How to speak Business English?

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, we are the Three English Experts. I'm Rebecca. I'm Dave. I'm Birgit. And welcome to this episode. Three English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey. So, hello everybody. Welcome to today's episode. It's all about business English. And we always get the question, can we do business English? What is business English? Do you do business English? So I thought we'd throw that back to everybody else, to you, and also think about this question, what is business English? From our perspective, what is business English? Well, I think it's the idea of the vocabulary and phrases that is linked to firstly businesses generally, but also specifically maybe for your field that you work in. There's also the business English generally from corporate or also economics. But also I think there's the business and communication techniques. So the English that you maybe need for your meetings, negotiations or presentations, anything to do with your work and communications, emailing of course as well. So that's how I would maybe put business English into a nutshell, how to describe business English. I don't know, Rebecca or Birgit, how do you see the business? What do you say to your clients when they say, oh, can we do some business English? What do you do, et cetera? Yeah, I would absolutely agree with you. I think people come and, but then, you know, how big is business? You know, business is such a massive topic. You might be, you know, you could be cleaning windows, selling tomatoes or working and you're an accountant and it's all completely different types of business. So yeah, it's the specific vocabulary obviously for different industries, different sectors. And you know, there are teachers who specialize in particular sectors. And of course over the years you tend to have the same type of people. So I get, I live in Frankfurt, I get loads of banking, financial services, but I've also done a lot of like real estate. I work for food company. The tomato guy was from the food company. Yeah, that's real case, you know, and I just all kinds of business. So vocabulary is very wide, but I agree it's, it's more about the communication skills, meetings, negotiating, and also the context of being able to like adjust your language, depending on how formal is the situation, you know, am I chatting to my coworker or am I talking to the CEO? A little bit different. So this being able to adjust your tone and your range, depending on the scenario, being persuasive, maybe if you're selling all this kind of stuff. Birgit, would you agree with that? Yes, absolutely. I would agree in the sense that I believe many people think business English is a certain set of vocabulary and would be different to, and they are expecting sorts of lists being presented. But I believe that I will say, well, it's the language you use individually in your business setting, wherever you work. And that could be your tomato seller or the window cleaner. I don't know whether he might or she might need English, but very often that's yeah, coming into it. So you, you should think about, am I able to transport my messages in my business in English? And that of course will contain a few vocabularies, other words, then you might use in your spare time and it will be a different tone and you should follow some rules. But that's a question that I put at the customer basically. Yeah, I agree with that. Okay. So of course, obviously in these, in this context, there's also some grammar issues, right, Birgit? We always hear these common, we all hear them as business English traders, but can you give us an example of the typical, typical kind of mistakes that you hear from your clients? Yes, of course. That's a typical question I would ask. Please, can you tell me obviously then German, how long have you worked? Have you been working? And that's what I want to hear in the end. And very often I hear, I work for this company since, or I work for so many years. And a lot of people, that's an issue for a lot of learners. I mean, if you, if you don't need English training, obviously you're aware of this, but if you haven't had the experience, you should be aware that this is continuing this time stretch of something started since, and for is a signal word for present perfect. So please, before you go into a job interview, for example, you can translate that online and find the right, the right wording, or you look at the grammar and become aware that I've been working and I continue to work. I have always wanted to, yeah, I have never had to talk English so all these sentences connected to your current job very often contain and carry that present perfect structure. And we do have a, an episode where we talk about the big five and present perfect is one of them. If you go back in the episodes and also on email writing, which comes into business English as well. So we did a special recording on email writing, just wanted to mention that. So basically when we do talk about our jobs, we say that we have been working for some time for a certain company and another important issue when talking about what we do is introducing ourselves. Rebecca has got ideas about how to do that. Yeah, absolutely. I think this is one of the things this will come up your whole life, whether you're meeting new people in the office, coworkers, you've got a new job, you're going to a job interview, you're doing a presentation, you always need to be able to introduce yourself in a good way. And, you know, not a long, you know, three or four sentences, but often people really struggle with this. And I think in my experience, when I say to people, introduce yourself in English, and I think they go back into school mode and they go, my name is Bernhard and I am 47 years old. And they immediately tell me their age, first of all, which I think is very weird. And I think that, I don't know if Germans are a bit obsessed with age, but I do think, I wonder if that goes back to school. Because, you know, you were like, I am Thomas and I am 14. I don't know what it is. I don't know. That's interesting. Yeah. But you know, I think bigger, they love, they love telling people their age. We never, never do that. Even women? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, wow, why are you telling me this? We're so curious about how old people are, maybe. They are. And you know, it always says on TV, like, Silke, 58 Jahre alt. You know, just like random people on the street, they would tell you their age. And I think. We wouldn't, you wouldn't see that in England. I wasn't aware. Even celebrities, they do that in Germany. They'll go like, they'll name a celebrity in the newspaper and then they'll put in brackets how old they are. And it's like. Well, we have to be precise. I think it's about precision. German precision. When I look at someone and he goes, I'm 47 year old. And I think, well, I can kind of see that, you know, I'm not sure you needed to tell me that. But I think, but I'm not sure I need that information. Anyway, I would say age is not relevant. So unless you're really, really young, you've just started your job and you maybe you're like 21 or something and you want to say, yeah, I'm new to the company. I'm only just graduated or something like that. But otherwise, I know to me, not relevant. Doesn't come in the first thing I need to know. So, yeah, obviously name. And then I would immediately say my job title. I think that's, you know, I'm say Bernard and I'm an accountant or I'm in the accounting team, something like that. I want to know immediately, like, what's your position here? And then, and this is the next grammar point. So they also make this mistake quite often. This I am working in rather than I work. I work in it because you're doing it every day. It's a regular thing. Yeah. Should be present, simple. Name of the company. If you're introducing yourself, outside the company, again, people say, I don't know, sometimes people say the name of the company and then it's just something nobody's ever heard of. It's a small company. And then they don't explain what that is. So I would say if you work for a smaller business, say, you know, I work for blah, blah, blah. We are a software developer who provide, you know, something like that. Obviously, if you work for Microsoft, you don't need to explain who you are. You know, I think everybody knows, but I think smaller companies, you should also do that. And then a little bit about your tasks, you know, I'm responsible for, or I lead a team of, and again, not I am leading a team. I lead a team. I work for, I manage blah, blah, blah, not I am managing. So avoid this ing form. It's not temporary. It's something you do every day. It's your job, right? And then like beer gets point about, I've been working here for however long. Although again, I don't, I'm not sure how relevant that is. If is it relevant to say I've been working here for three years. So what to say it at all? Yeah. I don't know. In an introduction, I don't, I just don't know if it's relevant. I think if you're just a real newbie, maybe, Oh, I've only been working here for six months. If you've been working there for 20 years, you know, to show your experience, but I've been working here for four years, like do we care? But that's very common for people to say. Yeah. And I don't know why people get hung up on that really. I would say I'm much more interested in who you are and what you do and what you're good at, you know? So our team, you know, support our clients and they do this, that and the other. I'm more interested in that than four years and you're 47 years old. Yes. And I, I agree. That's a very interesting conversation. How you perceive that as a very good feedback for everybody. I always plant the idea of thinking of a profile, what you do in a one page. So that's going in the same direction. Yeah. So that's a good idea to start thinking about. We will have another episode in the future about applications and CV. Yeah. Exactly. Your profile. Yeah. That's very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. It's your profile. And, you know, people meet so many people and that people has an attention span of nothing. So if, you know, if they'll get, they get bored by sentence three. So you've just got to make it interesting, relevant. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is who I work for. This is what my team does. This is why we're good. This is what we do, you know, our sort of success every day. And yeah, and that's it, you know? But that's very interesting. Again, I said, because as you said, it gets boring. And I had that feedback maybe half a year ago from somebody I was sort of listing. Seems to be a very germ thing, obviously, to, yes, start listing things as in school. Maybe we can learn a bit here and be more straightforward to what people are really interested in. I think that's a good idea. It's funny, though, because Germans are normally so direct. They like to get to the point. They don't they don't like the small talk thing normally. But when it comes to introducing and I was born in and I went to school in and I'm like, why are you telling me this? I don't know. And I, in my free time, I, yeah. I think it should be a little bit like an elevator pitch, if you like, you know, really, really. So if you've heard of the elevator pitch, you know, you're stuck in a lift and you imagine that your dream, yes. And you just explain them within the time it takes for your lift to get to the floor that you want to go to the elevator pitch. Absolutely. The only problem with the elevator pitch is when some people hear that they think it's a sales pitch and they go, oh, it's too pushy. I don't want to be pushy. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. You know, introducing yourself properly is not a sales pitch. It's just telling people. So people remember, oh, yeah, that's Rebecca and she works in that team. And yeah, she told me something about, you know, what they do. They don't care. Well, maybe they do care how old I am. I don't know. But generally that they're not going to remember that or that I've worked there for four years, you know, that's not interesting, not relevant, unless it's really somehow relevant to your point. I would skip all of that. And my final point I have to say, big mistake I hear often on a daily basis when people want to say, like, what is your job? For me, naturally, I would say to someone, what do you do? I wouldn't say, what is your job? Yeah. So and often this is causes confusion because people say, what are you doing? Yeah. Use the inform again. What are you doing? That's master. And I'm like, I'm sitting here talking to you. That's what I'm doing. And then what they mean is, of course, what do you do? What's your job? And you can say, what do you do for a living? You can add that on, but you don't have to. Someone says, what do you do? That means what do you do on a regular basis, meaning what is your profession? Oh, I'm a student, or, you know, I'm an accountant, or I'm a teacher, whatever. So this, yeah, what are you doing versus what do you do? Big difference. Would you say, Dave, would you say, what's your job? Would you ever say that? Or does that sound a bit, I don't know? Yeah, just sounds a bit too somehow direct, in a way. Job. Yeah. It sounds like you're cleaning toilets or something. I don't know. It's not very elegant somehow. No, no, definitely not. It sounds like you've got a gun to your head and what's your job? Tell me now. Who are you working for? Spanish Inquisition. Torture. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I would naturally say, oh, and what do you do? Or what does your husband do? You know, not like, or where does your husband work perhaps? Or he works in a bank or something. But I wouldn't say what is your husband's job? To make me happy, that's what his job. I don't know. You know what I mean? You know where I'm coming from. Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. I think there to bring it to a conclusion in that respect, keep it short and simple. Yeah. Keep it short and simple. The KISS methodology. Yeah. Keep it short and simple. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So, Dave, you were going to, we were going to talk about some nice kind of business idioms, business phrases, right? Yeah. So, we've covered what business is, business English is a little bit. And we've had a look at some of the grammar problems and also the introduction problems with also the content and also grammar and making mistakes. So, now some idioms, business idioms. And for that, we thought we'd test Birgit. Guinea pig again. Guinea pig again. You're our favorite guinea pig, Dave. You really are. I'm not prepared. No, no, we didn't. Yes, we didn't tell her in advance. So, I picked her. You're always authentic. We never cheat. And if you believe that, you believe anyone. So, here we go. I've got five phrases, idioms, business idioms, you could say. And I'd like to know if, Birgit, you understand them. I'm sure you will. Anyway, first one, keep somebody in the loop. Have you heard that before? Yeah, I understand that. So, keep somebody informed or about. So, in the loop, that means like in the circle of people who are to be informed in the process. Yeah, keep me in the loop. How would you translate that in German? Is there a similar? Sorry. Sorry. No, I think that's how they translate it. So, it's not about the loop thing, but what's going on. Keep me posted. Exactly. Yeah, similar. I think it's an Americanism because I must admit, I haven't really come across it till relatively recently. The loop. The loop thing. Obviously, I would always say keep me posted. Yeah, me too. So, I have a feeling it may be an American thing. But anyway, okay, this is certainly an American thing because I don't think we Brits would say this. Maybe Rebecca could correct me on this one. To cut to the chase. I would never say that. To the chase. And you see, that's not easy for me because I've never lived in America. Cut to the chase. Zum Kern kommen. Cut to the chase. Yeah, exactly. Let's get to the point. Let's get to the important point. And the chase is what you're chasing for. I don't know why they use that. I don't know. Maybe it's not the warm-up. We're doing the run now. I don't know. We can check that where that comes from. I have no idea. Maybe if there's any American listeners at all, write it in comments or whatever. But you're right, Big. It means I get to the point. Let's not talk about the blah, blah, blah. Let's get down to the most important point. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Possibly another American one originally. Touch base. Yeah, touch base. Touch base with somebody. Well, that's, again, share information, isn't it? To get the newest information, let's update, get updated on things, more or less. Yeah. Yeah. Get in touch, basically, about something. Let's touch base again next week. Yeah. That's coming from sports again. Is that touch base? Like from baseball, maybe? Baseball. Touch base. Yeah. Probably. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Know nothing about American sports. Americans in the house, please. Okay. Fourth one, think on your feet. Can you, Birgit, think on your feet? Think on my feet? Is this British? Yes. Nobody has ever said that to me or in my surroundings. Think on my feet. Yeah, I would say you can think on your feet. Oh, definitely. A bit quicker. Quicker. Quicker. Yeah, quick. Or in an unexpected way, maybe. Exactly. In a way. Spontaneously, like just like immediately now come up with an idea, right? Would you say that? Yes, I think I can. But effectively. Yeah. Oh, she can think on her feet. Like she can come up with ideas even when she's maybe under pressure or quickly. Yeah, difficult situation. Spontaneously. Yeah. Yeah. I always have an idea. Yeah. I think you do, Birgit. You always have an idea. Yeah. I can think on my feet. Oh, I like that. Yeah. It's a bit strange. On my feet. It's a little bit weird, isn't it? Like on, why am I on my feet? Yes. Yeah. Okay. And the last one, let's call it a day. Yes. Okay. That's very common. Yeah. Let's finish working. Yeah. Fire armed. Fire armed. Yay. I thought that was a good ending. Let's call it a day. Yes. Yeah. It's funny, isn't it? Fire armed is one of these things where people say, how do I translate that into English? And it's so difficult because the literal translation is just, well, how would you even translate it? Fire armed. Stop working. We're finished. We're off. We're out of here. I'm out of here. I'm out of here. I'm gone. The other one is a Mahlzeit. My husband and I, we said that in the car and our son, he said, what's that? I've never heard that. Mahlzeit. Oh, in every business building, when you enter the elevator, the lift. Mahlzeit. Mahlzeit. Which basically for the non-German listeners means mealtime. Literally translate as mealtime. And then you just look at someone, you go mealtime and they go mealtime. And that's all you say. Yeah. It's like going lunch, lunch. You don't go, oh, you're off to lunch or, oh, did you have a nice lunch? Just lunch, lunch. But it's a limited time, right? Isn't it from like 11? You can't say it before 12, I don't think. Right? Whenever the canteen has opened. Right. Yeah. Between like 12 and 2. Everybody heading for the canteen. Mahlzeit. I remember that when I first came to Germany, I used to work in this bank and everyone asked, what is this? And why do they answer? I used to just go, yes. Yeah. I'm going for my lunch. And they'd be like, wrong answer. Mahlzeit is a weird one. Yeah. I don't know. We couldn't really translate it because we don't say, do we? Are there any other things when you were in the same situation going towards the canteen, heading towards lunchtime? What do you say? No. Hi. Hello. Not that I can think of, really. If you're heading towards a canteen, you'd probably say something like good luck or something. The British canteen. Don't say that. Yeah. Don't have the fish. It's not quite the same, is it? Mahlzeit, Feierabend. Okay. So next time we are going back to grammar, right? We are going back to if clauses. Everyone's favorite topic. And we are going to present perfect again. Oh, we're doing present perfect as well. No, we will need them. Okay. Right. Yes. Oh, don't freak everybody out. I thought the word if was going to freak everyone out. No, but you said the grammar episode was quite popular. Yes, it was. It was. People do appreciate that. So we're going to talk about that next time. If conditional clauses are something that people often struggle with, although there is a very kind of it's an easy system, I think, once you get going. All right, guys. So, well, thanks for listening. Hopefully to the next one. Let's call it a day. Bye. Call it a day. Schoen Feierabend. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for pressing play today. If you have any comments, questions, or perhaps suggestions for future episodes, feel free to contact us at our website, 3EnglishExperts.com. Have a great day and see you next time.