The most common business English phrases will depend on the business setting. If you are meeting someone, this is considered a “meet up”. For example, “Let’s meet up at my office tomorrow morning to discuss the new project.” If you are facing a timeline, this is considered “meeting the deadline” or “target date”, the expected day of completion.
Once you’ve had a successful meet up, it’s time to “kick off” the new project, which means to officially start the project. Some companies have a “kick off” launch to get the ball rolling, create excitement, set targets, review the plan and budget, and assign tasks to each team or person.
“Did you attend the kick off launch? The excitement and high energy of the room was contagious. I’m so excited to get started on this project!”
To get ahead of the game or to keep ahead of the game, it’s important to frequently review the projects goals and targets to ensure tasks are completed and that no corners are cut. It’s important that everyone is on the same page, every step of the way.
To cut corners means to cheat or take shortcuts in a process. “Our company doesn’t cut corners and we’re proud of that. We know we offer a high quality product to the market.”
Having an airtight game plan, or business plan, can arguably be the single most important step of any business. Due to the cut-throat nature of any successful business, burning the midnight oil is often a common sacrifice.
You might often hear people say, “I have been burning the midnight oil for the past week due to the upcoming deadline. To be honest, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
“This industry is cut-throat. We are looking for employees who are ready for a challenge because we need results in this competitive market.”
“I am ready to get down to business and go the extra mile. You can count on my 20 years of experience in sales and marketing to get the company back in the driver’s seat.”
As you can see, there are many common business phrases that are used frequently in almost every business setting. To familiarize yourself with phrases such as these, consider reading business articles, podcasts and interviews. There are many great YouTube channels, websites, blogs and even movies that are business related.
To improve your English speaking skills, there are amazing organizations like Toastmasters International, a global organization that promotes public speaking and effective communication of ideas. Members of Toastmasters meet on a regular basis and practice their public speaking skills and business ideas in a safe and positive setting. Many successful business people are proficient public speakers and utilize their business knowledge through effective communication. Toastmasters helps “raise the bar”, or sets a higher standard for those who want to become professional communicators.
“Practicing my speaking skills in front of a small audience for the past year has helped my ability and confidence. Now I want to raise the bar and speak in the upcoming tech conference.”
When working alongside colleagues, these common phrases are important to keep in mind. It’s usually best to “see eye to eye”, which means to agree with somebody in a situation but that may not always be the case. For example, “my manager and the HR director do not see eye to eye on this matter. I’m afraid this situation will get out of hand.”
“My co-workers and I don’t see eye to eye on the current project. We may have to go back to the drawing board and come up with some more ideas.”
In a business setting, it’s always best practice to be diplomatic in our communication and approach. “Our team shared the latest idea we came up with but the manager shot it down as gently as possible saying that there is not enough funding right now for a project of this scale. The silver lining is that he promised to look at it next year.”
Author: Grace Armani, Cambly Tutor
If you’d like to keep this conversation going with Grace, give her a call on Cambly or make a reservation with her here: https://www.cambly.com/en/student/tutor/Grace%20Armani