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• Phrases you can use to make your English stand out.
• Common mistakes you may be making and what to say instead.
• Tips on the cultural side of working with English speakers
• Phrases you can use to make your English stand out.
• Common mistakes you may be making and what to say instead.
• Tips on the cultural side of working with English speakers
When I proofread emails or presentations for my Polish clients, I often see them telling their own clients what they will try to do, or what they would like to achieve. Typical examples would be something like “We want to get the best possible results” or “We aim to satisfy our partners”. You should not do this.
In the UK, we often contrast success with effort. When I was in high school, nearly every child got a prize at the end of the year. The ones who had done well got one for achievement, and the rest got one for effort. We even have sayings like that it doesn’t matter how successful you are as long as you try your hardest and that what is important isn’t whether you win or lose but how you play the game. This probably isn’t how your clients feel though. They would probably expect you to win.
So in English language culture, talking about what you try to do, implies that you think you may not manage. When you talk about what you hope to achieve, you aren’t trying to lower expectations and mitigate the loss of face your likely failure will cause by stressing how good your intentions were, but you kind of sound like you are. You’re not insecure about your work, so how can you avoid coming across like someone who posts a lot on social media about how proud of their personal growth they are?
Will-power
Don’t tell people what you want to achieve, tell them what you will. In the first example I gave at the start of this article, having said “We will get the best possible results” would have sent a much stronger message without accidentally implying some lack of confidence or possibility of failure on your part. In a lot of other cases, the phrase referring to your intentions can simply be omitted, such as in the second example where “We satisfy our partners” would be enough, aim to only adding doubt.
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