In der letzten Zeit sprechen wir alle, wie soll es anders sein, vom Coronavirus und Homeoffice. In der aktuellen Business Spotlight gibt es dazu das passende Vokabular auf Englisch neben weiteren, sehr interessanten Artikeln.
Ein Artikel, den ich äußerst interessant finde, beschäftigt sich mit den Maßnahmen, die ein Land als Reaktion auf die Corona-Pandemie ergreift. Gemeinsame kulturelle Werte einer Gesellschaft spielen maßgeblich mit hinein. – The author of the text, Peter Franklin from Great Britain, describes Germany as a mid-high uncertainty-avoiding (Ungewissheit vermeidend) society which quickly introduced social-distancing rules whereas low uncertainty-avoiding, pragmatic Britain relied initially on the exhortations (Ermahnung) of politicians before they quickly changed their minds (Business Spotlight 5-2020 p23f.).
Another interesting article is about intercultural competence. In this context one of the authors said something very powerful about mistakes which I’d like to share with you:
„… It is generally … not these mistakes (pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary) that are important, but mistakes in, for instance, politeness which prevent a trustful and long-lasting relationsship.„ ( (Business Spotlight 5-2020 p27) – How very, very true!
Another article is about remote working. Apart from getting useful tips for working from
home, you’ll also learn phrases like
– phone calls that constantly disconnect,
– handling a conference call in which one participant is hardly audible (hörbar),
– maintaining a videoconference that has a two-second time lag (Verzögerung)
who doesn’t know at least one of these problems 🙁
But when you you work from home at least you’ve still got a job. Millions of people
– have lost their jobs,
– been put on unpaid leave (unbezahlter Urlaub) or
– on short-time work. (Kurzarbeit)
There’s also a very interesting article just about videoconferencing, a short story to refresh your mind (about a company’s IT security;-), a debate: „Should companies track employee health?“, an article about managing work & home (such a hot topic at the moment), and many more interesting articles.
Get inspired and improve your Business English.