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[EnglishLCI]

Nowadays, no matter where you are in the world, business is mainly done in English; thus, if you own or manage a business most probably you will have to talk in English and you will have to make sure the rest of your staff does too.

Whether you just need to create an ad for the local newspaper or negotiate a difficult international contract, it is vital that you understand how to do business in English; and you can’t wait until the business deal is imminent to put yourself into the perfect situation to learn business English.

Fortunately, there are many ways to practice business English in your daily life, here we show you 4 of the best:

1. Try out and share materials created by you
If, for example, you have to get better at creating a flyer to promote your business, begin by designing and writing one in your native language.

Once you have the ideas clear and organized, translate the flyer to English. When you’re done, find a native English speaker and ask him or her to check it for you.

If you repeat this over and over, you will eventually get a better understanding of the language rules and flow.

2. Go to town and city meetings
If you live in a country where the main language is English, you should go to town and city meetings regularly.

Even though these gatherings are mainly planned to talk about local government issues, you will discover that it is common to hear about money and contract negotiations too. Consequently, you will listen to words and vocabulary related and common to different business fields.

Don’t worry if you get lost in the discussion, you will still be able to see the body language and hear the tone in which people are saying the words.

3. Watch business videos
There are tons of videos that can help you learn business English, and we’re not talking about ESL videos. You can look for videos created to train salesmen and distributors; these give you a great opportunity to practice comprehension of sales and business conversations.

4. Join Internet business groups
Most probably there’s a part of the business you like more than others; it could be marketing, sales, accounting, or any other. Well, look for Internet groups and forums that specialize in that area you like and join the ones that are written in English.

This is a superb opportunity to practice words and phrases that are normally used in your industry, and also to talk about your own experiences.

To learn business English you have to practice and devote yourself to learning its nuances.

Based on your interests and goals, and to complement your ESL lessons, you can find means of practicing that let you participate in conversations or that just allow you to listen and observe. No matter what, in the end, you will find yourself talking business English fluently and with confidence.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention our ESL blog as the original source).

Rachel Clarkson
Rachel Clarkson is an English teacher at LCI English ESL Programs and blogger at the ESL Blog.
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LCI offers the best ESL classes through experienced teachers and high quality programs in Denver, Colorado. Check out great ESL resources and articles at www.englishlci.com/blog