Meetings in English – How To Be Confident When You Disagree In English
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Meetings in English – How To Be Confident When You Disagree In English In Meetings.
Following these simple 5 techniques and their examples will help you maintain good business relationships when working with other professionals from different business cultures and countries.
It’s one of the keys to keep things positive and respectful when building solid relationships with international colleagues and clients.
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1. The partial agree
- I agree with you to a point, but…
- I understand what you are saying, however…
- I see what you’re saying, but…
2. Using words or phrases to soften your disagreement
- I’m afraid, I don’t agree.
- I’m sorry, but I just can’t agree.
- Sorry, but I really can’t agree to that.
3. Disagreeing using general doubt
- Hmm, I wonder if it’s true that….
- Hmm, I’m not sure it can work like that.
- Hmm, I’m not sure whether it’s possible.
4. Avoiding the negative
- I don’t think that’s such a good idea. (NOT It’s a bad idea.)
- I don’t think I can agree with you. (NOT I disagree with you.)
- I’m not sure it’s the best idea. (NOT it’s the worst idea!)
5. Use a question to make a statement less direct.
- Instead of: “This just won’t work”, say “can you envisage any difficulties with this solution?”
- Instead of: “My company can’t agree to these conditions”, say “These are hard conditions for our company to meet, can you think of any middle points that work for both of our companies?”.
Do you have any useful meeting phrases in English?
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I hope this helps you with your professional English and in your professional career, Christopher!
The English Training Company – we help companies and professionals to become Advanced Business English Speakers!
