Bu siness skills: b et ter me etings 1 — 21 business englisch bu sin es s e n g L is

condescending
,
herablassend
crucially 
[(kru:S&li]
,
entscheidend
deliberate 
[di(lIbErEt]
,
bewusst
interlocutor
[)IntE(lQkjUtE]
,
Gesprächspartner(in)
level of proficiency 
[prE(fIS&nsi]
,
Kenntnisstand
mindful: be ~ of sth.
,
etw. bedenken,
berücksichtigen
obligation
,
Verpflichtung
paraphrase sth.
,
etw. umschreiben
perceived 
[pE(si:vd]
,
wahrgenommen
redundancy
[ri(dVndEnsi]
,
Überflüssigkeit; 
hier:
Wiederholung(en) (mit 
anderen Worten) 
sensitivity 
[)sensE(tIvEti]
,
Feingefühl
summarize sth.
,
etw. zusammenfassen
take sth. into account
,
etw. berücksichtigen
Appropriateness
of communication: 
it’s in your hands
interlocutor. And part of this focus on the pro-
cess is adjusting to the perceived or assumed 
level of competence of your interlocutor in the 
lingua franca.
But if you get this adjustment wrong, it can 
appear condescending and damage the rela-
tionship between the interlocutors. Getting 
it right linguistically may involve choosing 
simpler vocabulary, paraphrasing and summa-
rizing what you say — increasing redundancy 
in what you say. Slowing down — especially 
difficult for native speakers — is often a must. 
The inability of native speakers to slow down 
is sometimes regarded as a deliberate commu-
nication strategy. As one German manager told 
me: if they can’t convince you, they confuse 
you. 

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