3 Useful Business English Phrases
4 min read
Level: Pre-intermediate—Intermediate
Do you need to communicate in English at work? Here are some everyday business English phrases to boost your confidence!
Communicating in a foreign language at work can be challenging. You may ask yourself: Am I saying this correctly? Will my colleague think I'm being impolite? How can I say this more clearly? These are all common struggles when it comes to business English.
Luckily, however, there are many fixed phrases that are frequently used when doing business in English, which you can simply learn and use again and again. Let's take a look at three of them...
Catch up on (something)
Imagine you've been away from work for a few days because of a nasty cold. You then go back to the office to find hundreds of e-mails waiting for you. So you might say to your colleague 'I'm sorry I can't join you for a drink after work today—I really need to catch up on my e-mails.'
Maybe you were too busy to do it, or ill, or tired...or lazy.
This basically means that you need to spend extra time doing something because you couldn't (or didn't) do it earlier. Maybe you were too busy to do it, or ill, or tired...or lazy.
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Address an issue/problem/concern
Now this phrase is a great one in formal situations, such as business meetings. When you decide it's time to discuss a problem and hopefully find a solution to it, you can use 'address the issue/problem/concern'.
Saying this sounds much more business-like and professional.
For example, the manager of a company might announce 'We, as a company, need to address the issue of the amount of plastic packaging we generate.' So this means that they need to talk about and find a solution to the problem of producing too much plastic packaging. But saying 'address the issue' sounds much more business-like and professional.
Get the ball rolling
And finally, this is an idiom often used in business contexts. Imagine a ball sitting on top of a hill. If someone pushes it, it will start rolling down the hill, moving faster and faster. Now imagine that ball is a project which your workplace wants to start.
In order for the project to really begin, you need to take action and not simply talk about it.
You could say 'Shall I make some phone calls to get the ball rolling on the Japan project?' or 'We really need to get the ball rolling before the client loses interest.' In order for the project to really begin, you need to take action and not simply talk about it. So you can use the phrase 'get the ball rolling' to express this.
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So those are three really useful phrases you can try the next time you're doing business in English. There are plenty of other expressions you can learn as well—check out the video 'Three Useful English Phrases to Use Every Day at Work!' on the Britcent YouTube channel for some more business English vocabulary, or scroll down to watch it here. Or why not take a one-to-one Business English lesson with one of Britcent's experienced tutors?
Vocabulary takeaway
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Please note: These blog posts are written in informal, conversational English.
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