Bon appétit!

Everyone has to eat and drink. How can you make it more enjoyable — and productive — in a business context? In this issue of Skill Up!, we provide you with the words and phrases you’ll need for entertaining clients.

In Word Bank (pp. 4–5), you can learn general vocabulary for entertaining business partners. The dialogues in the In Context section (pp. 6–11) focus on phrases for talking about and writing business invitations, looking after clients in the office and at a restaurant, and being a good host. The phrases from the extracts are listed in Phrase Bank, on pages 12–13. In the grammar section (pp. 20–21), we look at how to form and use the “will”-future, including how to make spontaneous offers and decisions. Try the Test exercises at the end of the booklet, on pages 22–23, to see how well you know the language presented in this issue.

Don’t forget to read the Skill Up! boxes for tips on how to make a good impression with your clients. You’ll find more such boxes in Business Spotlight magazine.

The most effective way to learn a language is not by learning grammar and vocabulary separately but to learn in chunks — groups of words that form meaningful units. When you can process chunks, rather than individual words, communication becomes faster and more efficient. Practise chunks from the Phrase Bank and Collocations pages by making a note of those you think will come in useful when entertaining clients.