Ruairi Braddell is a business English trainer from Cobh, Ireland, who teaches in Düsseldorf. We spoke to him about how he uses Business Spotlight, and how the magazine has evolvesich entwickelnevolved over the years.
How long have you been a Business Spotlight reader?
I've been a Business Spotlight reader for around 20 years, since the early 2000s when I started teaching business English in Germany. What I liked most about it was the mix of authentic business-related content and language-training material. There are sections on intercultural communication, business skills, management, technology and the working world. It quickly became my go-toLieblings...go-to supplementErgänzungsupplement for standard coursebooks, filling gaps in areas like intercultural training and business skills development.
How have you seen the magazine evolve?
I noticed that the magazine has expanded its scope in topic areas like AI, wellbeing and sustainability, but has retained its solid intercultural and skills content base. It has also grown with more multimedia content, such as digital audio files, etc.
Has the magazine helped you stay up to date with developments in international business and communication?
For sure! I find the magazine a very accessiblezugänglichaccessible source of information. It gave me insights into presenting, negotiation, and intercultural pitfallFallstrickpitfalls that I couldn't find elsewhere.
In your experience, how important is authentic reading material like this magazine compared to traditional textbooks?
It is essential as authentic journalism delivers real voices, debates and up-to-date business language. Coursebooks give structure, but they are often out-of-date and only approximateungefährapproximate business communication. The articles in Business Spotlight are more relatablenachvollziehbarrelatable to the learners' own real-life experiences. They also help bridge a gapeine Lücke schließenbridge the gap to authentic language production far better than coursebooks. A favourite of mine was to get my students to read the arguments in the head-to-head section and then have the debate in the classroom.
How has business English changed over the past 25 years?
Business has become very global and much less formal than in the past. That change has also been driven by the fact that a lot of interactions are remote and take place digitally over Teams, Zoom and Slack.
What are the biggest challenges German professionals face when using English at work?
German professionals generally have strong English skills. However, they often make mistakes with things like false friends or grammar structures like the present perfect, which seem similar but are used in entirely different ways. One other aspect is German directness compared with English politeness.
Business has become very global and much less formal than in the past
