Explore the impact of Big data on business in this Business English News lesson.
By now, odds are you’ve heard the term “Big Data”. The thousands upon thousands of giga, tera, and peta bytes that are collected everywhere around us has caused concern for some, and jobs and wealth for others.
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In today’s Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at English idioms related to luck and opportunity.
What do you say to a friend who is on his way to an important job interview? If you’re like most people, you’ll say “good luck.” But does your friend really need luck to succeed? Well, it’s clear that luck is not the only factor in success, but it does seem important in some cases. It might have been good luck that your friend saw the job posting online one day. But then again, it might be bad luck that your friend trips on his way into the interview.
In any case, making the most of a good opportunity like a job interview certainly seems to involve some luck. Think back on your own career. You can probably think of your own examples of good and bad luck, and how that affected your success with certain opportunities.
In English, we have many common expressions related to luck and opportunity. In our last lesson, we learned some great idioms such as “lucky break,” “tough luck,” and “opportunity knocks.” In this lesson, we’ll learn many more.
In the dialog, we will rejoin Jim and Oscar, two colleagues riding the bus home after work. They are talking about their own opportunities and luck, and they use many useful idioms.
Listening Questions
1. What does Jim think of his chances of getting the job?
2. What does Jim think would be difficult?
3. What does Oscar say about moving into management?
Download: Podcast MP3
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English idioms related to luck and opportunity.
Some people have good luck, some people have bad luck, and some people have no luck at all. But what exactly is luck? And how important is it? Some successful business people will tell you that it’s very important. Donald Trump has said that “everything in life is luck.” But other people will tell you that luck is just what happens to people who work hard. In fact, there’s an old saying that luck is what happens when “preparation meets opportunity.”
And opportunity is another word and idea we hear about a lot in business. Opportunities are the good chances that come our way. We can “seize” opportunities, which means we accept them. Or we can let them go. What we do with opportunities is completely up to us.
But whatever you think about luck and opportunity in business, they are both common ideas and words. And not just on their own, but as parts of common English idioms. And it’s these idioms of luck and opportunity that we’ll look at in today’s lesson.
You will hear a conversation between Jim and Oscar, two colleagues who are taking the bus home from work together. Jim and Oscar are chatting about their day and some recent developments in their office. In their conversation, you will notice many idioms related to luck and opportunity.
Listening Questions
1. What does Oscar suggest about buses after 5:00pm?
2. Why does their colleague Ethan have “tough luck”?
3. At the end of the dialog, what does Oscar seem to suggest to Jim?
Download: Podcast MP3
In this Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at vocabulary and collocations for discussing the economy.
In the 21st century, the countries of the world are all closely connected. A company based in the U.S. might employ factory workers in Indonesia to make products they sell to Europeans with the help of a Chinese shipping company. In this global economy, we don’t just talk about what happens within the borders of our own country. We talk about all economies, or “the economy” in general. And we talk about it a lot!
If you’re going to do business, you need to talk about economics. And in English, there are many common expressions we use to describe the economy. Today, we’re going to listen to a dialog and learn some of these expressions.
The expressions we’ll practice today are examples of “collocations.” A collocation is a group of two or more words that we usually use together. For example, maybe you have heard the expression “to have an interview.” We can’t say “do” an interview or “make” an interview. The common expression, or combination of words, is “have an interview.” Learning collocations like these is very important, because they will make you sound more natural. When you hear today’s dialog, listen to how the speakers combine words naturally. Then we’ll explain what they mean and practice using them.
In the dialog, we rejoin David and Gordon, two expats in Southeast Asia talking about the economies in the region. Gordon has recently arrived in the area and done a tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Burma, while David has worked in the region for several years.
Listening Questions
1. What does David predict for Burma’s GDP?
2. What advantage does Burma have, according to Gordon?
3. How does David think their company should approach Burma?
Download: Podcast MP3
Welcome back to Business English Pod today’s lesson on discussing the economy.
Listen to the news, the politicians, or your coworkers, and what do you hear them talking about? The economy. It’s up or it’s down. It’s good or it’s bad. Conditions are improving or getting worse. And it’s important to us because as the economy goes, so goes our business and careers.
But what do people mean when they say the economy? Is there only one economy? Well, in this global age, the economy often refers to the world economy. But we also say the economy to talk about a specific country, whether it’s our own or another country we’re doing business with. In this lesson, you’ll hear about a few different economies and you’ll learn some common expressions used to discuss economic conditions.
Before we listen, let’s talk a little about collocations. A collocation is a group of words that native speakers often use together. A correct collocation sounds natural, while an incorrect collocation sounds unnatural. For example, in English we say “go online” to talk about using the Internet. But we can’t say “proceed online” or “travel online,” even though “proceed” and “travel” mean “go.” Those simply aren’t natural expressions.
You’ll hear many useful collocations in today’s dialog. As you listen, try to pick out these natural combinations of words. Then we’ll explain what they mean and how to use them in the debrief.
We’re going to hear a conversation between David and Gordon, two expats working in Southeast Asia. David has been around for several years and is familiar with the economic situation. Gordon is new to the region and has recently completed a tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Burma.
Listening Questions
1. What does David say the government of Vietnam has done well?
2. What is happening to the labor force in Vietnam?
3. What is one of the problems in Vietnam mentioned by the speakers?
Download: Podcast MP3
