Customer Reviews

The Language of Business English: Reference & Practice (Business Management English)

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The Language of Business English is divided into three sections. The first section is devoted to grammar and covers 159 pages - the majority of the book. Part 2, 'Functions', contains some 42 pages. Then follows 4 pages of dictionary-type appendices followed by a Key and Index. Each section comprises a one- (or two-) page explanation section which follows the format 'Sample Sentences - Form - Uses', followed by a 'Task' section which follows the format 'Exercise 1, Exercise 2, Exercise 3, (Exercise 4) and Transfer'. Frankly, the exercises are dreary in their lack of imagination: gap-fills, lexical substitutions, sentence re-writes etc. The so-called 'transfer' invariably comprises the instruction "Write four examples of..." or something very similar. The authors say that this book is aimed at "intermediate level or above". This raises a few questions. If we consider 'advanced' level to be not too far off from native speaker competence, then certainly the vast majority of business students at "intermediate level or above" have been subjected to virtually all of the content of this book ad nauseum. What they need to make the transition from 'intermediate' to 'advanced' level are native speaker-like lexico-grammatical frames, stems, structures etc. that fall entirely outside the range of this essentially very traditional grammar book. And, frankly, those students who DO need to learn, for example 'the future with going to'(Unit 9), 'the passive'(Unit 23), 'so versus such'(Unit 56) etc. etc., are likely to have major problems with the explanation page of each unit. (E.g. "Already and yet both provide a frame of unfinished time; the time frame starts at an unspecified point in the past and continues to the present." p.14) The title of this book is "The Language of Business English: grammar and functions". We're being deceived here: the subtitle of the book is more indicative of the book's content. While lexis we may tend to associate with business is used in examples (e.g. "He said that they had signed the contract." p.84"), this is effectively yet another sterile grammar book. The small 'Functions' section contains nothing that one cannot find in any other similar grammar book. As for 'The Language of Business English'? Well that's another area entirely.

Right now my family and I are in Wuhan, China, teaching English. I had The Language of Business English recommended to me as a complete course - as it contains both teacher's notes and exercises on pages facing each other. On going through this volume we are grateful to have a course that will enable us to teach for some time. Travelling with a child has made it very difficult to prepare much. This will be a fact of life for many travelling English teachers.

If anything the exercises need slightly more examples. As a fluent English speaker I at times look at them and wonder what the author actually wants. But perhaps that's just a realistic reflection of everyday life, which a ESL student will have to come to grips with in the real world.

5 stars, highly recommended.