Business English Idioms | Business English Pod

Business English Idioms

BEP — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 11:21:31 +0000

English Idioms lessons by Business English Pod. Learn common business English idioms and improve your understanding of English idioms. We have over 40 Business English lessons on all types of English idioms. Learn business idioms related sports, war, gambling, time, color, food and a host of other topics.

All business English idioms. Lessons are listed by release date, with the most recent lesson at the top.

Business English Games – Football Idioms Shootout

BEP 164c – Football Idioms (Part 2)

BEP 163c – Football Idioms (Part 1)

BEP 413 – Business English Idioms about Technology (2)

BEP 412 – Business English Idioms about Technology (1)

BEP 405 – English Idioms about Animals (2)

BEP 404 – English Idioms about Animals (1)

BEP 394 – English Idioms about Body Parts (2)

BEP 393 – English Idioms about Body Parts (1)

BEP 386 – English Idioms about Spending Money (2)

BEP 385 – English Idioms about Spending Money (1)

BEP 377 – English Idioms for Describing Challenges (2)

BEP 376 – English Idioms for Describing Challenges (1)

BEP 363 – English Idioms for Strengths and Weaknesses (2)

BEP 362 – English Idioms for Strengths and Weaknesses (1)

BEP 351 – Idioms for Describing Relationships (2)

BEP 350 – Idioms for Describing Relationships (1)

BEP 341 – Business English Idioms: Food Idioms (3)

BEP 340 – Business English Idioms: Food Idioms (2)

BEP 339 – Business English Idioms: Food Idioms (1)

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Business English Games – Football Idioms Shootout

BEP — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:00:37 +0000

Game on! See if you can make it into the finals with our game on English idioms related to football.

With so many similarities between sports and business, it’s no surprise that football idioms have become part of everyday workplace communication. Can you spot when someone is offside, moves the goalposts, or kicks it into touch? Try our Football Idioms Shootout game and see if your business English skills are ready for the premier league.

You can review all the business English idioms featured in this game in these lessons:

BEP 163c – Football Idioms (1)

BEP 164c – Football Idioms (2)

>>> The post Business English Games – Football Idioms Shootout first appeared on Business English Pod :: Learn Business English Online.

BEP 164c – Football Idioms (Part 2)

BEP — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 14:49:02 +0000

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bizpod/BEP-164c-Football-Idioms-2.mp3

Welcome back to Business English Pod. With the World Cup underway, we’re taking another look at one of our lessons on English idioms related to football.

People have been competing in and watching some form of sports for thousands of years. Sports enduring popularity has helped it grow into a $2.3 trillion a year industry. And it’s expected to just keep on growing.

Among all sports, there’s one that is far and away the most popular, and that’s football, or soccer. Almost half the global population counts themselves as fans of the sport. So it’s no wonder that something this popular has impacted the English language.

Listen to any conversation in a sales meeting, around the water cooler, in the boardroom, or over drinks between colleagues and you’re guaranteed to hear idioms related to football. These idioms are so common that most people don’t think for a second about where they came from. They’re just a natural part of everyday language.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Marilyn and Karl, two colleagues at a publishing firm. They are talking about Karl’s interest in a job at the company’s Sydney branch. Karl is hoping Marilyn can help him decide whether to apply for the job.

Listening Questions

1. How does Karl’s wife feel about moving to Sydney?
2. Why does Karl feel like he’s cheating on his own company?
3. What advice does Marilyn give at the end of the conversation?

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Download: Podcast MP3>>> The post BEP 164c – Football Idioms (Part 2) first appeared on Business English Pod :: Learn Business English Online.

BEP 163c – Football Idioms (Part 1)

BEP — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 18:50:20 +0000

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bizpod/BEP-163c-Football-Idioms-1.mp3

Welcome back to Business English Pod. With the World Cup about to kick off, we’re taking a fresh look at one of our lessons on business English idioms related to football.

What do you call an activity where groups of people compete strategically against each other as they strive to be the winner? I mean an activity with a clear goal where success requires strong teamwork and a commitment to excellent performance? Some of you might be thinking about sports. Some of you might be thinking about business. Well, you’re both right.

There are so many obvious similarities between sports and business, it’s no wonder that we see the language of sport come into play in the corporate world. And there’s a particular type of language that we’re going to focus on in this lesson, called idioms. Just like the expression “come into play,” which means to be involved or to be a factor in something.

Now when I say “football,” I’m referring to the game with the round ball that players kick into a net past a goalkeeper. It’s what North Americans tend to call “soccer,” to differentiate it from their own game of football, which is a whole different ball game altogether! Internationally, football – or soccer – is the most popular sport in the world. So it’s no wonder it has inspired so many idioms commonly used in business.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Karl and Marilyn, two friends who work at a publishing company. Karl is thinking about applying for a job at the company’s Sydney office. He has some doubts though, so he asks Marilyn what she thinks.

Listening Questions

1. How does Karl describe his approach to his career?
2. Why is Karl worried about the other candidates for the job he’s interested in?
3. What does Marilyn say happens at the Sidney office?

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Download: Podcast MP3>>> The post BEP 163c – Football Idioms (Part 1) first appeared on Business English Pod :: Learn Business English Online.

BEP 413 – Business English Idioms about Technology (2)

BEP — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 18:44:42 +0000

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bizpod/BEP-413-Technology-Idioms-2.mp3

Welcome back to Business English Pod for the second part of our series on English idioms related to technology.

Every day you use dozens of high-tech devices and apps to communicate, plan, organize, monitor and store information. It’s almost impossible to imagine the workplace before modern technology. It’s also almost impossible to imagine the English language without all the idioms we use related to technology.

If you want to be on the same wavelength as expert English speakers, you can’t ignore idioms. And I just used a prime example there. If you are “on the same wavelength,” it means you understand each other. This comes from radio technology, where you have to be tuned to the same frequency to receive a signal.

As you can see, an idiom has a special meaning that isn’t always clear. You can think about the words on their own, but that won’t help you. You need to learn idioms as chunks of language, with a special meaning beyond the individual words. In this way, you will be able to communicate even better in English.

In this lesson, we’ll rejoin a conversation at an engineering company between Maggie, Antonio, and Finn. They are continuing their conversation about upgrading the tech systems in their company. In their discussion, they use many idioms related to technology. See if you can spot some of these, and we’ll explain them later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. What does Antonio say about HR and their training plans?
2. Why didn’t the company move to PayWorks software a couple of years ago?
3. How does Antonio describe the new servers that are available?

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Download: Podcast MP3>>> The post BEP 413 – Business English Idioms about Technology (2) first appeared on Business English Pod :: Learn Business English Online.

BEP 412 – Business English Idioms about Technology (1)

BEP — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 17:35:02 +0000

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bizpod/BEP-412-Technology-Idioms-1.mp3

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English idioms related to technology.

The world of tech has given rise to a host of new vocabulary and terminology. Think about a phrase like “to reboot,” which originally referred to restarting a computer but is now commonly used to mean starting over in any context. Idioms like that highlight how mastering language goes beyond just grammar.

Indeed, many language learners spend a lot of time trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of a language. By that I mean the grammar, writing system, sounds, and basic vocabulary of a language. The thing is, once we’ve got the nuts and bolts, it can feel like our progress stalls. Getting to the next level requires you to move beyond basic vocabulary and master expressions like idioms.

For example, a second ago, I mentioned the “nuts and bolts” of language. Nuts and bolts are a way of connecting things made of metal. So why am I using those words when I talk about language? Because “nuts and bolts” is used as an idiom to refer to the basic parts or pieces of something. And with technology as such an important part of our lives, it’s no wonder we have so many English idioms related to technology.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to a conversation at an engineering company. The company is led by Maggie, Antonio, and Finn. They’re talking about how the growth in their company requires upgrades to all their tech systems. In their discussion, they use many idioms related to technology. See if you can spot some of these, and we’ll explain them later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. Near the start of the meeting, what does Finn say he wants to avoid doing?
2. What does Maggie worry might happen if they don’t improve or “level up” their tech systems?
3. What does Antonio say the company did with Zoom not long ago?

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Download: Podcast MP3>>> The post BEP 412 – Business English Idioms about Technology (1) first appeared on Business English Pod :: Learn Business English Online.