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There was an interesting article on America’s trade deficit in the news today - here. Apparently, in 2006 the U.S. trade deficit will be 790 billion dollars.

What is a deficit? It means you are short of something or don’t have enough of something. A ‘trade deficit’ simply means a country imports more goods than it exports. The opposite, when a country exports more than it imports, is a ‘trade surplus’. So Americans import a LOT more than they export to other countries.

American news often has stories about the U.S. trade deficit, especially during the periods before elections (as we had recently). These news articles usually focus on why there is a deficit, not necessarily on what the results might be because of a deficit.

Let’s look at some examples of how to use this word:

a huge deficit
a massive deficit
a small deficit

run up a deficit (allow it to grow larger)
cut a deficit
reduce a deficit
tackle a deficit (deal with it, make it smaller and more manageable)
overcome a deficit

the deficit grew
the deficit rose
the deficit widened last month (got larger)
the deficit decreased
the deficit fell
the deficit narrowed
the deficit shrank

As you can see, a lot of times we speak about past or future deficits, so make sure you have the correct verb form.

Copyright is a noun meaning “[t]he legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.” Thanks to The Free Dictionary by Farlex for the definition.

Copyright is another form of Intellectual Property law (blogged about here) that protects writers of books, photographers, song writers, etc., and helps them to keep control over the sale of their work. No one can copy their work without permission. Copyright used to be automatic, but these days it’s safer to write “Copyright Kris Fedorak, 2003-2006″ just to warn people who might copy your work. For a thorough but difficult to understand (very advanced English required) explanation of copyright in the U.S. see here. A very good article dealing with common misunderstandings of copyright can be found here.

I myself am not a big fan of copyright laws. I think they’re too restrictive and protect works for too long. Why must everything we create be about money, and commercial benefit? My main problem is with music. Live music (i.e. a concert) I’ll pay for. I’ll pay good money to see someone perform their music and enjoy music the way it’s supposed to be - live! Once “recorded”, the music is already just a copy - a copy of that singer’s voice, of that band’s music. Why pay for the stale and standardized sound of the music record companies? Pay for live music. However, this is just my opinion and not that of EnglishPod or On Demand Training.

To finish off, here are some common collocations to help you use this important business word:
protected by copyright
copyright law
a copyright agreement
copyright material
copyrighted material (used as a transitive verb here)
copyright infringement

Trademarks are symbols, pictures, marks, words or other characteristics that companies use to identify their products and services and distinguish them from others. We see trademarks everyday on the products we buy. Usually they have a ^TM or ® beside them. Trademarks cannot be generic terms. For example, if a company sells rice, they cannot simply call their product “Rice” because it doesn’t establish a difference between their product and the rice produced by other companies.

Trademark rights arise from the use and/or registration of the trademark. In British/American law, if a company commonly uses a trademark in the market, other companies are expected to refrain (stop themselves) from using that mark. A company can also register their trademark in a trademarks office/registry.

Trademark law gives the holders of a trademark the right to exclusive use of that mark. If another company uses that trademark, they have infringed on the trademark rights. There have been many famous cases of trademark infringement over the years, such as the ongoing battle between Lacoste and Crocodile International throughout Asia. A good example of a clear case of trademark infringement involved Starbucks and a competitor in China – see the China Law Blog for a description of the case. Trademark Law is an ever-growing area of IP Law – I even found a blog entirely about trademarks here.

Common collocations for “trademark”

trademark rights
trademark infringement
register a trademark
a registered trademark
trademark use

This just in: layaway is a payment option of the past.

Wal-Mart announced that it will end its layaway service on November 19th this year. see article here

What is layaway? Do you use it in your country?

Layaway is a form of payment where the buyer can reserve goods by giving the seller a deposit and may collect the goods when the balance of the price is paid in full. For example, you want to buy a barbeque from Wal-Mart, but it’s $500 and you don’t have that much money right now. You reserve the barbeque by paying a deposit, say $50, but you cannot take the barbeque home until you pay the remaining $400. The best part is, there’s no interest charges! If the customer cannot pay with a certain time (for Wal-Mart, normally 60 days), the layaway is cancelled and the customer gets their money back (though there is usually a small charge of about $10 or so).

Layaway is different from using a credit card because when you purchase goods with a credit card you may take them immediately, but you must pay interest, usually somewhere between 10-20% in North America.

Layaway is still popular on more expensive items that might have limited supply, or during Christmas season, when the most popular toys can become sold out long before Dec. 25. For a great article on layaway’s advantages and tips for using it, see here.

This week’s word of the day is “FDI”. Well, actually it’s not one word, but three. Today you get a three for one deal!

FDI stands for foreign direct investment. It simply refers to when a company invests money in another country by buying a company there or by creating its own. So for example, if an American company builds a factory in Canada, that is FDI. Foreigners are directly investing in the Canadian economy. Indirect investment normally involves financial institutions buying smaller amounts of shares or bonds in another country.

FDI is one of the major indicators of a country’s economic health and its potential for growth. A great definition (and the only useful one I found) is located here. It was made by The Economist, a first-rate magazine dealing with world economics and politics.

FDI is often spoken of in the news, especially with regard to developing countries. The USA is the largest recipient of FDI each year, followed by China. Some people say that governments and economists over-emphasize FDI numbers. What do you think?

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the first “word of the week”, though it may happen more often than just once a week.

Today’s word is bankrupt, normally used as a noun or as an adjective. We’ll also look at the general noun bankruptcy.
The meaning according to the Free Online Dictionary (a great resource) is:

Noun
-a debtor that, upon voluntary petition or one invoked by the debtor’s creditors, is judged legally insolvent. The debtor’s remaining property is then administered for the creditors or is distributed among them.

Adj.
a. Having been legally declared financially insolvent.
b. Financially ruined; impoverished.

What does all this mean? It means a person or company doesn’t have enough money to pay its debts (money it owes to people called “creditors”). So if you owe a bank lots of money but your job doesn’t pay you enough to give you the ability to pay the bank back (= you’re insolvent), you can declare yourself “bankrupt.” When you do this the court appoints a person to control your finances, selling much of your property and paying the people you owe money to. In the end you won’t have much, but your finances will be in order and your old creditors can no longer claim money from you. For practical advice on bankruptcies (and some reading practice) see this website.

After declaring “bankruptcy”, the general noun for this idea, it is more difficult to get bank loans or credit cards (financial institutions won’t trust you as much). However, many famous people have filed for bankruptcy (including Rembrandt, Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Walt Disney) and many have become successful afterwards. In America, the federal law regulating bankruptcy is divided into chapters, so you will often hear or read references to “Chapter 11″ or “Chapter 7.”

Ways to use it: sentences
He is bankrupt.
He is nearly bankrupt.
The company went bankrupt 10 years ago.
They will declare bankruptcy tomorrow.
She filed for bankruptcy.
She filed for Chapter 11.
There were many bankruptcies last month.

Ways to use it: collocations:
be bankrupt
become bankrupt
go bankrupt
declare someone bankrupt
almost bankrupt
nearly bankrupt
personal bankruptcy
face bankruptcy
be close to bankruptcy
be forced into bankruptcy
file for bankruptcy
be saved from bankruptcy
bankruptcy order
the threat of bankruptcy

Ok, that’s enough for bankrupt I think. If you have any questions, follow the links or comment here and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Kris

Here’s an example of collocations for a common and important word in English: money
These are fairly set pairs of words - the trick is to find out which verbs and adjectives are used with which nouns.

Money - with verbs
spend money
save money
make money
earn money
lose money
exchange money
put money in the bank
deposit money in the bank
take money out of the bank
withdraw money from the bank

Money - with adjectives
fake money
extra money

Add to my list with your own!
Try some collocation quizes (some are very hard!)

I really hate the out of control use of acronyms and abbreviations. In these days of instant messaging and chat rooms, acronyms and abbreviations are becoming all too common.

They’re not just annoying, but slow to read and awkward to say (do we say the letters, like in BBS, or pronounce it like a word, as in AIDS). There are plenty of people who agree with me. A great deal of writers, professors, language purists and old prudes like me (I’m not yet 30 if you’re checking) can’t stand them. I would link to them, but most of the blogs and comments I’ve seen are maybe, er, not appropriate (very strong language).

What makes it even worse is that many people learning English adopt acronyms and abbreviations quite quickly. I’m not sure why. I’ve had students use them in class and I didn’t know what they were saying. The students would give me a confused look like - “how can you not know this?”. Then I had to explain what they’re using is often slang or jargon. These students, who have a vocabualry about 1/20th the size of mine, are using this stuff. Often it’s from work - they have jobs where acronyms or abbreviations are often used in the workplace or that particular field of business. But the rest of the English speaking world doesn’t know them or use them.

Let’s get this straight. Acronyms and abbreviations do not make you sound intelligent, and they are not, in general, much faster to say. I can see how it makes sense to use them in writing sometimes, but only if they’re high-use, well-known ones that your readers will know. There’s nothing more frustrating than not understanding a piece of text or what someone is saying because they use too many acronyms and abbreviations.

I admit, I use them here at EnglishPod - we have our own little language of acronyms and abbreviations - but I wouldn’t use them with outsiders because I wouldn’t expect them to be understood. So to everyone out there, please limit their use - make yourself clear, stop the confusion.

For all those who need help understanding acronyms and abbreviations, go here to find out what possible meanings they might have.

Tip #3: Create sample sentences!
Your goal, as a language learner, is to develop the ability to communicate in a wide variety of situations. A great way to practice this is to write sample sentences for each of the new words you learn. You should try to use the new word in as many different situations and locations in the sentence as possible. Once you run out of sentences, try Googling the word to find other samples in English language websites. Here are some examples of sample sentences.

New Word: wireless

1) The wireless network is broken.
2) Our office is wireless.
3) I need a product that provides very fast wireless connectivity.

And a Google search reveals lots more sample sentences.

Tip #2: Learn relevant things!
When you are learning English, it is much easier to remember language that is related to your job, life, interests, etc. And, because these things are related to you, they will be far more useful. So, don’t waste time trying to learn words that you will never use, or discussing things that don’t interest you. Instead, focus on what you need or like. You will have far better results.

Here are some suggestions for learning activities that will be highly relevant:

1) See if you can translate your resume into English.
2) Keep a diary in English, and use it to describe your life. You will find you will need to use a dictionary to learn new words, and because these words are related to your life you will remember them better.
3) Regularly read an English language website or blog about one of your hobbies. Because it interests you, you will have greater motivation and better retention of new vocabulary.

If you have any other strategies for relevant learning, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!