Business English Pod / mLearning / Page 2

BEP 421 – English for Logistics 2: Routing and Capacity

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Supply Chain /

BEP 421 LESSON - English for Logistics and Supply Chain 2

Welcome back to Business English Pod for the second lesson in our series on English for logistics. In this lesson, we’re going to focus on routing and capacity.

Look at the labels of the items on your desk or in your home and you’ll appreciate just how critical international trade is. It’s easy to take it all for granted and forget that the entire system depends on a very complex supply chain. Until, of course, politics gets in the way, and suddenly the whole world is thinking about logistics!

Getting products and materials from point A to point B involves a lot of moving parts and a lot of important decisions. Manufacturers and retailers’ business models depend on optimizing logistics. And central to that work is figuring out routing, or the particular pathway of shipments, as well as storage and capacity.

Talking about routing requires special vocabulary related to transportation. You will also need to talk about how cargo is handled and how it is stored, or warehoused. And in discussing these matters, you’ll find it useful to keep a broad perspective and be able to reject options that aren’t quite right.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin a conversation between a production manager named Cam and a logistics manager named Anna. Cam’s company, Boston Vintage, manufactures clothing in Eastern Europe for distribution in several parts of the world. Boston Vintage is working with Anna’s company, Global Freight Express, to support their complex logistics needs.

Listening Questions

1. Why does Cam reject the regular “carrier loop” as an option for transporting their goods?
2. What are some of the terms used to discuss shipping containers and capacity?
3. What possible problems does Anna mention related to “warehousing?”

Premium Members: PDF Transcript | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 420 – English for Logistics 1: Transport Modes and Incoterms

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Supply Chain /

BEP 420 LESSON - English for Logistics and Supply Chain 1

Welcome back to Business English Pod for the first lesson in our new series on English for logistics. In this lesson, we’re going to focus on discussing modes of transport and shipping options.

In international business, products rarely stay in one place for long. They move between suppliers, warehouses, ports, and customers across different countries and time zones. To manage all this successfully, we need to learn the language of logistics.

Discussing logistics effectively starts with understanding and using key logistics vocabulary. This includes terms related to shipping schedules, transport arrangements, documentation, and responsibilities. If we’re comfortable with the language, we can discuss plans clearly and confidently in real business situations.

For starters, there are several basic logistics terms that everyone should know. From there, you can talk about different transport modes and incoterms, which define responsibilities of different players in the movement of goods. And as we plan and negotiate, it’s useful to be able to state your priorities.

In today’s dialog, we’ll join a conversation between Cam and Anna. Cam is a production manager with Boston Vintage, an American clothing company with manufacturing in eastern Europe. Anna is a logistics manager with Global Freight Express. Anna has been hired to help Boston Vintage with its complex logistics needs.

Listening Questions

1. What are the different “modes” of transport that Cam and Anna discuss?
2. In deciding on how to move products from Europe to the US, what is Cam’s priority consideration?
3. What abbreviations are used to talk about the responsibilities of buyers and sellers in shipping?

Premium Members: PDF Transcript | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

Meeting Essentials eBook – New Edition

Business English, Business English e-Books, English for Meetings /

Learn business English for meetings with our new Meeting Essentials eBook.

Business English Meeting Essentials

We’re pleased to announce the 3rd edition of our Meeting Essentials eBook, with updated lessons and audio.

If you use English in meetings, this eBook will help you communicate more clearly and confidently. Meeting Essentials is an 11-unit audio eBook that teaches the key language you need for a wide range of meeting situations, from informal team discussions to formal business meetings.

You’ll learn how to express opinions, agree and disagree, make suggestions, and clarify ideas. The course also covers how to run meetings effectively, including starting the meeting, managing the discussion, dealing with interruptions, and closing with clear action points.

Each lesson features realistic dialogs, clear explanations, and practical language you can apply immediately in the workplace. The 3rd edition includes updated content, new explanations, and newly produced audio recordings available in PDF and MP3 format.

All eBooks are included with premium membership, or you can purchase the eBook for $15.95.

BEP 116c – Charts and Trends 3: Analyzing Trends

Business English, Intermediate English, Presentation in English /

BEP 116c - English Presentation: Charts and Trends 3

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on analyzing trends during a presentation in English.

Business is a game of numbers. And whether you’re in marketing, finance, sales, or operations, you have different metrics that tell you whether you’re successful. Read any business report, and you’ll see these metrics presented in charts and graphs.

But charts and graphs aren’t enough on their own. Sure, you can use them to present a snapshot of the current state. And you can show how different numbers have gone up or down relative to other numbers. But so what? The numbers are only useful if we can analyze them, learn from them, and make better decisions with them.

When you analyze trends in a presentation, it’s a good idea to clearly state your approach from the beginning. Then you can do things like describe the rate of change and speculate about future developments. You might also make specific predictions about what will happen and raise people’s awareness of possible future trends.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin a presentation at a mobile company called Ambient. A director named Pat has been presenting results for sales and market share. Now Pat is digging deeper and analyzing the company’s performance on one key metric: revenue per unit, or RPU.

Listening Questions

1. What is Pat going to compare in his approach to analyzing trends?
2. What does Pat predict about his company’s “RPU” in the future?
3. What possible future trend does Pat warn about at the end of the dialog?

Premium Members: PDF Transcript | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 115c – Charts and Trends 2: Describing Trends

Business English, Intermediate English, Presentation in English /

BEP 115c - English Presentation Charts and Trends 2: Describing Trends

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on describing trends during a presentation in English.

Every great presentation has two things: good content and skilled delivery. These aren’t separate features. The content becomes good through skilled delivery. And skilled delivery means bringing the content alive, rather than just reading from a slide deck.

This marriage of content and delivery is especially important with charts and graphs. Many people know that visuals can enhance a presentation. But we’ve all had the experience of seeing a graph that’s so confusing that we come away feeling we know less, not more. So as a good presenter, you need to tell the graph’s story.

A graph’s story is all about change. Or lack of change. When we are presenting a graph, it’s always good to begin by introducing the theme, so people know what they’re looking at. Then we can bring people’s attention to specific parts of the graph. And we might describe how things are decreasing, staying the same, or increasing.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin a presentation from Pat, a director with a mobile phone company called Ambient. Pat is giving a presentation to his sales team about market share. He’s talking about their own company as well as the competition, describing the trends in market share.

Listening Questions

1. What does Pat say is the theme of the chart that he’s showing?
2. Which company’s market share decreased in 2007?
3. What does Pat say about the market share of all the smaller competitors in recent quarters?

Premium Members: PDF Transcript | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3