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Communication is fundamental for our survival and quality of life. We communicate ideas, views,
information, feelings, love, our likes and dislikes and our appreciation in so many different ways.
This is the subject we will be exploring today. Language is one of the most powerful means of
communication. In my presentation I will deal with this in detail. We will be mainly concentrating on
communication in English.
I am going to do this session as an exercise to find out your current skills in communicating about
yourself to the rest of the audience. Please use the following aspects in your introduction.
Name
Age
Your employment?
Work experience
Education
Sports
Extra-curricular activities
Reading culture – do you read ? If so what do you read? How long you read each day?
Current affairs – social, political, science, technology, sport, wars, parliament etc. through,
newspapers, radio, TV
Humour
TV/cinema
English/Sinhala proficiency
Your aspirations
About yourself – your personality, about your unique qualities – what are the things you enjoyed
doing in your life and what are the things you hated doing?
Body language
Eyes
Face
Hands
Spoken communication
Written communication
Electronic communication
TV/Cinema/radio/internet
Music
Dance
Signs
We will now move on to spoken and written communication in English, which is the key for you to
succeed socially, professionally and intellectually.
Why?
English has now become an international language. If you spoke only Tamil your life will be
confined to the NP only.
If you are proficient in Tamil and Sinhala you can travel, work and live happily in any part of Sri
Lanka, without being handicapped in any way. Proficiency in Tamil and Sinhalese for all Sri
Lankans is also essential for social and political intercourse, for a better understanding between
Tamils and Sinhala people and for peace and reconciliation. It will become difficult for politicians to
divide and rule as has been. So tri-lingualism is a national and local need.
If you are proficient in Tamil, Sinhala and English you can operate anywhere in the world with
confidence. You will be international and universal with unlimited access to knowledge. Your
personality will expand and you will feel empowered. Your employment chances will be very high
indeed.
Why English?
Internet access
Knowledge store
All the codes of practice, specifications, conditions of contract, bill of quantities, ICTAD
publications, contract documents, drawings are all in English.
So not only engineers but technical officers and even supervisors must have sufficient knowledge in
English language to be able to perform their duties effectively. They must be able to:
You need to communicate with the consultant, employer, client, statutory bodies, government and
local government departments, security forces etc (1) verbally, (2) in writing, (3) by telephone,
texting or electronically with ease and confidence.
Technical staff must clearly understand all the technical, contractual and legal terms.
Contract documents?
Contract period
Contract duration
Acceleration
BOQ
Liquidated damages
Extension of time
Adjudication
Arbitration
Dispute resolution
The Engineer
The Contractor
The Employer/Client
Funding Agent
Tender drawing
Construction drawing
Shop drawing
As built drawing
Inventory
Maintenance manuals
Warrantee certificates
Quality control
Performance bond
Advance payment
Contractual correspondence
Contract clauses
Architecture, aesthetics, sustainability, green building concept, environment friendly, green house
effect, Ozone layer depletion, temperature rise, rise of sea level, renewable energy, deforestation ,
reforestation, carbon positive, carbon negative, energy content of a building etc..
Duties and responsibilities of the Engineer, Employer, the Contractor, workers and the public
To make your communication effective it is important to know clearly what you want to
communicate.
So prepare yourself first on this before starting to communicate (martial your thoughts)
Before you make a telephone call jot down the points you need to communicate on a paper or in your
mind. You must do the same before you start writing a contractual or any other letters.
Don’t make any grammatical mistakes or at least minimize them as far as possible.
Credibility and professionalism suffers through such mistakes. Your company’s image suffers.
Never beat about the bush. Learn to write clear, short, sharp, evidence based and polite letters.
Writing styles:
Official letters
Contractual letters
Informal letters
Personal letters
Letters to friends, relations, sisters, brothers, your children etc. Letters from Nehru to Indira
Gandhi?
Essay writing – techniques of essay writing, brain storming, list of points, paragraphing,
arrangement of logic and analysis, introduction and conclusion. Must be interesting to read, clear
ideas, well focused, convincing, informative, factually correct etc.
Build up your vocabulary – words, spelling, pronunciation and meaning, learning just 5 new words
per day will take you on the fast track!
Learn the basic rules of grammar – verbs, nouns, adjective, adverb, preposition, tenses and how they
can be connected in sentences.
Letter writing
Report writing
Use words like please, kindly, thank you, grateful, If you don’t mind, can I help you, how can I help
you, always ask name, tel.no, position, fax no, e-mail address etc.
Be positive – don’t ever say you do not know. If you don’t know say that I will try to find out.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I refer to your letter or further to your letter etc. I confirm the following:
Shall we will do now a cross word puzzle – it will be fun as well as a learning process?
Now I want all of you to make resolution for yourselves on what will you do from today to improve
your English communication. This is the last and concluding part of today’s session.
Eng.M. Sooriasegaran