All companies need to raise capital to begin operations. These startup companies may choose to bootstrap the company using personal funding to provide seed capital for the early stages. Or they may seek out angel investors and venture capital by offering equity in rounds of financing called series A, B and C. They may also seek out strategic investors for extra capital and advice.
In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to talk about things you don’t like.
I’m a pretty positive person, but there are lots of things I just don’t like: getting stuck in traffic, bad customer service, long meetings. I really don’t like long meetings. And you’re probably the same way. There are things you just don’t like, and things you hate. So how do we talk about these things? How do we say we don’t really like something?
925 English is a new business English course for beginners. 925 English lessons focus on English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson features English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to talk about likes and preferences in English.
Talking about things we like is something we do all the time. Whether you’re in a meeting, a casual conversation, or just having lunch, there’s always a chance to talk about what you like. And sometimes talking about what you like means talking about a preference. By “preference” I mean liking one thing more than something else.
925 English is a new series of English video for beginners. 925 English lessons focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson features English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
Our new monthly membership subscription plan provides an affordable way to access all the online resources on the BEP website and all the lessons in our mobile apps for Apple and Android. Monthly membership also provides access to a limited number of PDF transcripts for recent lessons.
Monthly Membership Benefits
Access all the online lesson modules (Flash and Mobile versions).
Access all the online quizzes (Flash and Mobile versions).
Access the PDF transcripts for recent lessons (from BEP 272 to present – see full list below).
Upgrade to full premium membership at a reduced cost.
How it works
As soon as you signup for monthly membership, you will have access to all the online resources on this website. You just need to find a lesson you want to study and open the lesson module or quiz link and then login to open the resource.
Your login will also work in our BEP mobile apps for Apple and Android. There is a login page in the apps where you should enter your BEP username and password. This will unlock all paid lessons in the app.
Monthly membership subscription auto-renew each month on the day you made your original subscription. You may cancel your subscription on your BEP member page or by logging in to your PayPal account.
Monthly members can also access and download some of the recent lesson PDF transcripts. The PDF transcripts that are available to monthly members are for recent lessons published in the last 12 months (including recent BEP lessons). The selection of PDF transcripts available to monthly members will be adjusted each month so that newly published lesson transcripts become available while older lesson transcripts will be excluded. There is no guaranteed quantity of transcripts available and it is not possible to request access to specific lesson transcripts.
Below is a complete list of all the lessons included in the monthly membership:
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English idioms for describing work experience.
In business, success depends on putting the right people in the right positions. And decisions about who does what often comes down to work experience. Some jobs are too important to give to someone lacking experience. For other jobs, you might want a person with less experience and a fresh approach.
So, whether you’re hiring new staff, delegating tasks, or putting together a project team, you’ll be talking about experience. And English has many useful idioms to describe work experience. In today’s lesson, we’ll learn some of these expressions.
We’ll hear a conversation between three colleagues: Lola, Shane, and Anne. The group has been discussing who to send to the company’s South Korean office. Previously, they have talked about the personality of the different candidates. Now they’re comparing the candidates based on work experience.
Listening Questions
1. Why do Shane and Anne think Douglas wouldn’t be a good choice for the position?
2. What does the group think about Paula as a possible choice?
3. Why would Kendra be a good choice for the post in South Korea?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English idioms for describing work experience.
In business, success depends on putting the right people in the right positions. And decisions about who does what often comes down to work experience. Some jobs are too important to give to someone lacking experience. For other jobs, you might want a person with less experience and a fresh approach.
So, whether you’re hiring new staff, delegating tasks, or putting together a project team, you’ll be talking about experience. And English has many useful idioms to describe work experience. In today’s lesson, we’ll learn some of these expressions.
We’ll hear a conversation between three colleagues: Lola, Shane, and Anne. The group has been discussing who to send to the company’s South Korean office. Previously, they have talked about the personality of the different candidates. Now they’re comparing the candidates based on work experience.
Listening Questions
1. Why do Lola and Anne think Hank might not be a good person for the position?
2. What positive comment does Shane make about Simone?
3. What makes Simone a potentially poor choice for the position?
Any time you talk about your work, you’re probably also going to talk about your company. So what exactly do we talk about? What are the important aspects of your company that might be interesting to people?
925 English is a new series of video English lessons for beginners. 925 English lessons focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson features English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on conducting a factory inspection in English.
In the global economy, a company might have its headquarters in Germany, but outsource production to China and technical support to India. Or you might find a Korean company that contracts out to one factory in Malaysia and another in Vietnam. In any case, to make the right decision on production facilities, you’ll most likely need to conduct a factory inspection.
So if you’re flying halfway around the world to tour a factory or another facility, what kind of questions should you ask? And how can you make sure the factory is the right fit for your needs? Well, you’ll definitely want to ask questions about quality control to make sure the factory can meet your expectations. You might also ask about production capacity so you know they can handle the work properly. And you might ask about their approach to standards, to make sure they’re in line with your values.
Of course, talk is cheap. You might find a factory manager makes claims that are a bit unbelievable. In these situations, you’ll want to show skepticism, or doubt, and ask for evidence. This is all part of the due diligence necessary to make sure you’re making the right choice.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Cam and Vanessa, who work for an American clothing company. They want to find a new production facility, so they’re touring a factory in China. You’ll also hear Chen, a factory manager who’s giving Cam and Vanessa a tour of the facility. Cam and Vanessa want to find out if Chen’s factory is a good fit for their company.
Listening Questions
1. How does Vanessa react to Chen’s claim that they have a .25% defect rate?
2. What important issue does Cam say their company is very serious about?
3. What kind of proof does Vanessa want to see of the factory managers’ training?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on having a confidential discussion during a business trip.
If you’ve got colleagues or clients in other parts of the world, you probably rely a lot on email and the phone. But meeting in person continues to be important for building relationships and trust, and for discussing important issues. That’s one reason, of course, why the overseas business trip remains important.
And there’s one type of discussion that can be especially difficult: discussing a confidential matter. Perhaps you need to deliver bad news, or share sensitive information or tell someone about an important change. Meeting face-to-face in these types of situations is often the best way to break the news.
So what’s the best way to go about this? Well, to begin, it’s important to set a positive tone to put the other person at ease. Next, you might want to ask him or her how things are going. That can help break the ice, and the other person might actually mention the topic you want to discuss. Once you’ve started this way, you can introduce the sensitive information you want to deliver. And because the information is sensitive, you need to ask for discretion. Finally, depending on the nature of the discussion, you might also have to provide reassurances. After all, after we hear important information, we might wonder how it will impact us.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Cam, who works for an American clothing company. He’s visiting the head of the company’s Chinese office, David. The company manufactures some of its clothing in China, and has been considering how to expand their retail activities in Asia. Cam needs to have a confidential discussion with David to share some important news.
Listening Questions
1. How does Cam ask for David’s perspective on the current situation?
2. Cam needs to tell David about a decision regarding retail in China. What point does Cam mention to introduce this decision?
3. How does Cam reassure David near the end of the conversation?
Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how you can sound more credible or believable.
In the last lesson, we looked at what you should say to sound credible. In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at what not to say. In other words, there are some things that can damage your credibility. These are habits or expressions that will make people trust you less, not more.
