Collaboration means sharing ideas. Collaboration is possible when communication is fluent. Good ideas in a business can come from any employee so it is important to have a good system of communication and a free flow of ideas.

These ideas are more important if a company is global. Communication is more difficult if employees are in different countries; it is more difficult but also more necessary.

Firstly, everybody needs to speak the same language. English is the language of international business so you have picked the right course!

Secondly, it is necessary to have a place to discuss ideas and collaborate. The dexway community provides resources to be able to connect to other employees and discuss topics related to your learning process but the discussions in the study groups don’t have to be about the things you are learning. You could use the study groups as a place to practice your English by talking about company strategies. Practicing your English and improving your company’s internal communication has never been more efficient!

What do you think companies can do to improve their internal communication?

What do you think companies can do to improve their external communication?

I like travelling on planes. In the airport I buy duty free goods. I always buy some aftershave and I normally buy a gift for my wife. She likes chocolate so I usually buy her some good quality Swiss chocolate.

I fly many times each year. I like to go on holiday during the summer and I normally go to somewhere in Europe because flights from London to European destinations are very cheap. It is normally cheaper to fly to Paris than to get the train from London to Edinburgh!

I actually fly more for business than for pleasure, I get flights to go to conferences and trade fairs all around the world. Sometimes I have to go for a very important meeting with a client.

However, it is now common to meet clients and partners in a virtual meeting room using videoconferences. It is cheaper and easier to meet somebody in a virtual conference room, and you don’t have to buy them a gift, because it would be very difficult to give it to them. It is also better for the carbon footprint of a business to do meetings online.

Do you think it is better to fly around the world to meet clients or do you think videoconferencing is how all future meetings should be?

Do you think videoconferencing is better than driving for ten minutes to go and meet a client?

I want to hear some of your experiences of meetings, videoconferences and business trips. Leave a comment.

When two companies are selling a similar product they are called competitors. Different companies like to do things in different ways. Even if two companies are from the same country and they are competitors, they often have different company policies.

An example of this is the way organizations hold business meetings. There is no right or wrong way to have a business meeting. If it is an external meeting and you are meeting a client or a business partner from another country then it is a good idea to learn about their business customs. It is important to know if it is normal to give a gift or not. We always want to make a good impression.

If it is an internal meeting with your colleagues and your boss then it is helpful to prepare some notes. It is also useful to know what business meetings are like in your company. If you are new in your company maybe you could ask one of your colleagues what a typical business meeting is like.

In different countries the format of a business meeting often changes, but the format is not fixed for each country. Sometimes the CEO of a company likes to do things a certain way.

Do you think it is a good idea to have formal or informal business meetings and why?

Do you think it is a good idea to stick to the topic or do you think a business meeting should have a free flow of ideas?

Are you a Monday person or a Sunday person?

Do you have a job that you love? Is Monday your favorite day because you are back at work? Or do you like the weekend because you can relax?

My favorite day is Sunday. On Sunday I go climbing with some friends. There are no rocks in London so I have to go climbing at an indoor centre. I climb for 3 hours normally, it is a good workout! Then I go home and I cook a Sunday roast.

Do you know what a Sunday roast is? You can read about this traditional British dish here. After I eat the delicious meal I normally read or watch some television. British television programmes are great. I enjoy watching nature documentaries. David Attenborough is considered a “national treasure.” He has contributed to the fields of biology and television production throughout his whole life.

What is your favourite day and why?

Do you have a regular weekly routine or is each week different?

Which types of television programme do you prefer?

In 1948 you could be an Olympic champion in literature!

The Olympic Games in London start in two weeks! East London is preparing for many tourists and sports fans. It is going to be very exciting for the residents of East London and hopefully there will be lots of great resources for sport lovers once the Games have finished. I think it is also interesting to consider the sports that are not included in the 2012 Olympic Games. I really like rock climbing and you can read another article about mountaineering and rock climbing here, but no climbers will win Olympic medals in 2012. There are other sports that are not part of the London Olympics: cricket, snooker, bowling, surfing, dancing, squash, baseball, karate, roller sports and wakeboarding to mention a few of them. Some of these sports are being considered by the International Olympic Committee for inclusion in the 2020 Games in Buenos Aires. I wonder why they are not part of the Olympic Games in London. What do you think? Maybe cricket and snooker are too slow, but these two sports have many fans and lots of fans pay for tickets to watch a great cricket match or snooker tournament. Perhaps dancing or roller sports are too difficult to score, so it is hard to decide who is first, second and third, but competitions already exist in these sports so it must be possible!

The last time Olympic Games in London were in 1948 and there were five artistic events. It is hard to believe that karate and baseball are not Olympic events this year although the competitors are very physically fit, but 64 years ago it was possible to win a medal in architecture, literature, music, painting or sculpture!

What is the most sought after skill when employers are looking for employees? Obviously you need to have the technical skills and qualifications to be able to carry out the job in the first place. You can’t go and work as an aeronautical engineer if you have a degree in dentistry! But apart from the necessary technical skills, what is it that employers really want in an employee?

Communications skills are number one. The ability to listen, and written and verbal communication skills, are the most valued extras in an employee. For a company to run efficiently there needs to be fluid internal communication. If a company wants to be successful globally there needs to be fluid foreign language communication.

What if a company only runs operations in one country? How would foreign language skills benefit that company? Research has shown that learning foreign languages actually improves communication in your mother tongue, it strengthens your comprehension of grammar and makes you aware of culturally significant factors by being able to look in at your own language from an outsiders point of view.

By learning a foreign language you are improving your knowledge of your own language but you are also breaking down the barrier that might be stopping your company from running operations in foreign countries. If there is a demand for your product or service in your country, then surely there will be a similar demand for it in another country.

The best way to learn about yourself is to look at yourself from an outsiders point of view.

The Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) says that today there are around 220 million French speakers in the world, and according to the Bloomberg Rankings, after English and Chinese, it is the most important language for business. It is predicted that by 2050 there will be over 700 million French speakers with the francophone world expanding through Africa. This means that businesses with an interest in the global marketplace really must think seriously about the capacities of their employees to speak French.

Apparently once you start learning a language, it’s easier to learn another language. So, you’re already learning English and you’ve reached an advanced level, you understand how grammatical rules work and you can comprehend the importance of learning about a foreign culture to really grasp the intricacies of a language. If you are carrying out the course because you have a love of languages then why not learn another language? If you are carrying out the course through your company or organization then it might be worth mentioning to the head of training the statistics about the planned growth of the French language in the future and its importance in the business world. English will always be the lingua franca of the business world, but French is also incredibly important.

To learn more about the French courses offered by dexway then follow this link.

Now that the dexway students that study English can switch between British English and American English at the touch of a button, it would be unfair to just include an article about a British Olympian, so here is a video about Shawn Johnson, the American 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist. It is practically impossible not to be amazed by the incredible summersaults, vaults and twists that gymnasts are capable of and most of us can only imagine the training that is required to reach such an amazing physical condition.

In this video produced by P&G we hear from Shawn’s mother and learn about Shawn’s childhood.

Here are some of the more challenging words and phrases in the video:

To hold somebody back – To not let somebody proceed.

Blatantly – Obviously.

Ounce – An imperial unit of weight, approximately 28 grams.

Freak – Abnormal; strange; uncommon.

Meniscus – This is a part of the knee made of cartilage that helps to maintain the structural strength of the knee joint.

MCL – Medial collateral ligament. This is a ligament in the knee that helps to hold the top part of our leg to the bottom part.

ACL – Anterior cruciate ligament. This is another ligament in the knee. It is often injured whilst practicing intense sports such as skiing or football.

To be the end of the world – A really bad occurrence. It is common to hear the phrase: “it’s not the end of the world”

Sidewalk (USA) – Pavement (UK)

Meet – In gymnastics a competition is called a “meet”

Most of us take painkillers, but how do they work?

You have 4 hours to complete a case study for your boss, there are statistics, graphs and information flying around in your head but you have to get them written down in order to create a presentable piece of work. This is a really important report. It will be used on the company website so that potential new clients can see the quality of the work you produce. You don’t want to let your boss down and you know that you are capable of writing up some of the most professional looking reports but then it hits you: a migraine. Why did you have to get this pounding, thumping headache right now?

We’ve all been in a situation similar to this, haven’t we? We need to do something really important, like write a report for work, or perhaps study for an exam, and we get a headache. Thankfully there are a variety of painkillers that are available that magically make the headaches go away. But have you ever wondered exactly how the painkillers work?

Check out this TED Ed video and you can learn about how painkillers mean that we can cope even when stress levels are high and a migraine kicks in. There are a few technical words for chemicals and parts of the brain but don’t worry if you don’t know them, only neurologists really use those words!

Bikes... Sir Chris Hoy's passionate about them.

The 2012 Olympic Games in London start in just under 3 weeks. P&G have done a series of short films interviewing the parents of various Olympians so we can learn about their upbringings and what it’s like to be the mother of an Olympic champion. In this video we meet the mother of Chris Hoy who won 3 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics and has won a total of 4 Olympic gold medals and 11 world championship gold medals. Since his incredible achievements in China Chris has been knighted and so is now known as Sir Chris Hoy. His achievements have helped to make cycling one of the most popular sports in Britain. If you are becoming more interested in cycling then you will also enjoy this other blog article about the Tour de France.

Here are some of the interesting words and phrases from the video:

To earn your living- Your job; how you make money.

Podium – The place where athletes and the participants in a competition receive their medals.

BMX – Bicycle Motocross, A bike that is designed for dirt and motocross cycling.

Thrilled – Excited.

To get fed up with something – To get bored of something.

Egg and spoon race – A race, typically for children, where they have to balance an egg on a spoon and run.