This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 17, Become a Business Leader Using English with Martin Stoner.
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Hey, Martin, welcome to All Ears English.
Thanks for coming. How are you doing? Hi, Lindsay.
Thank you very much for the invitation. I'm very well, thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here. Glad you're here, Martin.
So you are originally from the UK, is that right?
Correct, yes. Okay, cool. But I heard that you have actually done business in the corporate world in Germany.
So that's doing, you know, business, corporate business in your second language.
How did that go for you and what were you doing?
Absolutely. So in 2012, I had the opportunity to go to Germany.
I worked in a British company selling investment property, German investment property to international clients.
So my working languages were both English and German.
So it was a very interesting experience.
But of course, you know, it brings a lot of challenges to do business in a second language.
Yeah. What was the biggest challenge? Was it kind of like what was going through your mind, kind of anxiety, or was it a technical aspect of the language?
Well, I think one of the biggest challenges was actually the cultures of doing business.
In Anglo-Saxon countries, there is a bit of a different approach to doing business compared to So one thing that I actually noticed was not necessarily to do with the language, but also to do with the mentality, the way of holding meetings, for example, the way of making presentations was also very different.
Oh, that's interesting. So that just shows us how important it is for our listeners to really pay attention to the culture of the country that they're going to, whether it's England or the U.S. or Australia.
We have to know more than just the language.
And that's why we try to talk about that quite a bit on All Ears English.
So, Martin, I think. Yeah. I think you're the perfect person to help us out today then.
For someone, some of our listeners who might be transitioning into the corporate world from another sector, right, where they didn't need to use English, now all of a sudden they're moving into corporate and they need English and they're panicking, right?
They got their dream job, but now, oh my gosh, I need to speak English.
This is real, right? So what do they do, Martin?
How do they get ready for that first day of their job?
So, the first advice I would simply give is to be excited about it.
It's a great opportunity. It's very interesting.
They're going to broaden their horizons.
They're going to learn a lot of new things.
So, actually, I would relax about it, first of all.
But then we need to get into business. We need to actually start to think of ways to improve our knowledge, perhaps our understanding of the current issues in the business world in that particular country.
And luckily for them… By doing business in English, they have already a good opportunity to access many materials in English.
There are loads of resources. There are loads of podcasts.
There are loads of news articles about business in English on the Internet.
So that's a very good opportunity for them to take advantage of.
And if they're anxious, actually, if they think they don't really know so much about business or if they're finding that a bit difficult to actually learn some concepts online, All I would simply do is try to relate absolutely everything to their personal lives.
So whenever they read an article, for example, about, I don't know, marketing, they should think of themselves as actually experienced people in the world of marketing.
Because at some point or another, they have actually bought a product.
They've chosen something to buy and therefore they've been a consumer.
So from that perspective, they can relate to marketing.
Okay. Yeah. So take everything as if it's part of your life, right?
Absolutely. Okay. Did you do this when you were learning German as a second language in Germany?
Like, was there any example of some item that you saw and you used it to relate to your own life?
So, because I was working in property, I had to read a lot of things about property anyway because I actually – my first experience working in property was in Germany.
I'd never worked in property in England.
So, what I tended to do was search for articles about property, perhaps about the rental market in Berlin, for example, and just read as much as possible to try to immerse myself in the current debates, the current issues that are affecting both investors and tenants as well.
Yeah, I think it's important to take a personal interest in your learning.
You know, I mean, otherwise it just stays so static.
And, you know, it's like we're in a classroom.
We need to bring it to life and, you know, make it real, make it personal.
Okay. I like that tip, Martin. Thank you.
What would be your second tip for how our listeners can kind of get ready for English in the corporate world?
Or maybe they're getting a promotion, right?
How can they get ready for that promotion where they'll have to speak more English?
Okay, so what's really important there, I guess, is to know a lot of vocabulary as well, to be able to convince someone that you're ready for that promotion, that you're able to perhaps sell yourself, that you're able to give presentations, that you're able to do whatever it is the job requires you to do.
And the way to do that is simply to learn as many expressions as possible and to practice using them.
What I would do in this case is simply whenever they listen to something, perhaps they listen to an engaging presenter in a podcast or a business person in an interview, I would make notes of any interesting things that they have to say and try to absorb the way in which they say those things.
So I would just jot down anything, even if you didn't quite understand exactly what they said.
Just make a note of it and perhaps Google that phrase or use a search engine to try to detect what it was that they were saying.
If it comes up on your search results, then you know it's probably used a popular phrase in that particular situation.
So that's one tip I would give. Excludes clearance.
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I like that, Martin. And how many vocabulary words do you think we should try to learn per sitting?
Like, you know, we sit down and maybe we go to a talk, right?
That's the best kind when we go to a public talk or we sit down in front of YouTube, we watch a video, a TED Talk.
How many words should we write down each time we sit down?
Well, it really does depend on your concentration levels.
But in my experience, I found that in my, well, my personal experience and also my experience with my students, actually many have a short term kind of attention span.
And that's the case with me. I cannot sit and just listen for hours and hours and I end to a speech.
So what I would advise actually is little and often.
By this, I mean they should regularly listen to a lot of content from different sources and then only learn perhaps a few, perhaps five words or expressions per time.
Yeah. And therefore, they've got the capacity, therefore, perhaps to remember those expressions and not just to write them down and then leave them in their notebooks or whatever.
Yeah. So about five. That's what I was thinking, too.
Five to seven, perhaps. And one thing that I want to highlight that you said is a variety of sources.
Right. So, you know, it's obviously like our listeners are watching, listening to All Ears English every day.
And you should continue listening, guys.
Absolutely. But we also want to expand our options in our iTunes app, in our podcast app.
We want to go into our podcast app and have a variety of voices, native voices from all different countries on all different topics because that's how we really get that depth of experience and that confidence.
Absolutely. So I would advise there are several different sources to use.
TED Talks are fantastic because you've got perhaps the greatest minds talking about very current issues and things that are going to reflect on the business world in the future.
You know, the sharing economy, for example, there are various things that are really current and are going to change the way everyone works, the way everyone does business.
And that's inspiring. There's some really interesting topics right now in the sharing economy, right, Martin?
For example, I don't know if Uber is a big deal in the UK right now.
Is Uber happening in the UK? Or is there another version of Uber, a similar company?
So Uber is very popular, Airbnb and all those kind of brands.
It's very interesting. This is also something that's going to affect and disrupt the business world, that they should be thinking to plan perhaps their next move as well, particularly if they're working in traditional companies.
Yeah, and this is part of making it personal, right?
There are certain issues that are cropping up within the sharing economy, like safety or finances, things like that, that are common issues of debate.
And that's fascinating. So to go deep into those topics.
I love it. I love it. So, Martin, what would be your third tip then for our listeners?
So they really need to practice and practice.
It's one thing learning all of that vocabulary, listening to all of that stuff, and not being able to then have a platform in which they can express their ideas and to get excited with someone who's also excited about those things as well.
So what I'd advise them to do is look around them, first of all.
Look at their colleagues. Perhaps their colleagues are in a very similar position to them and would like to have a regular conversation in English with you. to practice, to share ideas and to bounce off each other, basically.
Failing that, if you'd really like a professional, of course, there's no replacement to a tutor, particularly one who specializes in business English, who's interested and would like to perhaps inspire you with their ideas and would like to be inspired by your ideas as well.
Yeah, you're right, Martin. There's no replacement for a tutor who's there waiting for you, who's willing to correct your mistakes when you make them, is writing out your mistakes and corrections, is very much attentive to you.
I mean, language exchanges are great, but you're just not going to get the same level of dedication.
And if you're serious about this, if we're talking about English for work, we're talking about another level, right?
Because everyone wants to move up in their company.
They want that promotion. We want to support our families, take more vacations, get more time off.
We want to become CEOs of the company. Who knows?
But if we don't take it seriously, we will not get there.
And English is a huge piece of that. Absolutely.
And one way that a tutor can really help is to be very efficient in that process, to really find the way that's best for you and to work on that.
And I think that's a very good opportunity if you can have access to one.
Yeah, I love that. That's exactly it. A big part of what you're doing by hiring a tutor is you're hiring someone with the experience to see exactly what the kind of smartest moves are for you in the limited amount of time that you have.
Like where can you make the most progress in a short amount of time, right?
Absolutely. Yeah. And a random conversation partner just can't figure that out on their own.
So very cool. So Martin, what if our listeners would like to book a lesson with you because you have this experience in the business world in a second language?
I mean, we'd love to have our listeners go over there, guys.
So we want to invite you over to book a lesson with Martin at italki.
And the way to find Martin is to go to allearsenglish.com forward slash Martin.
Martin, could you spell your name for us?
Absolutely. M-A-R-T-I-N. Martin, what is your schedule like these days?
What are you meeting with a lot of students these days?
Do you have any space for people? I am quite busy, but I've always got room for all these English students.
I would love to absolutely meet with many of them.
We have some of the most motivated students on the planet.
Fantastic. I've heard a lot about them. They're fantastic people.
Awesome. And we've already done quite a few business English lessons on All Ears English.
So if you guys want to maybe choose, you know, a lesson that you've enjoyed on All Ears English, go over, take it to Martin and work together on the learnings from that lesson.
It's your lesson. You can customize it using Martin's expertise.
That would be a fantastic idea, actually.
That would be pretty cool. All right, Martin.
Well, I want to thank you for coming on the show and we hope to have you back on here pretty soon.
Thank you very much, Lindsay. It was a pleasure to speak with you today.
You too. Thanks so much. Okay. Bye. Have a good one.
Bye-bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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