Read Online Meetings in English by Lisa Foerster, Annette Joyce - Free Book Online
Authors: Lisa Foerster, Annette Joyce
Tags: Sachbuch
Ads: Link
polite than „can“ and „will“.
For example, compare, „Wouldn't it be a good idea to deliver in two weeks?“ with bluntly stating: „We will deliver in two weeks.“ And the longer a sentence is, the more politely it is perceived to be by the listener; eg „How old is the car?“ sounds much better if it is preceded by an introductory phrase:
I was wondering how old the car is?
Do you happen to know how old the car is?
Do you think you could tell me how old the car is?
Would you be able to tell me how old the car is?
Checklist: sounding more polite
This table summarises what you can say to sound more polite:
What you want to say/do
What you say
Win time, make your counterpart curious about what you are going to say or prepare them for disagreement
Well
actually
right
in fact
to be honest
Give a negative statement
I'm afraid
Use a question instead of a statement to make it sound like a mere suggestion;
a negative question sounds even more negotiable
Is Monday next week okay for you?
Isn't Monday next week good for you?
Sound softer when refusing: „would“ instead of „will“
That would be a problem.
Soften criticism – use words (qualifiers) such as „very“, „slight“, „some“, „little“, „a bit“, „some“
This sounds like a slight problem.
There are some reservations about the concept.
Make countersuggestions using comparisons or negative questions
It may be more convenient to …
Wouldn't Friday be better?
Use your voice for stress
Of course we can do this.
This is quite a large sum.
Sound less pushy by using the continuous form
As I was telling you …
Avoid negative adjectives, even if they are linguistically correct
The idea doesn't seem to be very helpful.
I'm not very happy with that.
A diplomatic game of give and take
Discussion partners in English-speaking cultures are often more open to acknowledging their own mistakes if the other party is also willing to admit their share of responsibility for an error. The pattern that often emerges is an acknowledgement of responsibility followed by a polite request for one's discussion partner to do the same.
Example: a little diplomacy goes a long way
A: As Rob said, we're unhappy with the quality of the goods you supplied and will be looking for you to make some kind of price reduction. I'm sure you can appreciate that we haven't been able to charge our customers full price for the goods.
B: I'm afraid that will be quite difficult for us at this late stage. We're prepared to take on board that some quality issues arose at the production stage. However, having carried out an internal investigation, we do feel that some of the features you point to were not adequately defined in the specifications you supplied to us. Would you be willing to concede that these points were not made clear to us from start?
A: With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the specifications were not as clearly formulated as they should have been. But this doesn't change the fact that our tools division incurred substantial losses last year due to the substandard quality of the products you supplied.
B: Your business is very important to us, but unfortunately we just aren't in a position to offer a price reduction now that you have taken ownership of the goods. Could you perhaps see your way to considering a discount on your next order with us in lieu of a reduction?
A: That sounds like a workable solution. I'm sure it would go a long way towards soothing our Finance Director's headache.
B: Good. I'm very pleased to hear that.
Useful phrases
Acknowledging faults
We readily accept that some of the errors were due to a fault in our system …
I'm very sorry to say that we made a mistake with the order.
As we've established, we need to address some serious issues in our production.
Asking for an acknowledgement
Could you perhaps see your way to accepting that there's also some room for improvement at your end?
Would you be willing to
For example, compare, „Wouldn't it be a good idea to deliver in two weeks?“ with bluntly stating: „We will deliver in two weeks.“ And the longer a sentence is, the more politely it is perceived to be by the listener; eg „How old is the car?“ sounds much better if it is preceded by an introductory phrase:
I was wondering how old the car is?
Do you happen to know how old the car is?
Do you think you could tell me how old the car is?
Would you be able to tell me how old the car is?
Checklist: sounding more polite
This table summarises what you can say to sound more polite:
What you want to say/do
What you say
Win time, make your counterpart curious about what you are going to say or prepare them for disagreement
Well
actually
right
in fact
to be honest
Give a negative statement
I'm afraid
Use a question instead of a statement to make it sound like a mere suggestion;
a negative question sounds even more negotiable
Is Monday next week okay for you?
Isn't Monday next week good for you?
Sound softer when refusing: „would“ instead of „will“
That would be a problem.
Soften criticism – use words (qualifiers) such as „very“, „slight“, „some“, „little“, „a bit“, „some“
This sounds like a slight problem.
There are some reservations about the concept.
Make countersuggestions using comparisons or negative questions
It may be more convenient to …
Wouldn't Friday be better?
Use your voice for stress
Of course we can do this.
This is quite a large sum.
Sound less pushy by using the continuous form
As I was telling you …
Avoid negative adjectives, even if they are linguistically correct
The idea doesn't seem to be very helpful.
I'm not very happy with that.
A diplomatic game of give and take
Discussion partners in English-speaking cultures are often more open to acknowledging their own mistakes if the other party is also willing to admit their share of responsibility for an error. The pattern that often emerges is an acknowledgement of responsibility followed by a polite request for one's discussion partner to do the same.
Example: a little diplomacy goes a long way
A: As Rob said, we're unhappy with the quality of the goods you supplied and will be looking for you to make some kind of price reduction. I'm sure you can appreciate that we haven't been able to charge our customers full price for the goods.
B: I'm afraid that will be quite difficult for us at this late stage. We're prepared to take on board that some quality issues arose at the production stage. However, having carried out an internal investigation, we do feel that some of the features you point to were not adequately defined in the specifications you supplied to us. Would you be willing to concede that these points were not made clear to us from start?
A: With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the specifications were not as clearly formulated as they should have been. But this doesn't change the fact that our tools division incurred substantial losses last year due to the substandard quality of the products you supplied.
B: Your business is very important to us, but unfortunately we just aren't in a position to offer a price reduction now that you have taken ownership of the goods. Could you perhaps see your way to considering a discount on your next order with us in lieu of a reduction?
A: That sounds like a workable solution. I'm sure it would go a long way towards soothing our Finance Director's headache.
B: Good. I'm very pleased to hear that.
Useful phrases
Acknowledging faults
We readily accept that some of the errors were due to a fault in our system …
I'm very sorry to say that we made a mistake with the order.
As we've established, we need to address some serious issues in our production.
Asking for an acknowledgement
Could you perhaps see your way to accepting that there's also some room for improvement at your end?
Would you be willing to
Similar Books
