Have you ever come across someone you wanted to talk to in their language, and they kept interrupting you every single time you made a mistake? Or perhaps they just reverted back to English whenever you took a little more time to gather your thoughts, not letting you...
How cultural differences impact financial risk taking
Our willingness to take risks influences how we decide and behave in many situations. Culture certainly influences individual risk-taking. Lessons from an interesting conversation about global financial risk at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos. In the...
Top 10 economies by GDP ranking – a look at the past, present and future
Anything that concerns the economies of countries around the world tells also a lot about their culture, their history, their challenges, strengths and weaknesses, where they come from and where they're going. These fascinating graphs show the top 10 countries with...
“Take cover” – Insurance terms and where they come from
The word 'insurance' - originally from Latin, stemming from 'sure', meaning secure, has been part of the English language since the 1550s. It began its journey as a variant of 'ensurance', which is an alteration of assurance - all very similar terms but they all went...
Jeremy Hunt’s Chinese/Japanese gaffe and what we can learn from it
Jeremy Hunt's slip of the tongue made headlines the other day: "My wife is Japanese - my wife is Chinese. Sorry, that's a terrible mistake to make." Here is our take on the story, from a linguistic point of view. Before we'd jump to conclusions about...
Is your accent holding you back? Watch Arianna Huffington speak English
Arianna Huffington’s story demonstrates clearly how learning a new language can pave someone’s way to become one successful business leader – despite accent.
Jack Ma on learning English and doing business in a global world
Right at the beginning of this short documentary, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba.com, the world’s largest online retailer explains how learning English as a free tourist guide for visitors that came to China had helped him not only to acquire vital language skills that...
The power of non-verbal communication across cultures
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship, either personal or professional. However, what is more important? What we say or how we say it? We are constantly communicating at different levels, either using words or silence. Did you know that around...
German ad slogans in English advertising
It's the second time I come across a German product ad using a German slogan in the English speaking market. “Audi: Vorsprung durch Technik.” And now: “Miele: Immer besser.” I asked my English native connections on LinkedIn and Twitter whether it is about the 'Made in...
Why speaking English is simply not enough when doing business internationally
English is the lingua franca of business, but if you use this fact as an excuse to avoid having to learn a language, you may actually lose out on a lot.