English for Specific Purposes
46 posts
If English is not your native tongue, and you want to find the right words to express gratitude or something or just want to express wishes for co-workers, I am here to help you strike the right tone and wording. For this purpose, I have listed some for you to use. I hope this will help you to start well!
🔵 Why this video was created? Well, many non-native speakers don’t know how to punctuate well, which is an important skill or tool – if you will – to master to ensure and improve the legibility of your texts. Moreover, not being able to do it well makes you look […]
We all want to feel appreciated and valued in the workplace but we are all also imperfect human beings, who occasionally have an off-day. However, sometimes the feedback we get from others in the workplace may indicate that we could improve something in how we communicate in the professional domain. Continue reading
De instellingen wijzingen op je (nieuwe) telefoon en een persoonlijk bericht inspreken voor degene die je telefonisch probeert te bereiken. Hoe doe je dit nu professioneel in het Engels?
🔵Emotional Intelligence (EQ) | Do you know how to accurately discuss your emotions in English? Well, you might want to learn more vocabulary as having a robust vocabulary range is one way to demonstrate this type of intelligence in the workplace. 🔵 In this video, you will learn more about […]
Diplomacy skills | How to interrupt someone, as a non-native speaker, in an educational or professional setting without coming across as being impolite or rude.
The labour market has changed due to COVID-19. With a sudden influx of job-seeking professionals, you might wonder how to make your application stand out. I am a corporate recruiter, and I will tell you how.
Why you should care about becoming more aware of how meaning is shaped in interaction Vocabulary and grammar most important? Most clients and course participants of language & communication courses are mainly focused on using the right words (i.e. in terms of semantic meaning and meaning you can find in dictionaries) and verb tenses when communicating in English - completely valid and understandable. Language use, however, is more complex and extends to higher levels. Continune reading.
You are in a meeting and you disagree with the representative of the client on what was previously discussed. It seems as though s/he is not about to honour the agreement that was in place, which may, in turn, have detrimental consequences for internal processes involving multiple teams in the organisation you have been working for quite some time. It is one of a great many instances you have faced with this stakeholder and you're starting to become a little annoyed by it. How will you proceed? How will you approach this while using English? Here's how. Continue reading.
Besides including attention grabbers, the actual talk should be well-structured and clear introductions consist of at least two parts.
This video series discusses the types of dictionaries you can start using to accomplish just that. A mental lexicon is defined as a mental dictionary that contains information about the meaning, pronunciation, syntactic characteristics, and so on about lexical units (words). The mental lexicon is a construct used in Linguistics and Psycholinguistics to refer […]
You might be about to lose your job, or you may have lost it already due to Covid-19, resulting in having to find another one. As we sympathize, wish to help you get a new one as soon as possible, and want to set you up for success, we have created […]
In this video, two types of questions are explained and many examples are given to help you prepare for job interviews.
If you are looking for a position with an international company, you are expected to not only apply but also interview in the English language. There is some low-hanging fruit for you to simply pluck from the myriad of tips you will find online. Continue reading.
Three types of style exist roughly speaking, which are high, medium and low style. Continue reading.
Have you ever wondered why certain speakers include so many rhetorical figures, while others only seem to use a few of them? Wondered about the communicative effect such choices have on audiences? Ever heard of register and other topics in vocabulary acquisition, like the connotation of words? In this part […]
Select rhetorical figures that will help diminish or enlarge your arguments in a way that suits its purpose best. Continue reading.
Want to be able to make a case that aligns with your agenda more effectively? Want to be seen as a strong communicator or someone who is reliable and assertive? Well, you may want to work on your persuasion tactics. In my previous blog post, I already explained that appealing to the three classical modes of persuasion, which were introduced by Aristotle, would be a good idea. Remember that they are part of the five parts of rhetoric? In this one, I explain which ingredients to use to set the stage well.
Interested in persuading others of your stance? Want to be able to communicate more effectively and with more impact at work? Want to get the job done to the best of your ability? If you do, you should not just focus on the content of your job, but also on being persuasive while communicating with others. In this blog series, I will explain the five parts of rhetoric, and this first part is about 'invention'.
In the professional domain just doing your job by focusing on content and being a friendly co-worker usually is not enough. At some point, you must at least attempt to convince others to accept your plan or proposed course of action to avoid becoming redundant, and you will have to make sure that you’ll remain relevant to the company you work for or to your clients for survival. Getting the desired promotion, expanding your clientele, or just getting the job done requires persuasion. This is a practical skill that is about using language more effectively and thus to your advantage.
Combining leadership and empathy is always important but in times of crisis showing sympathy can make a real difference. This series is developed for those in managerial positions, who are responsible for a team and the well-being of staff in their teams.
The YouTube playlist includes idioms professionals can use directly on the job in situations when they need to be fluent and confident. Research in the field of Linguistics has shown that the use of idioms decreases cognitive load - allowing you to focus on things that matter. Using idioms also increases fluency and demonstrates competence. In this list, it is demonstrated how the idiom is used in real life, how to look it up in different dictionaries (i.e. dictionary definitions are included in these videos), and what to do next to be able to acquire them. Please note that you would need to use them at least 7 times afterwards to make that happen.
Leesvaardigheidsproblemen onder de aandacht in Televisieprogramma ‘Nieuwsuur’ In Nieuwsuur (NOS-NRT) is vanavond (15-2) te zien geweest dat laaggeletterdheid een groter probleem is geworden in onze samenleving, vermoedelijk veroorzaakt door een sterke afname aan interesse in lezen onder jongeren. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) onderzoekt regelmatig ‘reading literacy’ onder jongeren […]
Interested in learning how to start beating the 15-second rule to ensure that your work product gets read? This post covers the aspects of writing to consider first.
Are you currently using English professionally and are you a non-native speaker of English? Are you currently using idoms in your speech at all? In this article, I explain why it would be useful to start acquiring and using idioms in a professional domain.
At an advanced level of English, language is used in a more complicated way, which may seem rather obvious but can be somewhat difficult to attribute that fact to something specific. so 'more complicated language use may not say anything to you. Please note that I have communicated earlier that learners of English tend to have difficulty with listening and reading for detailed information as opposed to gist (i .e. general idea), which is relevant if you want to understand how meaning is given to turns in interaction and how it is inferred by speakers in conversation. In this post, I attempt to explain how meaning is inferred and presupposed by interlocutors, using a short interaction taken from a popular North American TV series on Netflix.
We offer ESP and EGP training services and courses. Interested in earning the differences between the two dominant types? Learn more.
This infographic identifies four commonly accepted areas to focus on, which are: fluency, appropriacy, accuracy and cross- and intercultural awareness.
Many of my clients/students frequently pose the question: how do I become better at speaking and writing? There are many answers to that question, but the best one is just to start producing language output. In order words: just start speaking and writing in English. That way, you’ll quickly discover […]
Ik maak onderscheid tussen ESP en EGP trainingen, maar wat houdt dit nu precies in? Op die vraag geef ik antwoord.
