Business English Courses
Business English Courses in Everest Language School Dublin
Everest Language School has introducing a brand new 4 week business English courses for students who are looking to work in an English speaking country or need to improve their English for their job back home!
At Everest Language School, we believe that improving your general level of English including your grammar, speaking, listening and understanding should come first and foremost. However, we also understand that when applying for a job or starting a new job there is lots of specific vocabulary and skills that you might not learn in a general English course.
So if you have been looking for business English courses in Dublin to help you with job applications, interview skills and professional writing look no further! You can even combine the business English courses with general English!
Business English Vocabulary
Let’s take a look at some of the business English vocabulary that you might need to use in an English speaking workplace in Dublin!
Start Up – A start-up is a term used to describe a brand new business, generally less than a year old. There are lots of startup tech companies that hire international students so it’s a good one to know!
HR – HR stands for human resources. Most companies will have an HR department whose job is to look after their employees welfare. It’s an important term to know as HR will most likely be your first point of contact when applying for or starting a new job!
Competency Based – Competency based questions are a common interview method used by employers when interviewing candidates. Competency based questions are specific questions that require you to describe specific tasks and responsibilities you had in previous jobs that would make you suitable for the job your applying for. Always have lots of examples ready!
Dress-code – Businesses and workplaces will all have different dress-codes for their employers. It’s important to ask your employer what the dress code is before you start your new job, to avoid showing up in dungarees when everybody else is wearing suits!
Remuneration/Salary/Wage – Any of these words can be used to describe how much money your going to be paid.
Negotiate – To be able to negotiate is an important skill when both applying for a job and during your job too! It simply means to be able to discuss something and come to an agreement. You might negotiate your salary with your employer or negotiate a deal with a customer or business partner.
Bonus: A bonus is a reward system used in many businesses for employees who have worked very well – it’s usually in the form of extra money or annual leave.
Annual Leave: Annual leave is how many holidays you are allowed throughout the year. In Ireland the average annual leave in 20 days per year!
Management – Management are the people in charge of running the business. You may have one or several managers in a workplace, or you may be one yourself!
Headquarters – Headquarters are the location of the main business hub for a company. For example Google’s headquarters are based in Dublin!
Recruitment: Recruitment is the searching and finding of potential candidates for jobs. For example, you might be approached by recruitment companies on Linkedin if they think you might be good for a fit a role they have!
Meeting – A meeting is a get together of employees, managers and other staff members to discuss a certain topic or issue affecting the business, for example, marketing a new product.
Conference Call – A meeting that’s usually held between employees or partners online or through Skype. They’re very common in businesses that may have other offices overseas
‘Minutes’ – Minutes are notes taken down during a meeting in order to record what was agreed and which individual was assigned a responsibility to look after a particular task.
Marketing – Marketing is an umbrella term for the different approaches to selling, distributing and promoting a product or service.
Presentation – To show or display a project to a group of business partners or colleagues, for example a powerpoint presentation on the company profits last year
Profit – Profit is how much money the business is making after all of the expenses are paid out.
CV – CV stands for ‘Curriculum Vitae’, in many other countries it is also referred to as a Resumé. It’s usually a one or two page document outlining your contact details skills, past work experience and education that you will send to potential employers
Cover Letter – When sending your CV to a business for a job opportunity it is also advised or requested that you include a cover letter. A cover letter is more personal than a CV and you can write more specifically why you would like a particular job and why you would be right for the role
Entrepreneur – An entrepreneur is somebody who starts their own business, for example Steve Jobs was the entrepreneur for Apple.
Contract – A contract is a written agreement between you and your employer regarding the terms of your employment.
Non-Profit Organisation – A business that’s main focus is not to turn a profit – for example a charity organisation
CEO – CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer. In other words, he/she is the boss, so always look busy when they’re around the office 😉
Competitor – A competitor is a business or organisation that has a similar or the same service or product that your business provides. For example McDonald’s biggest competitor is Burger King
Multitask – Many employers will ask if you have the ability to multitask! It means being able to do more than one task at the same time – for example send an email or process a payment whilst on the phone to a customer at the same time.
Industry – An industry refers to a particular field of business. For example Everest Language School is in the English language industry
Deadline – A deadline is a specific date or time you have to have a task or project completed by.
Resign – To resign is to leave your job
PR – PR stands for public relations. Public relations is the process of making sure as business is viewed in a positive light. For example a big company might sponsor a charity run or popular sporting event
Strategy – A strategy is a plan that’s put in place to ensure a specific goal is achieved
Brand – A brand is often the company name and the slogans/logos that are attributed to that name. For example the infamous branding for Adidas is the 3 stripes.
Feedback – Feedback is advice, criticism encouragement or praise of a piece of work from your employer. For example if you did a great blog on a new product your boss might give you positive feedback
Best practice – This refers to the best and most efficient way to do something
Punctuality – Always being on time for work or meetings.
Business English Idioms and Expressions
In business English there are lots of expressions and phrases used. In our business English courses you will learn these expressions so when you go to the workplace you won’t have to ask your colleagues what they mean! Below are some examples of common expressions used in the workplace.
Knuckle-Down – To concentrate and get your work done
‘Jamie’s boss asked him to stop chatting to his colleague and knuckle down’
‘Back to the drawing board’ – To start over a plan or strategy that may not have worked initially
‘This marketing promotion didn’t help improve any of our sales, so its back to the drawing board’
‘ASAP’ – An acronym for ‘as soon as possible’
‘I need that report on my desk ASAP’
‘Playing hardball’ – refers to someone who is being difficult to negotiate it and hard to find a compromise with
‘That vendor was playing hardball when we asked him to reduce the price for us, he just wouldn’t budge’
‘Ballpark figure’ – An estimate or guess of an amount or figure
‘Michelle didn’t know the exact profit margin just yet, so she gave her boss a ballpark figure’
‘Pass the buck’ – Passing on the blame or responsibility to someone else if a project or task doesn’t go well
‘Sam missed all his deadlines, so when confronted by his boss, he passed the buck onto his colleague Mary, saying she hadn’t given him enough notice to get his work done’
‘The lion’s share’ – The majority or bulk of the work and responsibility
“Karen was really trying to get a promotion at work, so when a new project was given to her team to complete, she took on the lion’s share of it, so that she could prove herself’
‘Going the extra mile’ – To go above and beyond the normal expectations for an employer or a customer
‘Ryan was really going the extra mile to help a customer get the lowest price on their car insurance’
To ‘give someone a pat on the back’ – To congratulate someone on doing a good job
‘At the meeting, Sarah was given a pat on the back by the rest of the team for the great job she did on her presentation’
‘Get your foot in the door’ – To make yourself known and start of in a company or industry with the aim of progressing
‘Mark had just finished his university degree in medicine. Afterwards he applied for a junior doctor job in a small hospital so he could get his foot in the door.’
Business English Writing
Arguably, business English writing in this day and age is one of the most important aspects of learning business English. Most businesses communicate with customers and partners primarily through email.
Business English writing tends to be more formal than how you would usually write. Below are some techniques and writing skills that will benefit you;
- Writing an Email
Emails are the most common form of communication in today’s businesses. Business emails needn’t be long and wordy – remember the person you are writing to is probably receiving hundreds of emails per week so you want to keep it short, concise and to the point!
You can do this by using bullet points and ensuring that your email has the details you want to communicate to ensure the recipient doesn’t have to come back to you with lots of question!
Example of poorly written email;
‘Hi Tom,
We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss some problems at around half 2, maybe 3. If you could make sure have some ideas and solutions to bring too.
Thanks!
Karl
The email should be written as below;
‘Hi Tom,
I hope you’re well.
Meeting tomorrow to discuss the problems with our latest marketing campaign.
Time: 2.30pm
Place: Conference Room B
Please read over attached brief, and have 2 or 3 solutions prepared.
Kind Regards,
Karl
The second email is informative, precise and doesn’t allow for a lot of back and forth conversation.
- Writing a business letter
Business letters are the most formal way to communicate in business English. If you are writing a business letter, you will usually do this on company headed paper. If you don’t have company headed paper, you should always write your address on the top right hand side of the letter.
The date, name of recipient and and their address should be on the top left hand side of the letter.
If you don’t know the name of who you are writing to, which may be the case a lot of the time when you are applying for jobs and writing cover letters to employers, you can write ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or ‘To whom it may concern’. (But do always try to do some research and find their name, if you really want the job)
In the body of the letter, keep it formal but friendly and ensure you use correct paragraphing. You should end the letter with ‘Yours sincerely,’ with your signature and also your printed name underneath.
It is also a good idea to have your phone number and email address added as a footer to the letter should the recipient have any further questions they would like to contact you about.
Top 5 Everest Language School Recommended business English YouTube Channels
- Anglo-Link – Suitable for students from pre-intermediate level up, this channel’s videos provides very detailed advice and instructions on different business topics. They focus on both listening and speaking
- Business English Pod – This is a very popular playlist that also comes in the form of a podcast too. There are over 60 videos to prepare you for the workplace including topics such as ‘talking about your career and how to keep a conversation going in English’
- Two-Minute English – This is a great channel if your short on time! All videos are free and only two minutes long. Their playlist ‘English Conversations’ have a great example of how to talk to with a difficult customer, how to discuss your future plans with your boss and how to make small talk with your new colleagues.
- Boston English Centre – If longer tutorial like videos are what you are looking for this is a great channel as its almost like a class in itself. They also have videos that are suitable for beginners and elementary level students!
- Crown Academy English – this YouTube channel is run is run by a TESOL qualified teacher named Andrew with over ten years experience. Some of the videos feature actual conversations taking place in the workplace such as meetings or making reservations.
At Everest Language School, we have our very own podcast you can check out to learn everyday general English and business English!
Top 5 Online business English courses
If you are learning English for your job or career, then the Business English Course is for you! It will help you communicate better in everyday professional situations.
This intermediate-level English course contains 40 lessons focusing on essential vocabulary and practical phrases for the workplace.
The lessons contain video, audio, and text, and there are also plenty of exercises to help you review and practice your Business English!
Become proficient in email etiquette
Compose properly structured emails
Learn most commonly used correspondence phrases
Master the necessary formal tone grammar
Become competent in essential punctuation rules
This online Business English course will help you to understand and use over 150 words essential for doing business in English.
This course is designed for people who use Business English and want to improve their ability to speak, write, read and listen in English.
This course uses my unique language learning technique, used by thousands of students worldwide. It shows you how the words are actually used and it gives you the opportunity to use these words using quizzes and practice activities.
In this course, you get much more than just the words about marketing and sales. You do get those, but you will also practice interview techniques, negotiating, what to say in a meeting, phone conversations, emails, and more.
Just as one learns business from experience, you also learn Business English Language from experience.
This course is specifically for non-native English speakers needing skills in planning and participating in meetings. So if you work in administration or management, for a large company or small business, and if you have lower-intermediate or intermediate English language skills then this course is for you!
If your more of a bookworm, below are some great books we recommend for business English;
‘Essential Business Grammar Builder’ by Paul Emerson
‘Essential Business Vocabulary Builder’ by Paul Emerson
‘Business Vocabulary In Use’ by Bill Mascull
‘Key Business Skills’ by Benny Tomalin
‘Business English Language Practice’ by Susan Lowe
‘Email English’ by Paul Emerson
Business English & Exam Preparation Courses at Everest Language School
At Everest language School, we offer Business English, General English and Exam Preparation courses suitable for all levels of English! Below is a list of what we have on offer!
Business English Express Course (3Hrs) – 3 classes per week that focus on a variety of business English topics in combination vocabulary you will need for finding work and communicating with your colleagues. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday (17:15 – 18:15)
Business English Intensive (18Hrs) – You will be taking General English classes for 3 hours per day from Monday to Friday. In addition to this you will have focused business English classes from Tuesday to Thursday. Monday to Friday (13:50 – 17:00) & Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday (17:15 – 18:15)
IELTS Intensive Course (24Hrs) – This course is for students who need to improve their IELTS band score and want to develop an overall expertise in the exam structure. Your day will be divided into two parts. These classes are on every day (Monday – Friday).
Session 1: (8am – 8:50am) Focus on the exam. You will learn skills, techniques and methods to get the highest mark possible.
Session 2: (9am – 1:10pm) Focus on grammar, vocabulary, speaking, fluency, pronunciation and general English skills.
IELTS Early Bird Course (4Hrs) – Monday to Friday (8am – 8:50am) The part-time IELTS course is aimed at those with less time and those who want to focus exclusively on the techniques for the exam.
In this course you will learn skills, techniques and methods to get the highest mark possible in your IELTS exam
IELTS Evening Course (6Hrs) – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (6:30pm – 8:30pm) The evening IELTS course is aimed at those with less time, who work during the day and want to focus exclusively on the techniques for the exam.
In this course you will learn skills, techniques and methods to get the highest mark possible in your IELTS exam. These classes are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
If you have any questions about the above courses please contact us at info@everestlanguageschool.com or phone (01) 559 4919 and a member of our team will get back to you!
If you want to book a course please complete our online booking form!
We have Business English courses in Everest and if you cannot make it to one of our business English courses in person you can also listen to our business English podcast for free!
