In this business English vocabulary lesson, we’ll look at some key macroeconomic terms related to consumers and prices. This includes ideas such as the income gap, the cost of living, and the consumer price index (CPI). We will also explore concepts such as inflation and purchasing power, as well as disposable income, household debt, and consumer spending.
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In this business English vocabulary lesson, we’ll look at some key macroeconomic terms, such GDP and GNP. We’ll explore the natural business cycle, which includes periods of expansion, recession and sometimes even depression. We’ll also look at the idea of trade balance between countries, which can be described as either a trade surplus or a trade deficit.
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In this Business English News lesson, we look at trends in the workplace, particularly changing attitudes to telecommuting.
The question of “live to work or work to live” has been around for decades, with many employees trying to strike that perfect work-life balance. Employees around the world benefit from the use of modern technology to do their work in the comfort of their own homes.
Recently though, Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer, made some waves with her decision that all employees must work their 9 to 5s in the office.
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Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. In today’s lesson, we’re going to look at how to get good customer service. More specifically, we’re going to learn how to complain properly and get a good solution.
It all starts with a problem. You buy a product and it doesn’t work right. You get frustrated. You paid good money but you’re not getting what you expected. It’s time to complain. So you go back to the store or you ring up a customer service line. This interaction could end with more frustration or it could end with satisfaction, depending on the outcome. So how can you get a good outcome?
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In this Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at vocabulary and collocations for discussing a budget.
A budget is a plan for spending money. And you’ll often hear the word “budget” used as a noun. But “budget” is also a verb. We can budget carefully or poorly. We can budget not only money but also time. And how we budget can help or harm our business. If we spend too much money, we may decrease profits. But if we don’t spend enough money, the business may not grow or thrive. It’s all about balance.
A typical budget includes a long list of items that we need to spend money on. And in a budget meeting, you’ll hear people talk, or argue, about where to spend more and where to spend less. So, how do we do this? Well, in today’s dialog, we’ll learn some of the common expressions we use when we discuss budgets.
Before we listen, let’s talk a little about English 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 “budget cuts” to talk about lower spending. But we can’t say “budget slices” or “budget chops,” even though “slice” and “chop” mean “cut.” 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.
Today we’ll rejoin Kate, Harry, and Linda as they discuss the budget for their IT department. Kate and Harry are managers, and Linda is their supervisor. Last time, they talked about the past year’s budget. Today, you’ll hear them making a plan for the upcoming year.
Listening Questions
1. What does Kate say the finance department wants to focus on?
2. What is Harry’s concern about replacing the workstations?
3. What does Kate think can be changed to save money?
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