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BEP 24c – Diplomatic English (Part 1)

Business English, Communication, English for Meetings /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to use diplomatic English. That means language that is careful, or not too direct.

This lesson is part of our new series of fresh takes on some of our older lessons. We’ve kept the same dialog but have new explanations and practice for our lower level learners.

Now, as I said, diplomatic language is careful, polite, and not too direct. For example, imagine you’re talking to your boss about a problem. You could just say “We have a problem.” But you want to be careful, right? So how about saying: “We might have a slight problem.” Using words like “might” and “slight” makes it softer, or more diplomatic, don’t think? Now imagine you’re the boss and your employee is explaining a problem, but you don’t understand. Well, you could say “I don’t understand.” But doesn’t that sound kind of short and direct? You don’t want to start an argument, you just want to understand. So you can try something like: “I’m afraid I’m not quite sure what you mean.” Don’t you think that sounds softer?

This is the kind of language we’re going to learn and practice today. You’ll learn how to ask probing questions carefully and how to ask for clarification when you don’t understand. You’ll also learn how to minimize, or make something seem smaller or less serious than it really is. And finally you’ll learn how to disagree carefully using “yes, but” statements.

In the dialog, you’ll hear a teleconference meeting between four managers who work for a guitar company. Jack is the production manager at the guitar plant, or factory. He’s talking to Jim, Dan, and Angie at the company’s headquarters. They’re talking carefully about some recent problems at the plant.

Listening Questions

1. How does Jim ask Jack about the problem at first?
2. Jack doesn’t want to say “some workers couldn’t breathe” because that sounds too serious. What does he say instead?
3. At the end of the dialog, Dan wants to disagree with Jack. What does he say before he disagrees?

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BEP 230 – Presenting in English: Freestyle Q&A (2)

Business English, Communication, Presentations in English /

Presentation English - Question and Answers

In today’s Business English lesson, we continue our look at how to handle questions during your business English presentation.

Have you ever delivered a presentation to a quiet and happy audience that accepts everything you say and applauds at the end? Probably not. It doesn’t matter whether you’re presenting to a possible client, at a staff meeting, to a group of senior executives, or during a professional development event. Your audience will likely ask you questions throughout your presentation.

No matter how well you prepare, you’re going to have to think on your feet. That means you’ll have to step outside what you’ve rehearsed and deal with the questions as they come. You might know the answer, but then again you might not. The question might be about something you planned to talk about, but it might not. Your presentation will succeed or fail not just on how pretty your PowerPoint slides are, but on how well you handle the audience and their questions. And that’s what we’re looking at in this lesson.

The techniques we’ll hear today include clarifying a question, using a question to jump ahead in your presentation, and evading a difficult question. We’ll also learn how to separate multiple questions into parts as well as how to admit we don’t know the answer to a question.

In the dialog, we rejoin the publishing company where Amy is giving a presentation to senior executives, including Brenda and Dennis. Amy is explaining a potential overseas partnership with two Korean companies. Brenda and Dennis are asking her plenty of tough questions.

Listening Questions

1. What exactly is Brenda worried about at the start of the dialog?
2. How does Amy respond to Dennis’s question about licensing rights and terms?
3. Which question does Amy say she doesn’t have enough information to answer?

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BEP 229 – Presenting in English: Freestyle Q&A (1)

Business English, Communication, Presentations in English /

Presenting in English - Question and Answers

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on handling questions during a presentation in English.

So you’ve planned your presentation carefully and you’ve rehearsed it in front of the mirror. You walk into the room, you bring up your first slide, and you begin. But you’ve hardly finished your introduction when someone throws out a question. How do you deal with it?

You’d better be ready for this situation, because you know it’s coming. How often do people actually wait for you to finish before politely raising their hands and asking you questions? It just doesn’t happen. So you need to learn how to respond on the fly. You need to read the situation and react accordingly. Your presentation isn’t ruined if you know the right things to say and do.

Today we’ll look at some of the techniques we can use to handle questions and keep our presentation flowing. These techniques include anticipating questions before they’re asked, using a question to transition to another point, and buying time. We’ll also learn about dismissing a question that you’ve already answered and redirecting a question to the entire group.

In the dialog, we’ll hear part of a meeting in a publishing company. Amy is giving a presentation about a potential overseas partnership. Brenda and Dennis, two senior managers, are asking Amy some tough questions along the way.

Listening Questions

1. What does Amy anticipate that the audience might be wondering about?
2. Which topic does Amy have to ”˜buy time’ for before talking about it?
3. When Brenda asks about priorities, how does Amy deal with the question?

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BEP 226 – Conducting a Job Interview in English (2)

Business English, Human Resources, Job Interview English /

Conducting an interview in English (2)

In this Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at how to conduct a job interview in English.

The interview is a crucial step in the hiring process. You have the opportunity to sit down with a candidate and get as much useful information as possible. And to get good information, you need to set the right tone and ask good questions. You also need techniques for getting people to explain and elaborate on ideas. The more details you can get from someone, the better. And hopefully you can figure out if the person is right for the job and for your company.

Good techniques for conducting interviews can help you in many other situations. Any time you need to evaluate a person, or a person’s company, you will use the same techniques. Imagine you need to contract an Internet marketing company. You will probably sit down with someone to ask them questions. Or imagine you have a paper salesman in your office. Again, you will need to ask him some good questions to evaluate his company.

Today, we’ll learn some great interviewing techniques, including how to ask stress questions and hypothetical questions. We’ll also learn about echoing someone to encourage them to speak more and calling someone on an evasive answer. And finally we’ll learn about giving the candidate a chance to ask questions of their own.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Sandy and Lee, who are interviewing Maria. Sandy and Lee are looking for someone to lead their company’s expansion into Asia.

Listening Questions

1. What does Maria say she does that Sandy repeats in order to encourage more detail?
2. What type of situation does Sandy ask Maria to imagine?
3. What does Sandy give Maria the chance to do at the end of the interview?

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BEP 225 – Conducting a Job Interview in English (1)

Business English, Human Resources, Job Interview English /

Conducting an interview in English (1)

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on conducting an interview in English.

How do you assess potential employees? Or contractors? Or business partners? Or anyone, for that matter? Well, you can look at a person’s resume or CV. And for more information you can google someone. But that’s never enough to really get an idea about someone. What we rely on are interviews, which can be very powerful tools. Interviews give us a chance to meet someone face-to-face, to ask tough questions, to find out how they solve problems, and to really get a sense of how they interact.

Asking someone questions face-to-face is not only important for job interviews. There are a wide range of situations where interview techniques are useful. Say you want to build a relationship with a new supplier. You’ll want to ask some questions and get to know the company. Or maybe you want to contract a tech support company. You’ll want to do interviews to see who is the right fit.

Interviewing is a skill, just like being interviewed. And there are some excellent techniques that you can learn to become a better interviewer. Today, we’ll look at how to make someone feel comfortable, how to ask open-ended questions, and how to get someone to give recommendations and provide more detail.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Sandy and Lee interviewing Maria. Sandy and Lee work for an international fast moving consumer goods – or FMCG – company that is expanding into Asia. They are looking for the right person to lead this expansion.

Listening Questions

1. What aspect of Maria’s work does Sandy want to hear more about?
2. What does Sandy want Maria’s “thoughts” about?
3. Which idea does Lee want Maria to explain in more detail?

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