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Skills 360 – Building a Better Vocabulary (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Skills 360 /

*** Get all the Skills 360 lessons in our free Business English App for iPhone & iPad:
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Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to improve your English vocabulary.

So, you’ve found some great resources for studying English that suit your purpose. You’ve got a variety of listening and reading material chock full of great words and expressions that you want to learn to use. But how do you do it? How do you take those words and expressions and not only remember them but also make them an active part of your working vocabulary? Well, there are several things to keep in mind, and a few key techniques that you can use, as we’ll see today.

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Skills 360 – Building a Better Vocabulary (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Skills 360 /

*** Get all the Skills 360 lessons in our free Business English App for iPhone & iPad:
Download from the App Store

Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to improve your English vocabulary.

Many students of English have the feeling that they’ve learned pretty much all the grammar they need. Many also feel that they can understand fairly well and speak and write at an acceptable level. But these same people sometimes feel that they’re missing something, and that they say the same things in the same way all the time. In fact, once you’ve reached an intermediate level, vocabulary becomes more important than ever. You need to add more and more words, idioms, and expressions to your stock of language so that you can take the next step up in proficiency. So how can you learn new words? What are the secrets of expanding your vocabulary?

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Business English News 28 – Eurozone Recovery

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business News, Finance and Accounting /

Eurozone-Flag

In today’s Business English News lesson, we look at the situation in Europe as the Eurozone begins to recover. Since emerging from its longest-ever recession last summer, the Eurozone recovery has been muted at best. While recent reports show some positive signs, the region still has a long way to go in addressing some of its imbalances.

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BEP 252 – English Idioms of Choice (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on idioms related to choices and their consequences.

Every day in work and business we are faced with tough choices. Do we choose vendor A or vendor B? Employee A or employee B? Location A or location B? Or maybe even location C? Making the right choice typically involves evaluating all the options and discussing them with others. So how do we discuss the choices we face? How do we talk about the options we’re presented with so that we can make the right choice? Well, luckily, English has lots of great idioms for these types of discussions. So whether you’re talking with colleagues, bosses, or friends, you can use the expressions we’ll learn in today’s lesson.

Today we will rejoin a conversation between three friends: Harry, Wendy, and Thomas. They’ve been discussing a difficult situation, and decision, that Harry faces. Harry hired a company to build out his new store, but the company hasn’t finished the job and now Harry is trying to figure out what to do. In their conversation, you’ll hear many idioms related to choices and their consequences.

Listening Questions

1. What did Harry’s partner want to do at first?
2. What does Thomas seem to think about Harry’s chances in court against the construction company?
3. After considering all the options, Wendy says Harry must decide between two things. What are they?

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BEP 251 – English Idioms of Choice (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English idioms related to choices and their consequences.

We all love choice. Whether we’re buying something, deciding on a career, hiring a new employee, outsourcing operations, or looking for a new office location, we like a range of options to choose from. And the less choice we have, the more powerless we feel. Just imagine if you had no choice in life and business.

But this isn’t to say that choice is easy. On the contrary, life and work are full of really tough choices. In fact, we spend a lot of each day thinking, discussing, and arguing about decisions. And for this reason, English has lots of great idioms for talking about choices. Today we’ll look at some of these idioms and how to use them.

You will hear a conversation between three friends, Harry, Wendy, and Thomas. Harry has been planning to open a new store and he’s had some trouble with the contractor he hired to do the construction. He is now faced with some tough choices about how to get the work finished so he and his partner can open their new store. In their conversation, you will hear many idioms related to choice.

Listening Questions

1. What did Harry think about the contractors when he hired them?
2. What does Thomas think about Harry’s decision?
3. Besides going to court, what other option does Harry say he has?

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Download: Podcast MP3