MASTERING BUSINESS ENGLISH

This is about what “Business English” is, what it isn't, and how I (a complete punk) started working as a Business English trainer in Hamburg ten years ago.

About ten years ago, when I was a Master student and really needed a job, my best friend suggested that I start teaching at a Business English school.

“Business English?”, I said, “Have you seen me? What do I know about business?!”

As he then explained to me, “Business English” is not a separate language from English. It simply means “the language you need for your job”. It’s not some internationally recognised, specialised code that opens the door to a secret, prestigious society of money and opportunity. So why did I think that that’s what Business English was, a secret language? 

Well, because, marketing.

Language schools, publishing houses, testing organisations and the entire Business English industry want to make you believe that this is a secret code you can learn if you pay them money. In exchange for the money, they give you resources like “20 Phrases to Be More Convincing in Meetings”, articles like “Negotiate like a Native Speaker”, or books like “English for HR Professionals”. 

When I was new to teaching and didn’t know any better, I used a lot of these materials to compensate my fear that I didn’t know enough about ‘business’ (whatever that means) to help my students, and couldn’t walk into a classroom empty-handed. But over the years, I used these materials less and less because I could see that they weren’t really helping my learners.

To speak English at work, you don’t need to learn lists of phrases or let some book teach you vocabulary for your job. You know exactly what you want to say already!

This is your area of expertise, this is what you know about. In this post, I share some tips that help you master “Business English from within” (now THAT would be a great book title, wouldn’t it?) by starting with yourself, what you already know, and what you actually want to say:

1. UNDERSTAND THAT “BUSINESS ENGLISH” IS NOT A SEPARATE LANGUAGE.

“Business English” sounds big, scary, and complicated to many people. It sounds like a specialised language that you need to learn, and that is separate from the English you already speak. This is just marketing b***sh**.

“Business English” is the language you need to do your job internationally. And this language is quite different depending on whether you are a photographer or a banker. So when the photographer and the banker want to learn “Business English”, that means they need to learn very different things. So how do you do it?

2. START WITH WHAT YOU KNOW

Instead of buying a book or signing up to a Business English course and hoping that this will teach you the language you need for your work, start with what you know:

– What situations do you need to use English in? (conferences, discussions, networking, etc.)

– Which people do you have to talk to? (internal, external?)

– Which areas of vocabulary do you need to grow?

Some of my clients find it easy to talk about technical details of their jobs, but struggle with small talk. For other clients, it’s the exact opposite. So decide which of these are the most important for you at the moment, and start working on those.

3. COLLECT THE LANGUAGE YOU NEED

So, as I said, you don’t need to buy a book to teach you the phrases you need at work. That’s because the language you need is already all around you!

Make a habit of collecting language:

– something cool you hear your colleague say in a meeting

– an elegant phrase in an email you get

– a sentence you read in an article that describes an important idea in your field.

Collect this language wherever works for you (post-its, your desktop, a notebook, etc.) and then use it when you need to speak English!

4. START SMALL AND LET YOUR CONFIDENCE GROW NATURALLY

Don’t think that you have to be ready to give a TED talk tomorrow.

If using English for work is new for you, start small and seek out situations you feel safe in where you can practice speaking English in a low-pressure environment.

When you make positive experiences in small, safe setting, it gives you the confidence to speak up in a slightly larger setting with more pressure next. Be open about the fact that you are working on your English and invite colleagues and collaborators to help you and give you feedback. That way, you don’t feel like you have to hide and you get the support you need!