Brouhaha (Brew Ha Ha)

Brouhaha

Brouhaha is pronounced ‘Brew Ha Ha’

Business English Word of the Week:

Geschäftsenglisch Wort der Woche:

to confirm a meeting or a date and an appointment in Business English

Sample Sentence:

1. “Please could you confirm that you will be attending the meeting on the 15th?“

2. “Please could you confirm the date of the meeting?“

3. “Please could you confirm if the date of our appointment is convenient for you?“

Law English Word of the Week :

Gesetz Englisches Wort der Woche:

Prosecutor

The lawyer trying to put the defendant in jail.

Sample Sentence:

“Be prepared. The prosecutor will ask you many questions.”

Vocabulary for Contracts:

Wortschatz für Verträge:

Have you ever signed up with a phone service provider like T-Mobile?

Or registered for a social media account such as: Twitter; Facebook, or Instagram?

Or signed up for a health and fitness mobile apps like Charity Miles or FitBit?

If you have, then you’ve signed a contract before!

Well okay, you probably didn’t sign it with a pen while sitting in front of a lawyer. But I’m pretty sure you clicked on the “OK” button and agreed to a screen full of words in small letters, which is how signing a contract works in the online world.

Contracts are very common these days. But honestly, do we even read them before signing? Most of the time, even native English speakers don’t read contracts, because they’re written in an unusual kind of English.

Just as there’s English for Information Technology and many other business fields out there, there’s also English for Law. You shouldn’t sign what you can’t understand! So, get ready to learn some important law vocabulary for dealing with contracts.

But before you do that, let’s look at why it’s important to learn business English for contractual law.

Sample Sentence:

“Please sign the contract on the dotted line and do not take any notice of the small print at the bottom of the page!”

Vocabulary for Negotiations:

Wortschatz für Verhandlungen:

To bargain. Explanation: To discuss the conditions of an agreement, to negotiate. …

Sample Sentence:

“What specific ideas did you have in mind for me to get you a lower price and remain profitable?”

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Word of the day: Wort des Tages:

Brouhaha means a noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something.

Sample Sentence:

“There was such a brouhaha over all those insider deals.“

Phrase of the day: Satz des Tages:

Small Print at the bottom of a page in a contract.

The small print of a contract or agreement is the part of it that is written in very small print. You refer to it as the small print especially when you think that it might include unfavourable conditions that someone might not notice or understand.

To make oneself aware of the specific terms, conditions, restrictions, limitations, etc., of an agreement, contract, or other documents (often printed in very small type and thus easy to go unnoticed).

Sample Sentence:

“Small print is used in a range of situations from terms and conditions information in financial documents, to text on food packaging, to supplementary information on TV adverts.“

Idiom of the day: Redewendung des Tages:

Better late than never means better to arrive late than not to come at all.

Sample Sentence:

Student: “Sorry I’m late teacher.“

Teacher: “Better late than never Noah!“

NOTE: See the next blog for more of “Better later than never.“

British English (B.E.) / American English (A.E.) Vocabulary:

Britisches Englisch / Amerikanisches Englisch Wortschatz:

British English – Rubbish – Waste

Sample Sentence:

(B.E.) “Boris! You’re talking rubbish!” – “Du redest Müll” (quatsch – rubbish)

Waste is Abfall / in German

American English – Garbage – Trash

Sample Sentence:

(A.E.) “Donald! You’re talking garbage!” “Joe, take the trash out!“

NOTE: a very old saying in the computer world is GIGO which means, “Garbage In, Garbage Out!“

Special Grammar tip of the week:

Spezieller Grammatik-Tipp der Woche:

Use the right past form of verbs

Speaking about the past in English is not particularly difficult. Every subject uses the same word to express the past, so you don’t have to worry about learning six different words as in some languages. However, many verbs are irregular and don’t follow the regular form of adding -ed. You don’t need to know all of these, but try to learn the most common ones (approximately 20). For example,

Go – went

Have – had

Make – made

For example,

We went to the cinema last Saturday.
They had a party to celebrate Tom’s birthday.
I made a cake this morning.

Pronunciation tip: Aussprachetipp:

Practice Saying Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters are a time-tested method of improving pronunciation. A tongue twister is a phrase that is difficult to pronounce, because it is made up of many similar sounds. For example,

She sells seashells on the seashore.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck chop, if a woodchuck would chop wood?

Short tongue twisters

Before trying the English tongue twisters for champions that talk fast, let’s warm up your speech muscles with some short and fairly easy tongue twisters for beginners. Here is the first:
- Eleven benevolent elephants.

Start off by trying to pronounce all of the words in the tongue twister slowly, but correctly. Then try to pick up the pace until you can say them really fast. You will see for yourself that they are an excellent way of exercising your speech organs.

False Friends Tip of the Week:

Falsche Freunde Tipp der Woche:

German Translation False Friend (F.F.) Meaning of F.F.

Benzin petrol / gas benzene Benzol

NOTE: Unfortunately, our American friends use the particulate for Petroleum which is Gasoline; whereas from Petroleum one gets Petrol. Natural Gas is known as Erdgas in German, which is shortened to just GAS; therein lies the problem.

Wit, Wit, Wit Business examples:

Witz, Witz, Witz Geschäftsbeispiele:

“I was walking down the street and there was a sign stapled to a telephone pole. It said ”Lost $50. Reward: If found just keep it.” Quote by Steven Wright.

Slang word of the day: Slangwort des Tages:

No worries – That’s alright / OK.

Sample Sentence:

“No worries about the terrible mess. We’ll clean it all up.”

Colloquial / Colloquialisms:

Umgangssprache / Umgangssprache:

Laid back– to be relaxed or calm.

Sample Sentence:

“This weekend was very laid back.”

Cockney rhyming slang:

Cockney Reimender Slang:

To have “Bombay Bum” or “Delhi Belly” means to have “The Runs” (diarrhoea – Durchfall).

Sample Sentence:

“I can’t come to work today as I am not well; I have the runs!“

Quote of the week: Zitat der Woche:

“Good people don’t need rules and bad people won’t keep them anyway
That’s why we need a new heart.“

David Campbell.

Fortgeschrittene, Anfänger, Geschäftsenglisch, Firmenkurse, Gruppenunterricht, In-house Englisch, Sprachschule Englisch, Telefonkonferenz Englisch persönlich oder per Videokonferenz; in Dresden, Chemnitz, Freiberg, Halsbrücke, Lichtenberg, Brand-Erbisdorf, Meißen, Döbeln, Riesa und überall in Sachsen seit über 20 Jahren!

Delivering professional Business English teaching in person or via video conferencing in Dresden, Chemnitz, Meißen, Lichtenberg, Freiberg, Döbeln, Riesa, Halsbrücke, Brand-Erbisdorf and all over the state of Sachsen for over 20 years!

Brouhaha

Brouhaha is pronounced ‘Brew Ha Ha’

Business English Word of the Week:

Geschäftsenglisch Wort der Woche:

to confirm a meeting or a date and an appointment in Business English

Sample Sentence:

1. “Please could you confirm that you will be attending the meeting on the 15th?“

2. “Please could you confirm the date of the meeting?“

3. “Please could you confirm if the date of our appointment is convenient for you?“

Law English Word of the Week :

Gesetz Englisches Wort der Woche:

Prosecutor

The lawyer trying to put the defendant in jail.

Sample Sentence:

“Be prepared. The prosecutor will ask you many questions.”

Vocabulary for Contracts:

Wortschatz für Verträge:

Have you ever signed up with a phone service provider like T-Mobile?

Or registered for a social media account such as: Twitter; Facebook, or Instagram?

Or signed up for a health and fitness mobile apps like Charity Miles or FitBit?

If you have, then you’ve signed a contract before!

Well okay, you probably didn’t sign it with a pen while sitting in front of a lawyer. But I’m pretty sure you clicked on the “OK” button and agreed to a screen full of words in small letters, which is how signing a contract works in the online world.

Contracts are very common these days. But honestly, do we even read them before signing? Most of the time, even native English speakers don’t read contracts, because they’re written in an unusual kind of English.

Just as there’s English for Information Technology and many other business fields out there, there’s also English for Law. You shouldn’t sign what you can’t understand! So, get ready to learn some important law vocabulary for dealing with contracts.

But before you do that, let’s look at why it’s important to learn business English for contractual law.

Sample Sentence:

“Please sign the contract on the dotted line and do not take any notice of the small print at the bottom of the page!”

Vocabulary for Negotiations:

Wortschatz für Verhandlungen:

To bargain. Explanation: To discuss the conditions of an agreement, to negotiate. …

Sample Sentence:

“What specific ideas did you have in mind for me to get you a lower price and remain profitable?”

**********************************************************************

Word of the day: Wort des Tages:

Brouhaha means a noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something.

Sample Sentence:

“There was such a brouhaha over all those insider deals.“

Phrase of the day: Satz des Tages:

Small Print at the bottom of a page in a contract.

The small print of a contract or agreement is the part of it that is written in very small print. You refer to it as the small print especially when you think that it might include unfavourable conditions that someone might not notice or understand.

To make oneself aware of the specific terms, conditions, restrictions, limitations, etc., of an agreement, contract, or other documents (often printed in very small type and thus easy to go unnoticed).

Sample Sentence:

“Small print is used in a range of situations from terms and conditions information in financial documents, to text on food packaging, to supplementary information on TV adverts.“

Idiom of the day: Redewendung des Tages:

Better late than never means better to arrive late than not to come at all.

Sample Sentence:

Student: “Sorry I’m late teacher.“

Teacher: “Better late than never Noah!“

NOTE: See the next blog for more of “Better later than never.“

British English (B.E.) / American English (A.E.) Vocabulary:

Britisches Englisch / Amerikanisches Englisch Wortschatz:

British English – Rubbish – Waste

Sample Sentence:

(B.E.) “Boris! You’re talking rubbish!” – “Du redest Müll” (quatsch – rubbish)

Waste is Abfall / in German

American English – Garbage – Trash

Sample Sentence:

(A.E.) “Donald! You’re talking garbage!” “Joe, take the trash out!“

NOTE: a very old saying in the computer world is GIGO which means, “Garbage In, Garbage Out!“

Special Grammar tip of the week:

Spezieller Grammatik-Tipp der Woche:

Use the right past form of verbs

Go – went

Have – had

Make – made

For example,

We went to the cinema last Saturday.

They had a party to celebrate Tom’s birthday.

I made a cake this morning.

Pronunciation tip: Aussprachetipp:

Practice Saying Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters are a time-tested method of improving pronunciation. A tongue twister is a phrase that is difficult to pronounce, because it is made up of many similar sounds. For example,

She sells seashells on the seashore.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck chop, if a woodchuck would chop wood?

Short tongue twisters

Before trying the English tongue twisters for champions that talk fast, let’s warm up your speech muscles with some short and fairly easy tongue twisters for beginners. Here is the first:

Eleven benevolent elephants.

Start off by trying to pronounce all of the words in the tongue twister slowly, but correctly. Then try to pick up the pace until you can say them really fast. You will see for yourself that they are an excellent way of exercising your speech organs.

False Friends Tip of the Week:

“Good people don’t need rules and bad people won’t keep them anyway
That’s why we need a new heart.“