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Before you prepare your English presentation, it’s important to think about who will be sitting in the audience. Not their names, but what they know about your topic and their reason for attending your presentation. Here are some general questions to ask yourself:

A. Who is in the audience?

Five idioms that show why you shouldn’t try to translate German idioms into English.

Native speakers of all languages use idioms to express their ideas. But usually an idiom that is common in one language doesn’t have an exact translation in another language.

Here are five common German idioms with no direct translations in English, followed by their English equivalents.

English small talk is a part of business life. But the news isn't always very good. How do you talk about social and political issues you've heard or read about?

In general, it's best to make a short, neutral comment.

For example, over the past few weeks there has been a lot of news about mass shootings in the US. If you have a business partner in the US, you could say something such as:

Should you use the word BY or the word UNTIL in English to talk about deadlines? This week our English grammar tip has the answer.

In German, you use the word "bis". But in English, "bis" has two translations: BY and UNTIL.

When do you use each word?

If you use social media for networking, you might have noticed English pronouns on LinkedIn in brackets behind people's names, for example (She/Her) on my profile (log in, then click on "view profile"). The platform has introduced a field to help business partners use the correct pronouns and courtesy titles.

The pronouns on LinkedIn is an especially useful tool for international networking. Nobody wants to use the wrong pronoun! Even if your gender seems clear to you, it might not be clear to someone from a different country.

4 Easy Tips for Your Interview in English

Do you have a job interview in English? It can be difficult to prepare for a job interview in another language, but here are 4 easy tips:

1. Read the company’s website and look up words that are important at the company. You might know some of these words from writing your CV or resumé. Practice saying them out loud! Think of phrases you can say about your experience that use these words and practice them, too.

Are your international clients or customers wondering why they couldn't reach anyone in your Dresden office yesterday? What do you tell them? Do you know the name of the public holiday in English? (Keep reading to find out.) Use public holidays as a chance to build a stronger relationship with your client -- English small talk about holidays is usually a safe small talk topic.

Before you call an international client or start your online meeting, check this website or this website to find out which holidays will soon be celebrated in their country or region. Then do a quick Google search to find out a few key facts. Make English small talk with clients by asking "How to you celebrate (holiday name)?" "Is there a special food you eat, special clothes you wear, or a special place you go?"

The more you use English, the faster you'll learn! Learn English with films -- it's great practice for listening to English pronunciation and melody, even if you don't understand every word the actors say.

Here are some tips to improve English with films:

1. Listen to a film like you listen to music. Don't try to understand the words. Listen to the melody and how actors express their feelings. Hearing their tone will help when you practice speaking later.
2. Watch a film you've seen before. Do you really like a film, but usually watch it dubbed in German or with subtitles? Watch it again in English! You already know the story, so you can relax and listen to the actors. If you know the movie well, you can also learn new vocabulary!
3. Use subtitles to learn English with films. Watch a movie with subtitles, then again without subtitles. That way you understand the story, but you can still listen to the English melody.

Do you find it difficult to start small talk in Business English? Try a three-step strategy that can start a conversation anywhere.

1. Introduce a topic: Say something about a topic that you and your business partners have in common, for example something that you are experiencing or recently experienced. This might be the weather, a cup of coffee or buffet (buf-FAY) at a meeting or reception, slow traffic, or even the current work situation with Corona.

For example: "I find this coffee to be especially good."

Sports are usually a safe small talk topic, so the European Football Championship might come up in some of your business conversations.

Here's a small talk tip: if you make small talk about the games with business partners from the U.S. or U.K., it might be best to avoid using the phrase "public viewing".

In English, "public viewing" generally means öffentliche Aufbahrung.…Lesen Sie hier weiter