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B1

Practice Listening Business English Exercises for B1 – Working abroad

7 Übungen

1. Exercise 1

Audio
  • A. Listen to three people with experience of working in other cultures and match the speakers with what they say (a-i). One of the items is not used.
  • Speaker1 (Luis), talking about working in India: , ,
  • Speaker 2 (Marcus), talking about working in Kenya: ,
  • Speaker 3 (Shivani), talking about working with a U.S. manager: , ,
  • a)
    The boss was too direct.
  • b Employees didn’t want to say ‘no’.
  • c)
    The meeting started in a surprising way.
  • d The speaker was embarrassed and offended.
  • e The speaker saw the positive side of an unusual custom.
  • f)
    The speaker had an argument with the boss.
  • g)
    The speaker explains the meaning of ‘loss of face’.
  • h The speaker left his/her job because it had been too stressful.
  • i)
    The speaker was working with optimistic colleagues.
  • B. Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F). Correct the incorrect sentences.
  • Speaker 1
  • 1)
    Luis once went to a meeting in Mumbai where there was a religious statue and the smell of food cooking.
  • 2)
    The Indians wanted to create a positive atmosphere to help the meeting process.
  • 3)
    ‘Loss of face’ means embarrassing someone, or offending him/her.
  • Speaker 2
  • 4)
    In Kenya, ‘Hakuna matata’ is an expression that means ‘we shouldn’t worry’ but this optimism can lead to workers not finishing tasks by a given time.
  • Speaker 3
  • 5)
    Shivani had become ill because she was working so hard, so she sent her boss an angry email, copying in all the team.
  • 6)
    Shivani’s boss was insisting on having the latest figures by the end of the month, so when Shivani didn’t sent them, she sent her boss an apologetic email.

2. Exercise 2

Audio 1
Audio 2
Audio 3
  • A. Look at the list of strategies for building relationships with new people and discuss which you think are the most important.
  • STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
  • 1)
    Be interested and ask questions.
  • 2)
    Be careful your interest doesn’t sound like interrogation.
  • 3)
    Don’t make assumptions about people from the first impressions you have of them.
  • 4)
    Take time to get to know the other person.
  • 5)
    Think about how they behave and the possible reasons why.
  • 6)
    Find out and talk about things you have in common, e.g. interests, family, etc.
  • 7)
    If possible, adapt your usual communication style to be closer to the other person’s.
  • 8)
    Try to talk about things the other person wants to talk about.
  • B. Listen to the beginning of an informal dinner at an international networking event.
  • 1)
    Which topics does Peter try to talk about with Tadashi?
  • 2)
    What topics do Peter and Pilar mention?
  • 3)
    Which strategies from Exercise A does Peter use?
  • 4)
    What first impression do you think Peter has of Tadashi and Pilar?
  • 5)
    What impression do you think they have of Peter?
  • C. Listen to the next part of the conversation.
  • 1)
    How does Peter adapt to make the conversation more comfortable for both Tadashi and Pilar?
  • 2)
    Which topics do they talk about?
  • 3)
    Which strategies from Exercise A does Peter use?
  • D. Listen to Peter later that evening, talking about what happened.
  • 1)
    What conclusion does he reach about first impressions?
  • 2)
    Which points from the list in Exercise A did he think about?

3. Exercise 3

Audio
  • A. You are consultants for Connecting Cultures. You are interviewing international staff from Betker Finance about working with their colleagues in the Netherlands. Match the ideas (a-g) with the speakers (1 and 2).
  • a)
    business relationships are based on trust
  • b)
    face-to-face meetings are preferred
  • c)
    family members often work together
  • d)
    it is rude to say ‘no’
  • e)
    they’re not very punctual
  • f)
    they are multi-active
  • g)
    they believe in first impressions

B. Listen to interviews with speaker 3 and 4 and correct the summary notes about their experiences. There are six errors in each.

SPEAKER 3 says the manager seemed very indirect. She thinks it’s good to have an agenda to a meeting, but in their culture, they always make coffee before getting down to business. It’s important to get the number of the other person to establish a conflictive atmosphere and they like to do business with people they don’t like.

SPEAKER 4 thinks the Dutch sales representative didn’t talk a lot and didn’t understand Japanese. The visitor thought they had finished the meal, when they had only started! The sales rep seemed a little emotional when he said he would check with his boss. He was surprised that she quickly confirmed points that they had agreed on. Hopefully, the next meeting will be more musical.

4. Test

Audio
  • 1)
    Listen to the speaker and choose the correct answer a, b or c.
  • 1)
    a b c
  • 2)
    a b c
  • 3)
    a b c
  • 4)
    a b c
  • 5)
    a b c

5. Listen to a man arranging a training course for some staff and complete the notes. Use one or two words, a number or a letter.

Audio
  • 2)
    Listen to a man arranging a training course for some staff and complete the notes. Use one or two words, a number or a letter.
  • PAGAS TRAINING
  • Caller: Frank Hausmann, Frist Holdings
  • Reason for call: to add (1) ) more people
  • Course: (2) )
  • Name/position of participants:
  • Samantha (3) ),
  • Sales Manager
  • Felix Gastrell, (4) )
  • Action required:
  • Send invoice immediately;
  • Participants must fill in (5) ) by the end of the week

6. You will hear five people talking about problems they had working abroad. For each person decide which problem they mention. Write A–H. Do not use any letter more than once.

Audio
  • 3)
    You will hear five people talking about problems they had working abroad. For each person decide which problem they mention. Write A–H. Do not use any letter more than once.
  • Speaker 1:
  • Speaker 2:
  • Speaker 3:
  • Speaker 4:
  • Speaker 5:
  • a)
    the hot weather
  • b)
    the language barrier
  • c)
    the accommodation
  • d)
    the traditional food
  • e)
    the working environment
  • f)
    the working hours
  • g)
    the lack of free time
  • h)
    the journey to work

7. You will hear another five recordings. Decide what the speakers thought about a cross-cultural training course they attended. Write A–H. Do not use any letter more than once.

Audio
  • 4)
    You will hear another five recordings. Decide what the speakers thought about a cross-cultural training course they attended. Write A–H. Do not use any letter more than once.
  • Speaker 1:
  • Speaker 2:
  • Speaker 3:
  • Speaker 4:
  • Speaker 5:
  • a)
    it was too long
  • b)
    it was well-run
  • c)
    it was ineffective
  • d)
    it was too expensive
  • e)
    it was very informative
  • f)
    it opened the mind
  • g)
    the venue was unsuitable
  • h)
    it tried to cover too much

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