Business English Pod / Business English

Business English

Business English Pod lessons are suitable for all levels of business English. The lessons look at all kinds of workplace English skills for meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiating, job interviews, travel, and business conversation.

Skills 360 – Developing a Persuasive Approach (1)

Business English, Business Skills 360, Communication, Persuasion /

Skills 360 - Developing a Persuasive Approach 1

Welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast as we look at how to develop a persuasive approach in business.

Persuasion is one of the most valuable skills in business, enabling professionals to influence decisions, gain support, and advance ideas. But effective persuasion is not about slick talk or manipulation – it relies on sincerity and well-chosen techniques.

Sincerity is the foundation. People are persuaded when they believe you genuinely believe what you are saying. If your audience senses dishonesty or hidden motives, trust quickly erodes. To demonstrate sincerity, share how you came to believe in your idea. For example, acknowledge initial doubts and explain what changed your perspective. Transparency also plays a major role. If you stand to benefit personally, acknowledge it openly while emphasizing broader benefits. This honesty builds trust and credibility.

Once sincerity is established, persuasion comes down to tailoring your approach to your audience. Logical thinkers respond to structured reasoning, such as outlining clear criteria for a plan. Others may be more influenced by authority or social proof, in which case citing respected figures or supporters can be effective. The key is to understand what motivates the people you are trying to influence.

Beyond adapting to individual mindsets, several techniques are broadly effective. Repetition reinforces ideas and makes them more memorable. For example, emphasizing a chain of cause and effect – like lowering costs leading to stronger growth – creates impact. Rhetorical questions are another powerful tool, framing choices in a way that guides the audience toward your conclusion without directly telling them what to think.

In short, successful persuasion blends sincerity with strategy. Believe in your message, be transparent about your motives, and then apply techniques that resonate with your audience. With this balance of trust and skill, you can significantly enhance your ability to persuade in business.

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BEP 417 – Accounting English: Discussing an Audit (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Finance and Accounting /

BEP 417 LESSON - English for Accounting: Audits 2

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson, the second part of our financial English series on discussing an audit.

Money is the language of business, and audits are one way companies prove they can be trusted with it. Audits check whether financial records are accurate and reliable. They help investors, managers, and the public see that the numbers tell the truth about the organization’s money.

If you’ve ever been a part of a discussion about an audit, you’ll know that there’s a lot of specialized language in the world of finance. And some of this language is what we call collocations, or natural combinations of words. We use collocations all the time. In fact, we store a collocation in our memory as one unit, rather than individual words.

Maybe you’ve noticed a few collocations I’ve already used. Earlier, I said “financial records,” which are the documents related to a company’s finances. I also said “to tell the truth,” which is a verb plus noun, showing that collocations include combinations of different types of words. And if you learn these combinations, you can both understand better and sound more fluent.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a conversation between Ray and Elaine, who work for an international company that has just gone through an audit. Ray is the CFO, or Chief Financial Officer, and Elaine is the CEO. In their conversation about the audit results, they use many collocations. We’ll explain these collocations later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. Ray says that the “audit findings” revealed a gap. What financial process is this gap related to?
2. What question does Elaine ask about reporting?
3. What does Ray suggest rolling out this quarter to improve procedures?

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BEP 416 – Accounting English: Discussing an Audit (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Finance and Accounting /

BEP 416 LESSON - English for Accounting: Discussing an Audit 1

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson, the first in a two-part series on financial English for discussing an audit.

Financial audits have a way of increasing stress within a company. Suddenly everyone’s paying attention as reports get checked, numbers are reviewed, and details that seemed minor yesterday become urgent today. Audits can feel intense, but they are a critical part of good business practice.

Like many other financial processes, the world of audits has its own language or vocabulary. And much of this language comes in the form of “collocations.” Collocations are words that go together naturally. They are combinations of words that we learn as a group, rather than individually.

For example, a minute ago I said “everyone suddenly pays attention.” We always use that verb “pay” with the noun “attention.” It’s a strong collocation. That expression includes a verb and a noun, but collocations can feature any word forms. “For example” is a collocation that has a preposition and a noun, for example.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a conversation between Ray and Marcia. Ray is the Chief Financial Officer for an international company. Marcia is an auditor with an accounting firm hired to do an audit of Ray’s company. During their conversation about the upcoming audit, Ray and Marcia use many English collocations. We’ll explain these collocations later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. What does Ray hope to do in the week following the 15th of the month?
2. What does Marcia want to “walk through,” or review, with Ray?
3. Ray asks about something that is a hot topic, in Marcia’s opinion. What does he ask about?

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Business English News 60 – Tariffs: Rewiring Global Trade

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business News, Supply Chain /

Business English News 60 - Tariffs

In this Business English News lesson on the effects of tariffs on global trade, we look at business English vocabulary related to the global supply chain and economics.

With his recent moves, Donald Trump has plunged the global economy into a new era of mercantile competition. He slapped tariffs on numerous trading partners even as he finalized new deals with others, such as Japan and the EU. The US president’s executive order last month announcing the tariffs said they were designed to reduce America’s trade deficit. As the Washington Post reports:

Since returning to office, Trump has raised US tariffs to their highest level since the 1930s, with an average rate of about 17% on nearly 45% of all imports. New 25% tariffs have been announced on India, with 50% on Brazil and copper imports. Although the administration has signed framework deals with key partners such as the EU and Japan, analysts warn these agreements remain fragile and insufficient to offset rising input costs and legal challenges.

The consequences of these sweeping tariff increases are being felt deep within the mechanics of global trade. As costs rise and agreements remain uncertain, businesses are struggling to maintain operational stability. Nowhere is this more evident than in global supply chains.

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BEP 45c – Socializing: Keeping a Conversation Going

Business English, Intermediate English, Socializing /

BEP 45c - English for Socializing: Keeping a Conversation Going

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to keep a conversation going while socializing at work.

Some people are natural talkers. They seem to be able to start conversations, and maintain conversations, so easily. You might think this is an ability people are born with. Either you have it or you don’t. Either you have a social personality, or you don’t. But conversation is actually a skill.

And if conversation is a skill, then you can develop it through practice. In our last lesson, we practiced starting a conversation with someone. Once you’ve got the conversation started, it sure is uncomfortable if you don’t know how to keep it going. So we need a different set of skills and language to maintain the flow of conversation.

One thing you might do in this situation is direct the conversation or change the topic. And to keep the other person engaged, you’ll want to show interest and comment on what they’re saying. That makes them feel good and want to keep the conversation going. Showing interest often means asking follow-up questions and showing empathy or personal care or attention.

In this lesson, we’re going to go back to the first dialog we heard in the previous lesson, which featured Penny and George. Penny and George work for an international company called Multi-Fresh, which is hosting a conference for its employees. We’ll hear how Penny develops her conversation with George.

Listening Questions

1. What is the word or topic that Penny uses to change the topic of conversation?
2. What experience of George’s does Penny show interest in?
3. How does Penny react when George tells her about how difficult his experience was?

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