1
~1 h
English: Business Letters For Big 4 (Extended)
Business writing in English for software engineers in Big 4 consulting. The course is not about the format of a letter but about pragmatics: why a Russian-speaking professional is heard as blunter than they are, and how that is fixed. Its axis is room for refusal: an English business message leaves the reader a way to object, decline or explain, and that room is created by the text rather than assumed. Six classes of softening, a 22-item RU→EN interference register, the softening ceiling (where directness is mandatory), the grammar of blameless causation. Genres: client email, code review, chat and tracker, escalation, refusal and change request, status and RAG, incident communication. Every example comes from an engineer’s working day on a project. Entry level B1–B2, model answers are given at two levels.
Explanations are in your language: your assistant gives them.
- Teaches: English
- Material: Russian
- Exam: English — taken on the site, not translated
How it works
Your assistant takes the course material from our server and leads the lesson in your language.
Your assistant explains in your language, but examples, samples and the names of what is being explained stay as the course has them: translating them would lose the subject.
The exam is taken on the site, without an assistant, in the language being taught. Exam questions are not translated: this is decided for every course.
Path through the course
· 20 unitsthe order is free · the steps below are the order the author suggests, not a conditionView: map · steps
2
Face, Distance, and Indirectness
~1 h
by the author’s design, after “Why We Sound Rude”
3
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Face, Distance, and Indirectness”
4
The Ceiling: When Directness Is Mandatory
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Six Classes of Softening”
5
~2 h
by the author’s design, after “The Ceiling: When Directness Is Mandatory”
6
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Grammar Without Blame”
7
The Ask: Action, Owner, Date, Timezone
~1 h
by the author’s design, after “Anatomy: The Twelve Moves”
8
Writing for a Reader Who Isn't a Native Speaker
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “The Ask: Action, Owner, Date, Timezone”
9
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Writing for a Reader Who Isn't a Native Speaker”
10 · команда
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Code Review as a Genre”
11 · команда
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Chat and Tracker”
12 · команда
Proposals and Design Documents
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “The Follow-up Ladder”
13 · клиент
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Code Review as a Genre”
14 · клиент
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Disagreement and Pushback”
15 · клиент
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Refusal and Scope Creep”
16 · видимость
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Code Review as a Genre”
17 · видимость
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Status Reporting and RAG”
18 · видимость
Acknowledgement, Thanks, Handover
~1.5 h
by the author’s design, after “Incident Communication”
19
Capstone: One Friday, Four Channels
~2.5 h
by the author’s design, after 2 of these: “Proposals and Design Documents”, “Complaints and Escalation”, “Acknowledgement, Thanks, Handover”
20 · optional
~1 h
by the author’s design, after “Anatomy: The Twelve Moves”
final · in the browser, without the assistant
Exam
closed · enrol on the course
The path in words
- Stage 1 · Why We Sound Rude — ~1 h
- Stage 2 · Face, Distance, and Indirectness — by the author’s design, after “Why We Sound Rude”; ~1 h
- Stage 3 · Six Classes of Softening — by the author’s design, after “Face, Distance, and Indirectness”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 4 · The Ceiling: When Directness Is Mandatory — by the author’s design, after “Six Classes of Softening”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 5 · Grammar Without Blame — by the author’s design, after “The Ceiling: When Directness Is Mandatory”; ~2 h
- Stage 6 · Anatomy: The Twelve Moves — by the author’s design, after “Grammar Without Blame”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 7 · The Ask: Action, Owner, Date, Timezone — by the author’s design, after “Anatomy: The Twelve Moves”; ~1 h
- Stage 7 · What You Don't Write — by the author’s design, after “Anatomy: The Twelve Moves”; optional; ~1 h
- Stage 8 · Writing for a Reader Who Isn't a Native Speaker — by the author’s design, after “The Ask: Action, Owner, Date, Timezone”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 9 · Code Review as a Genre — by the author’s design, after “Writing for a Reader Who Isn't a Native Speaker”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 10 · Chat and Tracker — by the author’s design, after “Code Review as a Genre”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 10 · Disagreement and Pushback — by the author’s design, after “Code Review as a Genre”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 10 · Status Reporting and RAG — by the author’s design, after “Code Review as a Genre”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 11 · The Follow-up Ladder — by the author’s design, after “Chat and Tracker”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 11 · Refusal and Scope Creep — by the author’s design, after “Disagreement and Pushback”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 11 · Incident Communication — by the author’s design, after “Status Reporting and RAG”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 12 · Proposals and Design Documents — by the author’s design, after “The Follow-up Ladder”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 12 · Complaints and Escalation — by the author’s design, after “Refusal and Scope Creep”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 12 · Acknowledgement, Thanks, Handover — by the author’s design, after “Incident Communication”; ~1.5 h
- Stage 13 · Capstone: One Friday, Four Channels — by the author’s design, after 2 of these: “Proposals and Design Documents”, “Complaints and Escalation”, “Acknowledgement, Thanks, Handover”; ~2.5 h
Programme · 20 units
| 1 | Why We Sound Rude Explain that the effect of rudeness in English business writing is created not by word choice but by wording that leaves the reader no way out | ~1 h |
| 2 | Face, Distance, and Indirectness Distinguish a threat to the reader's autonomy from a threat to their professional status and choose the matching repair | ~1 h |
| 3 | Six Classes of Softening Distinguish the six classes of softening and identify the class from a specific expression | ~1.5 h |
| 4 | The Ceiling: When Directness Is Mandatory Name the contexts in which softening does harm: an incident, a security finding, recording a fact, a missed deadline, a hard constraint | ~1.5 h |
| 5 | Grammar Without Blame Build agentless causation with four techniques: passive, nominalisation, prepositional causation, inanimate subject | ~2 h |
| 6 | Anatomy: The Twelve Moves Assemble a message from moves M1–M12 rather than from a template | ~1.5 h |
| 7 | The Ask: Action, Owner, Date, Timezone Formulate a request with four mandatory elements: action, owner, date, timezone | ~1 h |
| 8 | Writing for a Reader Who Isn't a Native Speaker Assess the risk that a softened wording will be read literally | ~1.5 h |
| 9 | Code Review as a Genre Build a comment on the pattern acknowledgement → observation → hypothesis → question | ~1.5 h |
| 10 | Chat and Tracker Write to chat in a single message with an urgency marker at the start | ~1.5 h |
| 11 | The Follow-up Ladder Build a three-step ladder of reminders with rising stakes and an even tone | ~1.5 h |
| 12 | Proposals and Design Documents Build a design document so that it collects objections rather than agreement | ~1.5 h |
| 13 | Disagreement and Pushback Open a disagreement with a concession that carries content rather than politeness | ~1.5 h |
| 14 | Refusal and Scope Creep Turn an out-of-scope request into a costed choice instead of a refusal or silent agreement | ~1.5 h |
| 15 | Complaints and Escalation Answer a harsh email on substance without answering its tone | ~1.5 h |
| 16 | Status Reporting and RAG Build a report from three blocks: position, risks and blockers, next | ~1.5 h |
| 17 | Incident Communication Write a first notification of five elements, without the cause and without softening | ~1.5 h |
| 18 | Acknowledgement, Thanks, Handover Acknowledge receipt on the pattern “received — will do — by such-and-such time” | ~1.5 h |
| 19 | Capstone: One Friday, Four Channels Distribute one event across four channels with different registers | ~2.5 h |
| 20 | What You Don't Write Check a message with two questions: how does it read without context, and am I writing this only because I'm irritated | ~1 h |
