At The Soft Skills Workspace, we believe there are 3 core language skills that you need to master to become proficient in English in the workplace.
The first skill, namely Functional Language, enables you to communicate your own ideas to others, for example, in meetings, during presentations or when talking on the phone. By studying the phrases, idioms and collocations that makes Business English a ‘language’ on its own, you join the international community of businesspeople that share a common lexis.
The second skill, Technical Vocabulary, relates to the technical detail you need to explain your work to others in English, such as the systems, structures and processes of your department. This skill is usually acquired during the university years and maintained through the assimilation of English language terms into the local language.
The third skill, Soft Skills, is a much-neglected skill which requires business executives to engage their international counterparts in conversations on international business concepts in English which they never had the change to acquire at university or in-house. Even though these concepts may be known in the local language, the ability to have discussions of these concepts in English is limited.
The Soft Skills Workspace aims to bridge the gap between Soft Skills acquisition and Business English proficiency by making Soft Skills and Functional language the focus of the learning experience. Both basic theory and extensive application are incorporated into online classes, courses and corporate training material. Concepts are broken down into easy-to-understand chunks and then reinforced through practical exercises with immediate relevance and real-world application.
This hands-on approach reinforces the use of Business English as a practical tool that underlines business acumen, instead of a separate skill that quickly fades outside the classroom.
