Business English – Speaking Vocabulary – Talking About My Work
There are many reasons why Vietnamese learners need to speak English at work because in Binh Duong province we have a lot of foreign-owned companies, joint partnerships, and Vietnamese companies working with overseas clients or customers.
EIU Language Center conducts English training in companies all over Binh Duong and to people needing help with speaking at our center. The main reasons for the need to have lessons in business English speaking include:
- Speaking with foreign managers and staff on a daily basis
- Speaking on the web or on the telephone with overseas customers
- Presenting to customers
- Negotiating with suppliers
- Reporting quality issues on site
- Dealing with multinational teams
- Socializing with colleagues and customers from other counties
Of course, there are many other reasons, but these are a few.
In order to be understood by everyone, you have to be able to speak clearly and you need the right vocabulary to sound professional. Many of the differences between general English and business English are about vocabulary. If you work in a very specific, technical industry you may need focused help to expand your business English vocabulary, but there are some universally important words and phrases that you can learn too.
Sometimes the problem is accuracy. For example you miss the preposition or an object.
Sometimes the problem is word choice or word confusion.
Look at the following words or phrases: can you see what problems you could have?
| Business English Word/Phrases | Meaning |
| to be in charge of / responsible for | to control |
| to introduce someone to someone | to tell someone another person’s name the first time that they meet |
| to introduce something | to put something into use, operation, or a place for the first time |
| my/his/her/your/their/our job(s) involve(s) | the regular work that a person does to earn money |
| a job | a particular piece of work |
| out of a job | unemployed |
| last name/ surname | family name |
| colleague | a person you work with in your company |
| to liaise with someone | to work closely with someone |
| to deal with someone or something | to develop a way to manage or relate to someone or something |
| to discuss something with someone | to talk about a subject with someone and tell each other your ideas or opinions |
Here are some example sentences to show you how we use them in context:
- I am responsible for quality control.
- I am in charge of garment packaging.
- Let me introduce you to my colleague, Jen.
- We are introducing a new product next year.
- My job involves talking with suppliers.
- I have a few jobs to finish today.
- I was out of a job last year for 3 months.
- My first name is Minh and my surname is Nguyen.
- I invited friends and colleagues to my birthday party.
- I often liaise with the US office about orders.
- My boss deals with overseas enquiries.
- I’ll have to discuss the matter with my boss before I can give you an answer.
Remember: Practice Makes Perfect, so use this vocabulary immediately so that you remember it well and you can use it when talking about your work.
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