Business English Pod / Saying No

Saying No

925 English Lesson 11 – Disagreeing with Ideas in English

925 English, A2, Business English, English Video, Functions /
YouTube video

In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to disagree with ideas in English.

People disagree with each other’s ideas all the time. In fact, disagreement isn’t just natural, it’s necessary. How else can we sort out the good ideas from the bad ones? But disagreeing with people isn’t always easy. If you’re not careful, you can make people feel hurt or angry. So how can you do that? How can you tell someone you don’t like their idea without upsetting them?

925 English is a new business English course for beginners. 925 English lessons focus on English phrases and expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson features English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.

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Skills 360 – How to Say No (Part 2)

Business English, Business Skills 360, Communication /

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free Subscription

Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast, today we’re talking about how to say “no.” That’s right, someone asks you for something or to do something, but you have to say “no”. That’s not always easy, but it’s important.

Discussion Questions

1. Do you ever have too much to do in too little time?
2. How do you feel when someone says “no” to you?`
3. What are some ways we can reject or refuse someone nicely?

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Skills 360 – How to Say No (Part 1)

Business English, Business Skills 360, Communication /

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free Subscription

Why is it so difficult to say “no”? Well, of course you want to be polite, and kind, and agreeable. And if it’s your boss who is asking you for something, you may fear losing favor or opportunities. And if it’s a client or customer asking for something, you might not want to ruin the relationship.

But what I want to tell you is that in many cases you should say no. And you should know how to say it. You need to be clear, firm, and honest.

Discussion Questions

1. Do you usually find it difficult to say “no” when someone asks you to do something?
2. Who do you have the most difficulty saying “no” to?
3. Why do you think saying “no” can sometimes be difficult?

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BEP 191 – Getting Your Ideas Across in Meetings (3)

Business English, Communication, English for Meetings /

English Meeting Dialogue

This is the third and final part of our Business English Pod series on getting your ideas across in meetings.

Meetings in English are a great opportunity to get your ideas across and influence other people. But doing that is no easy task. You need the right combination of tact, frankness, confidence, and humility. And you need some effective language techniques to manage that combination.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to look at several advanced techniques for expressing your ideas and commenting on other people’s opinions. These include leading into opinions, highlighting consequences, and redirecting a discussion. A lot of these techniques revolve around agreeing and disagreeing. We’ve looked at many of these in the first two parts, and today we’ll continue by learning about strongly agreeing and disagreeing with negative questions.

We’ve been listening to a dialog among four managers who have to find ways of reducing travel and transportation benefits by 15%. They are continuing their debate on how best to achieve this goal. Let’s listen as the chairperson Alison leads the discussion with Stewart, Pat, and Nate.

Listening Questions

1. What idea does Pat believe is easier to sell to employees?
2. What is Stewart’s concern about Pat’s idea?
3. What does Alison suggest doing?

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BEP 29 – Meetings: Disagreeing in English

A2, Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Functions, Intermediate English /

A new updated version of this lesson is available here.

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 lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

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