Learn Business English with Online Courses

One of the best ways to increase your business and work opportunities is to learn business English. Think about it – if you speak English, there are more people you can do business with. And there are more companies that you could work for in countries all over the world.

In this article, you’ll learn how to improve your business English with Busuu to achieve your goals.

Business English topics you can learn with Busuu

Busuu’s English for Business course is your one-stop shop for mastering business English. There are lessons for everyone, from beginners (A2) to advanced speakers (C1).

Whether you want to do business with English speakers, use English at work or integrate into a new community, this course can help you achieve your goals. That’s because it includes topics such as job hunting and interviewing, writing business emails, negotiating, and leading a meeting.

After completing the English for Business advanced level (C1), you get a fancy language certificate to back up all your hard work. Busuu certificates align with the CEFR levels, so you can be confident sharing them with potential employers.

And to make the process easier (and more fun), Busuu has an online community of millions of language learners and native speakers you can join. Share your English, get feedback and support, make progress and build connections.

Six tips to improve your business English

I’m going to be straight with you here – learning business English is no different than learning general English, even though you need to learn different words and skills. Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to improve your (business) English skills.

1. Use the Busuu app

The old-school way of learning a language through textbooks and face-to-face lessons still works. But nowadays you have more flexible tools available.

With the Busuu app, you can study at your own pace, wherever and whenever you want. You decide when you study, so you can build a study habit that fits with your life. Busuu doesn’t clash with your work or family life because you can squeeze it into 10 minutes of downtime – lessons take minutes, not hours.

In Busuu’s English for Business course, there are lessons for every level from beginning (A2) to advanced (C1), covering all the topics and skills you need to succeed in professional life. You can make real progress without a huge time commitment.

2. Connect with other language learners

Business is all about people. Selling to people. Working with people. Applying for jobs and interviewing with people. So, you need to practice your business English skills with people. And there’s no better place to do that than within Busuu’s thriving online community. The Busuu Community, with millions of language learners and native speakers, is a supportive community in which you can grow.

You’ll practice speaking and writing, share your English, and get the support and feedback you need to achieve your goals.

3. Learn every single day

Consistent practice is the key to learning a language – even if it’s only 10 minutes a day. It might not sound like much, but over a long period, those 10 minutes really add up. And they can lead to impressive results.

Here’s what you can do. Study one Busuu English for Business lesson every day. It won’t take much more than 10 minutes – long enough to make progress (if you are consistent), but not so long that it’s hard to fit into your day.

Sure, if you could do one hour every single day, you’d make quicker progress. But we prefer to be realistic. Ten to thirty minutes per day is a more realistic target that’s easy to stick to until you reach your goals. It can be tempting to get excited at the start and plan to study for one hour or more every day. But your study habit needs to be something you can commit to long term. Busuu makes this easy.

4. Get feedback

Feedback is essential when learning business English. Treat communication like an experiment. Here's what I mean.

Let’s say you’re in a meeting with two colleagues about a new product your company is selling. Watch your colleagues and their reactions – this is immediate feedback. If you make a point that no one understands, you probably used the wrong word or grammar or mispronounced something. Reflect on this and identify why they had trouble understanding you. Then say it again in a different way, looking for their reactions again.

In this way, you can improve your skills by testing, reflecting and testing again.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback directly, too. Before you send an important email, get someone to proofread it. If you’ve got a job interview coming up, do a practice interview with a friend. And when preparing for a presentation, get family and friends to listen and give feedback before the big day.

Without feedback like this, it’s almost impossible to reflect on your performance, and it’s much harder to make progress.

5. Set specific goals

Learning is more effective when you have specific goals to achieve. When you set goals, they need to be realistic, achievable and specific. Let’s look at an example from an intermediate learner:

Vague goal:
I will be able to give a presentation in English.

Specific goal:
I will be able to give a 15-minute presentation about marketing performance in six months.

The second goal is much more effective. It’s specific about the length and topic of the presentation. It also has a specific deadline. And because this person is an intermediate learner, it’s realistic. It will be a huge challenge, but with six months of consistent practice it’s an achievable goal.

When you set your business English goals, make sure they’re more like the second example.

6. Practice (and then practice some more)

English is a skill. To master it, you need to practice – a lot. For business English, you need to practice in professional situations. So take every chance to use English in meetings, with customers, or in emails.

If you don’t have opportunities to practice English at work yet, don’t worry. You can find people to practice with in the Busuu Community. You can join online business or networking events. You can attend local presentations and meet-ups.

It doesn’t matter where you practice. But make sure you reflect on your performance. And then practice some more. You won’t master business English overnight. But with consistent practice and reflection, you’ll make huge progress.

Basic business English vocabulary

Learn business English today with Busuu

Learning business English boosts your communication skills, widens your English vocabulary and gives you more opportunities. If you follow the tips in this article and use the Busuu app, you’ll be wowing customers, clients and hiring managers with your English in no time.