The International Assistant: Effective Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication and dealing with foreign guests

• What is culture?
• How do cultural differences affect behaviour and communication?
• How to apply this knowlegde in daily work processes?
• The meaning of non-verbal signals in personal contacts and on the telephone.
• Tips for non-verbal behaviour in dealing with foreign guests.
• How to receive guests in a professional manner and entertain them with the right topics?
• Making small talk with confidence.

Professional telephone conversations

• How to control the conversation from A to Z, to connect calls, to take a message?
• Important expressions you should know.
• How to manage challenging communication partners and difficult situations on the telephone?
• Work on the participants' own cases.

Modern business correspondence

• Do´s and Don´ts of international correspondence.
• Formats of English letters.
• How to use standard expressions and polite phrases?
• How to apply a formal and an informal writing style?
• How to write a set of correspondence based on practical cases?

International meetings

• Checklists for the preparation and organization of a meeting with international participants.
• Vocabulary for writing the meeting documents.
• Writing the agenda and the invitation.
• How to define a dress code?

Professional and personal presentation

• How to present yourself personally and professionally?
• How to represent your company and your superior(s)?
• How to give a short presentation?

• You expand your intercultural competency and improve your business English.
• You are motivated to speak only in English during the training and to practice new and useful expressions.
• You learn to communicate in a spontaneous, natural, correct and effective manner on the telephone, in correspondence and face-to-face.
• You can practice daily situations through role playing.

Assistants, secretaries and administrative staff who work in an international context.

Minimal requirements: good secondary school (”Realschule”) English skills or similar education.