[0:00]Ok John, let's get the ball rolling. What have you brought to the table? As you know, our company is already ahead of the curve, but we are going over budget for some of our projects. I think we need to fire some of the workers. Respectfully, I disagree. I think we need some innovative ideas like outsourcing some of our tasks. Hmm. That sounds like a good idea. We will work on that. Ok. That's enough for this meeting. We can call it a day.
[0:33]Hello, my name is Maddie from POC English, and in this lesson, we're going to talk about business English. I will teach you the most useful phrases in English that are commonly used in business settings and environments. And for each group of phrases and idioms and collocations that we will learn in this lesson, I will show you some cool dialogues to see how you can use them in speaking. So, make sure you watch this lesson to the end. Now, let's begin with the first phrase: To get the ball rolling. What does it mean? Well, to get the ball rolling has nothing to do with the ball. No. Get the ball rolling means to start a meeting. Imagine you are sitting for a meeting. You're waiting for people to join, and when everybody is there, you say, so, everybody is present? Let's get the ball rolling. Let's get the ball rolling. That means let's begin the meeting. Next idiom is to bring something to the table. Now, does this mean that you order food and the food is brought to your table, the waiter brings it? No. It has nothing to do with food, it has nothing to do with table. To bring something to the table means to come up with some ideas. To bring some proposals, to have some ideas in a meeting and share it with other people, to bring something to the table. Ok John. What have you brought to the table? It means what ideas do you have, John? What do you have to offer? One of the scariest words in business English is deadline. What is a deadline? A deadline is a date by which you have to finish a project. Now, let's learn two collocations with the word deadline. First, what does the project manager do? The project manager sets a deadline. To set a deadline means to determine a final day by which your project has to be ready and delivered. That is to set a deadline. We need to set a deadline to finish this project as soon as possible. Now, when you set a deadline, the people who are working on that project, what should they do? They should try to meet the deadline. What does it mean? To meet the deadline? Hello, I'm Maddie. What's your name? You're deadline? No, to meet the deadline means to finish the project on time. Before the deadline, or at the latest, on the day of the deadline, no later. So, two collocations, set a deadline, meet a deadline. Now, let's talk about the word budget. Budget is very important in business, right? Now, when you set a budget, when you choose what budget you have for a project, you should try not to spend more than that, because that is your limit, right? So, you should try to stay on budget. To stay on budget, what does it mean? If you stay on budget, it means you are not spending more than the budget you have. You are not spending more money than the limit, you are staying on the budget. But the opposite of staying on the budget is to go over the budget. Imagine this is the budget. You're doing the project and then you go over the budget. That means you're spending more than the budget you had or your corporate had for that project. So basically, you should try to stay on budget and not to go over the budget. What happens if you go over the budget for many, many different projects? Your company may go bankrupt. Go bankrupt. What does it mean? If you go bankrupt or if a company goes bankrupt, it means that that company is unable to pay one's debts. They have borrowed a lot of money from different people, different entities, different banks, and now they don't have enough money to pay them back. So, they have to close their businesses. They have gone bankrupt. And pay attention, the verb is go. Go bankrupt. A similar phrase to going bankrupt is to be in the red. To be in the red. Like what? Everywhere is red? No, it has nothing to do with the color red. To be in the red means to not have any money. So if you go bankrupt, you are in the red. You don't have any money. Boss! We have gone bankrupt, we are in the red. We have gone bankrupt, we are in the red. Now, let's see how to use these new phrases, idioms and collocations in a dialogue. Ok people, let's get the ball rolling. We are in an emergency. We couldn't stay on budget for some of our projects. We also failed to meet the deadlines. We are in the red now. Sorry, what do you exactly mean? I mean, we are going to go bankrupt soon. Don't worry. I have some ideas, but before telling you, I want to know what you have brought to the table. I hope you're enjoying this lesson. We still have a lot to learn, but before we continue, let me tell you one thing. Do you want to have the summary of this lesson and all other lessons of mine on YouTube in a single PDF file? Then you can download my free English book. That's right. This book is entirely free for my YouTube subscribers. And it has 400 pages of the lesson summaries of all of my YouTube channels from day one. If you want to download this, you can simply click on the link above my head, go to my website, type in your name, your email address, and click download. You will receive the link in your inbox. Now, let's get back to our lesson. Another phrase that is very common in business English is to outsource an activity. To outsource. What does it mean? If you outsource a task or an activity, that means you use people from outside your company to deal with that project. I have a project, and in our company, nobody is good enough to do it. So, I get people from other companies, other towns, other cities, other countries, to do this project for our company. This is called outsourcing. You are sourcing from outside, outsourcing. Look at this example. The US tech companies are outsourcing most of their activities to Asian factories. It means many of the tech factories based in the US are using Asian countries to do some work for them.
[7:31]This is called outsourcing. Sometimes, you have a task, but then your boss has to sign it and give you permission to do that task. You need to ask for the approval of your boss. Here we have a lovely phrasal verb: to sign off on something. Pay attention, sign off. This is a phrasal verb with two particles. Sign is the verb. Off and on are the particles. Sign off. What does it mean? It means to give approval. The boss needs to sign off on the new project before we can proceed. The boss needs to sign off on the new project. Go ahead, I approve this project. Has it ever happened to you that you are talking, then other people start interrupting you, and then finally they ask you to continue, but then you don't remember, what was I even saying? Oh, I lost it. You lost it? You lost what? What did you lose? You lost your train of thought. To lose your train of thought means to forget the series of thoughts you had, to forget what you had in mind. I've lost my train of thought. I don't remember what I was trying to say. Would you please not interrupt? Oh, I lost my train of thought. I don't remember. Another lovely and very useful idiom, to be ahead of the curve. Be ahead of the curve. What does it mean? Well, curve is a not straight line, a line that is not straight, it's curved. Imagine you are driving on a road, which is curved. Can you see the end of the road? No, because it's curved, right? But if you are ahead of the curve, that means if you have passed the curve, can you see what's in front of you? Yes, you can. To be ahead of the curve means to be ahead of the trends and the thinking of the society, of the world, at that point. For example, fortunately, we are ahead of the curve in terms of technological innovation. We are ahead of the curve. That means we are so into the future that other people are right behind us. We are leading the way. We are ahead of the curve. Now, when you are ahead of the curve, what usually happens is that you can corner the market. Corner the market? Yes. To corner the market means to take control of the market. Because you are ahead of the curve, that means you are leading the way, so you can corner the market, and you can get control of the market, the market is mine, give it to me. By taking the right policy, we can easily corner the market. And one last idiom before we see a dialogue: to look at the big picture. Big picture, where is it? Oh, that's a big picture. No, to look at the big picture means to pay attention to the most important things. Forget about the details, consider the big picture. Think about the most important things, the most important features, most important aspects of something. Just look at the big picture. Forget about the details. When you look at the big picture, lack of good workers is the main problem of our company. Now, let's see how to use these new idioms in a dialogue. I believe we should outsource some of our activities to Asian countries. Labor costs are way cheaper there. That's a good idea. I will sign off on that. Besides, we are ahead of the curve in terms of technological innovation, so we can easily corner the market. Yes, but if we look at the big picture, the problem is in the production sector. I hope you're enjoying this lesson. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up. We still have four other idioms to learn. Are you ready? Oh, before we do that, let me tell you another thing. I have recently started channel memberships, and so far we have 100 members. By becoming a member of my channel, you will support my work, and I will work even harder for you. So, if you want to support me, simply become a member of my channel. And in return, I will give you some benefits. If you want to join the membership, simply click on the link above my head. Now, four more idioms to learn and then we're set. Ready? Let's go. A very lovely phrase is from the ground up. From the ground up. What does it mean? It means from the very beginning. From square one, from the very beginning of something, from the ground up. We have started this company from the ground up. It means we built this company, we made this company what it is today, from the ground up, from the very beginning. Have you heard of the phrases like CEO, COO, CHRO, or I don't know, CFO? What are these positions? These positions are called the C-level positions. C-level positions in a company are the highest-ranking positions. C stands for chief or main. Now, if you have a CEO, that is the chief executive officer, the highest rank. Or if you have a CFO, you have a chief financial officer. Maybe you have a CHRO, which is the chief human resource officer. Or a COO, a chief operating officer. These are the C-level positions, and they are the highest rank in a firm or an organization. It is the dream of many people to get a C-level position. To get a C-level position, what do you have to do? You have to climb the career ladder. To climb the career ladder, what does it mean? A ladder is something that you put next to a wall and then you climb. But what is a career ladder? To climb the career ladder means to improve in your position in your job and your position in a company or an organization. So, for example, if you are a junior engineer, you become a senior engineer. Then you become the manager. Then you get a C-level job, you become the CEO. That is climbing the career ladder, going higher and higher and higher in terms of position in a firm or an organization. For example, Jack has climbed the career ladder very fast. He has reached a C-level position after working for only four years. After four years, now he has a C-level position. He has climbed the career ladder really fast. And last, but not least, to brush up on your skills. Brush up on. This is another phrasal verb with two particles. Brush is the verb. Up and on are the particles. And see it as a whole package. You have to use it in this way. Brush up on something. Now, what does it mean? It means to improve your knowledge and skills about your job. If you want to climb the career ladder and reach a C-level position, you have to constantly brush up on your skills. Brush up on, keep improving your skills. Now, it is time for another dialogue. Let's go. Congratulations, David. You really deserve your new position. Getting a C-level position in this company is really hard. Thanks, John. That's very kind of you, but I'm not really satisfied. Oh, come on. You are climbing the career ladder very fast. You know what? I'm thinking about brushing up on my skills and building my own company from the ground up. And that's it, but I'm not letting you go without a quiz. Are you ready? I only have two questions, so it'll be quick. Let's go. Question one. If we intend to, we should brush up on our skills seriously. Sign off on, climb the career ladder, outsource our activities. Hmm. Excellent, to climb the career ladder, you need to brush up on your skills. Question two, the last question.
[16:15]Most of the companies in the country are in the red and... Staying on the budget, cornering the market, going to go bankrupt. Hmm. Very good, going to go bankrupt because they are in the red. They don't have any money, they can't pay off their debts, so they're going to go bankrupt. And that's it. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson. Bye.
