Communicating in Business and Technology: From Psycholinguistic Theory to International Practice

Communication is an important aspect of the behavior of the business manager and engineer whose success depends on effective communication skills, the more so as the international world of business and technology becomes increasingly complicated and as economic, technical, and cultural interests become more interwoven. In its exploration of language needs and applications in international business and technology, this books attempts to bridge the gap between the purely theoretical and the strictly applied. Thus, it presents useful psycholinguistic research, linguistic descriptions, and discourse analysis as they are applied to current international business and technical communication. Translation, as well as other cross-linguistic and cross-cultural issues are discussed. The skills of listening and speaking are discussed within the context of negotiation, and reading and writing are integrated within the context of effective technical documentation. Finally, some style sheets and practical guidelines for such crucial documents as proposals and executive summaries are given.