The Story of Stuff is a series of videos about impacts of our consumer culture on people and the planet. Here’s one about electronic devices:
You will find more information on the Story of Stuff website.
A diamond among authors
So we talked about the history of business and trade. Which came first, money or markets, money or interest?
If you’re interested in human history in a broader context, more questions may pop up: Why have we stopped living as hunter-gatherers? Why and when did states evolve? Why did the Mayan and Greenland Viking Empires collapse but not Spain or China? Why did Europeans conquer native America and not the other way round? Why are most African countries notoriously poor while Europe and North America seem to be predestined for wealth? Is it because Africans are less bright than we are?
Jared Diamond, an American biologist and historian, has probed into these questions and gives surprising answers based on his broad knowledge of both natural sciences and society. His most famous books include: *
- Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
His books have also been translated into German, but if you want to improve your English, I’d recommend the original versions.
* I don’t want to imply that you should use Amazon. Search for these titles anywhere else, and you may find better offers.
The origins of English words II
William the
Conqueror dressed as a fish
The native inhabitants of Britain spoke Celtic languages, some of which still exist in the form of modern Irish, Gaelic (spoken in Scotland) and Welsh (spoken in Wales). At the same time, large parts of England were part of the Roman Empire, so the upper class would speak Latin.
Then, in the Early Middle Ages, came Germanic settlers called Anglo-Saxons and introduced their own culture, including vocabulary and grammar. They came as migrants rather than conquerors and mingled with the native population. That was when Old English developed as a language.
In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England from Normandy and made Norman French the language of the upper class.
This is only a much simplified summary. You can find more detail in this video, if you’re interested:
But, as a result of this history, formal English still uses a lot of words derived from Latin and French, while informal speech makes extensive use of Germanic words. This is important to know when you have a choice between two or more translations of the same German word.
Here are some verb pairs with almost the same meaning:
Germanic (informal) |
French or Latin (formal) |
| ask | inquire |
| begin | commence |
| buy | purchase |
| choose | select |
| come | arrive |
| end | finish |
| go on | continue |
| help | assist |
| leave | depart, desert |
| watch | monitor |
The origins of English words
The origins of English words
Is business a typical English word? Or are enterprise and economy, for that matter? They all are, but they came from different sources. Business is related to being busy, an old Germanic word, while enterprise was originally a French word, and economy has come from the Greek language via Latin.
In fact, English has soaked up so much vocabulary from other languages that it has become the word-richest language in the world, according to most linguists. Some say that English has almost a million words today, ranging from awe to zoopharmacognosy. Even native speakers don’t know them all.
A triple issue emerging
This is your homework. If you came to class this week, you will have noticed that we talked about CSR and introduced some new words.
Here’s the CSR worksheet again. Match the underlined words in the text with the definitions below. Then use the words to fill gaps (on page 2).
When you’ve completed the task, check out the answer key.
BTW, the triple issue headline is just a pun. It’s because there are three tasks on the worksheet. The third task is to devise CSR principles for your enterprise, which we already did in class.
CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility
- is a way to describe responsibility in business. (Yvette)
- should help keep a balance between social, economic and environmental factors in business (Julian)
- is a system to evaluate companies and to provide employees with better social standards so as to promote understanding within the company (Kim, Lena, Andi)
- explains the responsibility of a company towards society, the environment and the economy (Stephan, Lara)
Our CSR principles
Clothes manufacturer (Julian, Vanessa W.)
- Better working conditions and payment
- Buy cotton from sustainable growing
Food producer (Yvette, Nga, Nadja)
- less plastic packaging
- produce more vegetables than meat
- flexible working hours for pregnant women
Coffee producer (Kim, Lena, Andi)
- support familiy farming
- provide appropriate payment
- farmers’ children should go to school
- use organic growing methods and fertiliser
- equality for men and women
- packaging should be made of recycled materials
- transparency for customers
- get a Fair Trade label
Organic sportswear (Cindy, Anna, Jan, Christopher)
- use healthy, organic materials without chemical additives
- working conditions (fixed working hours, minimum wage, workplace safety)
- no child labour
- get a certificate (Fair Trade, Organic Farming)
The weird world of numbers
Last week we did some maths, trying to compute the side length of a cube that would contain our average yearly per-capita oil consumption in the Western countries.
If you’re more deeply interested in how mathematics work in English, I can recommend a wonderful series of videos by the wonderfully enthusiastic Dr James Grime and his colleagues. Here’s an example:
Go and check out the rest at their YouTube channel, Numberphile.
Product presentation
As your oral exam for the summer semester, you will have to give a product presentation. We have scheduled four days for the presentations (18.-21. July), and you will have to talk for around 12 (10-15) minutes. We will test you in groups of 6 students each, so everybody will speak before an audience of five of your fellow students.
Here are some guidelines for the presentation.
The most suitable type of product would be one you can bring to the exam — e.g. a household appliance — because it’s easier to show how something works when you have a model at hand.
However, as the question has been raised: You may also choose a service rather than a product, just that a service may be harder to describe.
A positive vision
Here’s a small excerpt from the Transition Handbook book I told you about in class:
It is one thing to campaign against climate change and quite another to paint a compelling and engaging vision of a post-carbon world in such a way as to enthuse others to embark on a journey towards it. We are only just beginning to scratch the surface of the power of a positive vision of an abundant future: one which is energy-lean, time-rich, less stressful, healthier and happier. Being able to associate images and a clear vision with how a powered-down future might be is essential.
I like to use the analogy of inviting a reluctant friend to join you on holiday. If you can passionately and poetically paint a mental picture of the beach, the sunset and the candle-lit taverna by the sea, they will be more likely to come. Environmentalists have often been guilty of presenting people with a mental image of the world’s least desirable holiday destination – some seedy bed and and breakfast near Torquay, with nylon sheets, cold tea and soggy toast – and expecting them to get excited about the possibility of NOT going there. The logic and the psychology are all wrong. …
As a species with the creativity, adaptability and opposable thumbs that enabled us to create an Oil Age in the first place, we can be pretty certain that there will be life beyond it.
—Rob Hopkins: The Transition Handbook – from oil dependency to local resilience. Green Books, Totnes, UK, 2008. ISBN 9781900322188
Welcome to Business English 2
Welcome back! As in the first semester, I’m going to use the blog to
- host handouts, audio files and videos for use in class and at home,
- provide you with extra tasks and materials related to the course topics.
Read more about the blog here and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments section or on the feedback page.
Course topics in the 2nd semester
Sustainability
Sustainable business management and marketing — what does sustainability mean and which areas of business does it affect?- Retailing
Outlets, department stores and supermarkets, customer surveys, supply chain, production, product description and presentation. - Advertising
Basics, terms, best and worst practices, greenwashing and business ethics, case studies. - International Trade
Globalization, protectionism versus free trade, fair trade and global justice. - Cultures
Importance of intercultural awareness and global competences in business.