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Are letters still important? Are business letters as the classic means of communication needed and important to be taught during language classes these days? Or should the new and modern means of communication prevail over the classic written pieces of paper? This article discusses the findings and implications of an investigation meant to answer these questions about the role of business correspondence in English (i.e. email, letters, memos, faxes) and this is done as a case study addressed to the local door market. The results are based on four sources: 1. a questionnaire that had two versions: an online survey sent by email to 150 alumni of The Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea and to 8 companies and professional associations, and a paper-based version distributed to 80 professionals, who included students undertaking undergraduate and postgraduate programmes; 2. semi-structured interviews with 8 professionals, 3. analyses of 25 email chains comprising 190 separate messages, and a “week-in-the-life” case study. All these cover half a year span of investigation. This research comes with relevant information about the role of email versus letters, memos and faxes in the globalised workplace, the purposes and characteristics of these text types, and the challenges that Romanian professionals experience when writing business correspondence in a second language. The article argues that the irrelevance of the traditional approach of business English courses (letters, memos, faxes) when it comes to the needs of modern-day professionals and need for email and netiquette focus as the core of updated instruction.

A growing segment of Romanian women are becoming passionate about fashion, therefore they are increasingly interested in fashion magazines and products. The incredible prevalence of English in Romanian media – both in written and spoken form – is at first shocking to a native English speaker. Phrases that seem to make no sense or that are not relevant to what they are attached to are seen everywhere: on t-shirts, as part of television advertisements, and in Romanian magazines. In this paper we assert that the English in Romanian media (fashion magazines) is more complicated than that; sometimes it is mainly decorative but it is able to communicate as well. Over the years, there have been many studies which dealt with anglicisms in Romanian, especially in science and information technologies. Yet, in spite of the growing number of English terms incorporated daily by the language of fashion, this has received less attention in lexicographic and terminological studies as compared to other areas, such as science and business. There are many reasons for which Romanian has not only adopted English words with new meaning and usage, but also incorporates other forms based on English patterns which users seem to consider more attractive or more accurate. More specifically, this paper analyses how English mixing contributes to self-distinction through fashion. We will analyse the Romanian language of fashion in three Romanian fashion magazines- ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire -, which has for some time been using English words with different meanings, or even created Romanian words that look like and are pronounced like English words. The result of this study shows that these English mixings depend on the fashion-related quality of the selected magazines. The findings of this study imply that English is regarded as a ‘stylish language’ and that this general recognition leads to the acknowledgement of the prestigious status of English in Romania.

The paper presents the results of a survey carried out at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, in order to identify attitudes, beliefs, motivation and self-responsibility among students when it comes to learning the English language. The main issue investigated was motivation set at the basis of the learning process together with students’ attitudes regarding the use of English in the Romanian social and educational context, as well as the use of the English language in general. A valid questionnaire was designed and tried to a convenient sample of students; the results of the study are discussed in terms of the principal components that were established including attitude towards motivation, self-responsibility, and language learning approaches. Research and experience show that English is of utmost importance in the academic and future professional lives of students majoring in economics. Therefore, this paper provides some theoretical aspects of motivation, beliefs and responsibility in the context of second language acquisition.Among the important achievements of the study we should mention the observations of students’ behaviour concerning responsibility. It appears that most students are not ready to take complete responsibility for learning. They are either afraid of the teacher, or feel embarrassed, and are ashamed to openly utter their ideas. Thus, teamwork and pair-work facilitate the effective learning of the foreign language and encourage students’ collaboration. The teacher is not the central actor, the controller anymore; s/he becomes the facilitator and source of knowledge. It is important for the teacher to know the basic needs of his/her students and cater for these according to level of their importance, to be aware of the reasons that propel students towards learning, improving or just surviving English as a foreign language.