2006年6月8日

*Answering the phone *

   - Good morning/afternoon/evening, York Enterprises, Elizabeth Jones
   speaking.
   - Who's calling, please?

*Introducing yourself*

   - This is Paul Smith speaking.
   - Hello, this is Paul Smith from Speakspeak International.

*Asking for someone*

   - Could I speak to John Martin, please?
   - I'd like to speak to John Martin, please.
   - Could you put me through to John Martin, please?
   - Could I speak to someone who …

*Explaining*

   - I'm afraid Mr Martin isn't in at the moment.
   - I'm sorry, he's in a meeting at the moment.
   - I'm afraid he's on another line at the moment.

*Putting someone on hold*

   - Just a moment, please.
   - Could you hold the line, please?
   - Hold the line, please.

*Problems*

   - I'm sorry, I don't understand. Could you repeat that, please?
   - I'm sorry, I can't hear you very well. Could you speak up a little,
   please?
   - I'm afraid you've got the wrong number.
   - I've tried to get through several times but it's always engaged.
   - Could you spell that, please?

*Putting someone through*

   - One moment, please. I'll see if Mr Jones is available.
   - I'll put you through.
   - I'll connect you.
   - I'm connecting you now.

*Taking a message *

   - Can I take a message?
   - Would you like to leave a message?
   - Can I give him/her a message?
   - I'll tell Mr Jones that you called
   - I'll ask him/her to call you as soon as possible.

  2006年6月2日

When I take my daily after-dinner walk along the Zhao Jia Bang Road, in hope to find some cheap clothing stores, the staggering number of multinational enterprises operate and prosper in Shanghai always tickle my professional section of the brain. One of the first questions comes to my mind is “How do these companies overcome the cultural differences and avoid employee standoffs?” The answer to this seemingly simple question is actually fairly complicated. In the first part of my mini-series on “Suggestive Solutions on Global Employee Relationship Conflict”, I attempt to discuss and offer my view to the readers. Enjoy!

当我每天沿着肇家浜路饭后散步的时候，希望找到一些便宜的买衣服的地方，在上海日益增多的国际化公司总是能触动我的专业神经。我脑海里第一个问题是“这些公司是怎么去克服文化的差异，避免员工在文化上产生的疏远？”这个问题的答案看起来很简单但却又十分复杂。在我系列连载“给全球员工在文化关系冲突上的一些建议”中的第一部分，我将试图讨论和提供我在这方面的一些看法。希望大家能喜欢！

Many of today's global HR professionals and consultants recognize that the kind of preparation and training required to effectively communicate respect in multicultural environments does not involve a well defined solution that would work in every location—cultural diversity requires a customized approach. The key to enable respectful production in multicultural environment is developing a neutral perception that sheds the typical 'foreigner' vs. 'local' initial isolation, delusion or even standoff. Especially in cities such as Shanghai, where large multinational companies invest huge amount of resources, one must be much more sensitive about other cultures and languages, and the context that local nationals are operating in—when this is internalized, communicating respect comes across almost automatically. Sensitivity and ultimately being able to intuitively be respectful provides a venue to become comfortable with one another and build trust.

  2006年6月1日

Before I begin today’s discussion, I’d like to say a few things. China is hot. Shanghai is hot. My apartment which does not have an air conditioner is hot. Thirty one degrees is not common in Canada. Of course, it’s not a record high or anything but for those of you who have been to Canada or in my case, lived in Canada for decades, Shanghai’s wet, humid weather is a killer. The heat simply suffocates any hope of cool wind. And yet, Chinese don’t seem to be bothered or at least are accustomed to the heat. Crazy weather! Incredible people!

 在开始今天的讨论之前，我想先说点别的。中国太热了。上海太热了。我那没装空调的房间真是太热了。加拿大可是很少会出现31摄氏度的情况。当然啦，这样的天气也不算最热，但是对于去过加拿大或者像我一样在加拿大住了很多年的人来说，上海太潮湿了。又闷又湿的天气快要杀死人。天气那么热，没有一丝像要刮点凉风的迹象。可是，尽管如此，中国人看起来却一点也没受到天气困扰。或者也许是大家都习以为常了吧。噢！这让人疯狂的天气！还有这些不可思议的人们！

Here’s a challenge to the readers…Of the following items, which one is not suitable for business dinner?

 A)     Pizza

B)      Sushi

C)     Chinese cake

D)     Ice cream

  下面来个小测验吧。请问以下这些食物中，有哪一个不适合商务餐？

A)     披萨

B)      寿司

C)     中式蛋糕

D)     冰淇淋

 假设你准备和外国老板一起吃饭，那以上哪一样食物会显得不合适呢？

The answer is Pizza. Why is pizza? The reason is actually very simple. Melted cheese is watery. Unlike Chinese consumers, pizzas are normally handled with bare hands instead of forks. When you’re unsure of your foreign boss’ preference, you might want to avoid ordering pizza just in case you have to eat it with your bare hands. Knowledge such as this could help you from getting nowhere in your career to gaining the boss’ attention quickly. Due to my limited blog space, I can’t possibly teach you everything in a few articles. If you want to know more, our friendly costumers’ representatives are waiting for your calls at Kaide Education. 

答案就是披萨。为什么是披萨呢？答案其实非常简单。因为融化以后的奶酪是湿答答的。我们在吃披萨的时候一般会直接用手拿着吃，而不像中国人一样用叉子吃。如果你不确定你的外国老板喜欢吃什么，那你还是不要点披萨为妙。因为否则的话你们就得用手拿着吃了。了解这些细节能帮助你从工作上毫无进展的状态到迅速得到老板注意。鉴于我的博客篇幅有限，我没有办法用区区几篇文章来告诉你们所有这些有用的东西。如果你们想了解更多的话，没关系，我们亲切的凯德英语客服小姐正等着你们的电话呢。

  2006年5月30日

这篇文章是请朋友代为打字的。因为我的中文实在是不好。从小我在加拿大长大，被老外的E文长期毒害，导致我对祖国的汉字感到力不从心。就算是说话，有的时候，个别词句也会表达不出来。

大家现在看到的BLOG，英文部分是我的作品，中文的则是我朋友翻译的。不过我想也不错啊，中英文对照嘛，效果也许会比纯中文的更好呢，^_^

I had my first Kaide Business Class promotion class today. Felt pretty good. Hopefully people like what they saw and heard, and I welcome any suggestion. :D Ha-ha, I watched several Chinese singing contests last night. Admittedly, I didn’t think very high of the shows because I’m a rap fan. Pop music, bubble pop, love songs aren’t my cup of tea. But after a few minutes of watching fearless competitors strutting their body, skills, and sometimes, grossly applied makeup, my conclusion is, I should’ve join one of them too. At least I could add some gangster rap flavor to the mix. Ha-ha, all right, maybe I’d suffer too. :D

我今天在凯德做了第一次公开课演讲。感觉非常好。希望到场的人们能喜欢他们所见和所听的，同时我也希望任何建议和意见。哈哈，我昨天晚上看了很多歌唱比赛。事实上，我对这种唱歌秀并不非常喜欢。我个人喜欢Rap风格的流行音乐，抒情歌曲不是我的爱好。但是在我看了几分钟那些无所畏惧的参赛者开始扭动他们的身体，有时候很随便的补下妆面，我得到了一个总结，我也应该加入他们的队伍中。至少我可以在Mix的部分增加一些蹩脚的Rap风格。哈哈，好吧，说不定到时候我也会觉得很受罪吧。

Today’s topic is quite simple. Let’s do some exercises. For those of you who read my column, for those of you who are not afraid to reply to my column, let’s discuss the appropriate answer to the following question:

今天的话题很简单。我们来做一些练习。为了那些阅读我文章的朋友们，为了那些大胆给我回应的朋友们。让我来讨论一下如何合理的回答下列问题。

Assuming at an interview setting, you’re required to answer:

假设你正参加一个面试，你必须回答以下问题。

How would your university professor describe you?

你的大学教授是怎么评价你的？

Keep in mind that the answer should be related to your job qualification, your education, your experience and your quality. So, please post your thoughts, question and answer. I’ll reply to them at the earliest possible time.

  2006年5月26日

I studied the progress report of the students. I interviewed some of the group members. In the end, I came to the conclusion that the lack of effective leadership was the main reason of the group’s eventual collapse. Was there a team structure? Yes there was. Was there a sense of cooperation between the members? Yes there was. Was there communication among the members? Yes there was. But, there wasn’t any indication of strong leadership to CONTROL the team structure. There wasn’t any sign of strong leadership to direct the flow of communication. There wasn’t any hint of strong leadership to coordinate the cooperation. As a result, we had a group of able students who are willing to work and proceeded to demonstrate their willingness of work through hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, for the students and for the company, the lack of a strong leader destroyed their chance of advancement.

我仔细研究了一下学生们的进展报告，又询问了一些小组成员。结果，我得出了这样的结论：导致团队最终瓦解的主要原因就是缺乏有效的领导。他们的团队有组织吗？是的。团员之间互相合作吗？是的。那团员之间有沟通和交流吗？同样如此。但问题就在于，他们没有一个强有力的领导来指挥整个团队；没有一个强有力的领导来引导团员之间的沟通和交流；没有一个强有力的领导来协调团员们的合作。结果就是：我们看到一群能干的学生，他们愿意工作并在整个过程中都表现出工作的意愿。但不幸的是，不论是对这群学生还是对公司来说，由于缺乏一个好的领导，他们成功的机会就这样被毁了。

From the above example, readers must understand the inclusion of excellent team work goes beyond cliché such as “good team work”, “excellent dedication” or “responsible workers”. It’s a structured form of problem solving skills that combines the ability of individuals and the organization advantages of a team. One must assign distinctive roles as well as enforce the roles to its members. Communication, leadership, organization are equally important in the frame of teamwork. In the future entries, I will provide further discussion on the procedures and components of team work.

从以上这个例子我们可以看出，一支一流的团队不只是所谓的“好的团队合作”，“积极贡献”或者“负责的团员”这么简单。它应该意味着一种有组织的问题解决技巧，也就是说要把个人的能力和团队的集体优势有机的结合在一起。每个团员都必须分配并施加特定角色于其他队员身上。沟通，领导，组织，这三者对于团队合作来说应该是同等重要的。以后，我还会陆续和大家一起讨论团队合作的程序和要素。

All right, my first entry is here. I’m going to be blunt and honest; I’ve never paid any attention to the whole “blog” trend. To my most surprise, here I am, writing my first official blog entry. So, here we go. :D

好吧，我打算从这里开始讲。很诚实冒昧地说，我在国外从来没有意识到“博客”这个玩意儿。出人意料的是我现在却开出了我第一个工作博客。好吧，我们继续！: D

One of my projects is a business English class in the training center. In this particular class, I attempt to train my Chinese students in areas such as business presentation, interview and some other activities. However, my biggest concern regarding Chinese students is their inability to work in a team environment. Unfortunately for most of Chinese graduates, team work is becoming increasingly more critical in the modern age.

我目前仍在培训公司从事商务英语的培训项目。在这个课堂中，我计划教授我的中国学生在商务演说、面试、以及其他商务活动中如何自我表现。然而，我最担心的是中国的学生他们如何在集体环境中进行团队合作。令人担忧的是，对于目前大多数中国毕业生来说，团队合作精神在现代社会中已经变的越来越重要了。

What is team work? How does team work fit into production? What’s the process of an effective team work? Why do we need team work? These are the concepts which are practically foreign to Chinese students. And yet, they are what separate excellent production from good output.

那什么是团队合作？怎样在生产过程中体现出团队合作？有效的团队合作的过程又是如何的？我们为什么需要团队合作？这些观念对于中国的学生来讲都是陌生的。然而这些，确实是困扰商家进行有效生产和销售的重要因素。

Let’s discuss some of the aforementioned ideas. Why does a company require team work from its employees? I’m going to give you an example to illustrate my point. I did some consulting work with a Canadian Tel-Communication company in Canada. The company had a project which was originally setup for a group of young University graduates to complete within a 2 months span. Obviously, it’s not a very complex assignment. However, as the project was pushing its deadline, I witnessed an increasing amount of anxiety and conflicting feeling among the students. Needless to say, the project was not completed on time and the group of students were either penalized or transferred to a different assignment. So what happened?

  2006年5月25日

To Whom this May Concern: 大家好：

The purpose of this blog is to provide additional help and to meet the curiosity of my BEC students in regard to business case study, businessethics and other miscellaneous information. I plan to use this blog to supplement my teachings at Kaide Education and to answer any question my readers might have.

开设这个博客的意图是为了满足前来学习商务英语课程的学员的好奇心，给予他们在案例分析、职场指导、及获得各种类型信息方面上的帮助。我计划运用此博客来补充我在凯德商务英语教学上的内容以便来回答我的学员可能持有的问题。

The increasing internationalization of business, industry, science and academia has led to greater importance being given to the ability to present ideas and concepts to an international audience, using English as the language medium. This applies to large conference gatherings but also to business presentations.

不断趋向于国际化的商业、工业、科技和学术已经引领我们面向更广泛的国际化大众群体，让我们意识到用英语这一语言媒介，去表达自己的想法和主张的重要性。当然，英语不仅仅只是运用于大型会议，在商务沟通交流中也相当重要。

Through my somewhat unusual background as a HR manager from Canadian logistic industry who later became a teacher of English as a foreign language, I have always been intrigued by the status awarded to people who can perform well in business presentations. I hold multi-disciplinary qualifications in Business (HR Department), English (History B.A. Degree), and these have provided a unique window with which to view the business presentation and the skills needed to be successful.
我有着在加拿大物流公司担任人力资源总监的经历，然后又成为一名英语培训师。由于这些特殊的经历，我总是能激发学员，让他们能在商务交流和沟通中得到更好的表现。我曾获得加拿大商务培训资格证书以及历史（英语语言）学士学位，这些荣誉和证书都给我打开了另一扇窗，让我用更独到的眼光去审视商务中的交流与沟通以及迈向职场成功的技巧。

To meet the increasing needs of Chinese students, in case you haven’t noticed, I have opened several levels of Business English classes at Kaide Education. A variety of topics such as BEC, business writing, oral BE training, Business ethics, Interview skills workshop, and other components are included in the classes. You’re welcomed to submit any suggestion regarding my topics or discussions. Should you have any question, feel free to contact me at Kaide or leave me a message in our blog.

为了满足不断增长的中国学生学习的需求，我在凯德开设了不同层级的商务英语职场技能课程。例如：商务英语、商务写作、商务口语训练、职场指导、面试技巧、以及其他一些内容都包含在我们的课程中。我们欢迎你前来询问、参与我们的讨论。如果您有什么疑问，可以直接联系凯德，或在blog上留言。

Looking forward to read your comments. Thank you for your time!
期待你的评论。谢谢你的参与！
Yours Truly,

Kevin Yu