Speaking practice is one of the most fun and rewarding parts of learning English. Once you can speak even a little English, there are loads of ways to enhance your skills fast while having tons of fun. Here are a few top tips for enhancing your spoken English in your workplace and having a great time while you do it. This article will offer you 11 tips for using English at work like a professional.
A best spoken English course can be helpful for being an expert in English in the workplace. The ENTRI Learning App is here to assist you to improve your speaking skills smoothly and more effectively. The course is titled “English Padikkyam with Inverted Coconut” and is guided by Aparna Mulberry, a well-known international spoken English trainer and a strong contestant in Big Boss Malayalam Season 4.
We will help you with tips on how to enhance your English quickly and easily in your workplace through this article. These days we are so busy with our work, children, shopping, running errands, making time for friends, visiting family, etc., and we all want to learn the easiest, quickest, and most effective way to improve English. But when do we have time to sit down and enhance a language?
Check Out the Top Online Course to Improve English Quickly and Easily.
11 Tips for Improving Spoken English in Workplace
Surely many features of your career and your current job entail holding excellent oral skills in English. The daily routine at work contains presentations, networking events, countless face-to-face meetings, video conferences, lots of telephone conversations, etc. And the list is long and we struggle to finish it.
Therefore, improving your spoken English in the workplace is not just something right you should do, but it is a priority. To achieve this goal, take into account that the oral skill is comprised of four micro-skills: comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, which contain tonal differences. These factors must be effectively enhanced if we want to communicate our thoughts and feelings in a passionate, convincing, assertive manner, and without being misunderstood.
- Have a Workplace English Notebook with You
Buy yourself a small pocket notebook that you hold around with you at all times. Whenever you listen to a word you don’t understand, write it down so you can look it up later.
Also, if you have a friend who is a native English speaker in the office, ask them if they can support you understand any of these new words and phrases. It’s a great way to begin a conversation and meet a new friend.
You can also use your phone for this, but pausing mid-sentence to type something into your phone looks less proficient than writing in a notebook. The other person may think you’re texting—and that’s a huge not to do in any workplace scenario!
- Don’t just use English Only at Work—Talk with Your Co-workers Outside of Work
If your co-workers go for a drink or dinner after work, join them for a company. If they invite you to lunch, just accept it. Even if you are shy, it’s useful to talk to your co-workers outside of work. This way, you will become more acquainted with how they communicate and speak.
They too will become more acquainted with your accent and the form you speak. Overall, making a friendship drives it easier to ask for help later.
- Learn Accent and Idioms, Especially Those Relevant to Your Job
Every job, company, and industry has its “jargon,” or set of vocabulary, slang, and idioms that are typical to that job, company, or industry.
Be certain to make an extra step to learn the jargon, slang, and idioms that your co-workers use often so you can understand them better, and speak with them better. Reading sections of the news pertinent to your job is a great place to begin. Knowing general slang words will also assist you in day-to-day small talk.
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- “I Don’t Understand” – It’s Okay to Say that and Ask for Help
Most bosses and co-workers will like you to say rather “I don’t understand” or “I don’t know what you just said” than act as you understand. Not realizing that you didn’t get something will cause problems later, and honesty is essential for good workplace communication.
Get pleased with saying “I don’t understand.” Ask your co-worker/boss to slow down, repeat it a distinct way or explain what they wanted to explain (if possible). When possible, repeat what you think they said and ask if it was right.
Eventually, most of these new words will become normal and you will ask for help is become less and less often.
Examples of what to say:
- Sorry, I didn’t understand that. Can you please explain that again?
- I’m not sure that I understood, could you [show me/show] how to do this chore?
- Sorry, could you please repeat that one slower?
- Could you please state that again slowly?
- I think you mean _____. Is that correct?
- If Your Colleagues Didn’t Understand You at First, Try Speaking It the Other Way
You know the situation where you begin explaining something to a colleague or boss, and when you are completed, they shake their head and say “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand.”
When that occurs, don’t just repeat what you said again then try to explain your idea in another way. Use various vocabulary and examples if you can.
For instance, if you said at first “How do I correct this error?” but maybe mispronounced something, say instead, “There is an error, how can I correct it?” Sometimes, it also enables you to simplify your language the second time around.
Be extra clear and the first explanation may just “click” (make sense) for your colleague.
- Say “I Want to Ask you something” Before You Ask It
Since you’re communicating in a foreign language, there’s a chance you speak more slowly than usual or have not yet learned intonations.
So, when you ask a question in English at work, start by saying “I want to ask a question.” If you hold an idea you want to explain, say “I have an idea to share with you” before telling the person about it. If you want to describe something, say “Let me explain, please.”
This way, your colleagues will know not to interrupt you until your question, idea, or explanation is completed. They will also know to give you an answer or reply afterward.
Particularly when you are still becoming satisfied using workplace English around new people, this communication method is very helpful.
- Be Aware of Intonation
Also, being aware of your intonation when speaking is an important thing. Particularly if intonation in English is very diverse from your native language, you will require to pay attention to these details to have successful communication.
For instance, if you ask a question and fail to raise your pitch at the end, the person you’re speaking to may not understand to answer you.
If you say something very flatly with no intonation, your co-workers may assume you are bored or unconcerned. They may not know how to read your feelings and that can generate problems in the workplace.
- Practice Common Strategies with a Native Speaker
When you first start your job, find a native-speaking friend or teacher and practice common work scenarios with them. This is called “role-playing” and it’s a generally used method in language classrooms.
This will help you feel more comfortable communicating in English at work. You will be capable to think about how you want to phrase certain ideas in a non-stressful setting. And most significantly, your friend can fix your mistakes while you’re practicing, so you won’t make them later.
Some common Workplace English scenarios to practice (this may differ depending on your profession/industry):
- Asking for help/explanations
- Writing emails
- Provide an overview of what you accomplished for the week
- Calling clients
- Conferring projects, project timelines, and budgets in depth
- Small talk
- Job interviews
If you can’t find a real-life native speaker to practice with, many interactive websites for learners will help you simulate the experience.
Sign Up for ENTRI to Practice English with A Native Speaker!
- If You Don’t Understand an Explanation, Ask for them to Present It.
When someone at work presents a new idea or task to you, ask them to show it (if possible).
For instance, if they want you to operate a new website, ask them to sit with you on the computer and use it together. You could ask like:
- Could you demonstrate to me how to do it?
- Could we do an instance once together?
- Do you have time to guide me on how to do _____?
- Do you have an illustration of a past [email/report /etc.] I could see?
Even if you understand all or most of what they are telling, seeing a new activity in action will allow you to remember the explanation later, and it will surely minimize confusion.
- Don’t Lose Your Character!
You are not a robot at all. You are a person, and you have a wonderful personality and good character. So let your colleagues and boss get to know your great personality.
It can be easy to worry so much about whether or not you are speaking English perfectly that you forget to relax. You fail to make jokes. You ignore talking about things that make you happy. You fail to let others see your personality.
Don’t do this at any cost. Try to remember to add your personality to your talks and let your colleagues get to know the real you.
- Don’t be Shy or Ashamed When Speaking English at Work, Just Do Your Best
And finally, the most essential thing is to just try your best always. Don’t worry about the little mistakes when speaking to co-workers or colleagues. The most crucial thing is to be understood—even if you accidentally use the incorrect tense or say something a little strange!
As a non-native speaker, you will make errors, and that’s normal. Your boss and colleagues know that, and they should be helpful and understanding about it. If they aren’t, maybe you’re in the wrong workplace and you should better change it.
Speaking English at the workplace doesn’t have to be difficult. With these 11 tips to learn spoken English, you’re well fluent in workplace English.
In today’s digital era, it is becoming more comfortable to discover great resources for enhancing your business English. Yet, our research shows that busy professionals learn best when they have some kind of structured course with a flexible lesson schedule with Online classes.
I hope you have discovered some of these tips for enhancing your English well. Follow these tips, use them every day in your workplace and enhance your English quickly. Any direction to English, whether it is in your head, in the office, or looking it up in a dictionary is beneficial and allows you to become fluent quickly. Finally, don’t fail to congratulate yourself on what you have accomplished, and don’t just concentrate on what you haven’t performed.
Of course, none of the above-mentioned tips will complete learning English comfortably. Even with the best practice, taking on a foreign language is a long-term and challenging task. But our research is encouraging: with patience, realistic goals, and a good community of learners, busy adults can master the world’s best-spoken language. Therefore don’t waste time joining our online spoken English course “English Padikkyam with Inverted Coconut” trained by Aparna Mulberry, a well-known international spoken English trainer, and Big Boss Malayalam Season 4 contestant.
