Mar 29

Managing the English Football Team with 100 words – is it Possible for Fabio Capello to Get His Message Across?

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In a recent article published in the Daily Telegraph, Fabio Capello the much maligned Italian coach of the English football team, claimed that he only needed to use 100 words (in English) to get his message across to the England players. Capello, who was criticised during the World Cup in South Africa for his inability to communicate effectively in English, will certainly raise eyebrows with his latest assertion.

Football Adam Kazmierski i Managing the English Football Team with 100 words – is it Possible for Fabio Capello to Get His Message Across?

© istockphoto.com/ Adam Kazmierski

What, one wonders, are these 100 words? These linguistic nuggets which will allow Signor Capello to build a cohesive, motivated and winning English football team? Something that escaped previous native-English speaking England managers.

Well we have racked our brains to come up with some useful words to add to this important lexicon. Here’s a starter for ten:

“If God had wanted us to play football in the sky, He’d have put grass up there” (courtesy of the great Brian Clough)
“Easy on the Krystal tonight, boys – big game tomorrow”,
“You get £100,000 a week – try at least get it on target”
“Keep it on the deck!”
“Game of two halves lads – all to play for”
“Who’s parked their Hummer in my parking space?”
“The Captain today is…”

Joking aside, some pundits have argued that hiring a non-native English speaking manager is bound to create communication problems – both with the players and the media. But there are plenty of success stories of foreign players and managers plying their trade in England and reaching an excellent level of proficiency in the language – who doesn’t remember the great Dane – Jan Moby who played for Liverpool in the 80s and his Scouse (Liverpool) accent?

The English Premier League is dominated by foreign nationals with 60% of players coming from overseas and 50% of the top 6 teams managed by French or Italians. They would not survive if they did not do a good job and the same is true for Signor Capello.

By stating that he only needed 100 words to get his message across, Capello was stating the obvious: we actually use very few words in everyday conversation – approximately 2,000. In a focused environment such as football where there is a set vocabulary Capello can undoubtedly get his message across – sure he won’t deliver an awe inspiring speech as Henry V (via Shakespeare) did prior to the battle of Agincourt:

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

But a simple – “come on lads”, “I believe in you”, “do this, don’t do that”, etc. should be more than sufficient for seasoned professionals who, after all, are paid to do this day in day out for the best teams in the country?

There is another game tonight – albeit a friendly against Ghana. “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”

Buona fortuna Signor Capello!

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2011

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Sep 09

American and British English – Mind the Gap!

English Language Training, Language Training Courses 1 Comment »

Language barriers are everywhere, even where we least expect them. In most cases it’s obvious that language will be a challenge. A project manager from England for example will expect to find language barriers when implementing a new process in Japan. A project manager from England working with a new team in the US however will not usually expect many differences as both countries speak English. In fact, there are many differences between American and British English that most people only realise once they are out of their country and experiencing misunderstandings.

UK and US Flags Mark Gabrenya i American and British English Mind the Gap!

© istockphoto.com/ Mark Gabrenya

A young American expat recently went to England to work and was surprised by the differences that existed between British and American English vocabulary. During this experience he compiled a list of all of the vocabulary differences he discovered.

One of the first differences he noticed was in the way people at work greeted him. Instead of saying “How are you doing?” as he was accustomed to, “Are you alright?” was the most common question.  He explained, “I didn’t quite understand why they asked me this and started to think there was something wrong with me”.

Although the English spoken in the UK and the US sounds similar to many people, there are some key differences. Many expressions and words are different in the way they are pronounced and used and spelling is also different.

The list below shows a few examples of British English and American English to give you an idea of the differences you might find:

British English American English
Bank note Bill
Moustache Mustache
Mum Mom
Trainers Sneakers
Post code Zip code
Bank holiday Public holiday
To acclimatise To acclimate
To photocopy To xerox
Single ticket One-way ticket
Mobile Cell phone

So which one is the true English language? Do foreigners have to learn one English version language more than another?

We can’t really answer these questions because both versions of English are based on two distinct cultures and are equally correct. Each culture has influenced the English language in very unique ways resulting in different words, expressions and accents. Most people learn the version of English that was taught in school or shown on television programmes. For instance in France they typically learn British English while in Finland many schools teach American English.

In addition to the actual words and spellings that can be different, the way the language is used can vary tremendously due to cultural variations. For example, Americans tend to have a very direct approach to communication and will interpret things fairly literally. British tend to use a more indirect style of communication which hides a lot of the meaning. An American might tell you directly if they did not receive an attachment, ‘you did not attach the document, please try again’ while a British person may say something like ‘I did not appear to receive the file, could you please resend it?’.

On the one hand you have a sophisticated and elegant British English language which will provide you with the ability to communicate more efficiently and effectively, and on the other hand, you have this enthusiastic and vibrant American English language which will provide you with the ability to build rapport, empathy and strengthen relationships. Whatever the one you choose, mind the gap!

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Aug 17

English Language Reinvented

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Have you ever heard the expression ‘hevege lvago’? Do you know what it means to refudiate something? New English words and expressions are being reinvented and created everyday.

Teenagers are a classic example of a group that has created a new version of English in an effort to make it harder for others to understand them. ‘Backslang’, originally created by pickpocket gangs in Victorian London, includes the use of expressions such as “hevege lvago” which means “hello” and “ovgo kvakay” which means “ok”.

Backslang may sound really complicated to someone who is not familiar with it but it is based on a fairly simple concept. To speak backslang you simply take away the first letter of the word or the first two if they are not vowels, put “ava” in the middle and then put the first letter(s) back on.

Teenagers aren’t the only ones who play with English words, politicians like Sarah Palin enjoys it too. After using the word ‘refudiate’ which doesn’t currently exist in the English language, she posted a comment on her Twitter account to justify its use: “English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too”.

Dictionary English Christopher Ewing i English Language Reinvented

© istockphoto.com/ Christopher Ewing

It’s true that language evolves over time and new words appear and disappear everyday. However the Telegraph argues that it can be a real gaffe for people like Sarah Palin to invent new words. They argue that people like Sarah Palin or Barack Obama, who invented the verb “to wee-wee”, represent their political party and also their country. If they really want to be persuasive and make the right impressions across the globe, they must speak a very high level of English avoiding any reinvented words.

This applies to business as well where anyone working internationally should be able to speak a high level of Financial English, Insurance English, Legal English or Business English depending of the sector. Imagine that you are going through a court case and need to hire a lawyer. When you arrive at your potential lawyer’s office to meet him you discover that he speaks very poor English. Will you feel confident about his skills to represent your case and understand the complexity of the situation?

Communicaid’s English language training courses will help you to improve your understanding of the English language so you can prepared for new words, expressions and slang in any context. By taking a language training course, you will be able to use the English language correctly and not get stuck in the trap of reinventing words like Cleopatra tried to do when she said: “I shall be window’d in great Rome”.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Aug 10

Key Tips for Improving your English Language Skills

Business English Training Courses, English Language Training, Financial English Training Courses, Insurance English Training Courses, Language Training Courses, Legal English Training Courses 1 Comment »

Learning a new language can be extremely difficult, especially at first. However if you look around you will find many tools you can use in your daily life to help you improve your skills. Many people find that once they have learnt the basics of a language, the hardest thing is remembering what they have learnt and taking it a step further. Here are a few tips for taking your English language to the next level.

Immerse Yourself
One of the most important things to do is to practise not only your listening, reading and writing skills but also your speaking skills. The best thing to do is to immerse yourself in an English-speaking country and sign up for a Business English course. Being immersed in the country where the language is spoken will improve your comprehension and pronunciation and thus help you to have real exchanges with your neighbours, friends and colleagues. Seeing the language in the newspapers or on English TV everyday will also significantly help you improve your skills. Having to speak English in shops or if you are lost in the street or the tube can also be really helpful, while also challenging, as it forces you to speak and try the new words, grammar or expressions you have learnt.

Watch English Films
If you do not have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the country where the language is spoken, you can find a plethora of American and English series or films that you can watch in the original English version. If you do not have any English films, you can rent them easily either in stores or online through many easy-to-use services. When you do find English films, it is best to watch them in their original version with English subtitles. This will help you associate the spelling of words to the pronunciation as you hear it. If you own a modern television, you can also change the settings so English subtitles appear on your screen as you watch programmes in English or even your own language..

Newspapermuharrem öner i Key Tips for Improving your English Language Skills

© istockphoto.com/ muharrem öner

Read English Magazines or Books
Reading English magazines and books is a great way to further develop your English skills. In large cities you can often find bookshops which carry English books, while in airports and train stations there are usually a few magazines in English that you might find of interest. If you are just starting out, don’t be afraid to buy books which you might consider quite basic in your own language as they will be easier to follow and cause you less frustration. As you read, it can be really helpful to look up any words you don’t understand in a dictionary. As you go, you can record any words you didn’t know in a small notebook where you can read them every day until you know them by heart.

Listen to English Music
Listening to music is also a very good way to improve your comprehension in a new language. As you listen you can try to write down the lyrics and correct your work by comparing your lyrics against those you can find on the internet. This will help you improve your listening skills, vocabulary and spelling.

These are just some of the things you can do to improve your language skills on your own. However if you want to rapidly improve your language level, the most effective way is to enrol on a language training course where the trainer can help to correct your mistakes and pronunciation as you go. Communicaid’s language training courses are ideal for anyone looking to take their language skills to the next level

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Aug 02

What is Insurance English?

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Insurance services need to be provided on an international scale for businesses worldwide and this means that a lot of professionals in this field require a good working knowledge of English. These insurance companies play an important part in the functioning of the world economy. American insurance companies are important sources of business credit. Monoline credit insurance companies (created in the United States in the 1970s) generally use major international reinsurers to reinsure a part of their business credit.

On a smaller scale, the free movement of people within the European Union means that there are ever-increasing numbers of expatriates in all European countries. Not all of these people speak the language of the country they have moved to and so insurance companies need to be able to communicate with them in order to sort out areas such as house and car insurance. These companies need to be ready to deal with any possible claims that arise.

The international nature of the insurance industry has led to the establishment of bodies to supervise and inform companies. An example of such a body is the IAIS (the International Association of Insurance Supervisors). The IAIS was established in 1994 and represents insurance regulators and supervisors of some 190 jurisdictions. “The IAIS works closely with other financial sector standard setting bodies and international organisations to promote financial stability. It holds an Annual Conference where supervisors, industry representatives and other professionals discuss developments in the insurance sector and topics affecting insurance regulation.”

Insurance English includes terms that are specific to the world of insurance. Examples of some of these common terms are: actuary, premium, blanket insurance and concealment. There is also specific language in the following topics: insurance contracts, insurance accounting, the international financial reporting standard for insurance contracts and the regulatory framework of insurance.

Man carying foldersTommL i What is Insurance English?

© istockphoto.com/ TommL

Insurance contracts provide an example of where Insurance English is seen to be distinct from everyday business English. It is considered to be very difficult for lay people to write, interpret or enforce what is laid out in one of these contracts due to the verbiage used.

Writers like Kenneth S Wollner make strong appeals for policy drafters to use as much plain language as possible. Despite this kind of appeal, insurance contracts still tend to be written in a dense form which obliges a professional working in the insurance field to master insurance English.

Knowledge of how to make contracts less ambiguous and clearer for all is obviously something that professionals working in insurance should strive for especially when English is not their first language.

An Insurance English course encompasses the skills which go hand-in-hand with the language. It is important for a professional working in insurance to know how to draft, interpret and negotiate well. Fundamental language structures are therefore imperative. For example, the conditional forms are needed when negotiating – ‘if this should happen, you would receive this amount of money…’.  It is also necessary to be able to refer clearly to contractual clauses – ‘it says in clause 3 that…’ ‘According to clause 7 the employer must…’.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Jul 08

Learning the Local Language is Rated Biggest Challenge for International Assignees

English Language Training, Language Training Courses 1 Comment »

According to the Expat Explorer report commissioned by HSBC Bank International, 58% of the 3,100 expats questioned said that learning the local language is one of the biggest challenges faced by international assignees.

Being relocated to another country gives international assignees a number of wonderful cultural and linguistic opportunities to learn the local customs, traditions and language.  While this can be exciting and stimulating it can also be very challenging. One of the biggest challenges of adapting to a new culture and communicating effectively with local counterparts is the language barrier between expats and local employees and residents.

Learning the local language can be extremely difficult depending on how unfamiliar it is. According to the Expat Explorer survey, expats living in English-speaking countries tend to have less trouble with language barriers than in other countries where languages other than English are spoken. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada are the first four countries where expats feel learning the local language is easier. This is not too surprising as the English language is the predominant language for international business and communication and a higher number of people can speak and understand it making their adjustment to an English speaking country easier.

Airplane Maurits Vink i Learning the Local Language is Rated Biggest Challenge for International Assignees

© istockphoto.com/ Maurits Vink

For those expatriates who relocate to another country where English is not spoken, the best way to make learning the local language less difficult is to be fully immersed in the culture. Being immersed in everyday social situations where the local language is spoken such as doing the shopping, going to the cinema, taking public transport or watching TV at home can help international assignees learn the language more than they may realise.

To be prepared for the first few months of the international assignment, however, it’s important to first have a basic understanding of the local language such as key expressions and greetings or the ability to read the alphabet if it’s in a different script. By taking language training courses to learn some of the key elements of the language before the international assignment, expatriates will find learning the local language much easier and will experience a much smoother adjustment period.

Mastering the local language when on an international assignment can improve your success immensely. Knowing how to communicate with local employees will not only increase your ability to build relationships but it will save you time that may otherwise be wasted as a result of linguistic barriers and misunderstandings. Intensive and extensive language training courses, no matter the language, will give you the edge to succeed and make learning the local language a pleasure rather than a barrier.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Jul 06

Backhands and Backslang – English Slang in Tennis and the Business World

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Professional tennis players face different cultures and languages more often than any other athletes in the world. The professional tennis calendar is a traveler’s dream, as players trek every few weeks around the globe competing in different tournaments from Brisbane to Chennai and from Doha to Melbourne… and that only in one month! For them it is important to earn as many points as possible in order to get a direct entry to the Four Big Tournaments – the Grand Slams.

Tennis players usually try to learn English as it is the Lingua Franca of the sport and makes it easier for them to carry out interviews and interact with fans. It also makes them more attractive to sponsors to carry out promotional campaigns. Players like Roger Federer or Maria Sharapova are sponsor’s magnets, their image and association with brands make themselves and companies millions.

Tennis Galina Barskaya i1 Backhands and Backslang – English Slang in Tennis and the Business World

© istockphoto.com/ Galina Barskaya

With the fluency of foreign players in English plus their native languages, it should be easy for everyone to communicate in the locker room. But recently, young British hopes Laura Robson and Heather Watson admitted they speak in ‘backslang’, a coded language they use to disguise their conversations from other players. As English speakers, they find it frustrating that everyone can understand their conversations but they can’t understand other players when they speak their native tongues.

This idea is, of course, nothing new. Language variations have been around for ages and depend on location, social class, ethnicity, age, etc. Whenever a group of people make use of their own particular slang, subcultures are formed and the idea of us against them and of group identity becomes strong. Robson even admitted to be teaching some American players how to speak in backslang, which demonstrates how the English-speaking players are somehow grouping together to ‘fight back’ their perceived disadvantage of being understood by everyone else.

This is similar to slang used by young people as a way of making their conversations incomprehensible for adults or any other authority figure, giving them a sense of empowerment they may feel is lacking in other aspects of their life. Street gangs or any other delinquent group also use coded language in order to avoid detection from the authorities.

Whatever the reason for slang or language variation usage, everyone should be aware of the challenges that may arise from these and be prepared to deal with them accordingly, be it at work or in everyday life. If you are not a lawyer but are required to deal with lawyers at work, it is vital that you understand legal English as legal terminology can look like a completely different language. If you are a language trainer and need to train business professionals, it is necessary for you to be fluent in business English as this is the terminology your clients need, as opposed to learning about names of animals or fruits.

Communicaid offers specialist language courses that are tailored to meet your needs. Our language trainers are experienced professionals within their field so a Legal English course trainer, for example, will bring first-hand experience and knowledge of the requirements of your industry. No matter what your sector and role, we can provide you with the tools and knowledge necessary to communicate effectively.

We don’t have a ‘Backslang’ English language course yet but we can certainly develop one if Roger Federer ever calls.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Jul 02

Legal Drafting Courses in English

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When looking for a Legal drafting course in English, it is highly important for any lawyer, paralegal or legal assistant to examine the credentials of the organisation offering the course and also the course content itself. This type of highly specialised course should be delivered by a legal professional who has experience in the field of drafting. The course content should be challenging and needs to cover some of the areas developed in the paragraphs below.

The course needs to focus on a modern style of drafting. This style moves away from the heavy legalese that lay people find extremely difficult to understand. Some examples are as follows:

  • Sentences should be shorter than was previously the case. Instead of drafting long sentences in which one attempts to cover a series of points, it is better to include one point in one sentence; this makes the legal document clearer and easier to read.
  • Legal documents are often weighed down by unnecessary words (verbiage). These superfluous words can lead to problems of interpretation in documents where every word should be drafted for a reason.
  • Two other areas which have been modernised in the interest of plain drafting are: the elimination of double negatives and the watering down of an overly formal style. See here for more information.

When drafting, it is important that the delegate learns certain ‘good practices’ which he/she can refer to whenever a document needs to be drafted. A few examples of ‘good practice’ are the following:

  • Use templates to help drafting contracts, for example. These templates or ‘forms’, ‘standards’, or ‘precedents’ may only require the insertion of a few new details and therefore remove the need to draw up a new contract from scratch.
  • It is also good practice to edit all documents, making sure that what is written is clear. Clauses should be written clearly. In the drafting of retention clauses, for example, it should be explicitly stated that the goods won’t pass to the buyer until the goods have been paid for.
  • Two other good practices are: Latin phrases are often italicised (de facto, inter alia) and abbreviations are written with their full punctuation; unlike in general English, (e.g. and not eg).

Business Meeting 12LajosRepasi i Legal Drafting Courses in English

© istockphoto.com/ Lajos Repasi

It is important that a legal drafting course helps the delegate to analyse the structures that are preferred in legal writing.

Here are a few examples of legal structure:

  • Legal English often uses past participles (existed, sold, bought) and present participles (existing, selling, buying) to make sentences more compact. Instead of ‘the price which is charged for the goods shall be…’, for example, it is better to write ‘the price charged for the goods shall be…’. Instead of ‘The agreement which exists between the parties is due to expire..,’ it is better to write ‘the agreement existing between the parties is due to expire…’.
  • Hypothesising is essential in the field of remedies. It is therefore important that lawyers who need to draft contracts are familiar with the use of the third from of the conditional in English: ‘the loss of the benefits that the third party would have received had the contract been performed’. For the clause: ‘had the contract been performed’ the drafter could also have written: ‘if the contract had been performed’.

In addition to structure, the focus should also be on the terminology used in legal writing. This terminology is specific to legal English and so constitutes a fundamental area of knowledge for any delegate on a legal drafting course in  English. A delegate should be able to understand and use Latin phrases such as ‘ipso facto, pro forma and sui juris’. When drafting contracts in English such terms as ‘offeror’ and ‘offeree’, ‘assignment of rights’ and ‘assignee’ are fundamental. See International Legal English for more examples.

The delegate also needs to know what differences there are when drafting under civil and common law. There are certain common law terms which have no equivalent in civil law. A few examples are: ‘deed’, ‘trust’ and ‘consideration’.

The move towards plain English, however, means that many of these terms will be given up in the interests of clarity. In Common law countries, the idea of ‘judge-made law’ is the tradition (TRIEDEL Dr Volker, from his essay ‘Pitfalls of English as a Contract Language’). This implies that the clauses have to be drafted in a more concrete and precise way as a broadly drafted clause might find itself void though uncertainty.

Common law courts have often interpreted English words and phrases that are not ‘terms of art’ (‘A term whose use or meaning are specific to a particular field of endeavour’) more precisely than in general English and sometimes in a special way. A legal English course such as Drafting Contracts in English should therefore point the delegate in the direction of such books as ‘Words and Phrases Judicially Defined’ by Rowland Burrows.

© Communicaid Group. Ltd. 2010

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