ricky Words in this week‘s OVI

Consultancy. This means poradenstvo, and it's a well-paid service provided usually by organizations offering advice and assistance in all sorts of areas of activity ranging from house-building through corporate restructuring and nationwide IT projects. Slovak companies have taken up this line of business as well, and to make themselves look special (and maybe also to prevent people thinking that they offer marriage or family planning guidance) they use various derivations from the English word such as konzult, konzulting or consulting. That's fair enough, because it's an activity which should be a professional service, but it results in a misunderstanding of the English word, because in effect it turns the meaning around – see Andy's Wordshop for the explanation.

ANDY’S WORDSHOP

If you need advice and assistance with some undertaking, you can consult somebody who has the necessary knowledge and experience. Consultancy companies provide services to clients who consult them because they need help with their projects. The +ing form in English can be tricky if it's not clear “kto z koho”, as you say in Slovak, so a “consulting company” suggests that it consults its clients about things, which is the wrong way round. Remember Nokia's old slogan “Connecting people”? That's a play on words using the +ing form which produces a double meaning. One is that their aim in selling communication devices is to create connections between others (the “people ” are Nokia's customers), and the other is that the workforce all believe in the value of those connections (the “people” are Nokia's employees and management).