Vocabulary
Workplace idioms, phrasal verbs and corporate jargon explained, plus how to make new words stick.
Corporate Jargon Explained: What “Circle Back”, “Bandwidth” and 25 More Really Mean
Corporate jargon is shorthand: “circle back” means return to a topic later, “bandwidth” means time or capacity, “move the needle” means make a noticeable difference, and “table it” means postpone in the US but discuss now in the UK. Understand all of it, use a few of the clearest ones, and translate the rest into plain English when it matters.
30 Phrasal Verbs for Work, With Real Office Examples
Thirty phrasal verbs cover most of what happens at work: starting (kick off), communicating (reach out, loop in, follow up), deciding (weigh in, sign off on), fixing (iron out, hash out) and finishing (wrap up). Learn each one with its preposition, a work example and its noun form (“a follow-up”, “a kick-off”), because the noun is often what you’ll write.
How to Learn Business English Vocabulary That Actually Sticks
Learn fewer words, better: pick phrases from your own meetings and emails, learn each with a workplace example and a note on when it fits, review them on a spaced-repetition schedule (1, 3, 7, then 14+ days), and use each new phrase in a real message within 48 hours. Ten minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday.