Language to Connect

English for work and business

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  • Communication is courage

    Have you ever had a feeling that you couldn’t really talk freely either in a meeting or over lunch with your business partners? You probably realised that something was missing, but it was hard to identify the real cause in that situation.

    Well, the good news is whatever our stumbling blocks are we can remove them. What we need to start doing it is realising we need to learn, and this takes courage.

    It takes courage to admit we lack the skill or knowledge, or just the practice of it.

    What could help your communication in English? Are you ready to solve this puzzle?

    Oksana

  • It’s not about you

    In many work-related situations when we have to speak English, be it a foreign language or our native one, we often focus on how well we formulate our thoughts, how many clever words we use or how quickly we can express our ideas.

    What we have to remember is that to achieve clear communication we have to shift our focus to how clear we are for those we are communicating with.

    Once you start thinking about the others in your conversations, not your own ‘performance’, you should feel the change in your communication experience.

    It may take a while to learn how to do it, but you’ll definitely enjoy the results.

    Oksana

  • Let’s chat?

    When was the last time you heard this question? What did you do next? Did you write a message in the messenger or did you click the call button and spoke to the person using an audio or video connection?

    It turns out that even this short word may cause misunderstanding.

    For many people ‘to chat’ means ‘to have a friendly talk’. At the same time for others, it’s all about exchanging text messages online. If you think about workplace context, it may mean either of these and even the level of how informal or friendly this conversation may be depends on the situation and the participants.

    What’s your ‘default’ meaning of ‘to chat’?

  • Films can be useful

    As this is my first post in 2021, I thought I’d share something practical and fun. And this would be about films.

    If you like to watch films and you need to improve your communication in English, you can approach your choice of films from a different perspective.

    First of all, you should be genuinely interested in the film. While watching it try to pay attention to things that are new to you in terms of culture, the way people may behave in certain everyday and professional situations, and how they pronounce the words that are so familiar to you. However, make sure you don’t overdo it. The smaller the steps you take to use films as a tool in improving your communication, the further you’ll be able to go.

    If you need some inspiration, check out my pride and joy, Movies by Levels, where you can find guidance on a wide variety of films and TV shows for your pleasure and progress.

    Until next time,

    Oksana