The Art of Business English

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Art of Business English. Today I am here to help you learn some commonly used expressions for giving opinions.

Gaining confidence in English is all about using your English and giving opinions is one of the best ways to engage people in conversation. Furthermore, this skill set it essential if you are participating in meetings at work.

If you struggle in meetings, are not sure what to say, and get frustrated by not being able to express your opinions clearly, then today's episode is just for you.

As usual, I will introduce the expression and then give you some context around how to use it and then finish up with an example sentence.

Let's dive in.

Join me as I share with you my tips for running hybrid meetings. These are the new norm, but are you running them effectively?

Modern businesses nowadays are pushing for more inclusiveness in the workplace. Sexism and gender bias are completely unacceptable and there is a push to have more women and minorities in more senior roles within the organization.

Did you know that there is a simple little linguistic trick that you can use both in your oral and written communication to sound more politically correct?

When you hear the words "meeting on Monday at 9", most people groan and think, "God! Not another meeting." So, what if there was a way to start your meetings in style, to get people engaged and make those meetings more productive. Well, today I am going to show you five ways in which you can open a meeting in style and get people thinking.

Obviously, if you are running or organizing the meeting, you are probably a bit nervous, especially if your meeting is run in English. To help you overcome your anxiety, I am going to explain to you the "why" and the "how". This means you will understand why we should do it and also the language you will need to get these techniques working.

Don't let your English level make you suffer when you have to attend your next business meeting in English. Follow my tips and become a more confident participant in business meetings.

In today's lesson, you will learn some useful expressions for making suggestions. I will also teach you how to respond to someone's suggestions as well as vocabulary for expressing reservations.

In this short lesson you will learn how to use the verbs speak, talk, discuss and argue correctly.

Hi again and welcome to The Art of Business English. This week we are going to be looking at some metaphors that contain body parts.

The use of metaphors in English is very common, so what is a metaphor?

According to the Cambridge dictionary, a metaphor is an expression in English that describes a person or an object which possesses similar characteristics to the thing we are trying to describe.

For example, "He has a heart of stone." is a metaphor used to describe someone who has no feelings or empathy towards others.

So, now that you are clear on what a metaphor is I am going to show you some very useful ones that you can use in business to describe certain situations.

As always, I will give you the expression and then the meaning, as well as an example sentence to help you understand the context.

Let's jump to it.

You would be surprised how often these words are confused or used incorrectly in English. They are often referred to as "false friends", because when you translate them, you think they mean the same in your native language as in English, however they are not. This then leads to some confusion among the people who are listening to you and obviously makes your English sound less fluent.

So, with that being the case, today I thought I would share a little episode with you on how you can use these words correctly and explain the common mistakes that people, especially Spanish speakers make.

Let's get to it.

Current is both an adjective and a noun, when we use current as a noun we are referring to the movement of water in the sea or in a river. For example, if someone gets caught in a current, then they can get taken out to sea.

We can also use current as a noun to describe the flow of air. Planes can experience turbulence when there are changes in the air currents, or you can experience a refreshing current of air on a warm summers day as it moves through your house.

Lastly, we can also use current when we are talking about the flow of electricity, as we can have an electrical current moving through something.

When we use current as an adjective we are in fact referring to something that is present time, or belonging to the present. It is when we use current as an adjective when we run into problems.

The word currently is an adverb that is used to mean at the present time. We use it when we are talking about things that we are doing in the present. For example:

Currently, I am learning to play the guitar.

Actual is an adjective that means "real" or "something factual". While actually, is an adverb and is used to state the truth or facts, as well as to express surprise or to add additional information.

Look at these examples:

"The quote we were originally given was much less than the actual price we ended up paying." (meaning real)

"We need to understand what the market is actually doing, instead of just reacting to changes." (meaning really)

"I can't believe you actually trusted him. Everyone knows he is a liar." (meaning you're surprised)

"John said he would be late to the meeting, he said to start without him actually." (meaning additional information, actually could go at the beginning or end of the second clause)

Typically the most common mistakes made with current/currently and actual/actually is that in other languages (not English) they can look like they mean the same thing, so people make a direct translation.

Let me demonstrate with the following examples:

With German, actual means "tatsächlich, and actually means eigentlich", not "aktuell".

Similarly in Spanish, actual means, "real, verdadero, mismo, concreto" and actually means "de hecho", not "actualmente".

So, if you want to use the adverb "actualmente" in English, you would need to use, "currently", "at present" or "at the moment".

Conversely, if you want to use the Spanish word "actual", then in English you would need to say current. For example, compare the two sentences below:

English: "The current problem we face is rising transportation costs".

Spanish: "El problema actual al que nos enfrentamos es el aumento de los costes de transporte."

As I am sure you will agree, this all sounds a little bit confusing, especially when we may already be used to using these words in English. However, it is an important lesson to learn and an important distinction to make. Using these words correctly is very important for your English and for making sure you do not confuse people, especially at work.

I hope you have found this lesson useful and interesting. Please let me know your thoughts by commenting below.

If you are looking to improve your English grammar skills then take a look at my list of general English courses below.

See you all next week for more free episodes of The Art of Business English.

Today I am looking at 4 linking expressions used in English that are commonly confused. If you are wondering how to use these linkers correctly then don't miss this episode.