I’m a business English coach, so sometimes it feels like I use the phrase “business English” 20 times a day.
But… what is it? And how is Business English different from General English?
For this blog post, I’m talking about general grammar and vocabulary used within an office setting. Think marketing, accounting, human resources, finance, or general administration. Because it isn’t an entirely different language… but we can’t deny that some industry-specific conversations sound like new dialects.
Business English is Defined as Clear Language for Specific Purposes
During a 1-on-1 session today, I was helping a student with her email responses (her greetings and intros were perfect!) when I realized something: her writing skills were advanced and she used grammatically-correct sentences… But I was still giving her a lot of feedback.
In fact, if her emails hadn’t been sent specifically for that business transaction, they would’ve been 90% error-free. My suggestions would have only been about word-choice preference or sentence style.
But, because those emails needed to perform a business function, she needed to change a few key things to make them clearer, simpler, or more authoritative. And that’s what business English is for — clear communication within specific situations.
There are two key uses for business English:
1. Use Business English to Save Time and Be Efficient
Yes, business English is polite. But when you’re writing an email or starting a meeting… it’s also simple and direct.
When you have too many tasks on your to-do list, emails and phone calls must get straight to the point.
The biggest timesaver in business English? Specific terms and buzzwords. Industry slang that is frequently used will instantly add context or reduce the time it takes to communicate your point. And if you’re sending emails all day, it’s useful to have a few easily recognizable words, acronyms, and phrases that have meaning to your coworkers.
For example:
- Saying “earned receivables” or “unearned receivables” is simpler than saying, “The money we have earned for completed services,” or “The money we have collected but have not yet completed the service for.”
- EOD: End of Day. It usually means 5:00 pm, or the end of a “business day.” You can write in an email, “I’ll send you the report by EOD tomorrow,” or “You’ll have the report by end of business tomorrow.“
- Saying “inbound marketing” and “outbound marketing” is a lot faster than saying, “The things we’re doing to attract potential customers to come to us,” or “The things we’re doing to reach out to potential customers.”
Luckily, you don’t need to know buzzwords for every single industry. Business English is about keeping it simple, so just get familiar with some general power words as well as the concepts for your industry.
2. Use Business English to Set Boundaries or Expectations
We need to communicate as clearly as possible to avoid misunderstandings, missed deadlines, or disappointment.
If you need a coworker or contractor to meet a deadline, it should be polite but shouldn’t sound like an optional request. If someone needs to sign some paperwork before they can get paid and they’re responding too slowly… They probably need to know what will happen if the paperwork is received after the deadline.
You can also tell your customers what you provide with simple phrases that aren’t too formal.
You don’t need new words or structures for boundaries and expectations. Keep your sentences factual:
- I will provide 3 revisions.
- Please send the paperwork back before the deadline on Friday, October 5, so that your payment can be sent this month.
- This package includes 5 progress update meetings.
- This will be call number 4 of 5 included in your contract.
- I’ll send it to you by 5:00 tomorrow.
- I have 30 minutes to talk about the project after lunch today.
Business English is NOT Sounding as Fancy (or Robotic) as Possible
Communication should be easy to understand, which means using plain language.
If you’re always trying to sound like the smartest person in the room, you might lose your audience.
Why? Most professional native speakers don’t want to take the time to carefully read a three-paragraph email full of university-level words and complex grammar structures.
Not when a simple, two-sentence email would be more effective.
It’s also much easier to maintain friendly working relationships, connect on a slightly more personal level, and be social with your coworkers if you keep things on the simple side. In fact, according to this article about Globish, using clear, straightforward English will help you to be understood by almost any international business English user.
This is important even for a “fluent” English audience. According to Readable, the ideal readability score is between the 8th- and 10th-grade level — understandable to the average 14-year-old reader. (Buzzfeed News hits that score right below the 9th-grade level. The BBC website is even more readable at the 6th-grade level!)
There are fewer chances for misunderstandings if you keep your grammar within simple tenses — past, present, future — with light usage of present perfect and present perfect continuous.
Business blogs and emails also use plenty of graphs (see the Readable graph above), bulleted lists, and words of order such as first, next, and then. All of these visual and simple elements keep the reader from feeling overwhelmed.
Business English is for Being Yourself, but with a Purpose
If it’s clear, concise, and not fancy… then Business English is a slightly different version of your normal speech.
After all, we spend most of our adult lives at work. That’s a lot of time to use a voice that doesn’t sound like you or isn’t comfortable to use. During university, all business students had to take Business Communication 101 — while it included helpful presentation practice and resume advice, half of the curriculum tried to turn us all into corporate robots!
Almost immediately after I entered the “real” working world, I realized that communicating like a business robot was making my life — and my coworkers’ lives — much more difficult. So I relaxed and simplified.
As long as you:
- Communicate Clearly
- Communicate Efficiently and Effectively
- Maintain Good Working Relationships
- Don’t Spend Too Much Time Worrying
then you’re on the right track with your office vocabulary and tone!
If you’re accidentally rude to a friend, it’s easy to apologize and move on. If you’re accidentally rude to a work acquaintance, it might not be as easy to fix the relationship.
Conclusion
Learning targeted, useful vocabulary and acronyms for your industry’s version of Business English is important.
However.
The most important part is following the lead of your coworkers and teammates. You should focus on communicating simply and clearly instead of using academic grammar and vocabulary. And… I always recommend extensively reading the type of material and grammar you want to use comfortably.
Did you download my 8 Steps for Interview Prep checklist? Taking notes as you follow the checklist is a great way to see how comfortable you are with your Business English!
Looking for in-depth coaching and feedback? Apply for my 8-week-long group interview program. The next live session starts April 11, 2022!
