Learn 17 Business Abbreviations & Acronyms in English

TRANSCRIPT

So, first of all: What's the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym? An "abbreviation" is a shortening of a word. Okay? It's one word that we cut out a bunch of letters and we make it shorter. So, for example, the abbreviation of the word "abbreviation" is "abbr." Okay? "Acronyms", on the other hand, are basically initials. Initials means the first letter of each word. And initials we usually use with people's names, like John Smith, his initials are JS. But when we want to take a bunch of words and we don't want to write all these words, we just want to make something short, but it has to be understood by basically whoever is going to read it, then we're going to use acronyms. Okay?

So, let's start with the abbreviations, and in terms of business. Now, especially when we're writing, either a letter by hand like on paper or an email, these are very common. "Attn:" means: Who are you writing to? So, "attention". Whose attention are you trying to get with this letter? "Re:" means "regarding", means: About what? Now, a lot of people might think that "re:" in an email means "reply", it doesn't. "Re:" in an email or a letter always means "regarding". What is the topic of the conversation? So, you know in the email bar it has "re:", what are you talking about when you reply to somebody? The topic. Okay?

Next, when we end our letter, we should say who we are and what our position is in the company. So, whether you're the Assistant or the Director, you can write: "Asst.", "Dir." or "Director", or Manager: "Mgr." Notice that all three of them have a capital. So, it doesn't matter if you're using the full word or an abbreviation, you still have to capitalize the title of a position, or the title of the person's place in the company. Okay? So, if you're the Assistant Director, you write: "Asst. Dir."

Now, you're wondering why there's no dot here, and there is a dot there. There's a few ways to figure out which one to use, yes or no on the dot. Firstly, the more you read and the more you engage in this sort of writing, you will just see: What is the most common approach? But another way is a style guide. You can use The Chicago Manual of Style, that's the most common one for general purposes. Or if your company has its own style guide or a style sheet, look at it to see if they want a dot or they don't want the dot. It's really a personal choice of the company's. Okay?

So, now, the main thing we have to consider is when we're writing something from the company, we're writing it on company stationery. So, the company has pages with a letterhead. It means all the information is already at the top; the name, the logo, the address, etc. So, all of this stuff might already be included, for example: which department, which building you're in, for example, in the address. We always like to take shortcuts, and we don't want to write everything. Write it short. "dept." is enough. Everybody knows "dept." means department. Building is building: "bldg." because we just want to shorten everything. The less, the better. When you end it, you're writing your name, and underneath: Who are you? Like, okay, I know your name, but who are you in terms of the company? So, you're writing your position. Now, you can see all this stuff on business cards, letterheads, etc.

So, next, let's look at acronyms. So, if you watched Rebecca's lesson on business acronyms, you heard about Chief Executive Officer, "CEO", this is the boss of the company, he runs or she runs the whole company. Everybody answers to him or her. So, "CO" basically means Chief Officer, "Executive" means of the whole company, but then you have different departments or different areas of the company. "CFO", Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Information Officer, and then there's many other ones that you can use.

So, now we're going to look at some more acronyms. One thing to remember: Acronyms always use capital letters. Even if you don't need capitals in the extended version, the acronym will always be capital letters. "ETA", estimated time of arrival.

[vera_]

Adam, you're a brilliant teacher!!!👍👍👍👏👏👏

[MrLargo]

Wonderful teacher.
I don't know whether my English listening skill is getting better but I've managed to catch every single word clearly, even without subtitles. Thank you Adam.
Vladimir from Moscow, Russia.

[wasornin]

i like, you're one from the engvid crew, who absolutely opened and friendly, seems to me. And also, you are only one i can understand without subtitles. With respect from Russia.

[tazplus]

thx Adam. you are literally one of the best English teacher.

[ИринаПапкова-яц]

Hello, Adam. When I was a student many years ago, we were taught and I still remember and teach my students that "an acronym is a word made up from the first letters of the name and is read as a word. For example NATO [NEITOU] is an acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. While an abbreviation is a short form of a word. For example 'Dr' is the written abbreviation of the word 'Doctor'. The difference is that abbreviations are pronounced as separate letters but acronyms as whole words.

[sergiudobrovolschi]

I Don't know Why But I understand you better that another one teacher.Thank's a lot for your lessons

[НектоЛохматый]

I wasn't definitely sure whether I need this, till Adam said he uses to ask his friends what their ETAs are. :D This idea is really awesome... and funny (twice as funny, 'cause Adam was absolutely serious)... I can't explain, but I really liked it.

[mujeebnindwani]

Sir, i m regular visitor of ur videos and i must draw ur attention that i have learnt a lot from your invaluable videos and still it goes on .

[renatasilva]

Adam, you're an excellent professional, you teach English very well. Congratulations!

[ghadanassr]

great lesson as always.
thank you so much

[czww]

Hello Adam, your channel is excellent for students I have improved my english with your videos that u share with us
I just wanna say thank you so much for your help

[przemekx]

Merry Christmas and thank you for your channel and great job you have been doing for us

[liviovalenca]

more than a class, congrats for the opportunity to share with us.

[yanathip]

Thank you so much for the great lesson.

[Osckarim]

Good lesson teacher Adam!!! Happy New Year!!

[AbbasAlMatawah]

Thank you for this useful and smooth lesson. By the way, in US system, the acronym CPA stands for: Certified Public Accountant. In this video, it read: Chartered.

[fayuzaadam]

i like all your lessons, thank u, but i need more lessons.

[Naubar]

learn 17 business abbreviations like it 👍👍

[rohithkumarshambuni]

hey Adam I love u r classes ur just fab. I learned a lot from u videos can you plz make a video of cracking visa interview .way to project ourselves, mistakes not make .

[isaacesteban]

thank you so much I am still learning English so for me is great to know about it that.