In today’s Business English Pod lesson, we’ll look at clarifying what was meant, for example, “What do you mean by that?” or “What I’m trying to say is…” Clarifying the meaning is an important part of all communication because it helps us avoid misunderstanding.
This is the first in a two-part Business English Podcast series on clarifying. To clarify means to make clear.
Today we’ll look at phrases and skills for clarifying what was said. For example, “I didn’t quite catch that. Could you say that again?” This is useful when you don’t hear clearly or when someone speaks too fast. Then, in the second podcast (BEP 35), we’ll be looking at language for clarifying what was meant, for instance “What exactly do you mean by that?”
The listening today is from a shipping company. You’ll hear Wim Zeldenhuis and Andre De Vries in Rotterdam call their American colleague Benny McClenahan in Boston.
In today’s Business English Podcast lesson, we’ll be looking at closing down and summarizing your presentation in English.
As we mentioned a while back in BEP 101 (Click this link to listen to the podcast), a strong introduction is important to give your audience a reason for listening. Similarly, a strong conclusion is very important to leaving your audience with a great impression and giving them a clear message about what action to take.
So what structure should you use to close down an English presentation? We suggest this simple format:
1. Give your audience a clear signal that your are going to finish.
2. Briefly summarize the main points of your presentation.
3. State your recommendation or give your call to action – let your audience know what you want them to do.
4. Finish off by thanking your listeners and inviting questions or discussion.
In today’s listening we’ll be exploring this format. The listening takes place at Harper-Tolland, a major global producer of special purpose steel. Last year Harper-Tolland launched a new product line but the sales results in Europe have been quite disappointing. Nicholas Fischer, the new regional sales director for Harper-Tolland, has been hired to fix the problem. He is just finishing off a presentation in which he has been discussing his proposal.
This episode of Video Vocab by Business English Pod introduces 10 commonly used English words related to the economy:
Regulate, Currency, Interest Rate, Exchange Rate, Monetary Policy, Central Bank, Fluctuate, Speculate, Inflation & Basis Point.
Video Vocab is a regular videocast featuring useful Business English words and terms. You can use Video Vocab to expand your Business English vocabulary and practice your pronunciation. We have revised the format to include all the words in one video to make it easier to download and use, so let us know what you think.
In this Business English Podcast lesson we take another look at the language used to suggest and discuss ideas in meetings and teleconferences. We’ll also provide further language for diplomatic disagreement and agreeing action points at the end of the meeting.
The teleconference is run by Jim as a type of meeting called a “Brainstorming” meeting, which is useful for gathering and openly discussing ideas as the format is more relaxed.
This Business English lesson is the second part of a two-part series on making, rejecting and accepting suggestions in English. In the first episode, we looked at how to make suggestions. In this episode, we’ll cover appropriate ways to reject and accept suggestions in English. Accept means to agree to a suggestion and reject means to disagree.
As you’ll remember, the listening takes place at a sports shoe company called Stratos. You’ll be listening to Karen, a marketing manager, meet with three members of her team, Charles, Sven and Miguel. They are choosing a celebrity spokesperson for a new product.
Today’s intermediate Business English lesson is part of a two-part series on making, rejecting and accepting suggestions in English. In this lesson, we’re focused on the language used to introduce your ideas and make suggestions.
The dialog takes place at a sports shoe company called Stratos. You’ll be listening to Karen, a marketing manager, meet with three members of her team, Charles, Sven and Miguel. They are choosing a celebrity spokesperson for a new product. Celebrity means a famous person and spokesperson is someone who gets paid to be in an advertisement for a product.
This Business English News podcast examines the topic of offshoring jobs. “Offshoring” means to move part of a company’s operations (usually supporting functions such as finance or HR) to another country – literally “off shore.” Another commonly used term related to this topic is “outsourcing” – this means to use a different company to handle some supporting tasks. The key difference is that outsourcing doesn’t necessarily mean the work is done in a different country.
The topic of offshoring, or outsourcing work overseas, is certainly a popular one these days, and many people in Western Europe and North America are quite concerned that this practice will lead to less job opportunities in their countries. However, our story details a report from a well know management consultancy that concludes these concerns may be exaggerated or “overblown.”
In the previous episode (BEP 28) of this 2 part series, we looked at expressing agreement. We practiced four ways of agreeing: Using standard phrases, using synonyms, giving an example and making a general comment.
In this Business English Podcast, we’re going to focus on disagreement. We’ll learn different ways to disagree in English, from polite to strong.
As you’ll remember, the listening takes place in the R&D department of PharmaTek, a pharmaceutical company. Pharmaceutical means medicine (or drug). This meeting is between Gene, the head scientist, and Louis and Karina, two researchers. They are talking about the results of a new trial. Here, “trial” means “test” – the test of a new medicine on animals or patients. The new medicine is called Zorax.
This Business English Podcast episode is the first part in a two-part series looking at agreeing and disagreeing. In these two episodes, we’ll be practicing different levels of agreement and disagreement, from weak to strong.
Appropriate agreement and disagreement is an important part of all meetings and discussions.
In this ESL podcast we focus on agreement. In the second show, we’ll look at disagreement.
