INTERNATIONAL

TRADE, TRANSPORT
& LOGISTICS

Business English & English for Specific Purposes

Laura Martín Perea

[email protected]
 CONTENTS

1st Term
BLOCK 1 - Business Communication: Telephoning & emailing
BLOCK 2 - International: Trade, Transport & Logistics

Vocabulary & Reading Grammar * Writing Speaking

-International Markets, Fair Trade, -Past simple, p.perfect Email- asking for & Telephoning
BRIC Economies… -Articles giving information; (useful language /
- Transportations, Modes of -Comparisons placing an order key phrases)
Transport, Types of goods…
-Logistics, Handling Goods…
-Measurements and dates

2nd Term
BLOCK 3 - International Trade Companies
BLOCK 4 - Applying for a Job

Vocabulary & Reading Grammar * Writing Speaking

- Words & expressions of company -Relative clauses -Personal Profile; Interview skills
structure -Modal verbs CV; Cover Letter (useful language
- Company departments -Verb patterns and key phrases)
- Job titles -Noun
- Expressions to talk about job combinations
applications
& recruitment process
- Describing people, traits & skills

3rd Term
BLOCK 5 - Business Trends: Describing Change
BLOCK 6 - Advertising: Marketing & Products

Vocabulary & Reading Grammar * Writing Speaking

- Economic; Banking; Financial terms -Conditionals -Meeting minutes, Product presentation;

- Facts, Numbers & Figures -Future market research AD; Pitching - Meetings
- Marketing and Advertising -Passives report, product (useful language & key
survey phrases)

* Business Grammar and Practice. Intermediate. COLLINS

 1st term

BLOCK 1

BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION:
Telephoning & emailing

Business English & English for Specific Purposes

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SPEAKING: BUSINESS TELEPHONING

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 USEFUL TELEPHONE LANGUAGE

Greetings
Receiver Caller

Smith residence, this is Rosemary speaking. Good morning /afternoon / evening

Thank you for calling Le Metro, who am I speaking with? This is (name) / my name is …
You have reached the offices of William Mattar

Reason for calling

Receiver Caller

Good morning/ afternoon/ evening. How may I help I am calling about / I am calling in relation to
you? I would like to speak to / make an appointment
How may I direct your call? I can’t get ahold of ______.

Connecting someone

Receiver Caller

Just a moment please. I’ll see if he/she is available. Can I leave a message for him/ her ?
Please hold/hang on, I'll put you through. Could you tell him / her that I called please?
… Could you tell him/her to call me back please?
I am sorry, he/she isn’t available right now/out of the
office
I am afraid the line is busy / he/she is in a meeting/.

Leaving a message
Receiver Caller

Of course. I am going to need you contact details. Of course, my name is …… T….O….

Could you please spell me your name? My email account is …….
Can you tell me your email account? Yes. This is my office phone. It is 0…..double 9
Would you be so kind to tell me your phone number?
…
Okay. Let me repeat that just to make sure.

Misunderstandings

I think we have a bad connection. Can I call you back? Could you please spell that for me?
I am sorry we have a bad connection. Can you speak a Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.
little louder? Can you say that again, please?
I am sorry can you repeat that please?

Ending the call

Receiver Caller

I’ll make sure he/she receives the message. No. Thank you for your help. Have a good day/evening.
Would you like anything else? Thanks very much. Have a good day/evening.
Can I help you with anything else? I really appreciate your help today, thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
Thank you, you have been very helpful.

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 Business Emails Tips and Useful Phrases

……………………………………………………………………………….. Starting business emails

Opening greeting
1. You should usually write​ “Dear Mr/ Ms + family name” ​or​ “Dear + first name” 
2. If you don’t know the name, use​ “Dear Sir or Madam” ​or ​“Dear Sir/ Madam” or “To:” ​with a 
description of who it is going to​ (“To: All sales staff” etc) 
3. You can use a comma after both the opening and closing greeting, or modern style is 
to use no commas. Don’t mix the two styles up. 

Opening line
1. If there has been some kind of recent previous contact, it’s a good idea to mention it in the 
first line of your email. ​“Thank you for your email about…/ enquiry about…/ order of…/ for meeting 
me…/ for your phone call…/ for the information about…/ inviting me…”, “In reply to your email,…” 
2. If there hasn’t been any recent previous contact, you should normally start by saying 
your reason for writing. ​“I am writing to you about/ concerning/ with regards to/ in connection 
with/ regarding…/ to…/ because…”, “I am writing to enquire about/ inform you of/ confirm/ ask/ 
check/ reserve/ book/ suggest/ arrange…”, “Just a quick note to say…”, “Just a few comments 
about…” 
3. If you write to someone for the first time, it’s good to tell them how you know about 
them.​ “I saw your advertisement in…” “I was given your contact details by…” “… said that I should 
write to you about…” 

………………………………………………………………………….. Main body of business emails

Paragraphing/ Organisation
1. Opening and closing lines are rarely more than two sentences but you should avoid 
one-sentence paragraphs in the body of the email. 
2. Except for opening and closing lines, paragraphing in emails is the same as paragraphing in 
essays and reports. Either leave a blank line between paragraphs or put an indent at the 
beginning of the new paragraph (= a space ), but not both.  

………………………………………………………………………………….. Ending business emails

Closing line
1. Use ​“Thank you (in advance)” ​and​ “Cheers” ​are similar but for requests, there are the more 
elaborate versions ​“Any assistance you can provide would be gratefully accepted.” ​and ​“I would 
really appreciate any help you can give.”, ​or ​“I look forward to hearing from you ” 
2. It’s good to mention the next (email, telephone or face to face) contact between you in your 
final line. – ​“I look forward to/ (I’m) looking forward to hearing from you (soon).” “Please let me know 
if that’s okay.”, “(I’ll) speak to you when I get back.”, “(I) hope to see you again soon.”, “See you then.”, 
“I’ll mail you again as soon as I know”, “I’ll check and get back to you” 
3. ​“If you need any further information/ If you have any more questions/ If you need any more info, 
please let me know/ do not hesitate to contact me/ drop me a line”. 

Closing greeting and name 

1. Use variety, thinking carefully about friendliness and formality,​ e.g. “Best wishes”, “All the 
best” “Kind regards” and “Best” for informal emails and “Your sincerely”, “Sincerely yours” and maybe 
“Yours faithfully” for very formal emails. 
2. In formal emails, it’s useful to give your title (Mr, Ms, etc) in brackets after your name.  

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FILL IN THE GAPS WITH THE SUITABLE WORDS FROM THE BOX: 
Regards   Soon   Thanks/​Thank you   Mail   Attach  
See   Sorry   To   Note   Best  
Yours   Text   Write   Please   (In) convenience  
In   Reference   Love   Hear   Dear  
Inform     Hi  
 
1. Please find the document ______ed/ As you can see from the _____ment… 
2. All the __________/ _______ wishes/ Pass my _______ wishes on to your boss/ _________ regards 
3. Please reply at your earliest ____________ / We would like to apologise for any _______ caused/ 
Please let me know what dates are _______ for you 
4. _______ Sir or Madam/ ________ Mr Case/ ______ Alex/ __________Sirs 
5. I look _______ to hearing from you soon/ Please ________ this to your boss 
6. I look forward to __________ing from you (soon)/ Hope to ________ from you soon/ It was really 
nice to _______ from you 
7. _______ / ______ John/ Say “_____” to Steve from me/ Julie says “______” 
8. _________ connection with/ ________ advance 
9. We regret to _________ you that…/ We would like to ________ you that…/ If you need 
any further _______ation, please do not hesitate to contact me 
10.______ from/ Lots of ______ / Send my ____ to John/ John sends his _____ 
11. Snail ________ / I’ve sent you a hard copy in the _______ 
12.This is just a quick _____ to say…/ Please ______ that…/ NB 
13.______________ let me know if you have any questions/ If you need any further information, 
____________ do not hesitate to contact me at any time 
14. With ___________ to…/ Your ref:/ Our ref:/ Ref. no. 
15. Best ____________ / Give my ________ to John 
16. ________ you soon / It was a pleasure to _______ you again / Hope to _____ you again soon 
17. I look forward to hearing from you _______ / See you ______ / Write ______ 
18. ____ it took me so long to get back to you/ ______ not to reply sooner/ _____ it’s been 
so long since I last wrote/ ______ to write to you out of the blue 
19.Send a ______/ ______speak/ _________ someone 
20.___________ again/ _______ in advance/ ___________ for your email/ _______ for 
getting back to me so quickly/ ___________ for your quick reply 
21.__________ whom it may concern/ I’m writing _____ you concerning… 
22.__________ soon!/ Thanks for ________ing back so quickly/ I am _____ing to you in connection 
with…/ I am ________ing to you concerning…/ I am __________ing to you about…/  
23. ________ sincerely/ ___________ faithfully/ Sincerely ______ / _________ 

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 1st term

BLOCK 2

INTERNATIONAL:
Trade, transport & logistics

Business English & English for Specific Purposes

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International trade takes place within the framework of agreements worked out in the countries in
the World Trade Organisation (WTO), formerly known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT). Over the last 50 years trade barriers have been coming down and free trade, open
borders and deregulation now form the ideal for almost all nations, even if the situation is far
from one of complete laissez-faire, with no government intervention. Protectionism is no
longer the order of the day in most places; even if some developing countries argue that
protectionist measures are the way to develop their economies, they avoid using the term.

Trade negotiations are well-known for their epic eleventh-hour negotiating sessions, where
individual nations argue for what they see as their specific interests and horse-trade furiously.
Countries argue for protection of their strategic industries, ones they consider vital to future
prosperity such as the electronics industry in the developed world. A less developed country
beginning car assembly might want to protect it as an infant industry with quotas, restrictions on
numbers of imported cars. European farmers argue for their subsidies, where governments
guarantee farmers a higher price than they would normally get, making it hard for developing
nations to compete in markets for agricultural products.

Countries sometimes accuse each other of dumping, where exported goods are sold at less than
in the home market. The offending country may reply that it has a comparative advantage in
producing these goods, the ability to produce them cheaper than anyone else, and that they are
not selling at below cost.

Of course, there are trading blocks with no trade barriers at all such as the single market of the
EU. NAFTA is also eliminating its tariff walls and custom duties. Following the same pattern we
have ASEAN and MERCOSUR. All this, part of the wider picture of globalisation, the tendency of
the world economy to function as one unit.

All these international deals, trades, exports and imports are done through standard contracts
which have specific terms like Incoterms, defined in the International Chamber of Commerce.

Check these out on the internet and discuss in pairs:

● What do the trading block acronyms stand for?

● What countries are involved in these blocks?

1. EU = Countries:
2. NAFTA = Countries:
3. MERCOSUR = Countries:
4. ASEAN = Countries:

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Mapping the Busiest Ports Worldwide
Go to:
● https://blog.batchgeo.com/mapping-the-busiest-ports-worldwide/
● https://porteconomicsmanagement.org/pemp/contents/part1/interoceanic-passages/main-maritime-shipping-routes/

Other ports that have at least doubled in the last 10

years are Balboa, Panama (364%); Guangzhou (265%);
Dalian, China (260%); Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(209%); Tianjin (189%); Xiamen, China (176%);
Qingdao (175%); Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates
(129%); Port Klang, Malaysia (114%); Tanjung Pelepas,
Malaysia (111%); and Dubai (105%).

Indeed, China is seeing a lot of growth despite already

being a stronghold of busy ports. In fact, the country
tally amongst these top 50 ports puts China at nearly
five times the container volume of the next-most,
Singapore. Rounding out the top five are the United
States, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

On the map, you can find the 50 busiest ports in the The overall Chinese growth rate over the last five years
world across 30 countries. What does busy mean? It’s is only 34%, so on the short term there are smaller
measured by thousands of “TEUs,” twenty-foot players that have gained ground faster. Greece, whose
equivalent units. A TEU is the equivalent of a single port city of Piraeus only saw 665,000 containers in
shipping container, the metal structures stacked on 2010 was nearing 3.4 million in 2015, the latest data
large ships and shuttled across the oceans. available. That puts Greece at over 400% growth,
quintupling container volume in five years. Other
Perhaps unsurprisingly, six of the top 10 ports are in fast-growing countries didn’t even double. Rounding
China. Shanghai is number one, by over 5 million out the top five are Vietnam (60%), Morocco (44%),
containers. China’s largest city has been top since 2010, Saudi Arabia (41%), and Brazil (39%).
when it surpassed Singapore (now number two).
China’s other cities in the top 10 are Shenzhen (3), Discuss in pairs checking both websites.
Ningbo-Zhoushan (4), Qingdao (7), Guangzhou (8), and
Tianjin (10). The other non-Chinese ports in the top 10 ● Why do you think these are the top busiest ports
are Hong Kong (5); Busan, South Korea (6), and Dubai, in the world? Is it related in any way to the main
United Arab Emirates (9). shipping routes and chokepoints?
● Take a look at Morocco on the map. Being as close
As recently as 2004, Hong Kong was the busiest as it is to Algeciras, why hasn't this port grown as
container port in the world. While others in the top 10 much? How busy is it? And Valencia's port? Can
have seen tremendous growth, Hong Kong actually has you find out how much they have grown or
seen less traffic in its port over the recent years.In the decreased ?
last 10 years, Shanghai container ship traffic has more ● Take a look at the highlighted words in blue. What
than doubled, a considerable feat for a city already high do they mean?
on the list. ○ Stacked
○ Shuttled
By comparison, Singapore and Shenzhen have seen 33% ○ Surpassed
and 49% growth respectively. Ningbo-Zhoushan, ○ Feat
another China powerhouse, was #15 on the list a decade ○ Powerhouse
ago. It has moved up the list by seeing its volume nearly ○ Stronghold
quadruple during that short time. ○ Tally
○ Quintupling

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