Teaching, copywriting and exploring social media in Milan: an update

It’s been a while since I posted anything here on the Milan English blog, so I thought I’d write an update on what I’ve been doing and what’s been happening here in Milan.

Well, the first thing is – I’ve been incredibly busy this year. As well as teaching I’ve been working on a social media project for a communications company here in Milan (more on that later). In terms of teaching, I’ve been focused mainly on the pharmaceutical sector. My main client is a NASDAQ-quoted American biopharmaceutical company with national offices here in Italy; but I’ve also been teaching at a much older manufacturer of pharmaceutical products with a production facility in the north of the city.

It’s been quite interesting to compare the two firms and their company cultures. While the American firm is a relatively new startup specialising in the research and development of hi-tech drugs for the treatment of rare forms of cancer, the Italian company (established in 1938) provides pre-filled syringes used to treat a range of conditions and also manufactures generic drugs and active ingredients for other pharma firms.

It’s always a challenge to design and deliver an English language course for people who work in a highly-specialised industry, especially where there is a lot of technical jargon to master and complex processes that have to be understood and explained. Personally, I find this is one of the most interesting and satisfying aspects of being a Business English teacher: going into a company where people perform a wide variety of technical and executive functions, talking to them about what they do and enabling them to do their job more effectively by helping them to master the English language.

In fact, it’s been as much of a learning experience for me as it has been for my students. The pharmaceutical industry has developed its own “sub-language” and procedures over many years. Obviously, people who research, manufacture and sell drugs have to use a lot of medical and scientific terms, as well as specialist marketing terminology. There’s an alphabet soup of acronyms to become familiar with (e.g. CRA – Clinical Research Associate, KOL – Key Opinion Leader and FDA – the American Food and Drug Administration, which is the de facto global authority for approving medicines in the world’s largest market for drugs).

I always find it fascinating to discover what other people do at work. In twenty years of teaching English to people in both Britain and (for the last three years) here in Italy, I have basically sat in classrooms or offices and been initiated into the mysteries of various professions, such as financial trading in the share and bond markets. I have also discovered how insurers (and re-insurers) operate; what problems engineers and architects face when executing a project; and what computer programmers and software developers need to know in order to carry out their work. Journalists, TV executives and media planners have discussed the finer points of their craft with me. And I’ve been introduced to the worlds of fashion, design, hotel management, diplomacy and the military. In fact, there aren’t many sectors or professions from which I haven’t taught people. I’ve also met countless researchers and academics, university students (at all levels) and teachers like myself who simply want to improve their English.

One of the most important things about teaching Business English is that whatever sector, industry or profession someone works in, they usually have a common core of needs in terms of the skills and general communication requirements their job entails. So, for example, everyone needs to be able to use the telephone, write emails and hold a meeting in English. Some people might need to do presentations (e.g. sales and marketing professionals or those who have to present data as part of their work); they might also need to be able to negotiate in English. Others (such as lawyers) may have to read huge amounts of material and be able to summarise the main points, or take detailed notes in meetings. And for a lot of students, their main priority might just be speaking – becoming more confident and fluent in a range of business as well as general situations, such as travelling, meeting new clients or socializing in English.

So, I’ve been very happy this year – and continue to enjoy living and working in Milan as a teacher and communications consultant. Northern Italy is indisputably one of the commercial power-houses of Europe, with firms operating in a wide diversity of sectors (including pharmaceuticals, banking and finance, fashion and design, media and advertising – and, of course, food, leisure and tourism.) I always look forward to meeting new people and finding out about their job and the linguistic challenges they face.

Well, that’s on the teaching side. I also mentioned earlier that I have been working on a social media project. This is basically a research and copywriting job in which I have to produce material for the web relating to technology. I am working as a consultant for OpenKnowledge srl, a company which helps clients by leveraging their social capital and specialises in developing social networks. The client for this particular project is a well-known consumer electronics company that wants to engage more closely with its customers via social media. This is definitely something I feel comfortable with – and, as with the pharmaceutical companies I have been teaching in – the project involves intellectual challenges as well as making potentially dull technical information more appealing to the target audience of the project. Although I have focused more on teaching than copywriting since I came to Milan, it’s nice having the two activities running side by side. I am also able to fit my online research and copywriting round my teaching – so, as you can imagine, I’m usually quite busy.

Social media has been in the news a lot this year. Not only have Facebook and Twitter featured heavily in the revolutions sweeping across the Arab world, but the speculation that a new dot.com boom is on the way has been fuelled by media interest surrounding the imminent stock market flotations of social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook itself. Obviously, social media is an arena in which the written word plays a crucial role. It’s also having a major impact on the way people get their daily diet of information and news. So as a language teacher and a writer, I am personally affected by the massive changes that are taking place not only in the media environment but in the way individuals learn about the world and communicate with each other. I seem to spend increasing amounts of time “catching up” with the latest developments and experimenting (or sometimes just playing) with new platforms and social media tools (such as FriendFeed and Tumblr, which both pull together social media from across different sites; Popplet, an innovative and intuitive mind-mapping tool; as well as a plethora of social media sites and blogs, such as Mashable and 43things.com).

I’ve also been developing my own social and professional networks. The Milan Business English Network (MBEN) recently reached 100 members on LinkedIn. (There’s a parallel group with the same name on Facebook.) I took the opportunity to turn MBEN on LinkedIn into an open group. Although this disabled a lot of interesting discussions between members, I am looking forward to extending this group and connecting with even more people who are interested in learning, teaching or using English in a professional context. Although we weren’t quite able to find the time for live discussion groups, I am hoping that these will take place over the coming months. (If you haven’t already joined, sign up now and start taking part in the ongoing conversations around English at work, writing CVs, doing job interviews and using your English language skills more effectively.)

So, overall, it's been a hectic few months – but very enjoyable nonetheless. I'll be posting more updates shortly, so visit the Milan English blog soon for more enlightening and useful articles on learning English, British and Italian culture - and other subjects that grab my attention which I think you might also be interested in.

Regards,

Robert 

Sant'Ambrogio Holiday, Piazza Fontana all lit up

Today was the Feast of Sant’Ambrogio (St Ambrose), the patron saint of Milan. Just as every city in Italy has a patron saint, so the feast day associated with each saint tends to be a local holiday. Today, December 7th, is one day before the Feast of the Immacolata (Immaculate Conception) on Wednesday, which is a national holiday. So, in Milan there are two consecutive holidays in the middle of this week. But why stop there? A lot of people will have taken advantage of the proximity of Sant’Ambrogio to the preceding weekend and they will have made a “bridge” (un ponte), which is a way of linking the weekend to the following, mid-week holiday. I’m not sure how many people will attempt to span the Immacolata on Wednesday to the following weekend (in a kind of Clifton Suspension Bridge mega-ponte), but certainly, for many Milanese their pre-Christmas break started last Friday when they finished work – and most will not return until Thursday, which means they will have had almost a week off.

What a very civilised place to live, Milan. (Italian readers intending to move to the UK, please note that since all Bank Holidays (which is what we call public holidays in Britain) are on a Monday, there is virtually no opportunity to make a “bridge”. A Bank Holiday is more of a pier extending out from the pleasure-beach of the weekend. (The only exceptions to this are Good Friday (venerdi Santo), curiously NOT a public holiday in Catholic Italy, and, of course, the days between Christmas and New Year, although in these straitened economic times there is a trend for companies to call people in to work during this period.))

It snowed a few days ago, although most of the snow has disappeared. It’s only when you get out into what the Milanese call their “hinterland” (but which a native English speaker would refer to as the outskirts of the city), that there is still any (real) snow left. On the metro train into the centre I passed a derelict-looking barn, decorated with Christmas lights, glowing surreally among the corrugated brown fields, dusted with snow.

 Sant'Ambrogio is the day the Christmas
tree lights are turned on in Piazza Duomo.

And while the snow may have gone, the air was wet. It’s not quite rain, and far from being fog; it’s a kind of vapour hanging in the air, stirred easily by any wind, which means that an umbrella affords little protection. Standing under the portico fringing the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II (also known as the drawing room (salotto) of Milan), the moisture came in under the ornate arches, almost like the sea-spray washed up onto the deck of a ship. More Venice than Milan.

A thousand points of light: Piazza Fontana

I walked through Piazza Fontana, where the eponymous fountain has been elaborately decorated – nay, transmogrified – into a fountain of light, I suppose. The nymphs (or are they nereids?) on each side of the fountain were bathed in a slowly-cycling rainbow, with the splashing water rippling the light. The whole fountain was overgrown with sparkling fairy lights forming a carpet or net of steely highlights, all blazing out in the damp twilight. The effect (specially produced for the annual Festival of Light, a kind of secular, industry-sponsored Milanese Diwali or Channukah) was striking, but it was not unique. Opposite the fountain stood a small forest of tall, golden women, lamé nudes with their arms in the air, caught in a cheerleading moment of exuberance, and their hands strangely enlarged and distorted, suggesting not only the stubby branches of polled trees, but engorged reindeer antlers. Behind these gilded ladies the newly-refurbished hotel was hung with golden nets of light (ubiquitious nowadays, but at one time surely a traditional Sikh decoration, rather than a global design motif). And all this light, of course, was reflected in the sheen of the paving stones and cobbles that add to Piazza Fontana’s unique character. (Santa’s carbon footprint must be enormous, but there’s still something magical and eternal about lighting up the darkness at the end of the old year.)

Clanking and swaying as they heave into the Piazza, Milan’s traditional orange trams arrive like gondolas berthing in a port of light and shadow, disgorging their human cargo with a sudden snap of wooden doors, followed instantaneously by the smart flapping of steps (also made of wood) down onto which a cast of smartly-dressed burghers make their unsteady way: gentlemen in dark overcoats and felt hats, ladies of a certain age submerged in fur, youths sporting absurd woollen hats, puffed-up boleros and drainpipe jeans and leggings, like hip renaissance pages. Umbrellas blossom, an instant palate of colours squeezed onto the damp, grey air.

Golden Girls: Piazza Fontana statues

Common abbreviations in Business English: e.g., i.e., fyi, CIO, KM... OK?

There are thousands of abbreviations in common use, and with the increased use of computer technology, social media (such as chatting) and the proliferation of organisations, legislation and professional jargon, the number of acronyms and shortened forms of words and expressions that you need to know can seem mind-boggling (totally confusing).

Here’s a selection of some of the more useful ones, which I have organised according to topic. Hope you find them useful.


Writing and email

Perhaps the most common – and yet (certainly for Italian people learning English) the most confusing abbreviations – are e.g. and i.e..

E.g. means “for example”. (Why? Well, that’s because it’s really the initials of the Latin expression “exemplii gratia” – for the sake of example.)

I.e. means “that is” (Italian cioè). (Latin again: id est).

When you send someone an email you can “cc” another person or “copy them in” to the email. Cc means “carbon copy”, a reference to old-fashioned carbon paper used to make copies of a letter while writing them on a typewriter. If you don’t want someone to know that you are copying a third person in, then use “bcc” or “blind carbon copy”.

Digital technology, including the internet, has led to the creation of a huge number of abbreviations, especially as typed or texted forms of real-time communication, such as online chat, internet messaging (IM) and texting (SMS) have gained popularity. Some of the more familiar acronyms from these media include:

FYI = For Your Information. This is typically used when you want to send someone an interesting link you have found, but one which doesn’t require a lengthy (long) introduction.

IMHO – In my humble opinion (used when you express a personal opinion that could be considered arrogant or controversial. It shows that you are aware of this implication.)

LOL – Laugh(s) out loud – This type of digital shorthand (steno) for reactions and emotions has developed due to the often colourless or anonymous nature of online chat.

BTW – By the way – indicates a change of subject or the introduction of an incidental fact.
(btw you can find one of the best online collections of online acronyms and jargon – some of them very funny – on netlingo.com, the internet dictionary. One of my favourites is the term used by IT support staff to indicate that there they cannot find a technical fault: PEBCAK – Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard.)

Texting, also known as SMS (Short Message Service) requires the writer to compress a lot of information into as small a space as possible. This has led to a modern form of highly-condensed writing, sometimes surprisingly imaginative.

B4 = before
L8r = later
CU = See you
(Which produces: CU l8r = See you later)


Business Acronyms

There are also thousands of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) used in everyday Business English. Here’s a selection of some of the more useful ones:

People / job titles


CEO = Chief Executive Officer
CFO = Chief Financial Officer
CIO = Chief Information Officer
MD = Managing Director
PRO = Public Relations Officer


Other business acronyms


VAT = Value Added Tax (IVA) (recently raised in the UK form 17.5% to 20%)

P&L = Profit & Loss account / statement (one of the financial statements a company has to produce)

KPI = Key Performance Indicators – measurements used to evaluate how well a team or firm is performing

KM = Knowledge Management – a strategic approach to insights undertaken by companies

RRP = Recommended Retail Price – the price customers should pay suggested by the manufacturer

I hope you find these abbreviations useful. If anyone would like to know the meaning of other common business acronyms – or if you have found an acronym that you want to share with other people, visit the Milan Business English Network on Facebook or add a comment here.

Business English False Friends

First of all, what is a false friend? This, as I’m sure everyone knows already, is a word in one language that looks or sounds similar to a word in another language, but – and here’s the important bit – it has a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MEANING! There are thousands of English words that are similar to Italian ones (and vice-versa), e.g. the word “actually” in English means "really" / "in fact", but not “now” or “currently” (attualmente) (and, just to make things more difficult, “currently” doesn’t mean “correntemente”, which is “fluently”).

There are, indeed, hundreds of such false friends that crop up (appear unexpectedly) in Business English – usually at the most inconvenient or awkward time! So, to answer your question, here’s a list of some of the more common English / Italian business false friends:

Agenda / diary 
This is a classic false friend that usually occurs at least once in every Business English class or meeting between English and Italian speakers. The word “agenda” in English means “l’ordine del giorno” in Italian – a list of points to discuss at a meeting. The little book you write down all your appointments in is a diary – not an agenda. (And, of course, the word “diary” not only sounds like Italian “diario”, but has the same meaning – a book in which you record your impressions and experiences on a daily basis. However, while you may have a desk diary or appointment diary on your desk (“agenda”), you are unlikely to have a “diario”, unless you are a writer or an artist.)

(Incidentally, if you want to read one of the most entertaining diaries ever written, I recommend Salvador Dalí’s “Diary of a Genius” – the perfect antidote to a stressful day at work.)

Mail / email / post
Here’s another common mistake where the same words are used with a slightly different intention. The word “mail” in English is an uncountable noun (like “water” or “coffee”) and it means something sent or received though the postal system (usually letters). “Mail” is more commonly used in the US, while in Britain we prefer to use the expression “(the) post”. Now, in modern Italian it is perfectly acceptable to say “un mail” when you are referring to the messages you send and receive in Outlook, Gmail or whatever electronic service you use. But you can’t say “a mail” in English! This is not only because the word “mail” is uncountable, but also because “mail” only refers to paper. Instead, you should say “I received an email” (sometimes written with a hyphen: e-mail). While you can “post” messages on a blog or web page, and you can read the “posts” that have been written, don’t talk about “electronic post”. Just use “email”.

Want to discover more Business English false friends? Join the Milan Business English Network on Facebook, where you can find not only answers to your most puzzling questions, but also meet new people who have the same interests as you.

Quick questions

Question: At school my English teacher told me that we always use the Present Continuous for actions happening at the time of speaking. What does this mean? What is “the time of speaking”?

Answer:  The time of speaking means when you say the sentence. For example, if you are driving to Rome and someone phones you (and you reply using your hands-free phone, of course) you would say: "I’m driving to Rome" because you are actually (really) doing the action when you say it (i.e. (that is) at the moment of speaking).

If you are sitting at home and someone asks you how you normally get to work, you would say “I drive” (using the Present Simple) because you are not driving at the moment you say the sentence.
So, if you are doing the action when you speak, you use the Present Continuous. But if you are not doing the action at the moment of speaking, use the Present Simple.


Question: When do we use “a” and when do when we use “an”?
Answer: Use the indefinite article “a” or “an” when you are talking about something (a noun) in general – not a particular, defined noun. Use “a” before a consonant sound, e.g. (for example) a book, a camera. Use “an” before a vowel sound, an apple, an umbrella. But be careful! Some words which begin with a vowel don’t have a vowel sound, e.g. a university.


Who is the Chancellor of the Exchequer – and what does he (or she) do?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (usually referred to more simply as the Chancellor) is really just the British Finance Minister. The finance department is known in Britain as the Treasury. The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Conservative politician George Osborne, a minister in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat (Lib-Con) coalition government. 

Make that call! (Part 1)

Effective business telephone calls in English are not as difficult as you think, as Robert Dennis explains...

Do you have to make an important call?

Are you afraid of using the phone in English? Do your hands start to shake when you dial a telephone number and know that you will have to not only speak in English – but also understand the other person? And would you rather send (= Would you prefer to send) an email in order to avoid (evitare) the situation completely? Well, you are not alone. Millions of non-native speakers of English face exactly this situation every day – often at work and in high stress environments, where there is no alternative to talking on the phone.

But using the phone in English doesn’t need to be a nightmare (incubo). If you follow the simple suggestions described below – and learn some of the key business telephone expressions included in section 2 of this article – you will soon find that making phone calls in English is one of the simplest and most direct ways of communicating with your clients, customers or other colleagues.

Steps to making the perfect business phone call

Stop! Take your hand off that receiver (cornetto). Before you pick up the phone... PREPARE! Get yourself ready first – and you will find it much easier to make that important business call. Here’s a checklist of things you can do before you phone someone:

1. Write down the main points that you want to discuss with the person you are going to speak to.

These don’t need to be long notes – in fact, it’s better that you don’t write whole sentences, as you will sound as if you’re reading from a script. (Think of those telephone calls you get from banks and other large companies where an operator sitting in a call centre reads from a long prepared script. It’s like talking to a robot, isn’t it?) Just jot down (write quickly) a few bullet points – single words and short phrases are best. For example:


Contact: Chris Hemming, HKR Communications:

• New designs for brochure

• Printing – how much? When?

• Payment – euros or pounds?


Having these notes in front of you – even if they’re just written on a yellow Post-It™ will help you to focus on what you want you want to say and enable you to structure the conversation.


2. Create the perfect telephoning conditions, if possible.
Get everything ready before you phone. If you’re in a noisy (rumoroso) office, try and find a quiet place where you can make the call. Ideally (perfectly) in a room where you can shut the door to keep background noise to a minimum. Try and choose a time to call when you know the other person will not be in a hurry and has time to speak. (Avoid phoning at awkard (difficult) times, such as early on Monday morning and late on a Friday afternoon. Think about it: would you be happy if someone phoned you during these periods?) Have a pad (blocco noti) and a pen in front of you (with your notes from point 1, above). (You may find it useful to write down words and phrases that the other person says as you are trying to understand them. You can then use these to help form your own replies and questions). If you need to discuss a proposal, design or similar document with the other person, it’s much easier if you both have it on your desk in front of you. You can then refer to the appropriate pages, paragraphs or details that you need to talk about. Send an email with your document attached and ask the other person to print it out or have it open on their PC when you call. Arrange a suitable time to speak so that you can both get ready. (Even for two native speakers, this can save a lot of time.) Spending a short amount of time creating a relaxed, well-ordered phoning environment will be worth the effort (vale la pena) when you are in the middle of the call.



3. Rehearse (provare) the call. You can either do this silently in your head, or (preferably) speaking out loud (ad alta voce). (Of course, you will probably want to do this when no one else is around – or you may find your colleagues are slightly worried (ansiosi) that you are under so much stress that you are talking to people without actually (really) using the telephone!) Think about what you will say, the type of reply you will receive and any possible points or questions that could come up (happen) during the conversation. If you know there are some tricky (difficult) names or technical words that you will have to say, practice them before you ring (phone) the other person. Be ready to spell long or difficult words. (e.g. If you need to tell someone that the project meeting will be in Domodossola, think of words that you can use to spell this out over the phone: “D as in Difficult, O as in Orange, M as in Manchester”, etc.). If you are giving someone a number, such as phone number or account number, get the other person to repeat it back to you. Of course, if there is any really important written information that you need to pass on (give) or receive, tell the other person you will send an email (and don’t forget to send it) – or get them to send one to you.



4. Take a deep breath.
If it’s a really important, make-or-break call, get yourself physically ready. Do some deep breathing exercises before you speak. (Breathe in, count slowly to five, breathe out, repeat two or three times.) You will then find you start the call in a Zen-like state of calm (peaceful relaxation), even if you start to find yourself struggling (lottando) as the call progresses. Have a drink in front of you – when you get stressed your throat (gola) can dry out – which can make you sound even more stressed. Even if it’s only a bottle of mineral water, keep some liquid nearby so you can take a few sips (sorsi) when the other person’s speaking. (A drink’s OK, if you can swallow (inghiottire) quietly, but never eat or chew gum while you’re speaking on the phone – the receiver (microtelefono) amplifies the sound and it’s like talking to a cement-mixer (betoniera) – plus, it can make you more difficult to understand.)


Go ahead and dial

Right, so we’ve looked at how you can prepare for that big call you need to make. Now, let’s consider some survival strategies you can use to help you to help you make it to the end of conversation.

• Put yourself in control

If you phone someone up – using the suggestions in the previous situation – you will automatically be in a better frame of mind than if the other person calls you when you are not ready or in the middle of something else. If it’s a really bad time (for example, the fire alarm has just gone off or your boss (capo) is standing in front of you with a long list of figures that need to be checked (controllato) immediately) ask the other person if you can call them back. (You might even decide to use this as a ruse (stratagemma) so that you can make sure you are 100% (per cent) ready, even if you have to tell a white lie (bugia pietosa), e.g. you’re just about to go into a meeting, but you’ll phone them when you come out.


• Get the other person to slow down

This can be more of a problem if you’re talking to a native speaker: non-native speakers of English know that it is difficult to communicate in a foreign language – particularly on the phone. However, a native English speaker, particularly someone who has little experience of talking to foreigners, may not realise this. Trying to understand a British or American person rabbiting on (parlare a vanvera) at high speed (a tutta velocità) can be incredibly frustrating. Why not tell the person you are speaking to at the beginning of the call that you do speak English, but you sometimes find it a bit tricky (difficult) to understand everything, so it would be a lot easier if they spoke a little (more) slowly. If the other person starts to speed up during the conversation (which is what usually happens), gently remind them to slow down. If you communicate with the same person on a regular basis they will eventually learn to do this automatically when they speak to you, but you need to train (addestrare) them at the beginning.


• Ask the other person to repeat something if you don’t understand

Don’t assume that if you miss (non cogliere) something it probably isn’t that important anyway: it may be the most important thing in the conversation! If you suspect that you haven’t heard something properly – or you simply haven’t understood – ask the other speaker to say it again or to explain. (If you have to do this repeatedly, try and make a joke (scherzo) of it – getting the other person to co-operate is much easier if you keep the tone of the conversation light-hearted (allegro) and friendly. You can still do this and remain professional. Indeed, the more serious or complicated the topic is, the more important it is to make sure that you are both communicating as effectively as possible – and it’s much easier to communicate with someone you like – and who likes you. If you don’t understand a word or phrase because of the way the other person is saying it, try asking them a question like “Sorry, did you say envelopes?” or give them a choice: “Er, sorry, was that thirteen (13) or thirty (30)? I didn’t quite catch what you said.”)


• Check that you both understand and agree on what has been said or decided

It’s surprising how often (even in your native language) you think you’ve said one thing, but the other person has understood something completely different. Even if (or especially if) the two speakers are highly educated, intelligent people, they can get their wires crossed (capirsi male, literally: incrociare le file). At the end of the conversation, summarise what you have agreed or check to see what the other person thinks you have said:

So, are we agreed, them? I’ll send over the designs to your office and you can decide which one you want – and that you’ll confirm that in writing?
- Yes, that’s right.


Focus on action and outcomes (risultati)

You don’t normally phone people up at work just for a chat – and if you do, you probably know the other person very well anyway, so anything important you have to communicate can be done in a fairly relaxed way. Contacting someone you don’t know very well (if at all) in a foreign language, particularly when you are already under stress from other factors (such as deadlines (scadenze) or a bad phone line) demands that you have an effective approach. The key to making a successful business telephone call is to focus on what you want to achieve – on the practical result (or results) of the call. Before you call, ask yourself these questions:

• Why you are making this call?
• Are you talking to the right person?
• What do you want that person to do after the call?
• What do you need to do?
• Does the other person need any more information? Do you?
• Is there any other way you could achieve the same result without making the call?


Why you are making this call?
Be clear about why you are calling. If you are phoning to ask someone whether they have finished the report you need, stick to that topic – don’t be tempted to introduce another point simply because you have that person on the line. If you cannot resist, hint (accennare) that you need to talk about the other topic later and then phone them again on a different occasion, or send an email. (Remember: information is like whisky: its effect is more powerful when it’s neat than when it’s diluted.)

Are you talking to the right person?
If you need a decision, talk to the decision maker whenever possible. Spending an hour explaining your proposal to an assistant may, at best, result in the information being passed on more or less successfully, or the other person simple might explain that they have to ask their boss. Even then, you could find yourself having to repeat everything you said when you finally talk to the person who can give you a definite “yes” or “no”.

What do you want that person to do after the call?
A business telephone call is a little bit like writing a good computer program. You have to have a clear objective – an output or goal – at the beginning, and everything you say during the call should lead (menare) to this objective. If you want someone to send you something, then make sure that you tell them what they have to send, exactly who and where it has to go and when you want it by. Failing to give all the necessary information will only result in delays or unnecessary follow-up calls (or emails) and requests for the name, address or date that wasn’t given during the call.

What do you need to do?
If you tell someone that you will send details of the agreement today, then send details of the agreement today. The longer you wait between hanging up and hitting the send button on your email, the less likely it is that the other person will act promptly (prontamente) and the more likely it is you will have to speak to them again and re-check what you have already agreed.

Does the other person need any more information? Do you?
Put yourself in the position of the person you are communicating with. If they want to contact you later, do they have all your details (phone, mobile (cellulare), address, etc)? Anticipate the other person’s needs or difficulties. Give them your direct number or extension (assuming you do want them to contact you again directly on the phone). If you have referred to a document or web page, send them the exact title or link so they can find it easily.

Is there any other way you could achieve the same result without making the call?
Ask yourself if this is really the best way of communicating with someone. Yes, speaking on the phone is the most direct means of communication, but there can also be many distractions – especially if the other person – or you yourself – are already pre-occupied with another task. A well-written email is often more effective than a phone call – and it also has the advantage that it can be referred to whenever the reader (or you) needs to check the information it contains. You certainly can’t do this (easily) with a phone call, unless you record (and transcribe) all your calls! Quite often the best way to communicate in business is to send someone a clear, well-structured email, follow it up with a brief call (even if it it’s just to check they have received – and read – the email). And then send a short follow-up email (a line or two) confirming in writing the action(s) you have agreed during the call.

Now you’re fully prepared mentally and physically – and with a clear phone strategy – you need some juicy (succoso, vantaggioso) business telephone phrases to make your call as professional and effective as possible. Read the next section, which contains a comprehensive range of useful language to help you achieve your results...

Note: the business telephone phrases in secton 2 of "Make that call!" will soon be available as premium content or to students taking professional business courses with Robert Dennis. (That's enough free content...)

Words in the media: Crunch

If you’ve been reading the British press over the last few years, and in particular the coverage of the global financial crisis, there is one phrase that you will have found keeps cropping up: the credit crunch.

The term “credit crunch” relates to the lack of available credit, particularly the reluctance of banks to lend to each other (a practice known as interbank lending). Credit crunch is a suitably dramatic-sounding phrase that works well on TV and in newspaper stories, especially in headlines (where it can be simplified to just crunch when space is limited).

The word crunch lierally means to crush food between the teeth as when you bite into an apple. It can also suggest a sudden, powerful movement, such as the violent, metallic grinding sound produced when a car driver tries to change gear suddenly (known as crunching the gears). There is, I suppose, a cognitive similarity between this and the sudden shift in normal banking practice that caused an important mechanism in the economy to instantly seize up.

A large number of financial English phrases depict money and capital as a liquid (liquidity, currency, cash-flow, cash injection, etc). The image, then, of this liquid suddenly not flowing (as, for example, when we talk about funding drying up, or turning off the tap) or becoming solid (as in freezing someone’s assets) suggests that the financial engine of a business has stalled; there is an interruption to the flow of capital that it needs to keep running. Likewise, the credit crunch is both a metaphor for the sudden malfunction of the banking and finance sectors due to the absence of liquidity; and, of course, it’s also a description of the impact this has had on the wider economy as companies, in particular retailers and manufacturers – and consumers – are suddenly unable to operate because the machinery of financial institutions and markets have ground to a halt.

There are a number of ideas associated with “crunch”. The most common of these is that of eating something crunchy, such as an apple or a slice of toast. In order to crunch something it has to be hard to begin with but is then physically broken down by the action of one’s molars crushing it. Compare this to chewing, which is similar, but which involves a slightly different process. When you chew something, such as chewing gum or nougat you grind it between your back teeth, but instead of destroying or transforming its structure you are simply softening it while it retains its essential integrity. For example, if you chew a piece of meat it’s still a piece of meat when you swallow it. A bolus (the “ball” of food you make with your mouth) of apple or toast on the other hand has lost all its original texture (otherwise you would choke as it went down).

Crunch also suggests the act of biting into something (as in the expression to crunch into an apple), while chew implies that you have already either bitten off a piece or cut up something which is now entirely inside your mouth. (Think of the English expression to bite off more than you can chew.) If you were eating something which is chewy but too large to put in your much all at once (such as a Curlywurly, a popular sweet (confectionery) in Britain circa 1975, which consisted of long plaited strips of toffee dipped in chocolate), you would still have to bite off part of the Curlywurly before you could chew it.)

On the subject of confectionery nostalgia, the Double Decker (does it still exist?) consisted of a crunchy chocolate biscuit layer with a chewy soft nougat layer on top. The whole thing was coated in milk chocolate and the TV advertising that accompanied it (inevitably accounting for more than half of its appeal) featured legendary bearded political satirist and whimsical humorist Willy Rushden insisting that the Double Decker was alternately chewy and crunchy. (I suppose you really have to be British to appreciate this; it’s similar to listening to Italians discussing exactly which sugo (sauce) you need to have with farfalle (bow-tie pasta) in order to get exactly the right taste-texture sensation – the narcissism of small difference writ large?)

Crunchie, a honeycomb bar covered in chocolate, was (and indeed still is) crunchy. It’s classic advertising slogan “Get that Friday feeling” neatly combined the exploited worker’s alienation from his / her labour (you’re only happy when the weekend is nearly here) with the consumer’s ever-present desire for (and belief in) instant gratification (Why wait till Friday to feel happy? Have a chocolate bar now and it’ll cheer you up, even though it’s Monday morning.)

The expression number cruncher, which means someone who works with figures, usually statistics, is a slightly derogatory way of describing a person who only focuses on calculations and quantities, perhaps at the expense of imagination or creativity. (A similar prejudice is demonstrated by calling an accountant or book-keeper a bean counter.)

Crunch can also mean “important” or “critical” as in the phrases crunch time / moment or a crunch vote in Parliament or the US House / Senate (a decisive vote). Perhaps here, the underlying idea is that something is irrevocable and the players are under enormous pressure. I have the image of rocks being smashed together under an intolerable force, violently producing a dramatic result. I seem to remember something from school geography about metamorphic rock (marble?) being created this way (as opposed to igneous or sedimentary rock).

It’s also reminiscent of the car crunchers (or crushers) that were obligatory in every US police or detective show of the 1970s. In a scrapyard (junkyard, US) an outsize Ford or Thunderbird is grabbed by a huge magnet at the end of a chain hanging down from a swing arm. The car dangles in the air, swaying like a condemned criminal dispatched on a gibbet. Finally the arm swings round and the electro-magnet is suddenly cut. The car falls into the demonic jaws of a crusher, where it is pounded and buckled into a compact metallic cube, which the machine spits out onto a conveyor belt. A multi-layered symbol, the car crusher stands variously for:

• an immediate threat (quite often the driver would still be in the car, at the mercy of the mob boss waiting to give the signal – a raised cigar – to the crane operator)
• the brutality and callousness of the disposable consumer culture, chewing up and spitting out not only used cars, but also surplus Motown labour and dwindling natural resources
• a stand-in for the destroyer god in polytheistic religions (such as the Hindu divinity Kali). The feeding arm and the hydraulic jaws suggest a powerful (and hungry) being that must be propitiated, like the Minotaur. This seems to play on our deep-seated fear of becoming someone else’s lunch (and the unintentionally terrifying promise of overbearing Jewish grandparents that “Oy, I could eat you!” which their diminutive descendant may not realise is actually metaphorical)

The car crusher is invariably stopped at the very last moment by the hero (literally) putting a spanner in the works. (A device used in countless Hollywood films, including perhaps most memorably the Coen Brother’s Art Deco critique of American capitalism, The Hudsucker Proxy.) The gears crunch, the grinding jaws are suspended in a quivering, twitching vibrato that lasts just long enough for the potential victim to escape, followed immediately by the resumption of the screeching and growling of metal against metal (although with a slightly different twist in The Hudsucker Proxy – watch the DVD). Just so with the economic recovery, the anticipated resumption of business as normal – the newly-lubricated wheels of industry are starting to turn again. Capitalism may be a bad thing but the effects of a financial system coming to a halting, crunching end (with little sign of a revolution to follow) seem a lot worse. (Perhaps a case of the devil you know…).

On a final alimentary (food) note, the word crunch in Anglo-Saxon FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) marketing seems reserved for products made from nuts (including crunchy peanut butter) or for (sweet) biscuits. It is not normally applied to savoury things, such as crisps (patatine), which, however, in Italian are considered “croccante” (crunchy). Crisp in English suggests a certain brittleness of texture, while crunchy implies that something would bear at least several bites – i.e. it would have a certain durability or resistance (like a nut) not present in something as insubstantial as a crisp.