Business English shall at a point imply introduction of more specific material not as much in what the linguistic part is concerned but more precisely in concording some language structures with the particular activities involved by the sophisticated busiEnglish language, special vocabulary, negotiations, business meetings

Horea Ioana

English

Research Papers in Economics

548 
 
COMPLEX INTERRELATIONS IN BUSINESS ENGLISH COMMUNICATION 
 
Horea Ioana  
University of Oradea Faculty of Economics 1 Universită ii Str. -  room F209 ihorea@uoradea.ro 
0259408799 
 
Business English shall at a point imply introduction of more specific material not as much in what the 
linguistic part is concerned but more precisely in concording some language structures with the particular 
activities  involved  by  the  sophisticated  business  interrelations  such  as  negotiations  or  meeting. 
Accordingly, the steps, the phases and the respective contributions of participants in the said types of 
interaction  will  call  forth  special  approaches  in  the  use  of  the  business  vocabulary  and  a  certain 
communication style. Thus, an overview upon and categorisation of the linguistic material to be taught in 
the typical circumstances involved in these two complex communicational situations might some at hand 
for teachers and learners of Business English. 
 
Keywords: English language, special vocabulary, negotiations, business meetings.  
 
JEL Code: A12, Y90 
 
1. Introduction 
When involved in various business activities communicational skills prove essential.
431 Those 
activities can be, in what encountering is regarded, telephone conversations or face to face: from 
regular, problem-solving meetings or brainstorming sessions - that you have to take part in or 
maybe lead, as a chairperson -, to negotiations or presentations your firm has sent you to hold. 
Such activities will require certain lexical structures.
432 
From the point of view of your personal degree of participation they may be participative (merely 
requiring a degree of involvement  from  your side) or performative (you being the centre of 
attention, the main performer). Although the degree of activeness may differ from person to 
person,  in  business,  passiveness  is  excluded;  people  involved  in  this  field  have  to  get  to 
‘communicate’. 
 
2. The Language of Negotiations 
The  phases  that  together  form  the  process  of  negotiation  require,  each,  specific  vocabulary, 
distinct  structures.  For  each  of  the  main  stages  of  the  negotiation  we  can  identify  certain 
expressions
433 that can be useful in producing our communication. 
First, in the stage of relationship building we may make use of structures such as: 
 -Welcome to… 
 -Make yourself comfortable / Please, have a seat / … 
 -Would you like (a cup of coffee /)… ? 
- I’m convinced / sure we will have a useful / productive meeting. 
In the phase of the preparation for the meeting, when we turn to business, the following can be 
found useful: 
- We would like to reach agreement on … 
- We have reached an important stage… 
- Previously we have agreed on… 
- Today we have to think about…  
                                                       
431V. John  A.  Doorbar, Business English, 10 best communication secrets, München, Gesellschaft  für 
Wirtschaftsinformation, 2002, p.23. 
432 See Simon Sweeney, English for Business Communication, Student’s Book, Cambridge University 
Press, chapters 2-5. 
433 Ibidem, p.110,119,129. 549 
 
Stating  the  objectives,  preparing  for  exposing  your  proposals  and  bidding,  would  require 
linguistic elements such as: 
- I’d like to begin with a few words about … 
- We want to / May I clarify / outline our positions / aims / objectives… 
- There are … specific areas we would like to discuss. 
- We have to decide… 
- It is important for both of us that we agree on… 
Then, when bargaining, in the phase of negotiation proper, there are more structures that can be 
used: 
 -That’s not acceptable unless / without… 
- We can (only) agree to that on condition that / if …. 
- Would you be interested in… ?  
- We could offer… provided … 
- If you could / on condition that we agree on / so long as …. we could agree / consider / accept / 
offer … 
Next, there are the acceptations or the refusals that have to be expressed and dealt with.   
The positive answers are really unproblematic: That’s probably all right./ It seems acceptable. 
We  agree;  and  the  positive  approaches  are  tactful  and  considerate:  We  should  focus  on  the 
positive aspects / look at the benefits / at the points we agree on... /Could you tell us why you feel 
like that?/  What do you think is a fair way to resolve that?, while the negative ones might go 
from simple rejection: Unfortunately, I don’t think it would be sensible / possible for us to …/ I’m 
afraid we are unlikely to / can’t… to adjourning or breaking the negotiation: It’s a pity / I’m sorry 
/ I believe / Unluckily… we couldn’t /  I don’t think we are going / we appear unable to… agree/ 
reach agreement/ settle…. 
Finally,  when  the  negotiation  is  successful,  the  stage  of  confirming  and  summarising  the 
discussions and the resolutions will come concluding the deal. In this phase, negotiators will 
probably use phrases like: 
- I’d like to / Can we / Let’s summarise / go / run through the main / important points / proposals 
we’ve talked about / we’ve agreed / of our offer… 
- I think this is a good moment / I’d like to check / summarise the progress we’ve made  / the 
main points / what we’ve agreed /said…   
- It’s been a very productive / useful meeting, we look forward to a successful partnership. 
 
3. Meetings 
There  are  two  basic  major  types  of  meetings  that  companies  hold:  problem  solving  and 
brainstorming. Leading the former implies establishing clear set, exposing the objectives and 
sticking to the agenda, following the track and cutting irrelevances, focusing on the problem at 
hand and finding a solution.  
At contrast, for the sessions of brainstorming, even the seemingly irrelevant thoughts should be 
allowed to surface, not rejected and not judged, active participation of all the people convened 
should be ensured, eliciting everyone’s opinion and idea, encouraging the shy and not allowing 
the assertive and dominant members to monopolise the floor, as any humble idea could be the 
seed of the best solution, leading to the most relevant discussion.  
For keeping a meeting on track and all participants informed, agendas are essential. They shall 
list one or more objectives stating the purpose of the meeting. Only the necessary people should 
be asked to participate to meetings in order to keep the group focused and active.  
When  leading  a  meeting,  one  has to speak  with energy,  tone  variability,  and  hand  gestures. 
Maintenance  of  eye  contact  with  the  listeners  and  carefully  and  completely  listening  before 
preparing to disagree with someone prove necessary. At the end of the meeting, the chairperson 550 
 
shall  summarize  all  the  actions  or  decisions  that  were  made  to  be  sure  everyone  is  in 
agreement.
434  
The tasks the chairpersons and the other participants in meetings have during it can be classified 
according to the stages the former has to introduce and conduct and to the actions taken by the 
latter during the session, as we can see in figure 1.  
 
Figure 1. Participation in meetings 
 
The lexical elements
435 used in meetings are specific to these steps and actions and respectively 
exemplified below. 
Opening: 
- Thank you for coming. We’ve received apologies from… . It’s …o’clock. Let’s start.  
Objectives stating: 
- We’re here today / Our objective /  
- What we want to do is / there is/are … main item  to hear / discuss / consider / find a solution…. 
Introducing: 
- The issue / (background to the) problem / point is (about)… 
- Can we hear …? / I’d like to ask … to tell us ….  
- I know … has prepared to explain … to us. 
Controlling:  
- Well / Er / Um / Uh / Sorry, …, we can’t talk about that / can we let … finish? 
- Can we / Let’s move / go on to the next point / think about…. 
Clarifying: 
- Could you explain that…/ be more specific?  
- This means… / To explain this in more details… / I wanted to say … 
- Is that clearer / okay now? 
Summarising: 
- So, the main point is… / you mean…/ just to summarise…  
- I’d like to go over the decisions we’ve taken…/ to conclude… we’ve agreed… . 
Closing: 
- We should end here. Can we leave this / postpone the decision until … ?  
- We need more time to consider this… 
                                                       
434Deena R. Levine; Mara B. Adelman, Beyond Language - Intercultural Communication for English as a 
Second Language, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1982, p.124-125.  
435 Malcolm Goodale, The Language of Meetings, Thomson Business Press, 1998, p.20-21 and Simon 
Sweeney, op.cit., p.85,94,103. 551 
 
- I think we can close the meeting now / we’ve convened everything.  
- That’s it, next meeting will be… 
Opinions: 
- It seems to me… I would say… I think / believe / feel… . 
- In my opinion / view… it’s clear / obvious … / there is no alternative / doubt … 
- I’d like to hear …/ What is your view / do you think?  
- Do you have any comments / opinions about / views on… 
Interruptions: 
- Sorry to / If I may interrupt / Excuse me, may I ask for clarifications on this / but…/ could you 
tell…? 
- Do you think so? /Is that so / possible? My impression is / I would say / think… 
- Sorry, please let me / If I may finish.  
- Can I come to this later / we leave that to another discussion? That’s not relevant right now.  
- Yes, go ahead. 
Referring to other participants: 
- As … has already told us / we’ll hear later in … report… 
- I’m sure … is aware of / knows about…   
 
4. Conclusions 
To successfully participate in and perform activities such as negotiations and meetings, one is 
compelled to master an adequate vocabulary and make good use of the specific expressions 
besides possessing a good knowledge of the Standard English in general and complying with the 
requirements of the etiquette in each procedure involved.  
Some samples of useful standard phrases for typical situations such as the ones aforementioned, 
shall prove useful both for users or learners and teachers of Business English communication, 
helping the former in organising their self-instruction and the latter in assessing the material to be 
taught to students of various levels of proficiency and in deciding what methods and activities 
would be best for each. 
 
Bibliography: 
1. Deena R. Levine; Mara B. Adelman, Beyond Language - Intercultural Communication for 
English as a Second Language, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1982. 
2. John A. Doorbar, Business English, 10 best communication secrets, München, Gesellschaft für 
Wirtschaftsinformation, 2002. 
3.  Kevin  Hogan,  Ron  Stubbs,  Can’t  Get  Through:  8  Barriers  to  Communication,  Pelican 
Publishing Company, 2003. 
4. Malcolm Goodale, The Language of Meetings, Thomson Business Press, 1998.     
5. Peter Hartley, Interpersonal Communication, 2nd edition, New York, Routledge, 1999. 
6. Penny Carté, Chris Fox, Bridging the Culture Gap: A Practical Guide to International Business 
Communication, Kogan Page, 2004. 
7. Simon Sweeney, English for Business Communication, Student’s Book, Cambridge University 
Press. 

Beyond Language - Intercultural Communication for English as a Second Language,

Bridging the Culture Gap: A Practical

Business English, 10 best communication secrets, München, Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftsinformation,

Can’t Get Through: 8 Barriers to Communication,

Interpersonal Communication, 2nd edition,

The Language of Meetings,

COMPLEX INTERRELATIONS IN BUSINESS ENGLISH COMMUNICATION

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COMPLEX INTERRELATIONS IN BUSINESS ENGLISH COMMUNICATION

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