Those of us lucky enough to have regular work that involves travelling a lot in far flung lands, soon become aware that not everyone speaks our native language with the same fluency as ourselves.

In fact, the more we travel, the more we come to realise that English has more variations than eBay Customer Supports’ interpretations of eBay policy for a particular topic. We also, without realising it, soon get drawn into becoming ad-hoc teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), and it is the wise frequent-traveller who keeps a set of notes in their baggage for fulfilling the all too frequent requests to present something on the EFL topic when visiting distant destinations.

Thus it happens that I keep in my “journo-bag” a set of notes for giving a brief presentation regarding descriptive English, which was first presented years ago to a group of undergrad journalism students. It’s a presentation that I can now give from memory, but I keep the notes handy as they can be copied and used as hand-outs, which are always appreciated.

Following up on an email from a BuildaSkill reader, I downloaded eBay Australia’s new 12 page manual for how to use their New Search system, already imposed on the UK and ready to roll in Australia soon. Currently New Search is only available to Australia in the eBay Playground, where in my opinion it should stay. After all, as the BuildaSkill reader said, if it needs a 12-page manual, then it should be ditched and taken back to basics … ummm … a bit like Google search perhaps?

Anyway … browsing through the New Search tutorial, I managed to just in time stop myself from spraying my keyboard and monitor with coffee, and somehow avoided choking myself with it as I burst out laughing at this graphic on page 4 …

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NPR.com - National Public Radio’s website in the USA, has a wonderful piece about a new organisation set up to shame America’s companies over their spelling blunders.

This is not a focus on the difference between American and “real” English, of which British wartime Prime Minister (during World War Two) Sir Winston Churchill said, “America and Britain are two countries divided by a common language”, no, this is about real and genuine spelling errors provable with a dictionary.

BEFORE

Jeff Deck of Boston had seen a lot of misspellings on signs around his city, and one day he decided he just couldn’t take it anymore.  Deck cobbled together the Typo Eradication Advancement League and set off on a nationwide quest to repair the mistakes by any means necessary, including chalk and adhesive letters. For the next three months, the four team members will travel highways and byways wielding the red pen of justice and blogging their exploits.

The TEAL team are using guerilla tactics to correct their nation’s typos and grammar errors on public signs - did you spot the one above?  This is how it looked after application of a blue marker pen.

It’s good to see that pedantry in the world of literacy is alive and well in the country that rewrote a language into a phonetic nonsense.   

Ed

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Failure of secondary schools hidden by GCSE results, says business

The British Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) 22 Aug 2007, called for a major rethink of secondary education as GCSE results are announced.  The FSB believes that the continuing upward trend of GCSE results is masking a deterioration in the level of basic skills that schools are providing their pupils who enter the world of work at 16.  This leads to reduced productivity in small firms who have to spend the first several weeks of new starters’ careers filling in the gaps in their education.

A quarter of small firms reported facing one or more skills shortages when seeking to fill a job vacancy. 

Over ten per cent of businesses reported that both basic literacy and numeracy skills were lacking in new recruits. 

A further ten per cent reported a lack of communication skills as a problem.

The FSB also believes that the Government’s ‘skills pledge’, where businesses are encouraged to sign up to bring their staff to a level equivalent to 5 GCSEs at grade A*-C, is aiming to force businesses to pick up the pieces of a failing school system. 

The Government has threatened to legislate to force businesses to train staff to this level after 2010 if this has not been achieved voluntarily (more…)

Every great business has started with a simple idea. If you have a great idea, float it by Barclays at a free “Let’s Talk Business Ideas“ seminar.

When you’ve got an idea for a business, advice on making the dream come true is the key to success.

• How viable is the idea?
• What are the potential problems?
• The potential rewards?
• Is running a business really right for you?

Find out at Barclays’ seminars run in conjunction with the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, and in partnership with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Perhaps you’re in need of an idea? While they can’t come up with one for you, Barclays and friends can help you explore opportunities that use the knowledge and skills you already have.

Seminars are taking place up and down the country, each full of great business advice and tips for people who want to find out how to move a dream business idea into a reality. Plus you’ll network with like-minded local people and exchange useful opinions and views.

Book now….

To book your place at a seminar

1. Select a region from the list
2. Select the event most convenient for you
3. Contact the Enterprise Agency co-ordinating the event to reserve your place.

Places are limited and are allocated on a first come, first served basis. So don’t delay - book your place now!

Is this the event for you?
If you do not intend on setting up in the next few months - then yes.

However, if you hope (more…)