This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 202.
Can you say good when you agree in English? welcome to the business english podcast from all ears english get the english skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business for a presentation a meeting or your office party this is real business english with your favorite american hosts lindsay and michelle coming to you from new york city and colorado usa Still translating in your head when you speak English?
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you? I'm doing great, Michelle.
How are you? How's it going? I'm good. Yeah, I'm good.
I'm good. Yeah. Are you an agreeable person?
Well, I would say, yeah, generally I am pretty agreeable.
But sometimes I think, am I too agreeable?
Right? That's interesting. Yes. I think we are similar in that way that we have had this feeling before.
Yes. Sometimes it's a suspicion that I have that maybe I should just say no for the sake of saying no about something or like disagree.
Let's say being agreeable. The opposite is disagreeing, challenging someone just to do it.
But then I think, oh, it's annoying when people do that too.
So I don't know. I try to have a balance.
But yeah, I think I fall more on the agreeable side for sure.
Well, it's hard because you're I think you and I are nice people like we we like it's I don't know if I don't know.
I don't want to pigeon you into this, but like a people pleaser, like I feel like I'm a people pleaser.
And so it's hard for me to say no or to, you know, I. Right.
I I want. people to be happy. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I can tend in that direction. Like I think they say like your personality type and then like the toxic version of your personality type and the positive version.
If I'm having a bad day or things get really bad, I could go in that direction.
Let's say. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.
Well, so today we are going to answer a listener question about how to show agreement in a variety of ways.
So we got a great question and I'm excited for this episode.
Guys, make sure that you hit follow on the Business English podcast so you never miss anything.
Yeah, totally. So I'm going to read the question.
This is from Abdul Monem. and abdul says hello guys i'm very lucky to come across your podcast as you guys are actually amazing oh thank you i'm abdul monem from egypt and my english now owes you an oop of credits oh that is probably i think it's now owes you a lot of credits probably oh i thought he was saying a lot of credit okay i wanted to ask you guys how to agree with what other people say more naturally because I usually end up saying good to everything.
And I know this is nothing close to normal.
And by the way, I found out about your podcast one week ago, and I'm about to finish all of your episodes.
Whoa. That is impressive, Michelle. Yes.
I hope you can keep up with my addiction.
Ooh. Is that a challenge? I like it. Oh, yes.
That's Thank you so much for listening.
We were very fortunate to have you as a new listener and an avid listener, I will say now.
Yes. So this is great. And you caught on.
You already asked a great question. So happy to have you.
So guys, before we get into it, head on over.
We also did recently episode 196 of the Business English podcast, Would You Ever Take Two Full-Time Jobs?
So that's an interesting one. Yeah, hot topic, which I've had debates even in my family since Aubrey and I recorded that episode.
Very interesting hot topic. And so check out that episode, guys.
And for Abdul, by the way, if you really have an addiction, we have another podcast, which will satisfy your addiction.
What is the name of that show? I don't know.
I'm just kidding. I forgot. What is that?
All ears English, guys. So Abdul, I'm not sure.
We got this question. Could have been for either podcast, but we snatched it. up for Business English.
So guys, but we do have the All Ears English podcast.
So definitely listen to that one as well because we have a lot of fun over there and we've been at it for a very long time.
We have more than 2000 episodes. And by the way, I'm in communication with one of our listeners on Instagram who is listening to every single episode and he sends me a message after every 100 episodes and I say, keep going.
That is so awesome. Oh, I love that. We're going to feature his story once he finishes.
But yeah, so you could do it. In theory, you could do them all.
That's really great. Yeah. So guys, so let's get into the questions.
So this is so useful for business because there are always decisions being made and opinions being shared and we want to show agreement, but we don't always want to say the same thing.
We want to have a variety of ways to do it.
So, I mean, Lindsay, what do you think about using the word good to agree with someone?
Yeah. I think it's a little off, right?
It just doesn't feel if I say, oh, Michelle, you know, let's start recording every Friday at nine and you say good.
It just doesn't feel quite like there's a mismatch.
Yeah, it's a mismatch. It's almost like you're not quite answering my question with the word good.
So I think we should edit that response and give Abdul a lot of new ways to do it.
I think so, too, because I think it could be a little bit mismatched. um so also just because we're talking about all ears english i just wanted to sprinkle in one extra episode was episode 2102 of all ears english and that is we couldn't agree with you more how to validate someone in english so we talked about this a little bit on this podcast but that's a different podcast and here we're talking about business so yeah let's get into it but that's a great one to listen to okay business world right what would we say right okay love it yeah what's the first one here we go so yeah the first one is agreed now i like this one right so abdul all you have to do is swap it instead of good just say agreed that's your first best answer right yes so you could say like how would you do something a little role play i think the meeting should start at eight Agreed.
Okay. That is succinct. It's concrete. It's clear.
And it's short. I love that. I could also just say, I agree.
That would be fine as well. Of course. Yeah.
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40% alcohol by volume. 80 proof. Lindsay, what's the next one?
I love how like clear these are, by the way, for business.
Next one, we're in agreement, or we're in agreement then.
Okay, so let's see what this looks like.
Okay, here we go. I just really think we need to reevaluate how we set up our sales page.
Well, we're in agreement, then let's go over it together.
Okay. I like it. I like it. So what do we think here, Michelle?
I mean, we're in agreement. Why did we add then for our high-level listeners here?
Yeah. Yeah. I think we've done episodes on this before, but sometimes we add then to basically mean in that case.
It's like tying everything together. Yeah.
Don't you think, Lindsay? For sure. And I think it's nice because...
It's just another small word we can insert to reflect that I've heard you.
Like I'm listening to exactly what you're saying.
I'm not just saying I agree for everything.
It just makes it feel more cohesive, like a cohesive conversation, a back and forth, right?
Yeah, I see that. Yes, right, right. It ties everything together in like a little bow.
Sure, yeah. Another thing you could say is I'm with you on that.
That's a little bit less formal, but also useful.
So let's try this one out. All right. So the team needs to focus more on customer service.
I feel like people have been complaining lately about our team.
I'm with you on that. Yeah. So it is okay to veer on the casual side in business, guys.
It just depends on who you're talking about and what are you talking about.
Is this a huge decision? Like we're going to rebrand the entire company?
Then maybe something casual and light like this doesn't work.
Right. But if these are little things, little decisions, totally fine at work.
I agree, Lindsay. Agreed? Agreed. Agreed.
Agreed. Okay. And then, but now we're going to give you a more formal one to finish these off.
Okay. So this one is, I concur. Yeah. Oh, this makes me- Does this sound more formal?
Yeah. What does that make you think of? I feel like there was a TV show.
I don't know if you saw it, maybe not, but there was like a doctor that was, he wasn't a real doctor.
He was pretending to be a doctor in the ER and like his assistants or a surgeon assistant, surgical assistants were saying, I think we should do this.
And he would just go around and say, I concur.
I concur. You didn't see it. I have to look that up because it does sound familiar.
When I wrote I Concur, I knew that there's something that some pop culture reference that goes along with that.
And people had all these surgeries that they didn't need or wrong surgeries or all these things.
There's something in pop culture. So look it up, guys.
You'll probably figure out which TV show it is.
But that's all I can think of when I think of that term.
But yes, it works outside of that context of that show.
Yes. Yes, exactly. So it could sound something like this.
We need to cut this short and reconvene tomorrow.
I concur. Nice. And so I feel like, you know, in our work environment, I don't think we'd hear that much.
You know, just because we're a little more casual at work, we're remote, we're a young company.
And so but certain office environments would totally have this maybe a more formal industry like the legal industry.
That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, I was gonna say to me, it's exactly what I was thinking, like the legal industry.
I feel like I could hear that. Yeah, because they spend so much time reading contracts.
It's like, how can you not start using the word, the more formal words?
Oh, my gosh, reading contracts. Yeah, so I concur.
It totally works depending on the environment, guys.
Okay. Yes. Yeah. All right. What else, Michelle?
What do we want to say here? All right. So, Lindsay, I mean, which one are you most likely to use?
I really like agreed. I like it because it's interesting, right?
Especially in terms of the grammar. It's it almost like it's it seems like it should be grammatically incorrect, right?
Like what are we, there's no subject, but even if there were a subject, it wouldn't like, would it be like, I have agreed with you?
No, but that it, it almost feels like it should be wrong, but it's right.
That's why I like it. Right. Well, the other way would just be, I agree, but yeah, here you just say agree.
Yeah. It's an interesting one, but I, I, but I agree.
I agree. I think agreed sounds, I like it because it sounds a little formal, but it also sounds informal and snappy, like cute, like modern, zippy, all those things.
Zippy, all the things we like. Yeah. It's a way to be formal, but be informal, but be modern and be accurate and clear in one word.
It's great. So go with that and we're good.
This is the best word ever. Okay. Should we do a role play?
Yeah, let's do it. So here you and I are coworkers and we're trying to figure out a new marketing plan.
Here we go. Okay. So clearly we aren't reaching enough customers.
What do you think, Michelle? Agreed. We have been slipping.
We need to make a new strategy. I think social media needs to be more of a primary focus.
I'm with you on that. We don't do nearly enough.
We're in agreement then. Maybe we can hire someone to tackle social media. it could be such a huge help.
I concur. Again, that would feel a little funny at the end saying I concur, but wanted to throw it in.
I concur, Michelle. I concur. Yes, yes. We use Tackle here, which brings me back to an episode of All Ears English podcast that our listeners should check out where we taught you how to use Tackle figuratively, guys.
So go check out All Ears English. right please do yeah i just threw that in there i didn't even realize it until this very second so i love when that happens all right what did you say first in this role play michelle okay so you said what do you think and i said agreed yeah that's the one we like and then i said i think social media needs to be more of a primary focus and you said i'm with you on that and i like that one too that would have been my second favorite Okay, good, good, good.
And then I said, we don't do nearly enough.
And you said, well, you said we're in agreement then.
And you added that then it kind of tied it all together.
Shows you really heard me. Right. So we're in agreement feels moving towards the formal side of things.
Right. But then when we add then it just feels a little more reflective of what the person has said.
And you're responding a little bit more complete.
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. A hundred percent. So there's no harm in adding that then.
And your intonation, we're in agreement then, right?
Really nice. Nice touch for connection. Yes.
And then you said, I concur at the end, which put it in there.
But again, guys, that would be very formal.
Yeah. We'll have to find the reference and talk about that on the next one or something, Michelle.
Good stuff. What's our takeaway for today for our Business English podcast?
Well, this was a very good question. We just felt like there was a little bit of a mismatch to say good when you agree, right?
So we gave you some alternative options.
And, you know, we can do disagree in another episode.
So that could be a follow up. So guys, remember to hit follow that could come soon.
But yeah, these are just short ways to show you that show your agreement with someone.
Sometimes you don't really need to say anything. super fancy or anything like that it doesn't need to be in a whole bunch of words just short ways to show agreement so this was a great question thank you for asking it and yeah Yeah.
I think we should go. Do you agree? I concur, Michelle.
I concur. Yeah. Thanks for the question, Abdul Monem.
Please send in your questions, guys. You can send them to lindsay at allearsenglish.com.
We love getting your questions and it helps us create better episodes.
The more specific, the better. All right.
Good stuff. Okay, Michelle. You have a good day.
I'll talk to you soon. You too. Bye. Bye.
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