Sanna Ammasha’s Post

𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔. I’m pretty sure you know that Business English is 𝐧𝐨𝐭 that 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 anymore, especially in IT. Nobody uses ‘Dear Sir/Madam’, ‘Yours faithfully’ and even ‘Best regards’. What’s left to us then? Without further ado, let me give a few examples of how to begin your messages/emails. 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. Hi! Hey! Hello! (might sound a bit formal) Hi all! Hi team! Hello everyone! Good morning, You can separate the greeting using an exclamation mark (!) or a comma (,). 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. It was recommended by X to reach out for assistance with this.  I am not able to … Does anyone know if…? I have a client who's requesting a …. Is this possible to provide? A client wants to change... How can they do that? I had a client email me this and thought I'd send this your way to get an answer. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩: I am a new employee and I was wondering … I hope you are well! Quick question… I have an issue with …. Could you please advise me on that? _____ Hope that helps! Coming up in the next post - ways of ending messages. How would you begin your work messages/emails? #businessenglish #englishforwork #englishforit #englishlearning  #английскийдляработы #школаанглийского #урокианглийского #английскийдлявзрослых #английскийдлясобеседования 

Unsure what to say when making small talk in English? 😬 Then join my free online session on the 27th November 19.30-20.30. It's a great chance to practise using your English away from the pressures of your job. If you wish, I can also give you personalised feedback and tips after the session, on what will help you most with speaking better English at work.🚀 Feeling nervous? Don't worry! It's a super relaxed and friendly event. I will use breakout rooms through-out the session so you will always be in groups of 2 or 3 therefore minimum pressure and maximum speaking time. If you are not sure what to talk about, I have a list of 20 questions for networking and small talk that you can use if you want. If the group is big enough (6-10 participants), we will spend the whole session on networking and small talk. If the group is smaller (2-5 participants), we will spend the second half of the session talking about cultural differences at work. Again, I will use break-out rooms for this, and I will give you discussion points to talk about. Sign up to the session and get the link to the call here: subscribepage.io/vfXPOf --------------------------------------------------- I'm Kath and I work with all types of business professionals who find speaking English at work challenging, to help them communicate better in English, with more confidence and less stress.

You’re speaking to someone in English, when a colleague joins the conversation. You freeze. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. This happens all the time. I’ve experienced it myself. I used to find it MORE difficult to speak foreign languages in front of my native English-speaking colleagues. - They had been in the country longer than me - They were more fluent than me - I was worried about what THEY would think It’s funny. Who we are with can dramatically affect how we speak. But I got over this problem, and you can too. Here’s the important thing you have to remember: - The person you're speaking too doesn’t know who’s better at English. - He doesn't care. - He is GRATEFUL that you are speaking English with him. He probably doesn't know your language, and you are HELPING him by communicating in a language he DOES know. This is more important than what your other colleagues MIGHT think. (9/10 times she is more concerned with her own English anyway!) _______________ This doesn't mean you shouldn't improve your English. How people perceive you at work is important. Improving the language skills you NEED to do your job effectively helps you get ahead, to do important things, like closing more deals or networking with new people. - But the goal of any discussion is effective communication first. Worrying about your colleagues opinions won't help you do that.

Feeling stressed when you need to make a phone call in English? No worries, I’ve got you covered. I've been there, too, but it doesn't bother me anymore after making thousands of phone calls in English in my career. The good news is that it gets much easier with practice and a good strategy. Welcome to my 𝟑-𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐞-𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞: Part 1: How to start a phone call Part 2: How to end a phone call Part 3: General tips Let's get started. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 ✅ 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 you want to mention so you don't forget anything. ✅ 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Introduce yourself and say why you're calling: "𝐻𝑖, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝐾𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐴𝐵𝐶 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙. 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦. 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒?" Don’t start by explaining the whole story to the first person who answers the call. It’s usually a reception, switchboard or call centre, and they won’t be able to help you. You will only get more stressed if they interrupt your flow. ✅ 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐬, start explaining what you need to discuss. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨, ask them to transfer your call: "𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒?" These are my favourite tips on how to start a phone call in English. Tested loads of times. I learnt it the hard way, so you don't have to. ❤ PS. If you work in HR and would like to improve your English at work, you might like my summer course "Business English for HR". You can find more details in the comments. ♻ 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟. *** 𝐻𝑖, 𝐼'𝑚 𝐾𝑎𝑡𝑘𝑎. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. *** Connect | Katerina Landecka 𝑅𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 🔔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 (𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ). #anglictina #english #businessenglish #humanresources

“Why is this company being so rude to us?!” Recently, my husband was taken aback by a native French speaker from Montréal. Here’s the kicker, though: He didn’t know that the person was a native French speaker & cultural-linguistic chaos ensued! The story starts like many others: 1. Something gets ordered from a company 2. The something arrives broken 3. Company apologizes and sends a new something 4. Everyone is happy However, that’s not exactly how this story went (at least, not when my husband got to step 3…) After he received an email from the company, I knew something was off. My normally understanding husband was flustered; he couldn’t understand why this person was being so rude. How so? The rep was not following any of the unwritten North American English rules for resolving this type of situation. (The exchange was happening in English). That’s right - there are unwritten cultural rules for resolving problems in business. When the rules are violated, it communicates a lack of professionalism, and possibly, intentional rudeness. Being a cultural hybrid, my politeness meter wasn’t going off. My gut feeling was that this was a cultural communication difference. My husband, however, thought the rep was a native English speaker following North American English cultural rules. Within an American English context, the following would be the minimal points to cover in this situation: 1. Apologizing 2. Acknowledging Inconvenience 3. Offering Resolution 4. Expressing Gratitude for Patience None of the above points were touched on, except offering a resolution. The wording and phrasing used in the emails was informal and non-committal. Specifically, the message was filled with “gonna” and “I guess”. On the surface, this seems to be exactly how a native speaker would communicate (I mean, it did fool my American husband). But reductions & expressions, while often used by native speakers, communicate something specific, within a particular context. In this case: -informality -vagueness -lack of ownership Which is probably not what they were going for… My husband and I were in a back-and-forth about the intentions of this rep for weeks as the emails flowed back and forth. “He’s so rude!” (My husband) “It’s a cultural difference!” (Me) Finally, the representative called me. And… He was not a native English speaker (but he had outstanding fluency)! I can tell you that the weight was lifted off my husband’s shoulders immediately. Knowing that the rep wasn’t following the rules because he probably didn’t know the rules made the whole interaction so much more palatable for him. In this case, the rep came across like a native speaker because of how he wrote, but that was ultimately his downfall. Expressions and reductions may give one “fluency points”  but they may also lead to big misunderstandings  if used in the wrong context

You’re speaking to someone in English, when a colleague joins the conversation. You freeze. Sound familiar? You are not alone. This happens all the time. It used to happened to me too. I found it MORE difficult to speak foreign languages in front of my native English-speaking colleagues. It's normal to worry that: - They have been in the country longer than you - They are more fluent than you - About what THEY would think of you But you can get over this problem. You have to remember: - The person you're speaking too doesn’t know who’s better at English. - He doesn't care. - He is GRATEFUL that you are speaking English with him. He probably doesn't know your language, and you are HELPING him by communicating in a language he does know. This is more important than what your other colleague MIGHT think. (9/10 times she is more concerned with her own English anyway!) _______________ This doesn't mean you shouldn't improve your English. How people perceive your skills is important, and being a confident communicator in English will help you to close more deals. - But the goal first of any conversation is EFFECTIVE communication. All the good things flow from that. Worrying about your colleagues opinions won't help you speak confidently or effectively.

You have unknowingly been speaking French! Did you realise that a few terms we use on a daily basis have French roots? The extent to which French has influenced our language is amazing. They also improve our communication style, giving it a more polished and elegant sound and enhancing the vividness and accuracy of our expressions. Let's take a closer look at some of these frequently used French words and phrases. 1. Cliché Meaning: An idea or phrase which has been used so much that it is no longer interesting or effective or no longer has much meaning. Sentence: His excuse for being late was so cliché, it was hard to take him seriously. 2. Résumé Meaning: A document listing one's work experience and qualifications. Sentence: When applying for a new job, be sure to update your résumé with your most recent skills and experience. 3. Déjà vu Meaning: The feeling that you have already experienced something that is actually happening for the first time. Sentence: Walking into the room gave me a sense of déjà vu. 4. Rendezvous Meaning: A meeting at an agreed time and place. Sentence: We agreed to meet at our usual rendezvous. 5. Vis-a-vis Meaning: In comparison with or in relation to. Sentence: The company's profits this year are impressive vis-à-vis last year's performance. 6. En route Meaning: On the way or along the way. Sentence: The courier is en route to your house with your package. 7. Incognito Meaning: To go in disguise. Sentence: The journalist interviewed sources incognito. Aren't you surprised at just how much French you already know and use daily?😄 Which of these do you use often? Let me know in the comments section. If you would love me to make a video showing how to pronounce all the words above correctly, type YES in the comments section. If you would love to refine your voice to sound polished when you speak, send me a DM right away. #vocabularybuilding #frenchwords #theliteracysphere

"Great point you made there. I was particularly impressed by the wide range of English adjectives you included" said NO BOSS EVER. Remember: When speaking English at work, don't treat it like an English exam. ❌ This may sound obvious but so many people, including most of my clients, fall into this trap: 👉 "I shouldn't make mistakes" 👉"I can't repeat a word, I must use a synonym instead" 👉 "I must speak at my normal speed" 👉"My language is too simple, I must make it sound better" BUT -this will probably make your English sound worse, as your fluency and/or intelligibility will decrease.🙁 -and, most importantly, your message/content will suffer, as it is no longer the no. 1 priority. 😩 PLUS -you probably aren't listening well, as you are already mentally preparing what you want to say. 🙉 -you put yourself under a huge amount of unnecessary pressure😭 So next time you go into a meeting in English, try to keep your focus on your message rather than your English. That it what everyone is there to hear. 💡 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you would like to speak better English at work, with more confidence and less stress, I can help. I offer personalised Business English sessions, designed around your goals and focussed on speaking. In a supportive, relaxed and fun environment, we work on the areas of your English that you want to work on. Interested? Send me a DM on LinkedIn or have a look in my LinkedIn profile for my contact details and the link to my website.

What would it mean for you to be FREE from getting BLOCKED on your English conference calls? For the nervousness before each call to disappear.. For you to know exactly how to explain your ideas appropriately and CONFIDENTLY. For many of you, it would mean finally feeling fulfilled and satisfied in your work and your abilities. You would realize you are capable. Not only would you feel 100% comfortable on your calls, but you’d be confident enough to lead calls and take the initiative. You’d be proud of the work you’re doing and the way you’re communicating every day. This is my dream for nonnative English-speaking lawyers who have mental blocks, spontaneous speaking problems and low confidence when interacting in English. You deserve to feel satisfied with the way you’re interacting. And to know that you can handle ANY English interaction that comes your way. These things are more than possible for you with the right combination of encouragement, belief in yourself, and an action plan with tailored feedback. Here for you to take you from here to there. Send me a message so I can guide you to making this a reality.

What would it mean for you to be FREE from getting BLOCKED on your English conference calls? For the nervousness before each call to disappear.. For you to know exactly how to explain your ideas appropriately and CONFIDENTLY. For many of you, it would mean finally feeling fulfilled and satisfied in your work and your abilities. You would realize you are capable. Not only would you feel 100% comfortable on your calls, but you’d be confident enough to lead calls and take the initiative. You’d be proud of the work you’re doing and the way you’re communicating every day. This is my dream for nonnative English-speaking lawyers who have mental blocks, spontaneous speaking problems and low confidence when interacting in English. You deserve to feel satisfied with the way you’re interacting. And to know that you can handle ANY English interaction that comes your way. These things are more than possible for you with the right combination of encouragement, belief in yourself, and an action plan with tailored feedback. Here for you to take you from here to there. Send me a message so I can guide you to making this a reality.