How To Pronounce 50 Business English Words

0:00 Today's video is all about helping you

0:03 to feel more confident speaking English at work.

0:07 It's a pronunciation lesson that will help you to pronounce

0:10 fifty of the most common words in business English.

0:14 And we'll focus mostly on syllable stress and the correct

0:19 sounds you need to use so that you can communicate confidently,

0:22 professionally and be sure that you will always be understood.

0:27 What is important today is that you are here to practise out loud with me.

0:32 These business words are used at work every single day so

0:37 I want you to practise with me until they just roll off

0:41 your tongue and you can feel confident that you sound natural

0:46 and that you'll be able to communicate

0:48 clearly with your colleagues and your clients.

0:51 So these fifty words start at A1 beginner level.

0:55 You will definitely know them but we'll focus

0:59 on pronunciation and we'll progressively move through the levels,

1:02 all the way to C1 advanced words.

1:06 Now there is a free PDF to accompany this lesson

1:09 which is going to be really helpful for you

1:12 to practise with especially the homework task that I

1:16 have at the end of the video for you.

1:19 The PDF includes all fifty words and example sentences but also the definitions

1:24 and wider word families that you need to be aware of so it's super helpful.

1:30 You can get it by clicking the link down in the description.

1:33 And if you'd like, you can also join to get our newsletter,

1:37 you'll get all of our future lessons,

1:39 worksheets and future business English opportunities as well.

1:43 Okay, are you ready to get started?

1:47 You are about to hear all

1:49 of these words pronounced in my Australian English accent

1:53 and there are some variations across different

1:56 English accents but they are all widely understood.

2:01 I have intentionally left a pause after all of the words

2:05 and example sentences so that you can practise with me out loud.

2:10 Don't leave me hanging, alright?

2:12 You've got to join in too!

2:14 Company.

2:19 That stress is on the first syllable.

2:22 Company.

2:25 Our company specialises in software development.

2:34 Business.

2:36 Just two syllables there.

2:39 Business.

2:42 We need to discuss our business strategy.

2:49 Team.

2:51 That long vowel sound.

2:54 Team.

2:57 Not Tim.

3:00 Team.

3:01 Tim leads our team of engineers.

3:10 Project.

3:13 Now there are a couple of different ways to pronounce this word.

3:17 Project, with the short vowel sound in that first syllable.

3:24 Project, like the same vowel sound that's in go.

3:29 Project.

3:31 It's very common in Australia.

3:34 And project which is more common in America.

3:39 Any of these pronunciations will be understood.

3:43 Just make sure that you are stressing that first syllable because it's a noun.

3:51 Project.

3:54 The new project will launch next month.

4:01 Customer.

4:06 Again, that stress on the first syllable,

4:09 the second and third reduce down to the schwa, the unstressed vowel sound.

4:15 Customer.

4:18 We value customer feedback.

4:26 Product.

4:31 Make sure you are pronouncing the last two consonant sounds in this word.

4:40 Product.

4:44 Some of my students mispronounce this word

4:47 as product without pronouncing the sound.

4:51 Product.

4:52 The new product launch was successful.

5:00 Roll.

5:04 Some tricky consonant sounds here.

5:11 Role.

5:14 She played a key role in negotiations.

5:22 Industry.

5:28 Stress on the first syllable.

5:31 Industry.

5:34 He worked in the automotive industry all his life.

5:41 Solution.

5:46 Stress on the second syllable.

5:49 Solution.

5:53 We need to find a solution to this problem.

6:00 Decision.

6:03 Now we have a difficult consonant sound here,

6:05 it's not present in many languages.

6:08 It's that sound.

6:15 Decision.

6:20 And that second syllable is the stressed one.

6:24 Decision.

6:27 We need to make a decision soon.

6:33 Technology.

6:41 That second syllable is stressed.

6:44 Technology.

6:46 Often shortened to just tech, much easier.

6:53 Our company invests heavily in technology.

7:01 Process.

7:06 That first syllable is stronger.

7:09 Process.

7:12 We need to streamline the process.

7:19 Environment.

7:25 Can you hear where the stress is?

7:28 On that second syllable?

7:30 Environment.

7:34 We strive to create a positive work environment.

7:45 Employee.

7:52 Now the stress is on that second syllable.

7:55 Employee.

8:00 That long vowel sound at the end.

8:03 Employee.

8:06 We appreciate the sacrifice our employees made during the pandemic Department.

8:24 That second syllable is stressed again.

8:27 Department.

8:32 She heads the marketing department.

8:40 Performance.

8:47 Make sure that second syllable is stressed.

8:50 Performance.

8:53 And don't forget that last consonant sound.

8:58 Performance.

9:03 We need to improve team performance.

9:10 Development.

9:16 So you can hear that stress is on the second syllable.

9:20 Development.

9:24 That third syllable reduces down to the schwa.

9:29 We don't hear.

9:30 Development.

9:39 The new product development is underway.

9:45 Communication.

9:52 We have a primary and a secondary stress here.

9:56 Communication.

10:07 Clear communication is essential.

10:13 Presentation.

10:15 Can you hear where the stress is?

10:17 There's a primary and a secondary stress.

10:21 Presentation.

10:30 He gave an excellent presentation.

10:36 Management.

10:40 That consonant sound is tricky.

10:44 Management.

10:49 The management team is meeting at 3 PM.

10:57 Financial.

11:07 The financial reports look positive this month.

11:15 Client.

11:18 Need to be careful with these vowels here.

11:20 A lot of my students say client.

11:24 Client.

11:28 So we have two syllables.

11:29 Client.

11:36 We need to meet with the client tomorrow.

11:43 Competitor.

11:48 You can hear that second syllable is the stress one and the others are so fast.

11:57 You may hear the T sound or you might hear the flap T sound,

12:04 it sounds more like a D.

12:07 Competitor.

12:11 He used to work with one of our competitors.

12:18 Policy.

12:24 We need to update our company policy.

12:30 Operation.

12:36 That third syllable is stressed.

12:38 Operation.

12:41 She oversees the daily operations.

12:49 Quality.

12:52 That QU can be a little tricky to pronounce.

12:55 It's the consonants together.

13:00 Quality.

13:09 He's responsible for quality control.

13:16 Efficient.

13:21 Second syllable is stressed.

13:24 Efficient.

13:29 This is a really efficient process.

13:36 Strategy.

13:39 Again, we've got this consonant sound.

13:43 Strategy.

13:52 He's come up with a new strategy for customer acquisition.

14:01 Revenue.

14:06 Stress on the first syllable.

14:08 Revenue.

14:16 The company's revenue increased by fifteen percent last quarter.

14:27 Budget.

14:40 This can be a noun and a verb.

14:43 Has the September budget been approved yet?

14:52 Economical.

14:54 Where's that stress?

14:56 Economical.

15:02 Now you might hear this word pronounced econominal

15:06 with a different vowel sound at the start or economical.

15:13 Economical.

15:16 The second option is by far the most economical.

15:25 Majority.

15:30 That second syllable is stressed.

15:33 Majority.

15:37 And you can hear that I'm pronouncing that flap T sound at the end.

15:43 Majority.

15:47 The overwhelming majority of complaints came from mining companies.

15:58 Acquire.

16:04 Where's that stress?

16:06 Second syllable.

16:08 And again we've got this consonant cluster.

16:13 Acquire.

16:20 How long will it take to acquire the necessary skills?

16:31 Agenda.

16:43 Okay let's review the agenda for today's meeting.

16:53 Investment.

16:57 Now you can hear that those T sounds are very soft.

17:03 Investment.

17:06 Both of them are stop T's, all right?

17:09 So you don't need to aspirate, you don't need to let go of the air afterwards.

17:14 Investment.

17:17 It was a very wise investment of company resources.

17:25 Leadership.

17:32 She demonstrated strong leadership.

17:40 Innovative.

17:47 You might also hear innovative.

17:51 They've developed some really innovative solutions.

17:59 Negotiate.

18:05 That stress is on the second syllable.

18:08 Negotiate.

18:17 The unions have been negotiating for better working conditions.

18:27 Negotiation.

18:34 Can you hear how the stressed

18:37 syllable changes between negotiate and negotiation?

18:47 Is negotiation an option?

18:56 Deadline.

19:03 The deadline is Friday.

19:08 Contract Now I wanna draw your attention

19:15 to that double consonant at the end, that cluster.

19:23 Contract.

19:28 We signed a new contract with the client.

19:36 Clause.

19:40 This one can be a little tricky because of the number of vowel letters in there.

19:45 It's not clause, but clause.

19:50 So the same vowel sound as in door.

20:00 Voiced sound, clause.

20:05 Please review the termination clause in your contract.

20:13 Diverse.

20:19 So that second syllable is the stressed one.

20:22 Diverse.

20:24 There are diverse opinions among the group.

20:32 Diversify.

20:39 We want to diversify our product range.

20:46 Viable.

20:51 The voiced sound.

21:00 Viable.

21:03 This is a great advanced word.

21:06 Viable.

21:08 Is it a viable option?

21:12 There are no viable alternatives.

21:20 Gauge.

21:25 Again, this one's a little tricky because of the vowel letters

21:29 in there but the vowel sound is the diphthong like in day.

21:36 Gauge.

21:44 We use customer feedback to gauge satisfaction.

21:52 Collaborate.

22:01 This is a fantastic word to use in a professional context.

22:06 Collaborate.

22:09 In future, let's collaborate on projects like this.

22:18 Collaboration.

22:23 We've got a primary and a secondary stress in here.

22:28 is our primary stress and lab is our secondary stress.

22:35 Collaboration.

22:47 In our company, teamwork and collaboration are essential for success.

23:00 Problematic.

23:06 Can you hear where that stress is?

23:08 That primary stress.

23:10 Problematic.

23:20 The current political climate makes that idea problematic.

23:33 That moment you realise that you only recorded

23:36 forty nine of the fifty words that you promised.

23:40 This is the fiftieth word.

23:43 Sceptical.

23:48 So that first syllable is the strongest.

23:51 Sceptical.

23:57 Second syllable is unstressed and the third is actually what we call a syllabic

24:03 consonant so there's no vowel sound here

24:06 but we move very quickly between the consonant

24:12 sound where we're making that sound at the back of our throat and then

24:19 quickly moving the tongue up behind the teeth

24:23 into the position of the consonant sound.

24:31 So this is the third syllable, Sceptical.

24:38 It's a little bit hard for you to do,

24:40 to push those two consonant sounds together.

24:44 Just imagine a teeny tiny little schwa sound in there.

24:50 Sceptical.

24:55 I'm sceptical about his chances of winning.

25:04 Nice work!

25:07 Well done!

25:08 You made it through fifty of the most

25:10 common business English words and had lots of practice.

25:14 Tell me though, which one of those words

25:17 was most difficult for you to pronounce?

25:19 Or maybe there was a few.

25:21 Let me know down in the comments.

25:22 Now if you really want to improve your pronunciation,

25:26 I have a homework task for you.

25:29 Download the worksheet so that you can get all of those words

25:33 in order and record yourself saying those words out loud.

25:39 Then, come back and listen to this video again one

25:43 by one so that you can compare your pronunciation to mine.

25:48 and genuinely hear which words and which sounds you need to focus on.

25:53 I have to tell you that the majority of English students don't

25:58 do this and the majority of them continue to struggle with their pronunciation.

26:04 My students are always super surprised by how

26:08 helpful this process is of recording yourself.

26:12 They can find out how they need to improve, what they need to improve,

26:16 by listening with their own ears and comparing it to my pronunciation.

26:21 It really is an excellent way to identify your pronunciation challenges.

26:26 I hope you found this lesson helpful and I'm

26:29 looking forward to seeing you back here again very soon.

26:32 Bye for now!