Core Business Terminology in authentic business interviews

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Coursepaper

“Core Business Terminology in authentic business interviews”

encoding information vocabulary metaphor

Introduction

Business English is a dynamic and changing system. The language of business strives to keep up with the rise and spread of business concepts. In fact, materials of Business Dictionaries and textbooks not infrequently contain just established classical business terms and do not mirror the concepts as clear as in authentic resources. Studying Business English without authentic sources limit understanding and not afford one to use the whole diversity of words, word-combinations and their meanings. At the moment this problem has not been fully investigated. That is why it is essential to explore it.

The issue of my coursepaper-what core business terminology is used in authentic business interviews.

Research objectives:

1. To study the special literature on the problem under consideration.

2. To consider the content of key concepts (term, general business English term, special term, terminology)

3. To explore core business terms in authentic business interview

Goal of the work- to explore core business terms from authentic business interview and also to determine their peculiarities.

Object- core business terminology.

Subject-core business terminology in authentic business interviews.

Chapter 1. The concept of the term

I first analyzed the very concept of the term and I will go on to demonstrate it's meaning. Being a linguistic expression of a special concept, the term acts as a carrier of collective professional and scientific knowledge that optimizes cognitive and transformative activity of people. The term is a typical cognitive-information structure that accumulates special knowledge necessary in the process of professional and scientific activity, which is carried out by a community of specialists who speak the same language. As a carrier of information on a special concept, the term mediates the process of professional scientific communication leading to mastering a particular situation.[Володина,2000, с.33]

The pragmatic orientation of the term predetermines its structural and semantic organization, which requires a special strategy for creating terminological units that most fully meet the requirements of professional and scientific communication. Terminological nomination is regarded as a thought mediated process of naming special concepts that is inextricably linked with the language nomination, depends on the cognitive ability of people, is conditioned by the linguistic expression of the results of cognition and the interaction of external and internal linguistic factors. This is a creative process aimed at the formation of terms that act as lexical units of special modeling, which optimize the professional and scientific communication of people.

It is necessary to distinguish two historically developed stages in the process of terminological nomination: spontaneous and systemic. At the first stage, nominative activity is an interpretation of a named object through the prism of subjective-objective perception on the part of the naming. At the second stage the term is considered as an "object of artificial regulation", created on the basis of unification and standardization of term-forming means. In both cases, it is of fundamental importance to select the most informative attribute underlying the naming. [Гринев 1995 с.304]Terminological nomination is a nominative activity that takes place in the information-terminological sphere of the language, where terminological information created and perceived by a person is formed, stored, processed, encoded and decoded.

The source of terminological information is the social and cognitive experience of people. The basis for the formation of terminological information is knowledge about objects condensed in the lexical meanings of words. The term, created on the basis of the common word of a particular language, accumulates general and special information. The general language information, imprinted in the linguistic consciousness of people belonging to the same language collective, undergoes an associative image reinterpretation in the process of professional and scientific activity, turning into terminological information. The productive interaction of figurative and verbal systems leads to a functional-communicative and cognitive transformation of linguistic units.

According to V.V.Vinogradov, “between the vocabulary of science and the vocabulary of everyday life is a direct and close connection. Every science begins with the results obtained by thinking and speech of the people, and in the further development does not detach from the national language”. Vinogradov emphasizes that exact sciences still “retain” as main basic terms many common words. [Виноградов 1961 с.164]

The twofold essence of the term lies in the fact that, as a rule, it is a unit of linguistic and professional-scientific knowledge. The common word, acting in the function of the term, encodes the information twice: for the first time, the general language information is encoded, in the second - the terminology, based on the definition. In the process of creating a special term, the primary encoding of the corresponding terminological information occurs. Information condensed in the term and based on predication is regarded as a special knowledge that is fixed in the conceptual representation of native speakers and is introduced into the linguistic consciousness.

A quantum of terminological information can be considered a logically completed and materially defined definition of the term. Terminological information is encoded using specific (national or international) terminological elements that have special informativeness and determine the term's identity to the open term-forming series. [Володина 2000 с.48-69]

The information-terminology sphere of a specific national language has unified term-forming means inherent in the given language.

According to Vinogradov: “a new understanding, embodied in the meaning of a word-term, becomes not only an element of its semantic structure, but also an element of the semantic structure of the corresponding language as a whole.”

The existence of an international information and terminological linguistic sphere, which has a large number of Greek-Latin terminological elements, which have a high degree of informativeness, is necessary for creating optimal conditions for international professional and scientific communication.

According to V.I.Vernadsky: “scientific knowledge is the only form of spiritual culture common to all mankind, independent of its basis from a historical or geographical place and time. Only science and the technology closely connected with it cause the unity of culture for all mankind”.

The heuristic value of national terms is that they are understood by native speakers. In terms of international communication, terms should have the quality of international recognition. The process of terminological nomination in the information society characterizes the tendency towards the internationalization of the scientific and technical language fund. Accumulating cognitive-cultural information, the term becomes a source of social knowledge, which manifests itself on two main levels: horizontal and vertical. The vertical dimension is characterized by the national specificity of the linguistic expression of social knowledge, the horizontal dimension is characterized by an international community based on the universal essence of thinking.

The terminological nomination has a cognitive-informational character, since the formation of the term is conditioned by the linguistic consciousness of people creating an information world of special knowledge necessary for the development of cognitive and transformative activity.

In this way, in the nominative activities of people the foundation of the conceptual and linguistic vision of the world is laid. In the nomination process, the social experience of native speakers is reflected, connected with the cultural and historical development of a particular people and the cognitive experience of the entire human collective. [Володина 2000 с.34]Terminological nomination, understood as the process of naming special concepts, is an integral part of nominative activity, in its own way interpreting extralinguistic and linguistic reality.

Possessing in all ways the nominations inherent in a specific language, the terminological nomination, designed to serve the ever-growing need for naming new special concepts, possesses only structural and communicative features peculiar to it. [Володина 2000 с.80]The study of the specifics and regularities of the process of terminological nomination in specific languages ??allows us to conclude that the terminology that is part of the language system is quite an independent phenomenon, not only in functional but also in structural terms.

The terminology fixes specific means of naming special concepts, within the framework of different languages, there exist and develop in their own way universal national and international methods of terminological nomination.

Mediated by thinking and inextricably linked with the basic principles of the language nomination, the terminology nomination depends on the cognitive ability of people, is due to the linguistic expression of the results of cognition and the interaction of external and internal linguistic factors. Specificity terminological nomination is to create naming a special kind - the terms needed in the process of professional and scientific communication.

Being carriers of collective professional and scientific memory, the terms serve as mediators in the process of forming special knowledge, contributing to the development of cognitive and transforming human activity. As an important means of scientific communication, they are organically included in the process and results of scientific cognition. [Володина 2000 с.90]Therefore, terminology is also called the "knowledge grammar" that fixes the interdependent relationships of the basic elements of scientific thinking.

Chapter 2. Business English and Business English terminology

Now I am going to consider Business English and Business English terminology in particular. As shown by previous studies, Business English vocabulary is far from homogeneous. In fact, it is increasingly diverse. This inherent diversity was analyzed into stratas; their boundaries were outlined and their relevance to Business English vocabulary acquisition was highlighted. First come words and phrases that are borrowed by Business English from General English.[Nazarova 2008 p.87] They are frequently used both in everyday situations and in business settings (quite a bit, by the way, to take care of). They were referred to as General English words.

The next layer of Business English vocabulary embraces those words that are used in formal business discourse. These words are not specialized enough to become terms. At the same time, they cannot be confined to pure and simple General English. [Nazarova 2008 p.88] The formal words used for business purposes are grouped under one heading-General Business English vocabulary. (formal verbs confine and restrict will coexist with a neutral General English word limit).

As it has been noted above that General English words and General Business English vocabulary are not specialized in the sense that the lexical items they embrace are not terms. The third strata is more specialized and allows to gain and insight into the world of business. It comprises words denoting a number of recurrent concepts central to both the functioning of the business world and one's understanding of it. [Nazarova 2008 p.89] They differ from General English words and they are not the same as General Business English vocabulary. These words are used in different professional spheres and functions. The concepts they denote form the conceptual foundation of ongoing business communication. In other words, they will be referred to as General Business English terminology.

It is essential for one's understanding of the world of business to know General Business English terms like: merger, corporation, balance sheet, conglomerate. bankruptcy and the other terms. Each of them denotes a significant concept, an indispensable connection or a current trend that is part and parcel of business life. The meaning of every term should be clearly understood, for example:

Sole trader (BrE)/Sole proprietor (AmE). This is a one person business. The person may describe themselves as `self-employed' or as a freelancer if they are a professional who works for different clients.

Private company. The shares of the company are privately owned, usually by a small number of people. [Emmerson 2011 p.6]These shareholders typically include the founder of the company, possibly some close family members, and perhaps a few business associates who provided money for the company.

Middleman- a person, business or commercial organization (agents, brokers, dealers, retailers and wholesalers) that plays a part in the system of distribution by which goods pass from producer to customer.[Nazarova 2006 p.78]

Share- one of a number of titles of ownership in a company; a share confers on its owner a legal right to the part of the company's profits (usu. By payment of dividend)[Nazarova 2006 p.102] and to any voting rights attached to that share.

Traditional markets vs electronic markets- the original stock exchanges that provide centralized facilities for trading, [Nazarova 2006 p.112] such as the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange, as distinct from newer markets that allow brokers to trade through a computer network from their offices.

General Business English terms are compact substitutes for long descriptive explanations of business concepts, [Nazarova 2008 p.90] for example:

Bank statement- a standard form sent at regular intervals to all the customers of a bank and showing all the money paid into [Nazarova 2006 p.16] and out of a customer's bank account within a certain period.

Boom-a period in the development of a country or industry [Nazarova 2006 p.19] when a rising demande for all commodities causes industrial production to expand, prices or wages to rise, and unemployment to fall.

Cash flow- the amount of money [Nazarova 2006 p.26] moving into and out of a business at a particular point of time.

General Business English terminology prepares the ground for one's acquisition of even more specialized concepts that belong to particular professional spheres and industries: information technology, the pharmaceutical industry, the fashion industry, mass media, education and many other areas. Specialized terminology presupposes a particular kind of knowledge and the level of education that is specific to a given area of business and different from the background required by other spheres. In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, one will have to deal with terms like

active ingredient ( the chemical substance contained in a pharmaceutical, which is responsible for its therapeutic effect) [https://pharmatreasures.blogspot.ru/2013/11/terminology-and-definitions-in.html],

blister (a cavity formed in film or foil by heat and or chemical means),

total organic carbon (TOC) ( the amount of carbonbound in an organic compound and is often used as a non-specific indicator of water quality or cleanliness of pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment).

Some of the specialized terms in this field are orthographically identical with their General English counterparts, but their meanings are incompatible. The following General English word clean room has acquired terminological meaning as part of the specialized terminology of the pharmaceutical industry:

A cleanroom or clean room is an environment, typically used in manufacturing, including of pharmaceutical products or scientific research, as well as aerospace semiconductor engineering applications with a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles, and chemical vapors. [https://gmpnews.net/glossary/] More accurately, a cleanroom has a controlled level of contamination that is specified by the number of particles per cubic meter at a specified particle size.

The next step focusses on the associative-paradigmatic-relations between different words. [Nazarova 2008 p.91] For example, General Business English terminology displays a wealth of paradigmatic connections. Some of the terms are related to each other as derivatives: competition-competitiveness-competitor. Some other terms are associated as general vs particular: costs-direct costs-indirect costs, capital-venture capital, profit-net profit; statement-bank statement-income statement.[Nazarova 2006 p.16] In a number of cases, the opposition is based on antonymy [Emmerson 2011]: top line-bottom line, recruit-male redundant, go public-go private.

It is significant to know the difference in meaning between the terms associated paradigmatically. The following business terms advertising and marketing often stand side by side, but they are not the same and should be kept apart:

Advertising-making a product or service known to the public, esp. in order to sell it, by using the various media or means of spreading information-newspapers[Nazarova 2006 p.10], magazines, radio, television, hoardings, direct mail, etc.

Marketing- activities intended to increase demand for a product through advertising, sales promotion [Nazarova 2006 p.75], pricing, market research, and developing new products.

It is not surprising that natural languages do not operate through isolated words in their dictionary forms. [Nazarova 2008 p.93]That is why the study of intrinsic diversity becomes even more complicated when one turns from paradigmatic connections to the functioning of business vocabulary in speech. Every time language is used in speech, a wide range of built-in syntagmatic relationships between words is reproduced in an increasingly diverse variety of contexts and situations. As for General Business English terms in particular, they follow recurrent patterns of lexical-phraseological and morphosyntactic combinability. For instance, the term negotiation has got a set of recurrent syntactic and lexical combinations: a matter for/open to/room for negotiation; break off/carry on/ complete/enter into/open/resume negotiations; during a negotiation; the early rounds of the negotiations; after months and months of negotiations; an ongoing negotiation over something; specializes in negotiations;[Nazarova 2006 p.80] styles of negotiations; bilateral/multilateral negotiations; commercial/trade negotiations.

The term rate of exchange/exchange rate also relies on a range of patterns reproduced in speech: after/change/fix/increase/lower the rate of exchange; [Nazarova 2006 p.97] alter/change/fix/increase/lower exchange rate; a bad/fluctuating/good/high/low rate of exchange ;a bad/fluctuating/good/high/low exchange rate.

Business vocabulary is a dynamic and rapidly developing system. The language of business strives to keep up with the spread of business concepts by offering new terms and extending the meanings of the old ones.[Nazarova 2008 p.98] “There are some terms that have gradually become part of the Modern English: employable, e-commerce, e-trade, e-corporation, cybermarket, career-resilience, employability, cyberconglomerate. None of these is listed in Longman Dictionary of Business English (1989)”.

It is quite essential to add that the nature of business communication is such that linguistic change can take a very subtle, and an almost unpredictable, form. It means that a term may gradually acquire an additional evaluative element of meaning known as connotation. This tendency contradicts standard opinion to the effect that terms as words of specialized languages are devoid of connotations. In fact, adherent connotations are not only possible but inevitable. [Nazarova 2008 p.100]

Here comes a rough outline of what happens: a term is introduced for a new concept or approach; with time it enters the lexicon of standard usage, whereas the concept spreads across the business community. In other words, the reality of business that had formerly called for a new term, brings forth additional shades of meaning (strange as it may seem, usually negative). And these adherent connotations find no reflection in business dictionaries. Although entrepreneurs and other business people are usually aware of the negative implications that some terms accumulated over time.

It should be pointed out that most of the time changes of the kind discussed above relates on key business terminology. [Nazarova 2008 p.101] Here the term conglomerate-a group of companies resulting from a conglomerate merger [Nazarova 2006 p.33]-a merger or combination of a number of commercial or industrial companies which are completely different in nature, usually for the purpose of diversification (a chemical/construction/miming conglomerate; a huge vertically integrated conglomerate; a large media conglomerate; become part of/create/form/join a conglomerate). I am going to consider it from the point of view of their meaning vs connotation. Conglomerates were very popular in the 20s and 70s of the previous century. They became even more so in the 90s. Conglomerate mergers spread rapidly through different industries both horizontally horizontally ( [Nazarova 2006 p.58] when a company obtains control of its competitors) and vertically ( [Nazarova 2006 p.115] the combination of two or more companies that deal with different stages in the production of specific goods or services to be controlled by one company). But recently entrepreneurs' attitude has gone through a dramatic change. It became obvious that conglomerates rated size over efficiency and productivity. “What investors want now, post-Enron, is transparency, clarity and security, and conglomerates offer the opposite.”[The Financial Page// The New Yorker.-July 1, 2002.-p.37.] In this way, conglomerates do not work. As a result, the business community begins to denounce the term itself and resorts to a number of round-about phrases like “a multi-business company with common cultures”.

Consultant-an expert who offers professional guidance to a company or performs a certain task, for example in management, restructuring, personnel, research and development, etc.[Nazarova 2008 p.103] In standard Business English lexicon one can say a business/a design/an employment/a financial/a management consultant; a consultant to a firm/project; a firm of management consultants. “As shown in Consulting Demons. Inside the Unscrupulous World of Global Corporate Consulting by Lewis Pinault [Harper Business, 2000], this business term is fraught with pejorative overtones. “Lewis Pinault's book has been reviewed by John A. Byrne, senior writer of Business Week (February 21, 2000, p.28-20). The title of the review First, Let's Kill All The Consultants is based on the quotation from William Shakespeare's Henry the sixths [Part 2, Act 4, scene 2]: The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers”. The advice game, as the reviewer explains, has really become a temporary employment affair: “Lying, cheating and stealing are standard practice in the consulting business”.

In the next chapter I will go on to analyze business English terminology and core business terms in authentic business interview in particular.

Chapter 3. Research authentic business interview

On the materials of “Essential Business Vocabulary Builder” by Paul Emmerson Macmillan Education 2011 I researched one of the interviews with business people - an interview with an accountant. I have selected the following terms:

The results are shown in the next table:

Accurate statistics in the diagrams:

An accountant uses terms bottom line and top line. It is essential to consider them with more attention. These are phraseological units- a kind of metaphors. As shown above, the world of business is always changing and as a result, authentic discourse unfailingly offers and exemplifies a considerable amount of business usage that transcends the confines of textbooks and dictionaries.

There is one other layer of authentic usage that succeeds in evading lexicographic presentation and treatment. Business dictionaries largely ignore idioms and metaphors that are frequently used in business discourse and add a touch of expressivity to spoken and written communication. An accountant said: “The top line is revenue, and the bottom line is net profit. You might hear someone say: `top line growth last year was 4%, but we improved the bottom line by 10%'. “. These terms are not listed in Business Dictionaries, however, they both mirror the аintrinsic diversity of business vocabulary and, more widely, business usage. Moreover, they relates to economic discourse in this case. The gap between language and speech is there, making one think of the difference between variation in functional use and the inevitable limitations of lexicographic presentation.

Business dictionaries, as is standard practice, select the more recurrent concepts and business terms. Expressive, idiomatic and evaluative synonyms are purposefully left out and mostly relegated to General English dictionaries. Business English dictionaries are thus shown to leave out a lot of idioms and metaphors used in authentic business discourse. They also tend to disregard unusual word-combinations that result from the linguistic creativity of a business journalist or business writer.

It is essential to say that the participant of this interview is an accountant. In this way he uses a lot of business terminology which relates precisely to his occupation. For instance:

Profit - the amount by which the price received for goods is greater than the costs; the difference between business income and expenses.

This term composes 10% from general amount of terms. The accountant used it 5 times. Moreover, he also used it in specific terms: gross profit, net profit, final profit, operating profit and retained profit. That means this term is really significant and indispensable for him as for accountant. There is comprehension of his job through this term (he can not tell about his work without it).

Analogically with the term cost.

Cost - the expenditure on goods and services required to carry out the operations of an organization. This term is also used 5 times and constitutes 10% of general amount of terms. It is also used in specific terms like indirect costs and direct costs.

Tax - an amount of money taken by central or local government from people's income or company profits and used for public spending. This term is used 4 times and constitutes 8%.

An important point is that even terms which were not used too frequently relates to bookkeeping and economic area in general (invoice, bill, receipt, money, dividends, income, cash flow statement, and other terms).

It goes without saying that in this interview I found specialized terminology. For example:

Depreciation - when the value of something goes down; the gradual loss of value of fixed assets.

The definition of this term is in the Dictionary of General Business English terminology by T.B.Nazarova. But as for the term amortization (which is one of the most frequent term, it is used 3 times and constitutes 6%), there is no any definition in the Dictionary of General Business English terminology because this is special term.

There is also in-text translation in the interview: “The amount that is left is the net profit. It's like the final profit.” The accountant explained to journalist the meaning of the specific term.

The terms accountant and bookkeeper, as well as the terms amortizations and depreciation are synonymes for non-accountants. But for professionals these are definitely different concepts:

“A bookkeeper records all the financial transactions in the company - it's a job that is done internally. You take the paperwork from sales and purchases - that means invoices, receipts, bills and payments - and enter the information in the correct place in a spreadsheet. In the old days it was a book.”

“The accountant is an external person who takes this information, checks it. And then uses to create the financial reports.”

“They are very similar - in everyday language you can use either word. Only accountants need to know the difference!”

The accountant also used many different adjectives (sometimes together with metaphors) to express his thoughts more accurately: “The opposite situation is also very common - high top line growth but only a small net profit”.

Conclusion

Summing up the research, the term acts as a carrier of collective professional and scientific knowledge that optimizes cognitive and transformative activity of people. The term is a typical cognitive-information structure that accumulates special knowledge necessary in the process of professional and scientific activity, which is carried out by a community of specialists who speak the same language. The terminological nomination has a cognitive-informational character, since the formation of the term is conditioned by the linguistic consciousness of people creating an information world of special knowledge necessary for the development of cognitive and transformative activity. Mediated by thinking and inextricably linked with the basic principles of the language nomination, the terminology nomination depends on the cognitive ability of people, is due to the linguistic expression of the results of cognition and the interaction of external and internal linguistic factors. Specificity terminological nomination is to create naming a special kind - the terms needed in the process of professional and scientific communication.

Business English vocabulary is far from homogeneous. In fact, it is increasingly diverse. This inherent diversity was analyzed into 4 stratas: General English words, General Business English words, General Business English terms and specialized terminology. Business vocabulary is a dynamic and rapidly developing system. a term may gradually acquire an additional evaluative element of meaning known as connotation.

Inherent diversity of business vocabulary is only partially reflected and reproduced in dictionaries, glossaries and textbooks. Linguistic change and lexical innovation outpace dictionary-makers and flourish in different kinds of written and spoken business discourse. At any given point in time, numerous new words and a range of new meanings will be functioning on their own, encountered by readers of books and magazines, puzzled over and marveled at by radio listeners and TV watchers, but unobserved and unidentified by teams of lexicographers. In other words, authentic discourse unfailingly offers and exemplifies a considerable amount of business usage that transcends the confines of textbooks and dictionaries. The comprehension of the job occurs through terms, especially through special terms.

It should be noted, however, that none of the classifications, dictionaries or glossaries, even really exhaustive, can reflect and present the whole of business vocabulary.

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