The History of English language - Old English period

Introduction:-

            According to the historians of English language, history of English language can be divided into three main stages in its development.

1. Old English period (Anglo-Saxon) ( A.D. 600 to 1100)
2. Middle English period (1100 to 1500)
3. Modern English period (1500 onwards)

          It's must not imagined that in any of these years there was a complete or sudden change. During this period a person would quite unaware of any differences. He might denied to agree with these changes. The reason of all these things are that language is evolutionary not static. But in some ages the development is more rapid than others. For the sake of convenience, the historians of the language has to erect landmark somewhere and the dates chosen are not altogether arbitrary. According to this concept.,

• By 600, the invading tribes Angles and Saxons had succeeded to establish power and implanting their language in Britain. For that reason this formate suitable starting point.
• In 1066, there was Norman invasion and conquest. By 1100 the Normans had strengthen their power and their language was beginning to influence the native Saxon tongue.
• 1500 marks a similar turning point because of Renaissance. It alters the character of English Church and the establishment of Tudor dynasty which made England a nation in a real sense.

             All these things had their influence on the language. And it becomes clear justification for selecting these years as the great landmarks in the development of our language. 

 

         Earlier inhabitants of this islands were Britons and their tongue was Celtic, that had relation with Norman France which now called Brittany. This was in Roman occupation from 55 BC to AD 410. Therefore it mixed with latin elements. Afterwards Angles, Saxons and Jutes came from North Germany and the language of this invaders become the language of Britain which is now called England.

Anglo-Saxon language:-

            Old English or Anglo Saxon was not a single homogeneous language, but it had many dialects, like modern time, which differs from different areas but the West Saxon dialect become the most important for two main reasons.,

1. It was the highly civilized Kingdom and was the first that attained political unity with a fairly ordered system of government.
2. Most of the literature of the period was written in the wessex dialect. The main works which survives today are Beowulf, translation of religious books and anglo-saxon chronicles.

       But the English of today is descended the language of Wessex. It also traces other dialects. Their chief legacy to us is the existence of doublets, means two words that differs in meaning but has same origin. For instance,

# Whole and Hale both have same origin of the word hal. 

Anglo-Saxon grammar:-

           Anglo Saxon had very complicated grammar. By AD. 1000, considerable simplification took place and many inflections disappeared. There were a number of different declensions of noun and adjectives. In noun for example the nominative and accusative plural ended in -as and genitive singular in -es. But majority modern words form the plural by adding -s and genitive with an apostrophe -s.

         We can also see two other characteristics which affect present day speech. which are., 

 

1. Gradation:-

   

          The graduation is a scale of changes in parts of verbs according to stressed and an unstressed syllable, that change vowel sound. In the same way, the addition of a suffix lead to the root of a verb, which shifting accent and lead to modified in the root of syllable. For example.,

• drifan - drove - driven
• ridan - rode- ridden

        A shifting of stress cause verbal changes in some of these verbs, which is inherited by anglo-saxon ancestors, which still persist in our language.

 

           In modern English a list of verbs which show gradation would be extensive but It wouldn't include every one of those which appeared in Anglo Saxon. Today some words dispense with the gradation by the addition of the syllable -ed, like, to jump, to lock... In short , graduation is simplification of verbs rather than complex system.

2. Mutation:-

      

       Mutation simply means change. There is a change in vowel. The modification in vowel take place like.,

ā, æ, ō, ū, â, â, īō,...

By the modification to back vowels word fronted.

ā > ē, ā > æ, ō > æ, ō > ē

There are many anomatals in plural forms, like, foot-feet, goose-geese, but not foots or gooses. So, there are five main heads to justify this.

1. Mutated plurals
2. Mutated abstract nouns derived from adjectives
3. Verbs derived by mutation from cognate nouns
4. Verbs derived from adjectives by mutation
5. Mutated comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives.    

Dictionary:-

      Anglo-Saxon dictionary contains about twenty thousand words while our modern English recorded by the Oxford dictionary is over 400,000 words. But it might belong to the Angle and Saxon's dictionary. There was a foreign influence in it. Majority of this words may noticed and named by primitive tribes.

For example.,

»The name of common animals because Nomadic tribes would have an association with these animals in their daily lives.

»Indo European tribes knew little about agriculture so that the word like to plough can be traced back to the parent tongue.

»Indo European have given us the words for red and yellow, but they hadn't described green. Red of the sunset and yellow of the autumn leaves.

         Original language of Britain was Celtic but it is neglected because of the invaders in 5th or 6th century but a few survivors persisted mainly refer to natural features of the landscape.

★Danish and Norse elements:-

          The Danish and the Norse element in old English is also very important to the future development of English language. The invasion of the Danes started towards the end of the 8th century, when Norse invaders attacked and plundered the east coast and established a few settlement there. As a result of irregular attacks, these settlement become more numerous. They also carry out the Southern and Northern part of England. Due to the Treaty of Wedmore in 878, England divided into two parts. Southern part is of Danes territory, and Northern part was left under Saxons jurisdiction. In 1017 to 1035, a Danish king sat on the English throne.

The influence of these events upon Anglo-Saxon language present three directions.,

1. Place names in the territory settled by the Norsemen

2. The introduction of new words of Danish or Norse origin

3. Modification of existing language

                      According to Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, five hundred words are still in usage, which have Norse origin or it's influence. But comparatively, small part of it still existed, so Danish influence was fairly whispered and went deep.

Representative words of Danish and Norse origin or influence.

★ Danish influence in place names:-. This is to be found mainly in the termination -by, - toft, -thwaite, and -thrope. For example, Whitby, Selby, Grimsby, Lowestoft, Slaithwaite, Mablethorpe, Nortgorpe, etc. 

★ Danes got some words which were adopted into English language like, flit which is used for to move one's residence or place of business, it is of Norse origin. The two most common and most frequently used verbs are get and take are introduced by Danish and of Norse origin. 

★ Husband is of a Norse origin. Modern sister is taken from Norse syster. Knife, Big and most of the names of the days and of the week enshrine remnants of Norse mythology and folk-lore. 

★ We can see the Norse influence upon the native tongue in the direction of a modification of pronunciation. Like c and k, g, y etc.

              But in spite of this foreign influences, English as it is spoken and written today is still for the most part a Saxon tongue. According to "The history of the English language" by professor Emerson, the great English writers have mainly written his works in language of native origin. The following table gives result of his investigations.,

     

              He further analyses that probably the English language despite of all its borrowings and all the foreign influence, is predominantly Anglo-Saxon in character. Generally the Saxon words in a language come very near to our daily life and concern some of the most common and essential things of existence as well as the most elementary occupation and the more obvious natural phenomena. Like the closer family relationship like, father, mother, brother, etc. existed in old English and have handed down to the present day.  The names of most of our staple food like, bread, butter, milk, meat etc. House and home are of native origin. 

Conclusion:-

            After analysing a brief history of the old English (Anglo-saxon) period, we come to know that old English or the Anglo-saxon language is still in existence, it's also true that some modifications came due to foreign invasions and their influence upon the language, but the native tongue still persisted and preserved in one way or the other. Our Anglo-saxon ancestors have left a huge legacy of language for us.

                  

        

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Importance of Listening in Business

          

Introduction:-

              It is said that,

We have two ears and one mouth that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

            The process of listening starts from our birth. We first of all learn to listen, then to speak, then to read and finally to write. In our daily life we spend, on average 45% of the time listening, 30% speaking, 15% reading and 10% writing. As a second language people we need to first focus on listening with full of attention. It is also important to be confident that we have heard and understood correctly, that we take it for granted. So, this module is based on listening and understanding skill in English in five steps.,

1. Be a good listener:-

      Dave Frances, in his book lists eight main aspects of a good listener., 

1. Maintain a comfortable body position:-  Sometimes it is almost impossible to talk with a person who is sitting on the edge of their chair or fidgeting the whole time. For that you need to relax to listen properly and to give the right signals to the speaking partner.

2. Is quiet and attentive:-  While the talk is going on don't interrupt too many times, that can break the link of thought of speaker, and give the feeling that you want to take over the conversation.

3. Keep eye contact:-  During conversation listener looks at speaker 75% of the time and speaker look at the listener 40% of the time. This is because the listener is trying to show interest, and by looking at the face of the speaker and especially to the mouth, the listener can more easily understand what is being said. 

4. Show interest:-  We show interest by nodding our heads and by using encouraging sounds, words and phrases like, 'mmmhm', ' I see', ' I understand', 'Really!', Oh I know', etc. These signals tell our partner that we've understood and want them to continue.

5. Allow silence:-  silence up to 5 seconds or so allows the other person to collect their thoughts. A longer silence can become operative and pressurize your partner.

6. Ask questions to check understanding:-  The questions like, "what did you mean...?" "When was that?" "Why did he go there?" check the understanding, it is also the way of expressing interest.

7. Avoids jumping to the conclusion:-  Don't try to make judgements or jump to conclusions before the other person has finished what they want to say. By giving your partner space they need to complete a train of thought it also give you the time to ensure your understanding.

8. Summarise:-  The short summaries, like, ''So what you are saying is..." "So if I have understood you correctly...", Are useful for both conversation partner the speaker can correct any misunderstandings whilst the listener feel reassured.

2. Control conversation:-

       There is three simple language tools which help you to keep control of any conversation.,

1. Interrupt:-

           During conversation, if you are not sure you have understood something, don't be afraid to interrupt immediately. 'Excuse me', 'just a moment' and 'sorry?' are very common ways of interrupting. It is important to interrupt as soon as possible if you haven't understood in order to keep control of the call.

2. Slow down:-

           To clarify understanding and to say what you think, use special phrases to slow down people. Like,

• When someone is speaking to quickly use "Could you take it a little more slowly, please?"
• When they have a difficult accent or dialect use, "Could you speak a bit more clearly please?"
• When you haven't understood use, "I'm afraid I didn't get that."
• When you didn't hear what was said use, "I'm afraid I didn't catch that."
• When you want to say something yourself use, "Can I just come in here?"
• When the speaker uses a word you don't know use, "What did you mean when you said...?"

3. Summarise:-

  

         Make short summaries at regular intervals in order to confirm understanding and agreement. It allows you to move the conversation along whilst at the same time checking understanding. And you should always summarise all the main points you have discussed right at the end of a telephone call. This final summary also indicates you want that call to end.

3. Interact:-

            In any conversation, how you listened is as important as how you speak. So here are some tips about how to listen well.

Listen actively:-  It helps you concentrate on what other person is saying. You can use body language signals to show you understand and to encourage the other person to continue. You can also say things like, "right", "I see" and "ok". You can repeat keywords to check or confirm your understanding. You can even repeat a wall sentence or a phrase. 

Get the main message:-  Usually there are the words speakers emphasize with their voice. You can often understand the mean meaning of a speaker just by identifying the key words, even if you miss everything in between.

Listen between the lines:-  Often what is not said is as important as what is said. e.g., if you ask a dinner guest "Did you like the special regional sausages?" And they reply, "The source was lovely." This probably indicates the sausages were not to the test.

Listen with feeling:-  try to understand the feelings behind the words. Show empathy as well as your understanding of what they actually say. 

Listen with your eyes:-  in face to face communication be observant and monitor your speaking partner's body language. Gestures and facial expressions of an underline the meaning of what they are saying. It gives you quite clear idea of how they feel about the subject you are discussing.

4. Control native speakers:- 

          Advance and native speakers of English can easily dominate second language speakers. Fluency, wide vocabulary and self-confidence are natural to them. They may use slang and idiomatic expressions, have a strong regional dialect, speak quickly or use special culture bound humour. All of these can make them difficult to understand and they are unaware of the effect. For that we need to remind them that they are difficult to understand or talking too much. But sometimes they try to misuse the advantages they have in English. And it is used as a weapon against you rather than as a tool to create mutual understanding. To control them, here are some dirty- tricks;

‣ Interrupt them at regular intervals and ask for an explanation. It might give you the chance to give your ideas and opinions.

‣  After their long, fluent input, ask them to summarise in two sentences. As a result, they will talk more briefly.

‣  Ask them to explain any culture bound jokes a second time. A good joke can't be told twice, so don't laugh at the explanation. Just say, ' I see'.

‣ Whenever they show linguistic insensitivity, speak a few sentences in your native language and make them feel insecure too.

‣ Discuss process rather than content. Take up the problem of language imbalance and ask the native speaker how they intend to solve it.

                   Generally, in our international business communication, we want relationship based on trust and mutual respect. So be polite at first to keep up the good relationship but if it fails, use some "Dirty-Tricks" to protect yourself and your ideas.

            

5. Practice listening:-

             Practice listening simply means just use your ears. To practice listening you need to follow tips given below.,

‣ You can listen English language Radio station like BBC World service or the news on CNN. Both have business news slots with an international context.

‣ There are many audio books on business that you can use to practice listening.

‣ Record business material from to the TV or radio. Listen it and try to understand every word of particular session.

‣Test your listening skills by using the five minute recording for dictation practice. Write out transcript and ask someone to check it.

‣ Get soundtrack DVDs, video tapes, film or series with business connection. Start watching it with subtitles and when you think you know what is going on, delete subtitles.

‣ Attend business seminars, lecturers and courses.

‣ Go to theatre production in English. Read about the play beforehand so that you know the outline story.

Conclusion:-

        To conclude, we can realise that listening attentively is too vital while working internationally and mostly in business context. We need to be confident what we have heard and understood correctly and do not take it granted.

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Learning with and from other tools (Social networking tools)

 

 Introduction:-   

              There are various online ways in which we can communicate with others to develop business English. like, blog email. Explosion of social networking tools allow you to create a network of people online with whom you can share similar interest. It allows you to share text, multimedia, favourite websites and more. It's availability is only just a beginning. Many people see the future of the internet and the world-wide-web upon which people can build networks and communities together. This can be for entertainment, for informal education or for business.

           In any event, these networks of individuals will become even richer resources, for learners of most disciplines, including language. This short module will give an overview of the more popular tools that are already being used by business English learner. Which are.,

1. Sharing bookmarks
2. Second life

1. Sharing bookmarks:-

  

              In this 21st century, we all have our favourite websites and many of us keep track of them using the "bookmarks" or "favorites" function on browsers. Up to now our bookmarks were private that only we could see them. That mean we couldn't see the bookmarks of someone else who had the same interest as us. But it is now changed with bookmarks sharing facilities. Like., http://del.icio.us and www.ikeepbookmarks.com . Both do very similar things; but first one is very widely used. It allows you to do three things.,

1. Share your bookmarks with other people
2. View other people's bookmarks
3. Search everyone's bookmarks using tag (key words)

            Whenever you bookmarks a website, del.icio.us will ask you if you would like to give that website tag. For example, if you wanted to bookmark the page www.sharepages.com; del.icio.us window will look like this.,

       This del.icio.us automatically puts in the description for you that mean it gets this information from the webpage, and you enter any notes you want to, and add text of your own choosing. When anyone search the website on which you have put your tags those tags will be shown your link to that website.

        This is an excellent system because unlike search engines such as Google, it categorises websites according to the words are used on them because this tagging system relies on what other people say about a website. 

          A new added benefit of using social bookmarking services that you can always access your bookmarks from any internet-connected computer, that mean you can do it from a public computer also.

2. Second Life:-

             Since the late 1990s, there have been a number of "Virtual Reality Worlds" online available. It allows you to represent yourself with a photo or drawing, then move around within the world, text chat or voice chat with other, build your own house, village or Island and even start a business. The most popular of this virtual world is "Second Life" which has become popular since around 2005.

          

            Within Second Life you will find lots of businesses representing themselves. This can be a small, one person business, but even large companies such as, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Adidas, Intel and Dell have their own areas within second life. In the Dell area for example you can order a computer, chat to other people who are logged in at the same time to discuss what computer to buy or any problem you have. 

                 

              In addition, many companies use Second life as a medium through which to make live announcement about new products for example, quarterly or early financial report. Various artists and musicians have held press conference in second life and Duran Duran have even announced plans to hold a concert there. As a result a second life is already a rich environment in which you can practice and improve your English whether business related or more informal language.

             To use the Second Life, you have to install the software and sign up in order to get a username which is free. Once you have a username, you can improve your English with the help of it.

Conclusion:-

            Thus, Social Networking tools connect you with the whole world by internet. Sharing bookmarks and second life are the prominent part of it. This  short module, will help to improve business English.

                         

Negotiation

 

"A miser and a liar bargain quickly".

Introduction:-

            According to the American management to Guru, the key attributes of the successful negotiator are the willingness to take risks, the ability to think under stress and stamina and patience. Pierre Cases lists three key skills for international negotiator,

• See the world as others see it
• Deal with ambiguous situations
• Express yourself so that everyone can understand.

          It is very important for second language negotiator to express themselves so that everyone can understand. There is five steps to improve our ability to negotiate clearly in English.,

1. Be prepared
2. Funnel your questions
3. If... , Then...
4. Recognise hidden signals
5. Use silence

1. Be prepared:-

             For international negotiation, it is necessary to 'Be prepared'. The preparation might take you little time, but it will help you to discover linguistic shortcomings. That will give you time to correct them. It is vital to have clear goal. For that you need to ask yourself three basic questions.,

• What is the optimum result I want?
• What is my walk away point?
• What is my BANTA ? ( Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement)

                  In other words, we need to decide three key points.,

• What you hope to gain
• The level where agreement becomes impossible
• What alternative you have if the negotiation fails

          After preparation of these elements, you need to put yourself in other side's shoe and ask yourself the same questions. By this exercise, you will know the sticking points. Also you need not to forget to take into consideration the positive or negative history of the relationship and what do you know about the cultural background of your negotiation partner, and their level of thinking.

             

            It is said that "failing to plan is planning to fail". So, these preparations allow you to rehearse and practice the language. Without pre- prepared and clearly stated in the target, you can concentrate on the negotiation process itself, rather than be struggling to find right words and argument.

2. Funnel your questions:- 

         In international negotiation it's important to make sure that you check your preparation and assumptions before start the hard bargaining. The questioning funnel is a practical tool to help you in this process.

         According to the questioning funnel it is necessary to start with general open questions like, issues, attitudes, opinions, feelings, context, relationships, need, etc. In a second step it is amiable to ask framing questions like How do you intend to market this? or How do you normally approve suppliers? In a third step you need to ask the questions based on "What if..." structure and to ask for evidence. After that a negotiator needs to check or specify the questions of their partner what he wants to ask. Then pushing questions and blockbuster questions. The questioning funnel closed with facts, figures, statics, information and hard issues.

 

         In short, this process funnel your questions will help you to check your preparation and assumptions before start the hard bargaining. You can also help this process along tell me more at any stage along the funnel. Silence is also a way to encouraging someone to add information to something they have said.

3. If... , Then...  :-

       Successful negotiation depends on bargaining, with both sides making proposals and counter proposals link it clearly to certain conditions.

As a competent international negotiator we need to be able to deal with different kinds of conditional sentences in English to send correct message to or business partner. For that we need three things.,

1. Make your own offers clear
2. Understand what the other side is offering
3. Indicate your level of acceptance or rejection of the offers

        There are many different types of conditional sentences in English and most of that are not complicated. How to use conditionals in negotiation with only need three basic forms that covers most of what you need to say. Which are...,

(a) You want to make a proposal which is likely or possible:-

        To signal to your partner that you think agreement is near and likely, the most common and easy conditional is;

     "If you accept the new delivery terms, then we will give you a 4% discount."

But don't use the future 'will' in the 'if' part of the sentence.

(b)  You want to make a proposal which is less likely or improbable:-

               

"If you accepted the new delivery terms, then we would give you a 2% discount."

    

            This conditional gives the feelings that you think your partner will be more reluctant to accept your proposal for you are making a counter proposal to an offer of theirs that you are not happy about.

But don't use 'would' in the 'if' part of the sentence.

(c). You want to show clearly that your partner's terms are unacceptable:- 

"If you had agreed to the New delivery terms, then we would have given you a 3% discount." ( But you didn't and so we won't)

This conditional is used after the negotiation to show what might have happened. But don't put would have in both parts of the conditional.

   

        So these three conditionals will help you to to deal with your partner easily and clearly.

4. Recognise hidden signals:- 

          Giving and understanding signals are all part of the skills of negotiating. But this can be problem for a second language speaker. For that you have to learn to listen between the lines listen for the words that more definite statements more tentative and listened for statement which only rule out one of any possible alternatives. For example.,

#We never negotiate on price!

This sounds very definite, but the hidden signal is that they would discuss delivery quality and quantities.

#These are our standard contract terms.

The implication is that there are also non standard terms available.

#We could not produce those quantities in that time frame.

But they are prepared to negotiate either the quantities or the times.

#Our price for that quantity is $40,000.

Different quality, different price!

#These are extremely reasonable conditions which we propose.

This is the position their prefer, but it's negotiable

         There is another kind of hidden signal. Some cultures preferred to understate difficulties and differences of opinion for the sake of politeness and to maintaining harmonious business relationship because they want to imply that all problems can be solved.  There are quantifiers like, bit, some, slight, a little, a few, minor, etc. that mean the problem is actually a considerable one. But while using this quantifiers, you need to make sure that you ask for clarification:

For example.,

#"There is a short delay in production." Check the exact timing.

"#I have some doubts about the project"  How many are some?

#"There seems to be a slight misunderstanding"  This is often used as a serious warning of difficulties.

'#"We just need a little more time"  Try to get your business partner to specify exactly how much more time they need.

   

             These understatements are not usually deliberate attempts to hide the truth. But be aware that soft words can sometimes hide deep this agreement.

     

5. Use silence:-

            Silence is a more important tool in negotiation. We are surrounded by the sea of noise from people and machine in our modern international business lives. But on the other hand, we know that silence can be a powerful and effective tool in our communication. In most European business situations.,

# Upto five seconds of silence listening is perceived as allowing the other person to gather their thoughts.

# Up to twenty seconds of silence is seen as encouraging them to continue speaking and adding to what they have already said.

# Over twenty seconds is perceived as pressuring them to make a confidential confession - as used in police interrogation!

          So silence is key listening skill which shows the concentration on what our business partner is speaking, that gives them time to think and encourage them to continue. If we remain silent, the other person will often add that piece of information we need in order to judge whether a deal is possible.

   

          Saying nothing can be as powerful as saying something. If you made a clear proposal say, So what do you think? and then sit back and wait. This often has the effect of forcing a concession from the other side. Silence is also useful when presenting your ideas. If you pause before part of your message, your business partner automatically sharpen their attention. If you pause after a statement, this underlines the importance of what you have just said.

Conclusion:-

               In a nutshell, we need to take these 5 tips into consideration before the negotiation or during the negotiation to make it successful. These will help you to deal with your business partner clearly. 

For the essay of Networking and Socialising click here