Learn how English idioms are used in conversation with our lessons on business English idioms. With over 40 lessons on English idioms you can learn how to understand and use hundreds of idioms in English.
English Idioms lessons by Business English Pod. Learn common business English idioms and improve your understanding of English idioms. We have over 40 Business English lessons on all types of English idioms. Learn business idioms related sports, war, gambling, time, color, food and a host of other topics.
All business English idioms. Lessons are listed by release date, with the most recent lesson at the top.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English idioms based on the human body.
In your time studying English have you ever heard the expression “to learn something by heart?” Maybe you had to learn an English song by heart. Or maybe it was verb conjugations, or a list of vocabulary that your teacher made you learn “by heart.” And maybe you know that learning something by heart means memorizing it, which is kind of strange when you consider our memory is in our brain, not our heart!
But “to learn by heart” is an idiom. And English has thousands and thousands of idioms. It’s one thing that makes English really hard to learn. But you’ll find that English idioms tend to rely on certain themes or metaphors, like body parts. And today we’ll look at some idioms that refer to brains, ears, hearts, hands, lips, fingers, and even heels.
In this lesson, we’ll rejoin a conversation between Maria and Trevor. They are friends and former colleagues who are meeting for coffee to chat about their work situations. In their conversation they use many different idioms related to human body parts. See if you can spot some of these idioms as you listen, and I’ll explain them later in the debrief.
Listening Questions
1. How does Maria describe her CEO?
2. What does Trevor say when Maria tells him she has a secret?
3. What has Maria seen happen to other companies that makes her afraid of starting her own?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English idioms related to different parts of the body.
Now you probably already know that when I said “head over to” the website, I meant you should go look at the website. Even if you didn’t know that particular expression, you could probably guess the meaning from my sentence. “Head over to” is a kind of idiom, and English has a lot of idioms, as you’ve probably noticed!
In fact, there are many common sources of idioms. And one interesting source is the human body. There are a few body parts in particular that have generated a lot of idioms. English has dozens of idioms just with the words “head” and “hands.” But there are idioms using all different parts of the body, and that’s what we’re going to learn about today.
In this lesson, we’ll listen to a conversation between two friends and former colleagues: Maria and Trevor. They’re meeting for coffee and are eager to catch up after not seeing each other for a while. Maria and Trevor talk about their different work situations. During their conversation, they use many English idioms related to the human body. See if you can spot some of these as we go through the dialog, and we’ll explain them later in the debrief.
Listening Questions
1. How does Trevor agree with Maria’s assessment of her old boss Roger?
2. How does Maria describe her ten years of working at Trevor’s company?
3. What does Maria say about the attitude of the people she works with?
Think of the people close to you, particularly your family members, and consider how they spend money. Does everyone have the same approach? Or do they all handle things differently? Chances are, you can easily think of differences in peoples’ approaches to money management. And it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that money is one of the top sources of conflict in a relationship.
This is true in business just as it is in families. How a company uses its financial resources is a huge strategic concern. Does the company risk some to get some? Or does the company favor saving and safety? And does the short-term strategy differ from the long-term strategy? These are all important questions, and it’s no wonder that English has so many idioms to talk about how people spend money.
In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Shelly, Martin, and Vince, three managers at a tech company. They are talking about how their company should spend money on staffing. And as we’ll hear, they don’t really agree on the best approach. During their conversation, they use many business English idioms related to spending money. See if you can spot some of these as we go through the dialog, and we’ll explain them later in the debrief.
Listening Questions
1. What does Martin say about companies that already work in the sector they are considering?
2. How does Martin describe office space on the south side of the city?
3. How does Vince describe the company’s possible future situation of having lots more money to spend?
As a wise person once said: it takes money to make money. In other words, you need to invest money and spend it in order to make more. On the other hand, spending money unwisely can eat into your profits. So, from both perspectives, figuring out how to spend money is one of the keys to business success.
And it should come as no surprise that spending money is a common topic of conversation in any business. It’s not just the folks in the purchasing department who think about it. Everyone has an opinion about how their company should and shouldn’t commit its resources. And for this reason, English has many idioms we use to describe the different approaches to spending money.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a conversation between three managers at a tech company: Shelly, Martin, and Vince. The company has just landed a big new project, and so they anticipate having more money to spend soon. But the three aren’t all in agreement about how they should spend that money and they use many different idioms to express their opinions. Try to pick out some of these business English idioms as you listen, and we’ll explain them later in the debrief.
Listening Questions
1. According to Martin, what approach to spending is now in the past?
2. What does Vince believe about competing in a new and different sector of the market?
3. How does Martin describe the salaries of the two positions they previously discussed hiring?
If you listen in on conversations in the break room at work or at a popular restaurant, what will you hear? Chances are good you’ll hear people talking about problems and challenges. And it’s not just that people are naturally negative. It’s that talking about difficult experiences can help us feel better. And it can also help us find solutions.
Beyond feeling better and finding solutions, talking about past challenges can help us learn from them. And if you’ve shared a difficult experience with someone, then your relationship will develop and grow. For all these reasons, talking about challenges has inspired lots of English idioms.
In today’s dialog, we’ll continue with a conversation between two former business partners. Simon and Allie are meeting for coffee and their conversation has focused on their old graphic design business. They’ve been talking about several different challenges, including challenges with staff. In their conversation, they use many idioms for describing challenges, which we’ll talk about later in the debrief.
Listening Questions
1. What does Allie call the situation where you do some work you like and some to just help pay the bills?
2. How does Simon describe many of the projects they worked on?
3. How does Allie react when Simon says he feels he wasn’t helping her enough?
