English has become the language used in international business. Whether you need to interact with international colleagues or clients or hold meetings with partners overseas, English will be necessary to communicate successfully in meetings, when giving a presentation, negotiating or simply chatting by the vending machine.
Apart from being able to use the proper verb tenses, developing and extending your business English vocabulary is crucial in order to feel more confident and comfortable in the work environment.
The following tips will help you develop your business English vocabulary so that you can speak more confidently and understand the people you interact with on a regular basis at work.
1. Listen or watch the news in English
Business English vocabulary is a broad concept, since depending on your field of expertise you will need some specific vocabulary, terms and concepts. For instance, if you work in HR, you might not need the key words someone working in retail needs and that is why it is a good idea to be exposed to the kind of business English vocabulary related to your area.
Why is the news so helpful?
- The news on the YouTube channels mentioned above is full of business English vocabulary.
- You can access YouTube nearly everywhere at any time.
- You can listen to the news while you do other things: while cooking, while cleaning, while removing your make up or while you get ready to quick the day in the morning.
- It’s real content: It’s not content adapted to a language’s students. It’s the same content a native speaker or an international colleague would listen to.
- When you watch or listen to the news, without even noticing it, you are improving your pronunciation as we tend to imitate how other people speak.
2. Listen to a podcast
As the news, podcasts offer a wide range of benefits that will lead you to upgrade your business English vocabulary.
Some popular and good podcasts are:
Why are podcasts so helpful?
- You will listen to people discussing topics you might feel identified with and that will help you remember the content much more than any other random topic you might not relate to.
- You can do this while doing other things: while driving, while taking a bath or while working out.
- There’s a wide range of free channels that offer good-quality podcasts and you can access them everywhere.
- As with the news, podcasts are a great source of pronunciation booster.
3. Practice with a reliable source of vocabulary
Cambridge University Press provides great books in which you will find business English vocabulary from beginning to end. The books Business Vocabulary in Use are available at three different levels: B1 intermediate, B2 upper-intermediate and C1 advanced.
Why are they so helpful?
- They are the best books for self-study as their structure is simple: each unit focused on one specific topic (Recruitment and selection, Manufacturing and services, Share capital and debt, amongst others) and each unit has two pages. The first page shows you the examples and the second provides you with exercises. You can find all the answer keys at the back of the book to check your own answers.
- Working on business English vocabulary books like these, is a way of getting familiar with business terms and using them in a context. You can also keep track of those words and expressions you may use in your work environment.
- The books have codes for you to access a platform where you can listen to the texts of every unit. This is a great chance to read the text and listen to the audio at the same time.
4. Put things into practice at least once a week
Whether it is one new word or a specific term or one phrasal verb or idiom related to your field of expertise, make sure you use it at work: in a meeting, in a phone call, while giving a presentation or in an email to your colleague.
Business English vocabulary can be developed as long as you use it. If you don’t use you are highly likely to forget it. Let’s say that while watching the news, listening to a podcast or working on your Business Vocabulary in Use book you came across an expression you think you can use and you wrote it down.
Write it on a Post-it note and stick it anywhere visible so that next time you need it you can use it.
Why is doing this so helpful?
- This will keep you motivated to keep on developing your business English vocabulary because you will see that the things you are learning can be put into practice straight away.
- Reading the text of the units you’re interested in, listening to the audio, doing the exercises and correcting them before keeping track of those terms you find useful in your own notebook will make you remember such terms much more easily than if you just listen to them and don’t do anything with such term.
5. Share what you did with a colleague of yours
Sharing a piece of news, a debate in a Podcast or a topic related to one of the units from the book with a colleague of yours is a valuable practice. While having lunch, by the coffee machine or just when you need to kill some time, you could share one piece of news you watched on TV with one of your international colleagues and ask for their opinion.
Real-life situations like these, in which you are actually conversing with someone else are the best and you will have much more conversation starters apart from the weather or boring office gossip.
Why is sharing so helpful?
- It helps to build rapport and you can even discover your colleague’s opinions and interests beyond what you already know.
- Actively engaging with an international colleague of yours will show you’re interested in making meaningful conversation and might trigger a long-lasting relationship.
- You can’t imagine how helpful this is in terms of business English vocabulary: your colleague can contribute with more ideas you might have not even considered and you are likely to remember this conversation much more than any other content on either books or media.
Bonus Tip 6: Practice with a professional
If you have the chance to take business English classes with a professional, I’m sure they will help you put all the aspects mentioned above into use.
Find someone who challenges you. Rather than reciting the words and expressions by heart, get involved in interesting debates in which you will end up using the terms without even noticing it.
If you are interested in finding professional advice or taking business English classes to develop your business English vocabulary, please book a FREE Let’s Talk session to discuss your needs.
