Business English Certificate from The University of Cambridge

Now in India

BEC is available at three levels of English proficiency :

BEC 1 is aimed at the elementary and lower level

BEC 2 is aimed at the broad range of people in the working place in the junior management and administrative levels. It aims to be accessible even to those who have limited business experience but those who see this as a necessary step towards personal growth.

BEC 3 is aimed at people n the workplace in the middle and senior levels of management with an advanced level of English.

CONTENTS

Language Purposes

• The Business English Certificate tests the use of English for the following purposes :

• Carrying out routine business transactions.

• Giving and obtaining factual information of a personal and non - personal nature.

• Establishing and maintaining business contacts.

Language Functions

• BEC incorporates the following language functions :

• Imparting information

• Expressing and finding out opinions

• Socializing

• Structuring discourse

Topic Areas

• Personal identification

• The business office environment

• Daily routine

• Business travel

• Relations with other people : clients, competitors, colleagues etc.

• Business companies, systems, structures

• Products and Services

• Results and achievements

• Buying & selling.

Candidates will be expected to extract relevant information from, and understand the gist of texts,

which are appropriate to business situations and topics. Such text types include :

Advertisements

Company Reports, Letters

Catalogues

Messages, Notes

Brochures

Company Structures

Notices

Policies

Tables, Charts

Articles

Minutes of Meetings

Forms

Instructions, Rules

Diagrams

Office Diaries

Guides

Writing

• Write standard business letters, simple reports and descriptions.

• Write short messages and memos / complete forms.

• transfer visual information into writing.

• comment on visual information (charts, tables, diagrams)

Listening

Listening texts will use standard pronunciation at a normal speech - rate.

Candidates will hear all texts twice.

Listening material may include :

announcements, instructions and directions overheard conversations.

(Business and social)

Telephone conversations

(asking for and giving information)

Advertisements and publicity statements

monologues, presentations

answer phone messages

discussions, interview