Business English

2nd Mar 2018

What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring?

 

This is pretty easy. Outsourcing is passing of some part of the work or even complete project to the external third party organization, while offshoring is just an outsourcing but to the remote country.

So, offshoring is a kind of outsourcing with the notion of the distance between the client and the contractor organization. In general, there are three types of outsourcing according to the physical distance between two parties.

Onshore - outsourcing of some of the business process to the contractor located in the same country with the client.

Nearshore - it is an outsourcing to a neighboring country or to a not very distant location or within the same region with the time difference not more than two hours. For example, when organization located in England passes some work to the third party contractor located in France it’s a nearshore outsourcing.

Offshore - it’s and outsourcing to the very distant location with the significant difference in time and all the related pros and cons of such choice like lower price and culture difference. A very standard example is an outsourcing from US to India.

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The meaning of the word "qualm"/ La signification du mot "qualm"

21st Feb 2018

Meaning : feeling of doubt or worry about whether what you are doing is right. Eg. He had been working very hard so he had no qualms about taking a few days off. 
 
In French this word means : scrupule, appréhension ou inquiétude.

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10 Phrases for Talking about Statistics (10 phrases pour parler de statistiques)

13th Feb 2018

1. The crime rate rose. 

2. The crime rate went up.

3. There was a sharp increase in crime.(sharp = sudden and large)

4. There was a gradual rise in crime.

5. There was a spike in crime

(spike = a sudden increase and then decrease)

6. The crime rate reached its peak.

(peak=the highest point) 

7.  The crime rate dropped. 

8. There was a slight decrease in crime.

9. The crime rate dropped.

10. The crime rate plummeted.

(=decrease a lot, very quickly)

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Past Tense Pronunciation for Regular Verbs (-ed) : Prononciation au temps passé pour les verbes réguliers (-ed)

8th Feb 2018

Rule 1:  If the verb base ends in a voiceless sound, then the –ed ending sounds like “t”.

The “t” is blended together with the previous consonant and not pronounced as an extra syllable.

A voiceless sound is like a whisper.  Your vocal chords don’t vibrate.

Voiceless consonant sounds:

 p, f, k, s, sh, ch, th

Examples of past
tense verbs where
the –ed ending
sounds like “t”:


worked
dropped
finished
divorced
stopped
laughed
coughed
watched

Rule 2: If the verb base ends in a voiced sound, then the –ed ending sounds like “d”.

The “d” is blended together with the previous consonant and not pronounced as an extra syllable.

A voiced sound means that your vocal chords vibrate. Voiced consonant sounds:


b, v, g, z, j, th, l, m,
n, r


All vowel sounds
are voiced.

Examples of past tense verbs where the –ed ending sounds like “d”:


moved
returned
stayed
studied
married
widowed
raised
engaged
traveled

Rule 3: If the verb base ends in a “t” or “d” sound already, then the –ed ending sounds like “id” or “ud”.


It is pronounced as an extra syllable.

Examples of past tense verbs where the –ed ending sounds like “ed”:


started
graduated
visited
separated
dated
attended

 

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