home and property 

Die Gespräche fanden hinter 

verschlossenen Türen statt. 

Roger ist an die Decke ge- 

gangen, als er dahinterkam. 

Sues Bemerkung hat den 

Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen. 

The talks took place behind 

closed doors. 

Roger hit the roof when 

he found out. 

Sue’s remark hit close to home. 

Schließlich ist alles doch 

gut gegangen. 

Sie fühlt sich wie im siebten 

Himmel. 

Mein Bauchgefühl sagt mir, 

dass er falsch liegt. 


Put it to the test 

How well do you know the idioms 

presented in this booklet? Find out by 

doing our test. 

A wake-up call 

1. “You’re ___________ it a bit fine. It’s already 8.30.” 

a) catching b) calculating c) cutting 

iStock 

2. “Can you bring me up to ___________?” 

a) speed b) ride c) step 


3. “Who can do the ___________ on the presentation?” 

a) heavy lifting b) weightlifting c) deadlifting 

4. “We’ve been working ___________ out this week.” 

a) full b) flat c) high 

On track 

5. “Can you have it up and ___________ in a month?” 

a) running b) jogging c) coming 

6. “What else is in the ___________?” 

a) wire b) tube c) pipeline 


Did you know? 

Food for thought 

7. “Shall we grab a ___________ to eat first?” 

a) bite b) horse c) potato 

8. “I need to ___________ my batteries.” 

a) recharge b) load c) fill 

A win-win situation? 

9. “Off the top of my ___________, I’d say it cost about €5,000.” 

a) mind b) head c) brain 

10. “Have you had a change of ___________?” 

a) heart b) body c) head 

Make a killing 

11. “They’ll be able to ___________ up about half the money.” 

a) spit b) cough c) sneeze 

12.“They’re rolling in ___________.” 

a) pastry b) bread c) dough 

At the end of the day 

13.“Act now or we could lose our ___________ of opportunity.” 

a) house b) window c) door 

14.“She’ll hit the ___________ when she finds out.” 

a) ceiling 

b) top 

c) roof 

Answers 

1–c; 2–a; 3–a; 4–b; 5–a; 6–c; 7–a; 8–a; 

9–b; 10–a; 11–b; 12–c; 13–b; 14–c 

If you “put something to the test”, 

you do something to find out how 

strong or effective it is. As you do 

this test, try to remember the 

meaning of the chapter titles. Put 

your knowledge to the test! 



und erleben. 

Ihre Sprachreise von zu Hause aus: Online-Training 

mit Videos und Übungen. Jederzeit verfügbar. 

50% 

Rabatt 


+49 (0)89/8 56 81-16

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