Welcome to the New Year edition of English Review. We’re sending it out early as our offices will be closed now until 3rd January. All our staff and tutors will be at home enjoying the festive break – and probably eating too much!

But now is the best time to start planning what you intend to do in 2006. Why not make a resolution to improve your English language skills? As the Internet becomes an ever more important part of our lives it really is essential to be able to read English easily and communicate fluently. Many of the best websites – both for information and fun – are written in English. So, if you don’t want to be left behind, make it your resolution to improve your English – we can help you do it!

And just to show you how easy it can be, below are some tips for making your emails more businesslike.

Regards,

Diana.

STUDENT SUCCESSES

Fitzroy Clive Donaldson from Jamaica was a Junior Loans Officer when he enrolled for the Business English Course. Since achieving his diploma he has been acting as the Credit Officer for the Lulea branch of The National Commercial Bank with an increase in salary and has been recommended for promotion to a senior supervisory role. He is now in the process of completing his application to begin a degree programme with the Northern Caribbean University.

Fitzroy says: "I have grown in confidence and have assisted my colleagues with business courses and other assignments. My communication skills have been significantly enhanced and my church has also elected me as the treasurer this year. I will always be grateful to Business Training. My aspiration is to become my own boss and broaden my business and English knowledge."

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Wong Leong Ming from Malaysia was a college student before joining Business Training. She had difficulties understanding her lectures because of lack of proficiency in English and, because most of the textbooks were written in English, she had problems with revision and research.

But she says: "Since joining Business Training I managed to complete my studies and obtain my degree on time. I am very happy that I got a second-class in my Bachelor Degree of Business Administration with honours!"

She now intends to continue her studies by doing a Masters degree. "I have no regret for joining Business Training. Thank you very much!" she adds.

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TOP TEN TIPS FOR...

Communicating by email.

1. Remember that exactly the same rules apply about expressing your ideas as in ordinary letters. You must plan what you want to say and then make sure that what you say is concise and clear. At the same time you must give all the necessary information. Emails are, ideally, brief but this is no excuse for omitting important information and then having to send a follow-up email.
   
   
2. When you have composed your message make sure that you check it very carefully before sending it. Once you have clicked the ‘send’ button it is on its way. You cannot change your mind.

   So, make sure that you use complete, grammatical sentences and paragraph your work sensibly.

   Before sending your email always use the spell check facility. But also read your work carefully because the spell check will not pick up mistakes such as “there” instead of “their” and “to” instead of “two”. If you have typed an incorrect letter or missed one off the end of a word you might have put “the” instead of “then” or “now” instead of “not”. You can imagine the confusion that this might cause.
   

3. In business, never use short forms for words, for example ‘u’ instead of ‘you’ or ‘c’ instead of ‘see’. Also, don’t use “emoticons”. These are the smiling/sad faces that people use to show the mood of the piece. They are for personal correspondence, not business.
   
   
   
4. You should always start the first correspondence with ‘Dear Mr…’. We know that email is a lot less formal than business letters, so if they reply and use their first name, then you can use their first name next time. But if they use their full name, then continue to use this.

   Never start an email with ‘Hi!’. Again, this is something you should only do in personal correspondence.

   At the end of your email you can use ‘Kind regards’ or ‘Regards’ instead of ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Yours faithfully’ but until you know the person well you should still type your full name and title when closing.
   
   

5. Before you send an important email or a reply, always print a copy for your records. We know that you can usually check in your ‘sent items’ box but if your computer goes down or you have a virus this may not be possible.
   
   
   
6. Use the subject line that you will find in all email programs effectively. When your reader is checking their email in a morning you do not want them to delete yours because they think it is ‘spam’ or may carry a virus. So, if your email is to make arrangements for a meeting about something like this in the subject line: Re Meeting on 27 February.
   
   
   
7. Obviously you will want to know whether your email has arrived. Many programs can be set so that an automated message is bounced back showing that the email has arrived at the address you have typed. But you don’t always know if the right person has seen it (especially if the company you are contacting is a large one). So, if you want to be certain, always ask the recipient to confirm that they have got it. You can imagine the problems if you emailed to set the date for a meeting but the person did not receive it. So, always check.
   
   
   
8. There will be times when you want to send an attached document or file. It is usually attachments that carry viruses, so some people are reluctant to open them. But, if you have been sensible in what you put in the subject line (and also once you have an established correspondence with a customer) this should be no problem. But make sure that your attachment is in a form that can be opened easily by most computers.
   
   
   
9. Many companies now have a definite email policy. This means that management can check employees’ emails to ensure that they are not sending anything offensive. Many employers do not mind if you use the system to send a few emails to friends. But don’t abuse the system. Remember, somebody could be reading your private correspondence and you could get into trouble because you are contacting friends instead of concentrating on work.
   
   
   
10. People can get very impatient if they have to wait for an answer to an email. So set up an automated message telling people how long they can expect to wait for a reply. This should stop them sending reminder emails and also give a better impression to the people you are dealing with.