【Learning Notes】 Derak Callan‘s Business English P30~31

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Introduction

Note that this is the short version.

Advanced phrases for meetings

ask for clarification

Sometimes in business, people don’t explain things clearly, and sometimes they use words and phrases that we don’t know. So let’s take a look at some useful ways to ask for clarification.

e.g. I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. Could you please elaborate?
【elaborate means to give more detail】

e.g. I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “synergies”.
e.g. What exactly do you mean by “exclusive” content?
【synergies /ˈsɪnədʒiz/ n.协同（增效）作用】
【exclusive 独有的】

e.g. I’m sorry but i’m not familiar with that term. Maybe you could explain it in other words?
e.g. I’m afraid I don’t quite follow. Would you mind explaining that again, please?

e.g. What exactly do you mean by…?
e.g. Could you explain that in more detail?
e.g. Would you mind going over that again please?
e.g. I’m not sure everybody follows - Would you mind explaining that again?
【The above part was mentioned on page 24.】

give clarification

So that’s asking for clarification. But what if somebody asks you for clarification, and:

e.g. What i’m trying to say is…
e.g. The point i’m trying to make is…
e.g. what I mean by “synergies” is…
e.g. Okay, let me put it in other words.
e.g. Alright, let me rephrase that.

introducing ideas & suggestions

The next thing we’re going to look at is introducing ideas and suggestions, something we often need to do in meetings.

e.g. I haven’t thought this through yet, but how about…
think something through: think about something carefully or in detail. If you say that you haven’t thought something through, you’re letting people know that it’s spontaneous idea or a new idea. This is a good phrase to use when your brainstorming.
【spontaneous /spɒnˈteɪniəs/ 即兴的】

e.g. This might sound crazy, but why don’t we…
e.g. Here’s something that might be worth thinking about…
e.g. I’m not sure if this will work in practice, but…
e.g. Perhaps we could…

reacting positively

And now let’s look at some phrases for reacting positively.

e.g. If you ask me, that’s a perfectly acceptable solution/suggestion/idea.
e.g. Brilliant idea! I can’t think of any reason not to try it.
e.g. That’s definitely worth considering.
e.g. I’m absolutely convinced that would work.

reacting negatively

But what if someone makes a suggestion that we don’t agree with it? Let’s take a look.

e.g. I’m sorry, but I just can’t say that working.
e.g. I’m sorry, but that’s completely out of the question - It’s a waste of time.
when we say that something is out of the question, we mean that it’s impossible. - We just can’t see how it can be done.

e.g. I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense to me.
e.g. Sorry, but it’s just not feasible. It’s too expensive.
if something is not feasible, it means it can’t be done/achieved.

clallenging suggestions

And if we do react negatively to an idea or suggestion, we often follow this up by challenging the idea or suggestion.

e.g. Has it occurred to you that we will probably lose a lot of customers if we go in this direction?
asking someone if something has occurred to them, is another way of asking if they have thought about something.

we can also use negative questions to challenge a suggestion.

e.g. Wouldn’t it be better to try option two first?
e.g. Won’t that create a lot of uncertainty among our staff?

And we can emphasize a point by using the auxiliary verbs:
【emphasize /ˈemfəsaɪz/ 】【auxiliary /ɔːɡˈzɪliəri/】

e.g. You do realise that we don’t have the budget for that.
e.g. You do understand the impact that something like this can have on the business.

Talk about your skills

verbs

verb	define	e.g.
have a skill	\	- I have good computer skills.
possess a skill (more formal)	\	- I possess excellent communication skills.
learn a skill	\	- I learned this skill during my studies in my first job.
acquire a skill (more formal)	\	- In my previous role, I acquired excellent leadership skills. For example… - During my time as a trainee, I acquired a lot of practical skills, such as… 【trainee 实习生】
hone/sharpen a skill 【磨练技能】	improve and develop a skill over time	- Over the last five years, I have completed several training courses where I was able to hone/sharpen my communication skills.
develop a skill	improve and make a skill stronger	- I am excited about this role as it would give me the opportunity to further develop my strong technical skills.

And now we look at two useful verbs for talking about using your skills.

verb	define	e.g.
utilize/apply a skill	to use a skill	- I believe that this role would give me the opportunity to fully utilize my skills. - In my first job at(company name), I was able to apply the skills I learned at university, and gain a great deal of valuable experience.
demonstrate a skill【 /ˈdemənstreɪt/】	to show or prove a skill	- One example of when I demonstrated this skill was when I was responsible for…

adjectives

Now i’m going to show you lots of great adjectives.

verb	define	e.g.
excellent	talk about how good your skills are	- I possess excellent communication skills.
essential	talk about how important are your skills	- I believe that these skills are essential for leading teams.
transferable skills	you have acquired during your career and that you can transfer or bring with you and use in a new or different role.	- I possess a wide range of transferable skills, which can be applied to this role.

And now I will show you a list of adjectives which are used to describe different types of skills:

• practical skills
• problem solving skills
• communication skills
• IT skills
• management skills
• language skills
• interpersonal skills(the ability to communicate and interact well with other people)
• analytical skills(the ability to collect and analyze information and use it to solve problems or make effective decisions.
  【analytical /ˌænəˈlɪtɪkl/】
• technical skills

Reference video【40集】工作英语 | 外企上班族必备！Derek Callan的商务英语学习教室【合集】