Business English, which annoyed me so much..........
Hi everyone & Amy!
Dear Amy, thank you for your kind answers as always. Well, I'd have to talk about my story in the states at work. I went to business trip with my boss in February. I did not know 'business Enlish' very much. However I thought I should had been more friendly rather than formal. So I always said 'hi / hello' instead of formal words to the people in the US branch. After the trip, my boss told me very seriously that 'You should not use 'Hi/Hello' to other people in business. You are not a studnet any more!'. I got angry VERY MUCH, because I did not think he could speak English better than me. I was snobbish at that time after the trip for 2 weeks. It was too long for me.
Now I think he was right. (haha. I hope I did grow up!!!) The way he said might have been mean, but I admit being in the wrong at that time. I should have stopped talking like a student....><
Here in Japan, we always have formal use of Japanese in a business scene. However we Japanese sometimes say that English does not have that kind of formal expression like Japanese, so it is easy to speak if you have enough command of English. I believed it before......
But now I do think English also has the right expression in a business / formal scene. Here goes the expression I know so please have a look ,but I am not sure if it is correct or not. Dear Amy, could you please let me know?
-You can say 'How do you do?', when you ask him/her condition in business scene. It can be replaced by 'How are you?'.
-You can say ' What do you do?' in a business scene, when you would like to ask him/her job.
Are they all correct?? These conversation remeinds me of what I was taught in the first year in the junior high school. I mean it really is simple!
Secondly, I have the impression that peple who are native speakers use 'would' or 'could' with one verb. I have second example for it.
- I would like to do dance.
- You could have dinner there.
Are these more formal than to use 'will/can'? How do you think?
Amy, I would appreciate it if you have spare time for me. I will keep on learning from you.:)
Have you heard of 'onigiri', which is the counterpart of Kim Bap in Korea? I am surprised that Amy, you liked it that much. For me, these are nice and tasty but sometimes it is too simple! Maybe I already had it too much-:( I feel like it is just some rice with lever and always same lol! However, I love this kind of rice with some stuff, for example, a one with plum, soba, tempura or meat inside. There are so many around the clock shops in Japan, esp Tokyo, so you can pick whenever & whatever you want! I could say the most popular one here would be salmon or tuna with mayyonaise.
It is sad that I did not have much time to explain it to you. However, I hope we will have a talk someday over nice meal!!:)
Yumi x
Comments
Good afternoon Yumi! So... How was the meeting? I hope everything has gone well. Well as I told to Amy, I really like onigiri. I like to eat it with some brocoli and fish hmm... yummy! :-) Best wishes, Ana Paula.
I think that your boss is over reacting .It doesn't matter how you say things but the way you say it.
Hi Yumi, I'm surprised as you are. I thought too American people would say "Hi" when they met, even in a business context. I suppose it depends on the kind of job you're working in. I used to work in a publicity agency. In this corporation everyone says "hi", the french 'vous' (our formal way to say 'you') doesn't exist. In a few days I'm going to have an interview with a very famous cancerologist, and of course I will speak to him in a very respectful and formal language. It's my first time on a blog. A long time since I haven't speaken English. I have a lot to learn. Nice to converse with others, improving our English and discover other's culture.
How do you do, Yumi? Yes, it's true. It's difficult to deal with English language in some situation as business. I am telling you what happen to me next day at my work. I have a new job inside my office, that means that I have new partners and bosses. I had to write an e-mail to one of my bosses.(We work in shifts,so this was a boss of the morning shift-I work in the evening shift). As I know many people in my office, I thought she was a persons that I knew, and I wrote an informal e-mail. What a surprise! The next day, the boss I wrote said to me "Good morning Pilar, you wrote to me..." I couldn't imagine this was the person I had to write. I was very embarrassed. Now, I send her more formal e-mails.
I strongly suport your boss becouse,every buisiness has its own standard, ur proficiency and proper language is cruical.Undoubtly you are representing that office. you are a symbol.So correct English is important.
hi Yumi I came to the blog first time, I find a job related to business negotiation, especially in expo,so thank you for your experience contributing to my career. In China, more and more people begin to learn English, however,much less of them communicate with other in English.So it hard to know other culture, especially from western.
hi Yumi I came to the blog first time, I find a job related to business negotiation, especially in expo,so thank you for your experience contributing to my career. In China, more and more people begin to learn English, however,much less of them communicate with other in English.So it hard to know other culture, especially from western.
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