Confident Business English

If you've listened to previous episodes you may have heard me mention that there are really 4 core tenses that the majority of people need in a business context; the present, the future, the past and the present perfect. If you have a good command of these ones, that will serve you well in many business interactions. I've found personally that many people are more comfortable with the future and p...

A lot of my clients have to manage visits from their colleagues when they come to the office. They want to make a good impression and get to know them. The get anxious about what to ask them in those moments when they first arrive or on the coffee break. What questions can I ask to start a conversation?!  I break it down and give you a few easy options that could help you in this situation. Enjoy!...

We continue with part 2 and this time we will delve into the Make side of things. Again, I've broken it down into categories for you to help you try to remember and retain the differences between the two. There are some really important categories related to business English in here as well. Enjoy! Anna LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER written summary from each episo...

The classic question! Is it do or make? This has come up a lot recently and I want to help you get this right once and for all. This is a really useful topic as well because they come up a lot in business English.  I'm going to break down Do and Make into different categories to help you build a map that you can use as a reference point to help you remember which one is which.  LINKEDIN Say hello...

You're on a business trip to an English speaking country or the common language is English. You've got to go for a meal with colleagues and you really want to make sure you say the right thing when you are at the restaurant and not make a mistake Sound familiar? This came up in one of my clients sessions and I thought it was a great topic to go into. Even in the world of online working, business t...

This is a continuation of another episode I did before Christmas 2022. We are going  to look at a few very common business words that are commonly mispronounced.  A great one to check in and make sure you are on track. Enjoy! Anna LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER written summary from each episode plus extra tips I don't share on the podcast    INTERESTED IN...

Join me this week as I share with you about a terrible morning I had recently and my reflections about dealing with things that we can't control and managing nerves when speaking another language. This was a spur of the moment episode. I really wanted to record something and therefore it may be a little faster than usual in some parts and more colloquial. It's brilliant conversational listening pr...

Today I want to go into some of the key reasons why people lack confidence. I wanted to share this because I think it's important to show that a lot of us are in the same boat and we are not the only one. Which one/ones resonate most with you? LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER written summary from each episode plus extra tips I don't share on the podcast   ...

In this episode I tell you about an experience I had giving a business presentation and Q&A in Spanish and what I learnt from that. It was quite an eye-opening experience and I wanted to share it with you because it might be useful in your communications too. I also realised that some areas are much more important than others and I tell you what those are.  The episode is a bit longer this week as...

I wanted to do something different this week and reflect on one of the most impactful episodes since the start of the podcast. Nigel (The Interview Specialist) and I recorded this podcast in 2021. I thought it would be a great idea to revisit this episode as you may be a new listener and I think it's well worth listening to his expert tips and advice about how to have a successful interview in Eng...

Do you panic or avoid saying numbers at work? It's so common to feel like this. And normal. I'm the same in Spanish. We spend a lot of time thinking about the words and the sentence structures that we forget about these important things that come up all the time in work conversations. You can listen to the numbers and repeat to practice out loud or do a dictation exercise with this episode.  LINKE...

Do you have to talk about things that aren't going well? Do you have to tell someone they haven't done something the right way? This can be a very common interaction at work that is often not practiced. This can make the conversation more difficult and not flow very well in English. I cover key vocabulary you can use to deliver constructive criticism and several examples in context that you can ta...

Online meetings are a crucial part of how you connect and build relationships with your teams.  Aside from the technical parts of the English language, some of the areas I work on with clients are about how they come across when they are on the other side of the screen. I talk in this episode about small, actionable things that you can do to have better presence in online meetings.  Enjoy! Anna LI...

This week I'm doing something new and analysing a recent business news article. I highlight  some really interesting vocabulary that will be useful to help you understand what on earth they are talking about as well as picking out important grammar points to make you aware of common mistakes.  Enjoy! Anna LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER written summary from each epi...

Putting yourself out there to ask a question can feel a bit intimidating with everybody looking at you. You could just send an email or write it in the chat, but where's the fun in that? I'm going to prioritise a few types of questions that come up a lot at work that people are less familiar with as well as a common mistake with a basic question. Enjoy! Anna LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here J...

This is a continuation of episode 158 I did in 2022. A few of you said this was really useful therefore I'm going to do a regular slot looking how to understand business talk to help you when working with native speakers. This time I want to go over some common words and phrases on the topic of problems, implementing changes and difficult situations.  Enjoy! LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here J...

I know you probably work from home more, or perhaps a hybrid model, but do you have to travel with work from time to time? Perhaps more often? Well if you do, you are like several of my clients. However, I hear a lot of people making the same mistakes. In this episode I cover the big hitters so you can get them right. Enjoy! Anna LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER writ...

Feeling comfortable in front of your colleagues can be one of the biggest blockers to making progress in communication.  Perhaps it is a certain person that you feel embarrased in front of, maybe you have heard other people criticise how other people communicate and that makes you want to say nothing at all! How can you start to overcome this? It will take time and effort but you can do it. I shar...

Often it can be the difficult situations that are hard to navigate in English but there are times when we want to share how well people have done, the good work they have completed or congratulate the team on their efforts. As always, this was inspired by the people  work with who wanted to klnow natural ways to approach this situation.  Enjoy! Anna   LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY...

It can be a little awkward at work when your colleagues start talking about something different which isn't what you intended, or perhaps they misunderstood what you were saying or are focusing on the wrong thing...how do you bring the conversation back to what you want to talk about without coming across as rude? In the episode I cover some key phrases you can use for different scenarios so you c...

Do you bore yourself using the same words all the time? I've found that when talking about strategies before tend to use the same words over and over again - create, implement, define. They are all absolutely fine but let's try and add a bit of variety. Mix it up a little. In this episode I go through other more advanced terms (mainly verbs) to talk about strategy, as well as the usual tips and co...

What are you doing to do this year? How are you going to make progress? What should I be focusing on? I imagine these are some of the questions going around in your head. I want to give you my advice and recommendations based on some of the biggest problems I know that you are facing and give you a bit of a motivation boost!  Enjoy! Anna   LINKEDIN Say hello and follow me here JOIN MY FRIDAY NEWSL...

THIS IS AN ANNA WITH 2Ns EPISODE BEFORE I REBRANDED TO CONFIDENT BUSINESS ENGLISH. I RECOMMEND STARTING WITH THE MOST RECENT CONFIDENT BUSINESS ENGLISH EPISODES. I want to help you improve your pronunciation going into 2023. In this episode I talk about all the big hitters - words that come up all the time in business AND are commonly mispronounced. This is the best place to start.    LINKEDIN Say...

THIS IS AN ANNA WITH 2Ns EPISODE BEFORE I REBRANDED TO CONFIDENT BUSINESS ENGLISH. I RECOMMEND STARTING WITH THE MOST RECENT CONFIDENT BUSINESS ENGLISH EPISODES. Being able to understand your colleagues can be one of the most frustrating things. There are many different accents, ways of speaking and words that make it difficult. In this week's episode I explain some really common but complex busin...

THIS IS AN ANNA WITH 2Ns EPISODE BEFORE I REBRANDED TO CONFIDENT BUSINESS ENGLISH. I RECOMMEND STARTING WITH THE MOST RECENT CONFIDENT BUSINESS ENGLISH EPISODES. We need to fix this. We need to fix that. That must be fixed. To fix is great but there are other words we can  use to sound more natural depending on the type of situation. Let's take a look at some of them today and broaden your vocabul...