Assignment #2

Shaharyar Naeem
Section E
17U00019
Instructor: Ms. Rumesa Naqvi
Course: Business Communication
Date: 29/01/2020
Practice Your Skills [LO-5]

I wanted to welcome you ASAP to our little family here in Dubai. Its high time we shook
hands in person and not just across countries. I’m pleased about getting to know you all, and I
will do my best to see you well in Dubai.

The changes that I would suggest to my boss would be to not use abbreviations such as “ASAP”
since internationally these abbreviations are not understood and might be mistaken when read
by the employees. I would advise not to use phrases such as “it is high time” or “across
countries” since the English spoken and understood by people from Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan
is quite different in the sense that they take the meanings of words literally instead of
understanding them metaphorically. “high time” might be understood as time at a high length
and shaking hands across countries wouldn’t make sense to them. I would suggest that my boss
use direct and straight forward English in order to reach every employee in the diverse
organization. I wouldn’t consider this message audience centered since it does not meet the
expectations of every individual in the organization. An audience centered message displays
effective communication between the listener and the speaker, which this message does not
entail.

Exercise [3-18]

1.Scene on: it is an informal way of conveying a meet up plan which is used very commonly
among Pakistanis. A replacement could be the plan is confirmed which basically means the
same thing. The word scene actually means a place where an incident occurs and might be
mistaken for that by someone from a different culture.

2.Chill: informal way of saying relax but actually means feeling of coldness which could be
mistaken for that. A replacement could be “loosen up”.

3.Meter: used as a way to express the action of stress and rage but the word is actually a
measurement unit. A replacement could be the word “temper”

4.Miss: the word is used to convey the action of ditching something or leaving it behind but it
actually means failure to come into contact with something. A replacement could be the word
“discard” or “leave”
5.Screw: the word screw is used metaphorically in the sense that a person has loose screws
meaning that they are out of their mind but it actually is a word for a tool that is used to tighten
things. A replacement could be the word “dumb” or “insane”.

6.Burger: informally used to refer to someone that is does not follow traditions but it actually is
a type of American fast food. A replacement could be the word “conformist”.

7.Pro: it is an informal way of telling someone that they are the best at something. It actually is
an abbreviation for the word professional which means relating to or belonging to a profession.
Instead of using a replacement the actual word can be used instead of the abbreviation.

8. Basic: used as a put-down describing someone or something that's very common or a

conformist. It actually means forming an essential foundation or starting point. The
replacement word could be “uncool”.

9. Extra: If someone's "extra," it means they're way too dramatic but it actually means a greater
extent than usual. A replacement word could be “surprising”.

10. Lit: If something is "lit," it means it's super cool but it actually means something that is
caught on fire. A replacement word can be “Amazing”.