Business English vocabulary in sport! - BUSINESS ENGLISH vocabulary and communication lesson

There is so much professional Business English vocabulary that we can use at work that originally came from sports! In this podcast we're talking about phrasal verbs, idioms, nouns and verbs that we can take from football, athletics, and the Olympic games, and use at work to improve the way that we communicate in English. So, if you want to express your ideas more clearly in meetings, explain your experience better in job interviews, or make your presentations sound a little more natural and native then hopefully you'll find this episode really useful. Also, if you're taking an IELTS test soon, either the general or academic test, then this is all great vocabulary to take into the exam with you. Especially for the speaking part of the test where informal, natural, and native vocabulary is encouraged! 

Don't forget, if you want to work with me in one on one, private sessions then I am a full time Business English coach and tutor. I spend my whole professional life helping international professionals to improve the way that they communicate at work. If you'd like to book some of my time, listen right to the end of the podcast to find out how you can get on my schedule.  

Transcript

Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast. My name is Chris and I help people to communicate better at work. Thank you so much for listening and today we're talking about sports vocabulary that you can use at work. 

I'm sure you've noticed that we're nearing the end of a fantastic summer of sport and as I'm recording this the Olympics in Paris have just finished. As you might know, my full time job is helping non native English speakers who use English at work to improve their communication skills and recently we've been talking a lot about the Olympic games and how great it is to see all of these countries together and competing. For me, I think it's really interesting to see which sports particular countries excel in. Especially countries who don't send many athletes to the Olympics. 

Of course one thing that I've noticed in particular is how much sporting vocabulary there is that we actually use at work. Today we're going to look at some phrasal verbs, idioms and general vocabulary that comes from the world of sport and we can use at work. 

At the end of the podcast we'll also have a quiz to see how much of today's vocabulary you can remember. With that said, let's get started. 

To kick off we're going to take a look at some vocabulary from the world of football, or soccer as it's called more commonly around the world. I'm British of course so I definitely know this as football! Football is one of the most popular sports in the world and as a result a lot of vocabulary has made it's way into our workplaces. 

Let's start with the phrasal verb you heard just a moment ago and that is "kick off", "to kick off". The kick off is the moment right at the beginning of a football game when the ball is kicked for the first time. So you can probably guess how we apply this to our workplaces. Whenever something begins, we can usually say that it kicked off. Let's take a look at a couple of examples, 

"Before we kick off I just want to thank you all for the great work you've been doing recently"

"Before we kick off I just want to thank you all for the great work you've been doing recently"

"Let's kick off with and update on what's been going on recently".

"Let's kick off with and update on what's been going on recently".

"The meeting kicked off a few minutes ago. I'll let you know when they break for lunch"

"The meeting kicked off a few minutes ago. I'll let you know when they break for lunch"

OK, let's take one more piece of vocabulary from football and this is the idiom to "move the goalposts". What do you think this means?.. Well, the goal posts are the place you're trying to get the ball. The place you need to put the ball in order for your team to score a goal. In fact, we might say that this is the most basic rule in football. You need to put the ball into the goal more times than the other team to win. So, how might we apply this to work? Well, if you say that someone "moved the goalposts" then you mean that they changed the rules in a situation or activity in order to gain an advantage or just to disadvantage you. Let's hear how this can work in a real example.

"I've been trying to get a promotion for years but my boss keeps moving the goalposts. I never know what she wants me to do!"

"I've been trying to get a promotion for years but my boss keeps moving the goalposts. I never know what she wants me to do!"

"We were ready to sign the contract when suddenly they moved the goalposts and said they wanted more money".

"We were ready to sign the contract when suddenly they moved the goalposts and said they wanted more money".

"Make sure your team know what you expect of them. If you move the goalposts every few days they'll never know what they're supposed to be doing!"

"Make sure your team know what you expect of them. If you move the goalposts every few days they'll never know what they're supposed to be doing!"

OK, let's move now from the world of football to some vocabulary from athletics. Athletics covers so many different sports which means there are lots of opportunities for us to take this vocabulary and use it at work. Let's start with the name of an athletic discipline which is also used to talk about passing messages or information and this is "relay". A relay race is an event when multiple athletes take turns and share the task of finishing the race. In running this is easy to spot by the small stick called a baton that the runners pass between each other. In swimming you'll see swimmers diving over each other to enter the pool. So, how can we use the word at work? Well you might be given some information by one person and asked to "relay" it to someone else. Or you could thank someone for relaying what happened in a meeting to you. Let's take a look at a couple of examples. 

"Dave just wanted me to relay to you that the venue for the meeting has changed"

"Dave just wanted me to relay to you that the venue for the meeting has changed"

"Thanks for relaying that to me, I really appreciate it"

"Thanks for relaying that to me, I really appreciate it"

"I relayed the venue change to Emma. She'll see you there"

"I relayed the venue change to Emma. She'll see you there"

You can hear there also that "relay" is a regular verb so we can use it in the past tense by adding ED to the end. Oh, and you also heard there the word "venue". What is a venue? A venue is the place where someone happens. This could be a meeting, a presentation, a conference, or even a concert or a sporting event. We can say that Paris was the venue for the 2024 Olympic Games, and that the river Seine was the venue for some of the swimming events. In the same way we can say, "I don't think our conference room is the best venue for this meeting. It just feels a little small".

Let's take a look at an idiom now that we can use to talk about the end of a project or meeting. The final few minutes. The time when you can see the end and you know it's coming. One great way to talk about this is to call it the home stretch or home straight. The home stretch, or home straight is the last part of a race. Most commonly, we use this to talk about running races. When the last corner has been turned and the only thing left to do is run as fast as possible in a straight line, directly towards the finish line. In a sports match this might be the last couple of minutes, and in a target sport like archery this might be the last few arrows before the end. Often the most important part of a sporting event, this is also often the most important part of an event at work. Let's hear some examples.

"We're in the home stretch of this project now so we can't really make any big changes".

"We're in the home stretch of this project now so we can't really make any big changes".

"It know it's been a long meeting but this is the home stretch. We'll be done soon".

"It know it's been a long meeting but this is the home stretch. We'll be done soon".

Let's do one more idiom from athletics and this time we're talking a look at two running events. The first is the longest running event in the Olympic games. This event begins with the letter M and is named after a small town in Greece. And this event is the marathon. Now at the other end of the spectrum we have an event which is a lot shorter. This event begins with the letter S and is usually 100 meters in length. This event is a "sprint". So, can you think of an idiom that we can use at work that contains both of these events. If you want to say that someone should take their time and focus more on quality than speed, perhaps that they should not try to finish their work so quickly, you can tell them that something is a marathon, not a sprint. For instance you might say that "our manager asked us if we can work late this evening and I had to remind them that this project is a marathon, not a sprint. It's going to take us months!"

OK, let's move on now to ball sports. One thing that you can't help but notice when watching the Olympics is that so many sports that we all enjoy involves balls! So it's no wonder that we have so much vocabulary that has come from ball sports. Let's take a look at a couple now. 

OK, we don't have much time for today's meeting so let's get the ball rolling.

OK, we don't have much time for today's meeting so let's get the ball rolling.

We know how important this project is for the client so we need to keep our eye on the ball for the next couple of weeks.

We know how important this project is for the client so we need to keep our eye on the ball for the next couple of weeks.

Dave, you're in charge so try not to drop the ball!

Dave, you're in charge so try not to drop the ball!

We've sent our suggestions to the client so the ball is in their court now

We've sent our suggestions to the client so the ball is in their court now

You heard four idioms there, all about balls. Did your recognise any of them, do you know what any of them mean? Let's start with the first one, "to get the ball rolling". I thought I'd start with this one because this is an idiom that means to start something. So, just like at the beginning of a game or match, often the first thing you need to do is to get the ball rolling. 

We also heard the idiom, "to keep your eye on the ball". In most sports I guess we could say that it's important to watch the ball. You're not going to perform very well in many sports if you don't know where the ball is at all times! In the same way we can talk about paying attention to what you're doing at work as keeping your eye on the ball.

Next on our list is "don't drop the ball". This is a funny one because I can't think of many games where dropping a ball is a particularly bad thing! Maybe in rugby or American football it wouldn't be so great! However, just like in those sports, if you drop the ball then you fail at whatever you were doing. If you work in sales and the person you are trying to sell to leaves without purchasing anything then we could say that you've dropped the ball for instance. 

Finally there we heard, "the ball is in your court". Well, let's start with that noun, "court". What is a court? You'll see one of these in tennis and badminton, however not in football or rugby. This is the name that we give to the place where some sports are played. So, just as we would go swimming in a pool and play football or rugby on a pitch, we play a lot of racket sports such as tennis, badminton, and squash, on a court. So what does it mean to say that the ball is in your court? Well, when I hit the ball in tennis for instance, it travels to your side of the net, and I need to wait for you to hit the ball back to me. It's often the same at work. We send a message and then wait for someone else to reply. So, if you say that the ball is in someone's court then you mean that they need to take the next action or make the next decision in a situation. We often use this in negotiations. 

OK, we've had a lot of vocabulary in today's podcast. Let's see how much of it you can remember. 

First, which idiom can we use that encourages you to stay focussed on what you're doing. An idiom that tells you to pay attention to what is going on. This idiom includes the noun "ball" and the verb "to keep" and this is, keep your eye on the ball. 

As in, "it's going to be a busy day today so keep your eye on the ball".

"it's going to be a busy day today so keep your eye on the ball".

Secondly, 

Thirdly, can you tell me a noun which we use to talk about the place where something happens. This could be a sporting event, but could also be a meeting , a job interview, or a conference. This word begins with the letter V and this is a venue. For instance,

"I really liked the venue for the conference. It was really close to the city center".

"I really liked the venue for the conference. It was really close to the city center".

Finally, I'd like to give you a speaking challenge. One of the best things that you can do for your speaking, especially if you don't have many opportunities to speak English in your real life, is to practice when you're alone. Even if you speak English ever day, speaking when you're alone gives you the freedom to try out new vocabulary and speak without worrying about what other people think or whether or not they understand you. If you'd  like some tips on how to do this or a good method to follow then feel free to listen to episode 3 of this podcast where I talk about a couple of different methods to make this practice as helpful as possible. So, for this speaking challenge I suggest you set a 2 minute timer and try to speak for this long when answering. For some of you this might be really difficult, you might find it challenging to keep your answer this short, for others of you you'll find that the real challenge is to speak for that long. So here's your question:

Can you think of any parts of your job that you could describe as a marathon, not a sprint?

And of course, when you're speaking, try to use as many of the pieces of vocabulary from today's episode as possible! If you want to make this challenge a little harder for yourself, try moving from the past tense, to the present, and then to the future tense. A lot of people find it easy to answer entirely in the present tense, but really challenging when they need to speak about the past. This is actually the kind of task that I give the international English speakers I work with to complete between our sessions, so I hope you find it as useful as they do!