Published May 22, 2026

Business English: What Actually Matters in Real Work, by an Intermediate Learner’s Standards

You can hold a conversation in English, you can read a contract slowly, and then you walk into your first international meeting and realize that everyone is speaking a slightly different language with words like “alignment,” “stakeholder,” “deliverable,” and you do not know which ones are important. Business English is not harder than regular English, but it has its own register, its own phrases, and its own unspoken rules.

What’s Different About Business English

Business English is not a separate language. It is general English with:

• A specific vocabulary set. Words like “leverage,” “stakeholder,” “deliverable,” “scope,” “bandwidth.” Most have ordinary meanings, but in business they take on specific shades.
• More formal grammar in writing, more casual phrasal verbs in speech. Emails use full sentences, modal verbs, and passive voice. Meetings use phrasal verbs (“circle back,” “roll out,” “follow up”) that would feel out of place in a contract.
• Implicit hierarchy and politeness. The way you ask your boss for an extension is different from how you ask a colleague. The way an American team lead emails is different from how a German one does.

The good news: you do not need to master 2,000 specialized terms. You need maybe 200 high-frequency business words and phrases plus a working understanding of register. That is enough to function in a global English-speaking workplace.

Emails: Formal and Informal Templates

Email is where most learners make the biggest mistakes. Speech moves quickly and tone is carried by voice. Email is fixed on the page, and getting the tone wrong reads worse than any grammar slip.

Formal email (first contact, senior recipient, client)

Subject: Proposal Review — Marketing Budget Q3

Dear Mr. Anderson,

I hope this email finds you well. I'm writing to follow up on our 
conversation last week regarding the Q3 marketing budget. 

Please find attached our revised proposal, which incorporates the 
feedback you shared. I'd be grateful if you could review the 
document at your convenience and let me know your thoughts.

If it would be helpful, I'm happy to schedule a call to discuss any 
questions.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,
Anna

Informal email (internal team, colleague you know)

Subject: Quick question on the Q3 budget

Hi Jake,

Quick one — did you have a chance to look at the revised numbers I 
sent over yesterday? No rush, just wanted to confirm before I share 
them with leadership tomorrow.

Thanks,
Anna

Useful email phrases

• Opening (formal): “I hope this email finds you well.” / “I’m writing to follow up on…”
• Opening (informal): “Quick question…” / “Hope you had a good weekend.”
• Asking for something: “Could you…?” / “I’d be grateful if you could…” / “Would it be possible to…?”
• Apologizing: “I apologize for the delay.” / “Sorry for the late reply.”
• Closing (formal): “Best regards,” / “Kind regards,” / “Sincerely,”
• Closing (informal): “Thanks,” / “Cheers,” / “Best,“

Common email mistakes

• Starting with “Dear” in casual internal emails. Use “Hi” or “Hey.”
• Using “kindly” everywhere. “Kindly find attached” sounds old-fashioned and oddly formal. “Please find attached” is fine, “Here’s the file” is even more natural.
• Translating openings literally. “Dear all” is fine. “Greetings everyone” is awkward in English. “I hope you are doing fine on this beautiful day” is too much.

Meetings: Opening, Agenda, Decisions

Most native speakers in meetings use the same handful of phrases. Learn these and you can both follow what is happening and contribute.

Opening a meeting

• “Thanks everyone for joining.”
• “Let’s get started.”
• “Before we dive in, a quick housekeeping note…”
• “I’ve got us down for 30 minutes today.”

Setting the agenda

• “We’ve got three things to cover today.”
• “First, we’ll go over the Q3 numbers. Then we’ll talk about hiring. We’ll wrap up with the marketing plan.”
• “If we have time, I’d like to touch on the Berlin office update.”

Inviting input

• “What are your thoughts?”
• “How do you see this?”
• “Does anyone have anything to add?”
• “Sarah, you’ve been working on this — what’s your take?”

Managing the flow

• “Can we park that for now and come back to it?”
• “Let’s table this for the next meeting.”
• “I want to be respectful of everyone’s time, so let’s move on.”
• “We’re going down a rabbit hole. Let’s refocus.”

Making decisions

• “So where do we land on this?”
• “Are we aligned?”
• “Let’s go with option B.”
• “Let’s put a pin in this and decide by Friday.”

Closing

• “To recap, the action items are…”
• “Sarah will own the proposal, Jake will handle the design review.”
• “Let’s circle back next Tuesday.”
• “Thanks everyone.”

If you remember nothing else, learn these four: “Let’s get started,” “What are your thoughts?,” “Let’s circle back on that,” and “To recap.”

Presentations: Signposting So People Stay With You

Native speakers in business presentations use signposting phrases that signal what’s coming next. These phrases give your audience a sense of structure and make the whole thing easier to follow.

Starting

• “Thanks for having me. I’ll be talking today about…”
• “I want to cover three things in the next twenty minutes.”
• “By the end of this, you’ll know…”

Moving between sections

• “Let’s start with the first point…”
• “That brings me to…”
• “Now, turning to…”
• “Building on that…”

Emphasis

• “The key takeaway here is…”
• “If you remember nothing else, remember this…”
• “What this means in practice is…”

Showing data

• “As you can see in the chart…”
• “This number jumps out at me…”
• “Compared to last year…”

Handling questions

• “Great question.”
• “Let me come back to that in a moment.”
• “I don’t have that number off the top of my head, but I’ll follow up.”

Closing

• “To wrap up…”
• “Three quick takeaways…”
• “Happy to take any questions.”

The trick with presentations: use signposting more than feels natural to you. Native speakers do it constantly, and it reads as confidence, not over-explanation.

Phone Calls: When You Cannot See the Other Person

Phone calls strip away facial expression and body language. The English you use has to do all the work. A few patterns that help.

Opening

• “Hi, this is Anna calling from Acme.”
• “Is this a good time?”
• “Do you have a minute?”

Confirming you understand

• “Just to make sure I’ve got this right…”
• “So what you’re saying is…”
• “Let me read that back to you…”

When you do not understand

• “Sorry, the line cut out. Could you repeat that?”
• “I missed that last part. Could you say it again?”
• “Could you spell that for me?”

Ending

• “I’ll send a follow-up email summarizing this.”
• “Thanks for your time.”
• “I’ll be in touch.”

For non-native speakers, the hardest part of business calls is filling silences. Native speakers use small filler phrases: “Right.” “Got it.” “Sure.” “Makes sense.” Learn these and use them every few sentences. They signal you are paying attention.

CV / Resume English

Resumes have their own dialect. Strong verbs in the past tense, no pronouns, quantified results.

Bullet structure

• Weak: “I was responsible for managing the marketing team.”
• Better: “Managed a five-person marketing team.”
• Best: “Led a five-person marketing team, growing organic traffic 47% year-over-year.”

Verbs that work

Built, launched, scaled, led, managed, drove, owned, delivered, increased, reduced, negotiated, designed, implemented, optimized, secured.

Verbs to avoid

Was responsible for, helped with, worked on, assisted in. These are passive and vague.

Other CV conventions

• No “I.” Resumes are read as understood “I-verb” sentences.
• No personal photos in US resumes. They are standard in much of Europe but illegal-adjacent in US hiring practice.
• No “References available on request.” Implied.
• One page if under 10 years experience, two pages otherwise. US convention. European CVs are often longer.

Interview English

Interviews follow predictable scripts. Knowing the script means you can prepare.

”Tell me about yourself.”

This is not a biography request. It is a “give me your professional summary” request. Around 90 seconds, structured as: where you are now, what you’ve done, what you’re looking for.

”Walk me through your resume.”

Similar to the above but more chronological. Hit the highlights, not every job.

”Why are you interested in this role?”

You did your homework on the company. Mention two specific things about them that you find interesting. Tie those to what you bring.

”What’s a weakness?”

The honest answer wrapped in self-awareness. Not “I’m a perfectionist.” Try: “I sometimes spend too long on small details. I’m working on it by setting time limits on tasks before I start."

"Where do you see yourself in five years?”

The hiring manager is checking whether you will stay long enough to be worth hiring. Answer: somewhere in the same field, with more responsibility, ideally still at this company or one like it.

”Do you have any questions for us?”

Always have three. About the team, about the role, about the company’s plans. Not about salary or vacation. Those come later.

Useful interview phrases

• “That’s a great question. Let me think for a second.”
• “In my last role…”
• “One example that comes to mind…”
• “What I learned from that experience was…”
• “I’d love to dive deeper into…”

Small Talk at Work

This is often the hardest part for learners. Native English-speaking workplaces in the US, UK, and Australia run on small talk before and after every meeting. Skip it and you read as cold.

Monday morning

• “How was your weekend?”
• “Did you do anything fun?”
• “Anything good?”

Friday afternoon

• “Got any plans for the weekend?”
• “Big plans this weekend?”

Around the coffee machine

• “How’s your week going?”
• “Almost Friday.”
• “Crazy week, huh.”

After a meeting that just ended

• “That was a good discussion.”
• “I think we made some progress on that.”
• “Let’s see what next week brings.”

The trick is that none of these questions are really questions. They are openers. Two sentences of answer is plenty. “It was good, went hiking on Sunday. How about yours?” Then move on.

Common Mistakes in Business English

• Being too formal in casual contexts. Writing “Dear Mr. Smith” to a colleague who calls you by your first name reads as cold or odd.
• Translating greetings. “Greetings” and “Good day” are not natural in American or British business English. Use “Hi” or “Hello.”
• Apologizing too much. Non-native speakers often over-apologize for things they have not done wrong. “Sorry for the late reply” is fine if it’s actually late. “Sorry to bother you” before every message is excessive.
• Direct translations from your language. “I anticipate your response” is a literal translation that exists in English but sounds stiff. “I look forward to your response” is the natural phrase.
• Confusing US and UK conventions. “Calendar” (American) vs “diary” (British) for your daily schedule. “Schedule” pronounced “sked-jool” (US) vs “shed-jool” (UK). “Trash” (US) vs “rubbish” (UK).
• Avoiding small talk. It is not optional in English-speaking business cultures. Skipping it reads as unfriendly.
• Using “sir” or “ma’am” with peers. These are reserved for service contexts (waiters, store staff) and military settings in most parts of the English-speaking world. In an office, first names are standard.
• Saying “I will revert back to you.” Common in Indian English business communication, but uncommon in US/UK/AU. “I’ll get back to you” is the standard.
• Direct refusals. “No, we cannot do that” reads as blunt. “I’m not sure we can make that work, but let me see what I can do” gets the same message across more diplomatically.

Where Clue Fits In

Business English is best absorbed from real business podcasts, interviews, and conference talks rather than textbooks. Listen to a few episodes of How I Built This or The Vergecast or any podcast in your industry, and you will meet the same forty or fifty business phrases over and over. Tap the ones you do not know in Clue, save them, and they enter your vocabulary in context.

This is exactly the workflow we built Clue for. Real content from real meetings and real interviews, with a tap-to-translate dictionary for the moments when “leverage” or “stakeholder” or “deliverable” trips you up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to take a business English course?

Probably not. If you are already B1-C1 in general English, the gap to business English is vocabulary and convention, not grammar. A few months of consuming business podcasts and writing emails in English is usually more effective than a structured course.

Is American or British business English more important?

It depends on your industry and clients. Tech and finance lean American globally. Law and government in the Commonwealth lean British. Most multinationals tolerate either. Pick the one closer to your main audience and stick with it.

Should I memorize business English vocabulary lists?

Lists are a poor learning tool. The reason is that business vocabulary varies by industry. A consultant uses different jargon from an engineer. Learn the vocabulary you actually encounter in your work and your reading, not a generic list of 1,000 words.

How formal should my LinkedIn messages be?

Less formal than email, more formal than chat. “Hi Anna, I noticed your post about X and wanted to reach out. I’m working in a similar space and would love to connect.” Keep it short, specific, and friendly.

Is it OK to use idioms in business English?

Mild ones, yes. “Touch base,” “on the same page,” “circle back,” “in the loop” are normal in most workplaces. Avoid sports metaphors with international audiences, as they often don’t translate. Avoid casual idioms like “shoot the breeze” in formal contexts.

How do I sound less robotic in business English?

Three things: use contractions (“I’m,” “you’re,” “we’ll”) in speech and casual writing, use phrasal verbs more than Latin-root verbs (“look into” not “investigate”), and use signposting phrases (“That said,” “Building on that,” “To your point”) to connect ideas.

Do native speakers really say “synergy” and “leverage” and “circle back”?

Yes, and most of them are slightly self-aware about it. These phrases are real business vocabulary, but the good speakers use them sparingly. “Leverage” as a verb is fine. “Synergize” used unironically is rare. Watch how senior people speak in your industry and copy them.

Closing

Business English is a layer on top of regular English, not a separate skill. Get the vocabulary in your specific field, learn the rhythm of meetings and emails through real exposure, and accept that small talk is part of the job. Within a few months of consistent practice, you stop translating and start working in English. That is when the language stops being a barrier and starts being a tool.