|
楼主 |
发表于 2009-12-25 12:51
|
显示全部楼层
Linguistic skills
1. Keep it simple
Avoid idioms and phrasal verbs and keep grammatical structures simple. This has two advantages: the person you are dealing with will be more likely to understand you, and secondly, you will be less likely to make mistakes.
2. Use clarifying and rephrasing techniques
Don't be afraid to check what you have understood. Clarifying (or rephrasing if the other person doesn't understand) saves time in the future.
If I understand you correctly…
If I can paraphrase what you've just said…
So you mean…
Let me rephrase what I've just said…
Let me say that in another way…
In other words…
3. Ask if you don't understand
Rather than making assumptions (which can turn out to be untrue) make sure you understand the other person.
Sorry, but I don't understand.
Can you go over that again?
I'm not sure I understood your last point.
Would you mind repeating that?
4. Prepare for meetings, presentations and negotiations
Before you meet someone, make sure you have prepared any vocabulary or questions you might need. The more familiar you are with any particular vocabulary, the more relaxed you will feel when you meet. It's also often helpful to "role play" a meeting or negotiation, so that you can predict what sort of questions or issues will arise and how you can best deal with them. See our other articles on meetings, presentations vocabulary and successful negotiations for useful phrases.
5. Write it down
Ask for a written agenda before a meeting so you can prepare. Take notes when others speak (during meetings, telephone conversations etc).
Follow up meetings or spoken agreements with a written note.
It was good to meet you yesterday. I'm just writing to confirm the main points of our meeting:
Following our phone call this morning, I just wanted to confirm our agreement: |
|