The ONE thing I ask new clients

Every time I start working with a new client, I ask them to do one thing:

Forget your 'School-English'*.

Chances are that when you learnt English at school, you only focused on learning for the next test.

But when we learn English for our job, we need to start with an honest needs analysis: where are you now, and where do you want to be? What's your goal? What's the purpose of you taking that course? What are your weaknesses and strengths? And then, we continually focus on strengthening the areas that require the most attention.

The key to developing your Technical and Business English is sharpening the skills that will help you to be successful in your projects.

This, and nothing else. No useless gimmickry.

But there's more to it. I don't believe in 'holding your hand' forever. My goal is to give you a good understanding of the underlying linguistic structures in a short amount of time. No-nonsense lessons, as nobody has time to spare.

Let me give you an analogy.

What's the basic principle of statics? If your background is structural engineering, you know it's the equilibrium of stresses (or the balance of stresses). My next question would now be: if you *understand* that fundamental principle, do you think it's necessary to know all static formulas that exist by heart? No, of course, you don't.

Same thing with Business English and Technical English. If you are familiar with the underlying structure and logic, you don't need to know all the world's rules.

Let me follow through on the statics analogy.

In terms of momentum, a system is in equilibrium if the momentum of its parts is all constant. Suppose you can create an environment where you can learn consistently (synonym for constant) and become skilled and self-confident (or balanced). In that case, your international engineering career can gain serious momentum!

Conclusion:

Own your professional English. Forget what you learnt at school.

We don't need no education. We don't need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teacher, leave them kids alone! Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!

Yours in all things Business + Technical English,
Olivia

PS: If you need some help to get your English going even before taking any course, make sure to download my free resources here.

PPS: And if you now have the melody of Pink Floyd's 'another brick in the wall' stuck in your head: you're welcome ;-) 

*Schulenglisch, a German noun. It's a derogatory term to describe the inefficient and, at times, very theoretical English language education you receive at Austrian and German schools.