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Q - I work for a high profile company and do a lot of business with international clients. I have a limited vocabulary that sometimes makes communication difficult. What are some good resources to learn ESL business phrases for negotiation?

 

Thank you for your question relating to ESL business phrases used in negotiation. Over the last twenty years, the business environment has changed considerably. What was once ok to say, is no longer politically correct. All job positions should be gender neutralized. For example, salesman would now become salesperson.

 

The basics for interacting with North American business partners is to meet with a handshake and exchange small talk. Small talk would be anything like:

 

  • I have been looking forward to meeting you and your staff.
  • It's really great weather here, is it always this good?
  • I really enjoy meeting business partners in person, it's great putting a face behind the emails and the phone calls.
  • Thank you for giving me this opportunity to meet you.
  • How was your trip?

 

Remember to tailor your questions to the situation and person to whom you are speaking. The best way to negotiate is to know your audience. Make a list on a piece of paper with key demographic information that is listed below:

 

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Family Size
  • Family Life Cycle (Young, single, married, no children...)
  • Income
  • Occupation
  • Education (university, some university, college, some college, post-graduate)
  • Religion (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Unitarian, Hindu, Muslim)
  • Ethnic Origin (Native Canadian, Japanese, Chinese, First Nations, British, Ukrainian)

 

A great site to start researching more about the art of ESL business phrases for negotiation is InterNeg, which is a group of international researchers who study negotiations and develop materials and systems for decision making and negotiations. If you investigate their whole site, you will find a wealth of information or you could start with this short article. In the article you will find a brief list of expressions used in bargaining that include sweet gentle phrases, middle of the road phrases and use at your own risk inflammatory phrases.

 

The three books listed below are excellent resources for any aspiring student who wants to learn English grammar. Read the reviews for the books and you will see that they are definitely worth the money.

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