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Exercise 1. What do the abbreviations used in the text stand for? Consult your dictionary of business terms.

Exercise 2. Make a list of technical terms and translate them into Russian.

Exercise 3. Make a list of business terms and translate them into Russian.

Exercise 4. Give suitable Russian equivalents to the following

English phrases and sentences (the project is moving along well, to match

the international standard specifications, there is some missing information, to

sign a contract).

Exercise 5. Find suitable English equivalents to the following Russian phrases (образец продукта весом 2,2 кг., в настоящее время нам необходима дополнительная информация, технические характеристики продукта первого сорта, эксклюзивное право продажи на 5 лет, прилагается список технических характеристик продукта).

Exercise 6. Render the English passive constructions used in the text into Russian.

Exercise 7. Read and translate the text.

Text 5 – Letter of Application for Employment

178 Green Street

Puyallip, WA 98374

(206) 555-5555

July 6, 1996

Pat Cummings

Manager

Any Corporation

1140 Main Street

Seattle, WA 98109

Dear Mr. Cummings:

During the past twenty-five years, my education, training and experience have been concentrated as a Landscape Designer; for nineteen of those years I have been with a tree and landscape company. Although my projects were diverse and offered me the opportunity to work with clients on creative project design and maintenance, I would like a change.

I am interested in concentrating my experience and education with a distinguished corporate complex such as Any Corporation which has a need for an experienced, dependable professional skilled in creative planning and maintenance. In addition to my experience, I have a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design from the University of Washington in Seattle. Based on my qualifications, I feel confident that I can bring both technical skill and stability to the position.

Should you require any additional information, please contact me at the above address or by phone. I look forward to your return response.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Smith

(Source: Как написать деловое письмо в иностранную компанию, 2007)

Key Terms

planning планирование (business ~ планирование развития компании или бизнеса, financial ~ финансовое планирование, long-term ~ долгосрочное планирование, short-term ~ краткосрочное планирование, strategic ~ стратегическое планирование)

professional профессионал (a highly-skilled ~ высококвалифицированный профессионал, a motivated ~ целеустремленный профессионал, a real ~ настоящий профессионал)

qualifications обыкн. pl. квалификация, подготовленность, годность (к чему-л.), опыт работы (to have necessary ~ for the job иметь необходимую квалификацию для получения работы, to have better ~ иметь более высокую квалификацию)

Word Combinations

a dependable professional профессионал, на которого можно положиться

a landscape company ландшафтная компания

Comprehension Questions

Does Mr. Smith have an academic degree?
How long has Mr. Smith worked as a Landscape Designer?
Why does Mr. Smith want to get a job at Any Corporation?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Make a list of technical and business terms and translate them into Russian.

Exercise 2. Give suitable Russian equivalents to the following English phrases and sentences (a distinguished corporate complex, a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design, a Landscape Designer).

Exercise 3. Find suitable English equivalents to the following Russian phrases (г-н Смит проработал 19 лет в ландшафтной компании; я был занят в различных проектах; степень, присужденная Вашингтонским университетом).

Exercise 4. State what arguments Mr. Smith puts forward to get a job at Any Corporation.

Exercise 5. Read and translate the text.

Text 6 – Sample of Bank Correspondence

ABN AMRO Bank

St.-Petersburg Merchant Bank April 10, 1994

15, ul. Krasnoflotskaya, St.Petersburg,

Russia

Attn.: Mr. Igor V. Loginov, President

Re: Your USD account No. 44.63.44.816 on our books

Dear Mr. Loginov,

(1) Please permit us to request your attention to the following matter.

(2) During our continuous watch over the accounts that are entrusted to us, we noticed that your above-mentioned account has not shown much activity recently. (3) For this reason, we have decided to make a gesture to the effect, that the use of your account will be more attractive to you.

(4) As you know, it is our policy not to pay credit interest on normal current accounts, as we already waive our right to charge maintenance fees and, moreover, do not require a minimum balance either. (5) We are pleased to inform you now, that we shall make an exception from this rule for your bank, and we shall pay interest on your USD account as from May 1, 1994. (6) The rate of this interest automatically changes with market conditions. (7) For instance, the rate for USD accounts amounts now to 3.65% p.a.

(8) We are confident that our action will lead to a more intensive usage of your account with us and to an extension of our business co-operation, to our mutual benefit.

Yours faithfully,

ABN AMRO Bank

Key Terms

account счет (в банке или в другом финансовом учреждении) (to open an ~ открыть счет, to close an ~ закрыть счет, to keep an ~ иметь счет; a current ~ текущий счет, a deposit ~ депозитный счет, a dollar ~ счет в долларах США, a retirement ~ пенсионный счет, a savings ~ сберегательный счет).

balance баланс, остаток на счете (account ~ остаток на счете, minimum ~ минимальный остаток на счете, negative ~ пассивный баланс, positive ~ активный баланс)

interest проценты (по вкладу, кредиту и т.д.) (to pay ~ выплачивать проценты, to receive ~ получать проценты, to yield ~ приносить проценты; compound ~ сложные проценты, simple ~ простые проценты)

interest rate процентная ставка (to cut ~ s снижать процентные ставки, to fix an ~ устанавливать процентную ставку, to raise ~ s повышать процентные ставки; an annual ~ годовая процентная ставка, a floating ~ плавающая процентная ставка)

Word Combinations

to make an exception for smb. сделать исключение для кого-л.

business co-operation деловое сотрудничество

continuous watch постоянное отслеживание

market conditions рыночные условия

Comprehension Questions

Why has ABN AMRO Bank offered its depositor from St.-Petersburg to pay credit interest on its USD current account?
What is the proposed interest rate on the above-mentioned USD current account?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Use the above key terms to make up 5 sentences.

Exercise 2. Identify all banking terms used in the text and give their Russian equivalents.

Exercise 3. Give suitable Russian equivalents to the following English phrases (during our continuous watch over the accounts, to make an exception from the rule, we are confident, 3.65% p.a., to our mutual benefit).

Exercise 4. Give suitable English equivalents to the following Russian phrases (вышеуказанный счет, обычные текущие счета, минимальный остаток на счете, в последнее время по счету проходило мало операций, процентная ставка, как вы знаете).

Exercise 5. Is it possible to render the subject-predicate group word-for-word in sentences (7), (8). If not, what other way can you suggest?

Exercise 6. Read and translate the text.

Text 7 – Business Letter Produced By a Latin American Company

Hernandes Fabricante Industrial y Distribuidor

Avenida Ramires No. 272

District Morales, Quito, Ecuador

Tel. 593-55555-5555, Fax 593-55555-5555

12 junio del 2002

Senor Juan Antonio Perez Marcela

23 Avenida San Pedro

Guayaquil Ecuador

Estimado Sr. Perez,

We send our best wishes to you and to your family and hope that all is well for you in Guayaquil.

In accordance with Contract No. 123, we are anticipating your response and hope that you have made suitable arrangements for payment. You are one of our best clients and it would please us to know that you have already taken care of this matter.

Please, tell us about any problems you may have. We look forward to hearing from you and continuing working with you and your associates.

Atentamente,

Maria Patricia Sanchez Rodolfo,

Directora General

(Source: Conaway, Wardrope, 2004)

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Explain what aspects of Latin American culture are reflected in Text 7.

Exercise 2. Explain why first and second person pronouns are frequently used in Text 7.

Exercise 3. Find implicit, high-context messages in Text 7.

Exercise 4. Explain why official surnames of the sender and the receiver of the letter are accompanied by their mothers’ maiden surnames.

Exercise 5. Latin American cultures are highly relationship-oriented. Explain what linguistic means are used to create ‘personalismo’ (interpersonal warmth) in Text 7.

Exercise 6. Explain what linguistic means are used by the sender of the letter to express ‘respeto’ (respect) to the receiver of the letter in Text 7.

Exercise 7. Formulate several cultural rules for communicating with Latin American businesses.

Exercise 8. Read and translate the text.

Text 8 – Business Letter Produced By a Russian Company

Генеральному директору

ООО «Технологическая компания

Шлюмберже» г-ну Морису Дижо

Финансовому директору

г-ну Петрову Ю.О.

Уважаемые господа!

Сибирский Кредитный Банк на протяжении нескольких лет следит за развитием Вашей компании. Сегодня компания «Шлюмберже» является передовым и крупнейшим поставщиком услуг и технологий нефтедобывающей промышленности во всем мире.

На наш взгляд, такая организация как Ваша, достойна высококачественного банковского обслуживания, а опыт работы Сибирского Кредитного Банка – регионального, системообразующего банка Тюменской области, обладающего развитой филиальной сетью, будет для Вашей организации полезен и важен.

Отлаженная современная технологическая и информационная структура филиальной сети позволяет нам оперативно и качественно выполнять запросы Клиентов. Сегодня Сибирский Кредитный Банк имеет 25 филиалов в Тюменской области и один филиал в Москве.

Корпоративные клиенты Сибирского Кредитного Банка представлены в основном нефтяными и газовыми компаниями. Так как Ваша компания является партнером многих нефтегазовых компаний, считаем, что обслуживание в рамках одного банка позитивно скажется на скорости прохождения Ваших платежей.

С уважением,

И. Иванов, начальник отдела

стратегического планирования,

Сибирский Кредитный Банк

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. State what cultural dimensions introduced by G. Hofstede are reflected in Text 8.

Exercise 2. Explain why corporate names are frequently used in Text 8.

Exercise 3. Explain how personal pronouns and corporate names are distributed in Text 6 and in Text 8. Why?

Exercise 4. State what peculiarities of the communication style in Text 6 and Text 8 are culture-specific.

Exercise 5. State whether forms of address in Text 6 and Text 8 are culture-specific.

Exercise 6. Speak on cultural nuances which are reflected in Text 6 and Text

Exercise 7. Make a cross-cultural analysis of Text 6 and Text 8.

Exercise 8. Translate Text 8 from Russian into English.

Section Two – Genres of Business Newspapers

Theoretical Background

Business newspapers are very important in contemporary society because they seem to interest an increasing number of readers. Business newspapers follow the same genre conventions as general newspapers do and have at least three primary functions:

- to inform the reader of the latest business news;

- to evaluate short-term and long-term market trends;

- to influence the public opinion on political and economic matters.

A variety of genres can be found in business newspapers, ranging from editorials, business news articles and newspaper reports on business performance of firms and companies to market watches, country reports and advertisements.

Business articles are characterized by a specific format. The integral part of any business article is its headline or heading which aims to inform the reader briefly of what the text that follows is about. Headlines often contain elements of appraisal, are catchy and sometimes even provocative in style and contemplated by frequent sub-headings [Galperin 1981]. It is interesting to note that initial capitalization is often used to attract more attention to the headline of a particular business article as well as to stress every word it says to impress the reader. For example: THE TOP 1000: HOW WE DID IT (the Banker).

The headlines in English-language business newspapers are marked by a distinctive grammar and sometimes are very difficult to understand. One reason for this is that in many cases headlines are written in a special ‘telegrammatic’ style, which is very different from ordinary English [Crystal 1998]. Headlines are distinguished by the presence of complex noun phrases in a subject position and omission of articles, auxiliaries and verbs.

Headlines are not always complete sentences. M. Swan states that in newspaper headlines it is unusual to find complex forms like ‘is coming’ or ‘has produced’. Articles and the verb to be are also usually left out from newspaper headlines [Swan 1984]. Generally, the Simple Present form (comes, produces) is used whether the headline is about something that has happened, something that is happening or something that happens repeatedly. It is by far the most often used tense in headlines. For example: McDonald’s expands in Italy – Компания McDonald’s расширяет свое присутствие в Италии; World Bank offers India money – Всемирный Банк предлагает Индии деньги.

Sometimes the Present Continuous form is used in headlines to describe something that is changing or developing, but the auxiliary is usually left out. For example: US retailers’ profits rising – Прибыль американских розничных торговцев растет.

To refer to the future, headlines often use the infinitive. For example: US insurer to cut a third of staff and close branches – Американская страховая компания на треть сократит число рабочих мест и закроет филиалы; GiroCredit to remain independent says chief – Компания GiroCredit останется независимой – говорит главный исполнительный директор.

Syntactically headlines are phrases or short sentences based on a restricted range of patterns:

a). Full declarative sentences (e.g. Richest nations must keep Africa on the agenda);

b). Nominative sentences (e.g. Gray Zone);

c). Interrogative sentences (e.g. What lies behind tomorrow’s financial strategies?);

d). Questions in the form of statements (e.g. Russia’s new President? Talk rather than action? Cracked mirror?);

c). Elliptical sentences (e.g. Private banking profits up by a third);

d). Substantive phrases and phrases with non-finite verbal forms (e.g. A booming economy with enough energy to expand; Selling Poland’s mammoths);

e). Headlines including elements of direct speech (e.g. Who is the best banking partner in Africa? “Standard Bank, I presume”). However, despite the syntactical restrictions, there is still an opportunity for variation, and in fact the style chosen for headlines and sub-headings often provides one of the most distinctive features of a newspaper [Арнольд 2004].

Articles published in business newspapers seem to have specific vocabulary features and are characterized by extensive use of:

- general and special business and economic terms. As a rule, business or economic terms used in English-language business publications have stable equivalents in the respective Russian terminological system (budget - бюджет, expenditures - затраты, assets - активы, losses – убытки, order - заказ, profit - прибыль, liabilities - пассивы, unemployment - безработица, etc). If you don’t know how to translate a business term, the English-Russian Dictionary of Business Terms is your best adviser and assistant in finding a suitable equivalent;

- acronyms and abbreviations. News items, press reports and headlines abound in all sorts of acronyms and abbreviations. The tendency to abbreviate words is specific for professional speech and is motivated by language economy. As a rule, acronyms and abbreviations stand for trade and business organizations and associations (ICC – International Chamber of Commerce; IMF – International Monetary Fund, SWIFT – Society for World-Wide Interbank Financial Telecommunications; WTO – World Trade Organization), industrial companies, trading companies and banking institutions (CBR – Central Bank of Russia EBRD - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and academic degrees (MBA – Master in Business Administration).

Business abbreviations which can be found in business newspapers also include three-digit currency codes (RUB – Russian Ruble, USD – United States Dollar, etc.) and abbreviations standing for technical terms (ADR – American depository receipt, LIBOR – London Interbank Offered Rate, etc.). The translation of some abbreviations may pose a significant problem even for a very experienced translator;

currency symbols like $ and investment grades like A, AA, AAA, A+, BB- which are employed to classify corporate stocks and bonds according to risk.

Syntactical patterns which are common for a business newspaper style are listed below:

attributive noun groups which help the author of a business article increase the density of information flows (e.g. a pipe insulation company – компания, специализирующаяся на изоляции труб; a vehicle construction company – компания, занимающаяся производством автомобилей; state enterprise revenues – доходы государственных предприятий);

- holophrastic constructions which help journalist people express a complex of ideas in a single word (e.g. a friend-of-the rich image, a ‘get-my-money’s-worth’ orientation, a ‘still-uncertain-as-to-where-it-will-lead’ position of newspapers, the ‘cream-of-the-crop’ positioning);

- complex sentences with a developed system of dependent clauses (e.g. Shares in other big Italian insurers such as Generali and Ras were strong performers after the March general election, as investors speculated that Mr. Berlusconi would encourage private pensions and stimulate the underdeveloped life sector of the insurance market);

- passive constructions and the Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction. These syntactical structures are used to avoid mentioning the source of information or to shun responsibility for the facts reported (e.g. The company is likely to benefit from normal growth in the company’s subsidiaries in Canada and Australia);

- instances of direct and reported speech (e.g. ‘The shadow economy was a welcome, but only a short-term solution to Ukraine’s economic crisis’ says Daniel Kaufmann, the World Bank’s resident head of mission; In addition, 73 % said cards helped pay for last minute gifts or souvenirs).

Some articles which occur in business newspapers and magazines are for information only, while others have elements of appraisal and are also marked by stylistic originality and certain emotional coloring. To be more exact, business news items are essentially matter-of-fact and stereotyped forms of expression prevail. The language of brief items is stylistically neutral and the bulk of lexical items that can be found in business news texts are neutral and common literary. Note the following example: Government forecasts predict that by the end of 2008 the sector will achieve the following results: assets/GDP – 56%-60%; loans to non-financial sector/GDP – 26% - 28%, with the largest banks maintaining the fastest growth rates (The Banker).

On the other hand, editorials, journalistic reportages and forward-looking business analyses contain a variety of periphrases, emotionally colored vocabulary units, witty idioms and professional collocations. These journalistic genres often contain elements of appraisal and sometimes provocative in style. For example: If Central European governments need to think big, Russia could help itself by thinking small (Central European Economic Review). I.R. Galperin argues that writers of editorials make an extensive use of emotionally colored vocabulary (topmost, giant, scandalous, frightening, stratospheric increases, etc.) [Galperin 1981].

Periphrases are quite common in business newspapers, especially in editorial letters. For instance, ‘the Kremlin’ is a periphrasis for the Russian political circles, while ‘Wall Street’ and ‘the City’ stand for the leading U.S. and British market players, respectively. For example: Now is the time to resist Wall Street’s shock doctrine; Wall Street’s shock doctrine tactics worked this time.

Texts under consideration abound in metaphors. Although metaphor has traditionally been considered as a phenomenon which is exclusive to literary language metaphors and metaphorical nominations seem to be easily found in editorials and journalistic articles on economic and business matters [for more details see Пономаренко 2007; Bielenia-Grajevska 2009; Bratoz 2004; Cortes de los Rios 2001]. For example: The Company’s new strategy has already born fruit – Новая стратегия компании уже принесла свои плоды; The bourse’s sole liquid stock, private syringe-maker Sanevit, grabbed the lion’s share of trading – Львиная доля торговых операций пришлась на акции производителя одноразовых шприцев частной компании Sanevit, которые являются единственной ликвидной ценной бумагой, котируемой на бирже.

There are different reasons for the growing popularity of metaphors in business and economics. M. Bielenia-Grajevska gives a good explanation of this linguistic phenomenon from a practical point of view: “Metaphors help us understand complicated economic concepts, while metaphorical names are remembered more easily and quickly” [Bielenia-Grajevska 2009]. It is interesting to note that some metaphors in the sphere of business and economics are so common that can be treated as conventional metaphors. This is well illustrated by S. Bratoz: “The conceptualization of the economy as a ship is frequent in English articles. The captain is usually the president of the central bank, his assistants are his crew, the sea is the socio-economic environment of a country, obstacles (reefs, storms) are critical situations in economy, nautical instruments (anchors, compasses, maps) are various guidelines and directives” [Bratoz 2004:184]. Business organizations are also often treated metaphorically and are usually described as legendary or literary heroes (a sleeping beauty, a giant, a white knight, a black knight) or compared to different animals. The most frequently used analogies with the animal world are professional words related to different traders in the stock market (a bear, a bull). An exhaustive list of professional nominations of market participants can be found in [Труфанова 2006].

Some widespread metaphors used in business newspapers and magazines are based on the following models:

a). Competition is a war (e.g. Mr. Jones is looking for targets in Italy and Spain.);

b). Corporate mergers are love relationships (e.g. The richest corporate marriage in the personal computer industry took place this week as Novell and WordPerfect announced the completion of their merger.);

c). Economy is an organism (e.g. Private consumption showed a moderate recovery in 2001 following a small decline in 2000.);

d). Downward market movements are natural disasters (drought, bad weather, etc.) (e.g. The outlook for the development of the Russian banking services market remains cloudy.).

As it has been noted above, the essential features of editorials and market-specific journalistic articles also include set expressions, idioms and jargon items characterized by emotional coloring. A short list of good professional expressions widely used by people involved in business is given below:

to accept smth. at face value – принимать что-л. за чистую монету;

to catch a cold – потерять деньги в невыгодной сделке;

to go green - начать производство безвредных для окружающей среды промышленных товаров;

to kick industry into shape – привести промышленный сектор экономики в хорошее состояние;

to pay through the nose – заплатить бешеные деньги;

to sail close to the wind - предпринимать рискованные шаги, которые могут привести к опасным последствиям;

as safe as the Bank of England - абсолютно надежное предприятие;

barefoot pilgrim - разорившийся инвестор;

business angel – богатый человек, оказывающий содействие становлению новых компаний путем предоставления стартового капитала и передачи личного опыта в области предпринимательства;

goldbug – специалист-аналитик, считающий инвестиции в золото самым надежным средством защиты капитала от инфляции;

kangaroos – акции австралийских эмитентов на Лондонской фондовой бирже;

greenfield - предприятие, создаваемое с нуля (в отличае от слияний и поглощений компаний);

in the red - с убытком (в прошлые времена убытки записывались в бухгалтерских книгах красными чернилами);

moneybags - воротилы бизнеса;

watchdog – регулирующий орган;

window dressing - операции по улучшению финансовой отчетности компании.

The emotional force of expressive language means in the above-mentioned genres of business newspapers is often enhanced by syntactical stylistic devices (parallel constructions, rhetorical questions, etc.). For example: Galloping wages. Fast-appreciating currencies. Stubbornly high inflation. Is Central Europe becoming a more expensive place to do business? (Central European Economic Review). At the same time the role of expressive language means and stylistic devices in business newspapers and magazines should not be overestimated, because they stand out against the essentially neutral background.

Many text types which can be found in business newspaper publications are marked by an obvious multimodal nature. Business news items and reports are often accompanied by photographs of the main characters to add human interest to a piece of information reported. Analytical articles and market reports make use of another kind of visuals, such as tables, charts, graphs and diagrams in order to achieve the immediacy and economy of presentation. Linguistic and non-linguistic modes of expression are never totally independent of each other. Verbal comments are always needed in order to interpret and amplify the meaning or use of nonverbal representations.

Suggested Topics for Discussion

What are the lexical peculiarities of the English business newspaper style?
What are the syntactical features of the English business newspaper style?
What visuals are used in business newspaper publications?

Translation Practice

Text 1 – Gray Zone

If the numbers are anything to go by, Ukraine is a European disaster area. Gross domestic product has declined 52 % since 1990. And the average monthly wage is a belt-tightening $ 66, a figure which suggests that Ukrainians should be either starving or rioting.

But stroll through downtown Kiev, and you’ll see kids in Reeboks and a slew of shiny Jeeps and Opels, not shouting demonstrators. Seventeen thousand Mercedeses are registered in the capital. Hard-currency exchange booths easily outnumber working public telephones.

If Ukraine looks better in person than it does on paper, there’s a reason: the striving shadow economy. More than a third of state enterprise earnings never see the inside of company coffers, Western economists estimate. For private businesses – at least those that bother registering with the taxman, and more than 100,000 haven’t – the figure is twice as that. Seventy percent of fixed wage-earners earn the majority of their real income by moonlighting on second jobs.

Add to that the estimated one million Ukrainians who go shopping abroad each month and play hide-and-seek with customs when they return, and you’ve got a bustle of economic activity that the number-crunchers never see. All in all, the unofficial sector here generated a 48.9 % of GDP in 1995, a recent World Bank study estimates.

Much of the country’s capital is in hiding. Ukrainians have between $ 12 billion and $ 20 billion squirreled away in foreign banks. The National Bank thinks another $ 7 billion could be stuffed under mattresses in Ukrainian homes. Many underground entrepreneurs would expand their operations, but fear attracting the attention of tax authorities.

“The shadow economy was a welcome, but only a short-term solution to Ukraine’s economic crisis” says Daniel Kaufmann, the World Bank’s resident head of mission. “Now it’s crucial that government should create conditions to allow businesses ‘to operate in the open’”.

That’s not happening. Ukraine’s tax rates are punitive and its administrative controls on business too great in number, Western economists say. And too many government policies are wrong-headed in the conception and clumsy in implementation.

(Source: Central European Economic Review, No.4/1996)

Key Terms

capital капитал (to invest ~ вкладывать капитал, to provide ~ предоставлять капитал; borrowed ~ заемный капитал, start-up ~ стартовый капитал, working ~ оборотный капитал)

coffer сейф для хранения ценностей

customs таможня

economy экономика, хозяйство (advanced ~ развитая экономика, backward ~ отсталая экономика, command ~ административно-командная экономика, market ~ рыночная экономика, national ~ национальная экономика, transitional ~ экономика переходного типа)

entrepreneur предприниматель (private ~ частный предприниматель)

income доход (to gain ~ получить доход, to tax ~ облагать доходы налогом; after-tax ~ чистый доход (после уплаты налогов), annual ~ годовой доход, gross ~ валовой доход, personal ~ личный доход)

moonlighting работа по совместительству в свободное от основной работы время

wage заработная плата

Word Combinations

hard-currency exchange booth пункт обмена валюты

tax authorities налоговые власти

tax rate ставка налога

Comprehension Questions

What do you think about the headline of the article under consideration? Is it used in a metaphorical sense?
How many Mercedeses are registered in Kiev?
Is the shadow economy blossoming in Ukraine?
What is meant under moonlighting?
Do the Ukrainian companies export capital?
Do Ukrainians regularly pay taxes?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Read and write in words the following amounts (RUB 26,000.00; GBP 2,006,345.00; USD 445,689.45; EUR 4,231,515.00).

Exercise 2. Translate the following newspaper headings from English into Russian (Alusuisse to sell US business; US struggling to find competitive edge; Rules needed for new age; Delta to cut 4,500 customer service jobs; Budget deficit falling in Australia; French annual inflation at 1.8 %; Haiti observers told to leave in 48 hours; Peres to make first official trip to Russia).

Exercise 3. The sentences below contain metaphors. Translate them from English into Russian.

1. The richest corporate marriage in the personal computer industry took place this week as Novell and WordPerfect announced the completion of their merger.

2. Interest rates are set according to the economy’s temperatures.

3. The outlook for the stock market remains cloudy.

4. Private capital providers, as business angels, participated in the foundation of start-up companies.

5. Wallflowers are commonly neglected by securities analysts.

6. Barriers have kept foreign companies out of the country.

Exercise 4. Give suitable Russian equivalents to the following English phrases and sentences (Ukraine is a European disaster area; stroll through downtown Kiev; working public telephones; all in all; ‘to operate in the open’; to fear attracting the attention of tax authorities; wrong-headed in the conception; clumsy in implementation).

Exercise 5. Find suitable English equivalents to the following Russian phrases (более трети выручки, получаемой государственными предприятиями, никогда не попадает в корпоративные сейфы; средства административного контроля; западные экономисты; теневая экономика, предприниматели, работающие в тени; один миллион украинцев занят в челночном бизнесе; играть в прятки с таможней).

Exercise 6. Render the following English phrases into Russian by means of transcription, transliteration and loan translation techniques (kids in Reeboks; a slew of shiny Jeeps and Opels; seventeen thousand Mercedeses; Daniel Kaufmann, the World Bank’s resident head of mission).

Exercise 7. Compare translations of the following English phrases. Which of them would you prefer? Give your reasons.

a). the National Bank thinks…

1. Национальный Банк думает …;

2. Специалисты из Национального Банка считают...

b). Government should create conditions…

Правительство создает условия;
Правительственные органы создают условия;
Правительство должно создать условия.

Exercise 8. Translate the following colloquial words from English into Russian (a slew, to squirrel away).

Exercise 9. Read and translate the text.

Text 2 – Plastic Cards Buy Holiday Peace of Mind

Research carried out for Europay International in eight European countries by audience selection has revealed increasing reliance on plastic cards rather than cash in holiday destinations.

Payment cards help 200 million people enjoy better holidays. Eighty percent of those surveyed believe cards are safer than cash, up from 78 % last year, while 81 % also said cards gave them peace of mind when abroad.

Should things go wrong, 95 % felt cards were useful in emergencies, up from 89 %, and 53 % expressed unease at carrying more than ECU 300 in cash.

Travellers spend more than usual on holiday, with 58 % acknowledging their tendency to spend a little extra and 83 % agreeing that cards are useful when costs are higher than expected. In addition, 73 % said cards helped pay for last minute gifts or souvenirs.

Holidaymakers say plastic makes life easier, 67 % recognizing that increased ATM access reduces dependence on foreign exchange agents. This was particularly important to the 36 % who felt managing money could interfere with quality vacation time.

The indispensability of cards was underlined by the 70 % of the sample who found they facilitated car rental or making security deposits. Seventy-six percent also identified cards as a convenient way of paying for dinner away from their holiday. 85 % mentioned the value of cards in obtaining cash outside normal business hours.

(Source: European Card Review, No.3/1996)

Key Terms

card карточка (company ~ корпоративная карточка, credit ~ кредитная карточка, debit ~ дебетовая карточка, payment ~ платежная карточка, plastic ~ пластиковая карточка)

cash наличные деньги (to pay ~ платить наличными, hard ~ звонкая монета, ready ~ наличный расчет)

costs расходы, затраты (to bear ~ нести расходы, to meet the ~ покрывать расходы; direct ~ прямые затраты, indirect ~ косвенные затраты, overhead ~ накладные расходы)

Word Combinations

ATM access доступ к банкоматам (ATM – automated teller machine – банкомат)

car rental прокат автомобилей

foreign exchange agents учреждения и физические лица, занимающиеся обменом валюты

Comprehension Questions

What has the market research revealed?
What are the advantages of ‘plastic money’?
Do plastic cards buy a peace of mind during the vacation trips abroad?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. How would you translate the title of the story from English into Russian?

Exercise 2. Your dictionary gives two Russian meanings of the verb ‘to believe’: 1. верить; 2. полагать. What meaning would you choose to translate the following sentence?

Eighty percent of those surveyed believe cards are safer than cash.

Exercise 3. How would you render the following English sentences into Russian?

73 % said cards helped pay for last minute gifts or souvenirs.
81 % also said cards gave them peace of mind when abroad.
This was particularly important to the 36 % who felt managing money could interfere with quality vacations.

Exercise 4. Translate the following English sentence by making use of the so-called sentence division transformation:

Eighty percent of those surveyed believe cards are safer than cash, up from 78 % last year, while 81 % also said cards gave them peace of mind when abroad.

Exercise 5. What are the possible ways of translating the following English phrases and sentences into Russian? (Eighty percent of those surveyed; holidaymakers say plastic makes life easier; the increased ATM access reduces dependence on foreign exchange agents; to spend more on holiday).

Exercise 6. Read and translate the text.

Text 3 – Siemens Set to Shed a Further 7,000 Jobs

Siemens, the German electronics and electrical group, yesterday announced it was cutting a further 7,000 jobs this year. The news came alongside confirmation that annual operating profits were likely to fall by between 10 and 15 per cent.

Mr Heindrich von Pierer, president and chief executive, said that by the end of September the total workforce would be reduced to 385,000. While there were ‘a number of signs of an upward trend’ in the German economy, the effects of the improving business climate would not have an impact on the company’s results this year that ends in September, said Mr. von Pierer.

Although new orders for the eight months to the end of May were up 6 percent at DM56.7bn and sales were 3 percent higher at DM50.4bn, the increase came entirely from foreign business. Domestic orders and sales were both down.

For Germany in the same period, domestic orders fell 7 percent to DM22.2bn and sales were down 6 percent at DM20.8bn. Foreign orders increased 17 percent to DM34.5bn and foreign sales were 11 percent higher at DM29.6bn.

Foreign business now accounted for more than 60 percent of the company’s total operations, up from less than 55 percent in the last financial year. This reflected the more rapid advance of the business in America and South-East Asia compared with Europe.

Net income remained ‘under pressure’ because of continuing price deterioration. Siemens is expected to pay an unchanged dividend. “I think there will not be too much change in either direction”, said Mr. Karl-Hermann Baumann, chief financial officer.

The group paid a dividend of DM13 per share in the last financial year.

(Source: the Financial Times, July 12, 1994)

Key Terms

dividend дивиденд (to omit a ~ не выплачивать дивиденд, to pay a ~ выплачивать дивиденд; annual ~ годовой дивиденд, cash ~ дивиденд в денежной форме, declared ~ объявленный дивиденд, interim ~ промежуточный дивиденд, stock ~ дивиденд, выплачиваемый в форме дополнительных акций)

order заказ (на производство товаров или оказание услуг)

share акция (to issue ~ s выпускать акции; common ~s обыкновенные акции, preferred ~s привилегированные акции, voting ~s акции, дающие их владельцу право голоса на общем собрании акционеров компании)

workforce рабочая сила, персонал компании

Word Combinations

annual operating profit годовая прибыль от производственной деятельности

business climate деловой климат

chief executive officer главный исполнительный директор компании

chief financial officer главный финансовый директор компании

Comprehension Questions

What is the forecast for Siemens’ annual operating profits?
How many jobs does Siemens plan to cut?
Does the company plan to pay an annual dividend to its shareholders?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.

order distribution of earnings to shareholders paid in the form

of money, stock, or, rarely, company products or

property

cash unit of equity ownership in a corporation

dividend a request by a customer to supply goods

capital the system by which a country’s wealth is produced

and used

share wealth, especially money, used to produce more wealth

or for starting a business

cost money in the form of coins and notes rather than

checks, credit cards, etc.

economy the amount of money paid or needed for buying,

doing, or producing something

Exercise 2. Complete the sentences using the words from the list below.

(cash, shares, economies, costs, capital, orders, dividend)

1. High production …. lead to high prices in the shops.

2. The company declared a large …. at the end of the year.

3. Most of the countries in the region have unstable …. .

4. In 2006, the company experienced a dramatic fall in international ….. .

5. Mr Jones told his stockbroker to sell his ….. in Allied Chemicals.

6. Today, the Siberian Bank is conducting its share issuing campaign in order to increase its authorized …..to RUB 10 billion.

7. Sleeping beauties usually have particularly attractive features, such as a large amount of …., or undervalued real estate or other assets.

Exercise 3. What does the abbreviation ‘DM’ used in Text 3? Translate it into Russian.

Exercise 4. What Russian equivalents can be suggested to translate the following terms and phrases used in Text 3? (an upward trend in the German economy; because of continuing price deterioration; by the end of September; the effects of the improving business climate; the more rapid advance of the business in South-East Asia compared with Europe).

Exercise 5. What is a suitable Russian equivalent for ‘America’? Is it a country or a continent?

Exercise 6. What Russian equivalents can be suggested to translate proper names used in Text 3? (Siemens, Financial Times, Mr. Karl-Hermann Baumann, South-East Asia, Mr. Heindrich von Pierer).

Exercise 7. Translate the following English sentences into Russian:

The group paid a dividend of DM13 per share in the last financial year.
Domestic orders fell 7 per cent to DM22.2bn.
Sales were down 6 per cent at DM20.8bn.
The increase came entirely from foreign business.

Exercise 8. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English using suitable verbs or phrases in brackets. Put the verb which you have selected in a correct tense form.

(1. verbs and phrases which are commonly used to stress a positive performance of the company (known as “up” words) – to increase, to rise, to go up, to be up, to boost, to advance, to show a 3-fold growth, to double, to triple, to treble, to rocket, to soar, to increase by 30%; to be twice as high as the results of the previous year);

2. verbs and phrases which are commonly used to inform the reader of a negative performance of the company (known as “down” words) – to fall, to decline, to go down, to be down; to be significantly lower than the previous year, to be 35% lower than the previous year);

3. phrases which are commonly used to show the company’s performance in dynamics - versus the prior year, compared with the record result of the previous year, against the previous year).

Зарубежные заказы выросли на 30 % по сравнению с прошлым годом.
В 2007 году активы нашей компании выросли в 3 раза.
В сравнении с рекордным результатом прошлого года

прибыль нашей компании снизилась на 5 %.

Нашей компании удалось увеличить объем продаж в 2 раза.
Хотя объем операций нашей компании увеличился на 6%

относительно прошлого года, общая прибыль снизилась на 3 %.

6. По сравнению с прошлым годом заказы от отечественных клиентов упали на 5,4 %.

7. Основные финансовые показатели компании были в два раза выше в сравнении с последним отчетным периодом.

Exercise 9. Translate from English into Russian. Use the key terms of Text 3.

1. Промежуточные дивиденды были начислены и выплачены всем акционерам банка.

2. Доходы компании после уплаты налогов составили 45 миллионов рублей.

3. Скандинавские страны имеют очень развитую экономику.

4. Владельцы привилегированных акций получают более высокие дивиденды по сравнению с владельцами обыкновенных акций.

5. Экономика Китая – одна из наиболее передовых и быстро развивающихся экономик в мире.

6. Банк инвестировал много денег в расширение своей филиальной сети.

Exercise 10. Read and translate the text.

Text 4 – Market Watch

If Central Europe’s bull markets have a ceiling, they haven’t found it yet. Eager domestic investors and a healthy influx of foreign portfolio money have been pushing the region’s markets to levels unseen since 1994’s bull run.

Prague’s PX-50 was up 20.3 %, and Warsaw’s WIG rose 25.8 % in the quarter to Feb.7. Moscow’s market surged too amid falling yields on the Treasury bill market and investors’ bullish sentiment on the Russian economy; the Moscow Times Index gained 55.5 % in U.S. dollar terms for the quarter.

Investors in Moscow scooped up shares in everything from telecommunications to utilities and second-tier stocks. The region’s two best-performing issues for the quarter were Russian blue-chips: savings giant Sberbank, whose share price soared 251 %, and Siberian utility Irkutskenergo, which rocketed nearly 178 %.

The Baltic region’s stock exchanges are relatively late bloomers, but they’ve been drawing more notice of late. Since last year, Tallinn’s market – led by Hansabank, which accounts for one-fifth of total market capitalization – has been surging, pushed up by local money and bargain-hunting foreign buyers. Prices and trading volume have been booming lately in Vilnius too as local and foreign investors piled into shares in listed banks and industrial companies.

Among the region’s emerging markets, Bucharest’s bourse falls in the ‘pre-emerging’ category. Since it opened last November, the market has drawn interested onlookers aplenty, but few buyers. The reason: not enough stocks. The bourse’s sole liquid stock, private syringe-maker Sanevit, grabbed the lion’s share of trading.

The bourse’s business plan calls for listed companies to more than double by year-end to around 35 as state-owned companies and new private companies seek listings.

(Source: Central European Economic Review, No.2/1997)

Key Terms

blue chips бирж. «голубые фишки»: акций наиболее надежных компаний, пользующиеся большим спросом

bourse биржа

bull бирж. “бык”: спекулянт, играющий на повышение

buyer покупатель

investor инвестор

listing бирж. листинг: допуск ценных бумаг к торговле на фондовой бирже

market рынок (to monopolize the ~ монополизировать рынок, to penetrate into the ~ проникнуть на рынок, to retain the ~ сохранить рынок; a black ~ черный рынок, a boom ~ быстро растущий рынок, a sales ~ рынок сбыта, a saturated ~ насыщенный рынок)

yield доходность по ценным бумагам

Word Combinations

an influx of portfolio money приток денег портфельных инвесторов

market capitalization рыночная капитализация

stock exchange фондовая биржа

the best-performing issues выпуски ценных бумаг, пользующиеся наибольшим спросом

Comprehension Questions

Does an influx of foreign portfolio money have any influence on the Central European markets?
What is the meaning of ‘blue-chips’?
What stocks do investors buy in Moscow?
What stocks are market leaders in Moscow?
What shares do foreign investors buy on the Baltic stock exchanges?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Find sentences used to describe share price movements and translate them into Russian.

Exercise 2. What equivalent would you suggest to render the term ‘blue-chips’ into Russian. State your reasons. The possible Russian equivalents are as follows:

а). «голубые фишки»;

б). акции наиболее надежных компаний, пользующиеся большим спросом;

в). «голубые чипсы».

Exercise 3. The sentences below contain elements of professional jargon in the field of Finance and Economics. Translate them from English into Russian.

1. Kangaroos showed a slight advance during the latest trading session.

2. Many underground undertakers fear attracting the attention of tax watchdogs.

3. Greenbacks are identified by the green ink used for printing back side of the bill.

4. The securities house managed to get a key securities analyst away from a competing firm through offering him a golden hello.

5. Fat cats are offered special treatment by brokers and other financial professionals, because they have so much money and their accounts can generate large fees and commissions.

Exercise 4. Give suitable Russian equivalents to the following English word groups in brackets.

(Prague’s PX-50; Warsaw’s WIG; the Moscow Times Index)

Exercise 5. Give suitable Russian equivalents to the following English phrases and sentences (eager domestic investors; in U.S. dollar terms; investors’ bullish sentiment on the Russian economy; investors scooped up shares in everything; a savings giant; a private syringe-maker).

Exercise 6. Find suitable English equivalents to the following Russian phrases (одна пятая общей капитализации рынка; деньги местных инвесторов; акции банка, прошедшие процедуру листинга; акции телекоммуникационных компаний; львиная доля торговых операций; увеличить более, чем в 2 раза).

Exercise 7. Read and translate the text.

Text 5 – From Domes to Towers

A few years ago, the sight of a busy building site in Buenos Aires provoked in passers-by a look of mild curiosity. Their response was understandable: there had been little construction activity in the city over the previous decade. Today, building sites are blossoming throughout the city. In fact, since 1991 the city centre, particularly its business district, has become one big construction site. Seven office blocks are currently going up within a stone’s throw of each other on one of the last vacant plots of land in the city’s business district. When completed, the new buildings will increase Argentina’s 2.5m sq. m. stock of office space by one–fifth.

Years of runaway inflation and economic decline had depressed construction to less than 100,000 square meters a year by the late 1980s. Today, total new constructions have increased to 2 million square meters a year.

This leap in building activity is the consequence of the free-market reforms started by President Carlos Menem in 1989. The market liberalization ushered in a construction boom, low inflation, privatization and economic growth of 6 per cent a year.

As the market has become more liquid, more property deals are being concluded, including many with international companies. Developers remain bullish because of optimism about the office, residential and commercial property sectors.

The availability of relatively cheap 15 percent mortgages is drawing the middle class into the property market for the first time in a generation. For years home ownership has been the preserve of those able to pay in cash.

To make housing more widely available, President Menem last week unveiled a four-year program to build 166,000 homes. The properties, costing between $40,000 and $50,000, will be financed by private financial institutions.

The past four years of frenetic activity has provoked criticism from people who say the dash for high-rise structures is doing untold damage to the city’s distinctive architectural character. The outcome has been a rapid disfigurement of Buenos Aires’ skyline of cupolas and domes. Today, the skyline is dominated by glass and steel towers.

(Source: Financial Times, July 8, 1994)

Key Terms

deal сделка, соглашение (to strike a ~ заключить сделку; a barter ~ бартерная сделка, a fair ~ честная сделка, a profitable ~ выгодная сделка)

inflation инфляция (to curb ~ сдерживать инфляцию, to fight ~ бороться с инфляцией, to halt ~ приостановить инфляцию; controlled ~ контролируемая инфляция, creeping ~ ползучая инфляция, runaway ~ гиперинфляция)

mortgage ипотека, ипотечный кредит

ownership собственность, право собственности; владение

privatization приватизация государственной собственности

property собственность; объект недвижимости

Word Combinations

a business district деловой район города

one big building site одна большая строительная площадка

market liberalization либерализация рынка

the last vacant plots of land последние не занятые под строительство участки земли

Comprehension Questions

Has Buenos Aires become one big construction site since 1991?
How many new office blocks are under construction in the centre of Buenos Aires?
When were free-market reforms initiated in Argentina?
What have market reforms led to in Argentina?
Do middle-class representatives have any opportunity to buy a new apartment or a home?
Do new glass and steel towers spoil Buenos Aires’ distinctive architectural character?

Practical Assignments

Exercise 1. Use key terms to make up five English sentences.

Exercise 2. Make a word-for-word translation of the sentence in brackets and then make it syntactically more acceptable by changing the word order.

(A few years ago, the sight of a busy building site in Buenos Aires provoked in passers-by a look of mild curiosity).

Exercise 3. Give suitable Russian equivalents for the following English phrases and sentences (years of runaway inflation and economic decline; a look of mild curiosity; their response was understandable; within a stone’s throw; when completed; 2.5 million sq. m. stock of office space; a four-year program to build 166,000 homes; to provoke criticism; an economic growth of 6 percent a year; this leap in building activity; to make housing more widely available).

Exercise 4. Give suitable Russian equivalents to render English verbs in bold type.

Today, building sites are blossoming throughout the city.
The dash for high-rise structures is doing untold damage to the city’s

distinctive architectural character.

The availability of relatively cheap 15 per cent mortgages is drawing the

middle class into the property market for the first time in a generation.

Seven office blocks are currently going up within a stone’s throw of each

other on one of the last vacant plots of land in the city’s business district.

Exercise 5. Translate the following sentences from English into Russian.

a). There has been little construction activity in the city over the previous decade;

b). There has been a little construction activity in the city over the previous decade.

Exercise 6. Read and translate the text.

Section Three – Press Releases

Theoretical Background

Alongside with the business letters, memos, contracts and reports corporate press releases play an important role in a modern business communication. The primary audience at which corporate press releases are targeted for are professional journalists who are anticipated to retell corporate news in a news article or report to their readers. However, corporate press releases are also produced directly for other important external (e.g. potential customers, prospective owners, prospective investors, authorities, the public, other organizations, local community), semi-external (e.g. shareholders, owners, customers, investors) and to a lesser degree internal groups of readers (e.g. staff members).

Linguists distinguish various types of corporate press releases. For example, J. Mizrahi argues that press releases can be grouped at least into four categories:

-publicity releases which have news value for local or national media (e.g. upcoming or past events, new appointments, awards, mergers and acquisitions, etc.);

-product releases which are used to introduce the launch of new products or services;

-bad news releases which are employed to inform the reader in a honest straightforward manner of negative developments within the company;

-financial releases which disseminate information about the earnings of specific companies and other financial information [Mizrahi 2007].

It should be noted that press release is a well-established professional genre. The body of most press releases is one to two pages. Electronic or digital press releases are very compact texts of ten to fifteen lines. They are communicated directly through corporate electronic channels and can be reached by all interested users of a respective corporate website by clicking ‘Information for Investors or Press/Media’ option.

As a well-established genre corporate press releases have a very distinct compositional structure with very little divergence from its standard model. The standard model of a corporate press release is shown below:

1. Heading – an obligatory element. The heading which is sometimes catchy in style aims to inform the reader briefly of what the press release text is about;

2. Lead – an obligatory element. The lead is an informative section of a press release text. The main function of a lead section of press release texts is to announce corporate news. The lead is impersonal and is marked by the use of third-person self-reference [McLaren, Curau 2005] (e.g. BNY Mellon today announced the appointment of Scott Freidenrich as Executive Vice President and Treasurer) [press release of the Bank of New York 2010];

3. Elaboration – an obligatory element. The elaboration is predominantly an informative section of a press release text. The main function of this section of press release texts is to give the reader some additional details about corporate news. The elaboration is impersonal in style and uses non-modalized categorical assertions. For example, in the press release devoted to the resignation of Mr. Cormac McCarthy, Chief Executive of Ulster Bank, readers are provided with some additional details in the form of non-modalized categorical assertions – RBS has started a full internal search for a successor and Mr. McCarthy will continue in his role as Chief Executive of Ulster Bank until a successor has been found [press release of the Royal Bank of Scotland 2009].

In practice, however, PR elements aimed to promote the company’s image can be found in the elaboration section of many press release texts (e.g. The awards, which are decided by an expert editorial panel after an extensive judging process, are designed to reflect excellence and innovation in the derivatives-based investment markets. The awards are hotly contested by all market participants) [press release of the Royal Bank of Scotland 2007];

4. CEO’s Comment – an obligatory element. This is a major persuasive section of press release texts which shows the attitude of the company’s executive officer towards the described corporate event. This section contains instances of direct speech and is very personal in style due to a wide occurrence of personal and possessive pronouns. The communicative strategy of personalization enables the company to create an atmosphere of solidarity whereby the reader seems to be informed by a friend (e.g. Helena Morrissey, chief executive officer of Newton said: “We are thrilled to receive this top industry award from a competitive short list. This achievement cements our belief that we provide our clients with a high level of service”) [press release of the Bank of New York 2010];

5. Contact Details – an obligatory element;

6. Editor’s Notes – an optional element of a corporate press release which gives the reader some useful background information about the company. Each structural element of a corporate press release has peculiar linguistic features of its own.

Press release texts have some features in common with journalistic texts. For example, press release writers attempt to meet formal requirements of journalistic texts by adopting a third-person perspective on the events they are involved in themselves and using past tense when writing about events that have not yet taken place at the moment of writing [Maat 2007]. In addition, writers of corporate press releases also employ an inverted pyramid style of writing and place information in a descending order of importance [Mizrahi 2007]. It means that the most important information is given at the top and the least important elements are placed toward the bottom of the press release text. If a journalist is in a position to cut a press release, he/she can easily shorten it by cutting routine information placed at the bottom of the text.

The commonly recognized purpose of the corporate press release is to publish some news about the company, to bring information about new developments into the public domain. Frequent topics of corporate press releases include the launch of a new product or service, financial results achieved by the company, takeovers and mergers and announcements of appointments and resignations. Alongside with purely informative purposes press releases have a propagandistic purpose to present the company and the news reported as positively as possible. Corporate press releases may be termed as ‘hybrid’ texts as they seek both to inform and to persuade. V. Bhatia claims that press releases belong to a colony of professional promotional genres which although “designed to serve informative purposes, invariably focus on only positive aspects and incorporate persuasive and sometimes even promotional elements” [Bhatia 2004:90]. G. Jacobs describes corporate press releases as “egocentric” texts and notes that press releases occupy a middle position between advertising and news reporting genres [Jacobs 1999]. A. Krivonosov treats corporate press releases as an operative news reporting PR-genre [Кривоносов 2001].

Promotional elements contained in English corporate press releases are described in detail by a Dutch linguist P. Maat. These include:

-intensifying adjectives (e.g. large, strong, extensive);

-evaluative adjectives (e.g. terrific, good, excellent, leading);

-property specifying adjectives (e.g. reliable, clear, efficient, practical);

-comparative and superlative degrees (e.g. largest, best, latest);

-intensifying adverbs (e.g. considerably, well, strongly, more and more);

-intensifiers of numerals (e.g. almost, over in phrases like over/almost two million passengers);

-other groups of promotional linguistic elements [Maat 2007].