This is the Business English Podcast, episode 516.
What's on the horizon?
How to talk about the future at work.
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Hey, Aubrey, how are you?
I'm great, Michelle.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
I'm excited to record with you today.
Guys, Lindsay will be back.
But Aubrey and I are recording a couple episodes together.
So that is fun.
Aubrey, what is on the horizon for you in like the next six months?
Oh, my daughter graduates from high school in a few months.
So that's exciting.
We're getting ready.
I just had to order her cap and gown today.
So that's exciting.
Yeah.
That is exciting.
Okay, that's a really big one.
Congratulations.
Yes, I know.
I'm excited for her.
She's more artistic.
She loves photography and drawing and actual schoolwork was not her favorite thing.
So I'm just proud of her for sticking with it, honestly.
Good.
Well, that is awesome.
Congrats to her.
Congrats to the whole family.
So Today we're going to talk about how to say something will be happening in the near future.
And this is really useful for outside of the business world, but also really useful for in business.
It could be used in meetings, regular work conversations, so many ways.
So we're going to be talking about this and similar expressions to say that something is in the near future.
So, before we get into it today, we want to remind you guys to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Business English podcast.
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Yes.
Oh, I'm very interested.
I'm wondering how cultural this is, right?
In the United States, in business culture, we talk about the near future a lot.
We're setting goals, we're thinking about, and I assume that's how it is in most cultures.
Wherever you're working, this is likely the case.
You need these phrases to be able to talk about what's happening soon, right?
But I am curious if other cultures focus on this as much as we do here in the States.
Yeah, that is a good question.
So guys, you'll have to let us know.
So but yeah, let's talk about this.
So the first expression is on the horizon.
So something soon.
I mean, it doesn't like I asked you about the next six months.
Is that too far away to use on the horizon?
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
It does mean the near future.
Right.
But I wouldn't.
It's not like in just a few weeks.
It's like somewhere between that, right?
What's on the horizon?
I imagine from now till about the next six months.
Right.
It would be a little weird if I said what's on the horizon for you in the next 10 years, right?
Like that's not soon enough, but it also would be strange.
What's on the horizon in the next few days or the next few weeks?
It definitely means a little more in the future than that.
Right.
Or like in five minutes, like what's on the horizon in the next five minutes?
Oh, well, I'm going to go to the horizon at 2pm.
Right.
Exactly.
So you have to find that sweet spot of when this is.
So for example, there's a lot of exciting events on the horizon on the horizon at our company.
Yeah, I remember when I was working in an office that whenever the holidays were coming because we knew we'd have some holiday parties and some time off that was always an exciting time to be like ooh, there are so many exciting events on the horizon.
I'm seeing them all on the calendar.
How fun.
And something else you could say is coming up.
Yeah, so also means it's approaching, basically.
I would say this one is very common.
Yes.
And it's a very similar timeframe as on the horizon.
Because if something's happening in just a few days, we wouldn't be as likely to be like what's coming up.
We're kind of thinking at least, you know, a month to six months, right?
For example, do we have any big company purchases coming up?
And that could be sooner.
But if you're asking someone like, you know, what's coming up soon?
We're kind of imagining, I think, in a couple of months.
Yeah, yeah.
And then this one is a little bit different.
It's a little bit eerie sounding, Aubrey.
It's looming.
Looming.
L-O-O-M-I-N-G.
Yeah, this has a negative connotation, wouldn't you say?
Yeah, it kind of gives me a feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Like, oh gosh, it's looming.
It's kind of threatening sounding or eerie, but this is also for something happening in the future.
So you might hear it like this.
I don't think there are any looming threats for us, but we definitely still want to be careful with the budget.
So you might hear like looming threats, looming problems, things like that with this word.
So it's a little different.
So if you hear a sentence just like, do you think there's anything looming?
There's definitely, it's negative.
They're asking about anything negative that could be coming up, problems or threats.
You would never respond with like yeah, there's a fun holiday party next week, because looming implies something negative.
Yes.
Very good point, Aubrey.
All right.
After the break, guys, we are going to get back to a few, a couple more and here we go.
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Okay, so this next one is just one word and it's a little bit different as far as the timeline goes.
Aubrey,
So this word is imminent.
So how is that? different than some of the ones we've been talking about.
Yeah, this means very soon.
If something is imminent, it's going to happen.
It could be in a few minutes or in a few days, but it's in the very near future.
You wouldn't say something is imminent if it's going to happen in a few months.
This means really, really soon.
Right.
It sounds more intense, more urgent than on the horizon or coming up.
There's a sense of urgency there for sure.
So for example, their boss called a meeting for this afternoon.
I believe the changes are imminent, so we should brace ourselves.
Yeah, and I feel like there's a negative connotation here too.
We often hear like imminent danger, imminent problems.
If someone were to start talking about imminent changes, I would assume it's negative.
I would assume this is not exciting changes.
Yeah, I agree with you.
Yeah, it'd be a little like, right.
And the worst would be if you heard something about an imminent change and they said oh, we're going to meet about it Monday.
And it's a Friday.
Right.
Yeah.
If you know, if you hear like, oh, you talk about it Monday.
Yes.
Oh, gosh, that would be terrible.
You get a stress about it all weekend.
Yes.
Yes.
And then the next one that we're going to teach is the last one for today is approaching.
This one is pretty neutral.
So tax season is quickly approaching.
We want to have a big staff meeting before that time.
Yeah.
And though tax season is not exciting, that is kind of negative.
You could say like the holidays are quickly approaching.
Yeah, this could be for exciting things as well.
Whereas I wouldn't say the holidays are imminent.
That sounds like you hate the holidays for some reason.
It sounds right.
And I loved how you used this phrase in that example.
We should brace ourselves.
Like if something is looming or imminent, we have to brace ourselves for whatever kind of negative or not exciting thing is happening.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Um, so Aubrey, do you do you anticipate like a lot of what's coming up for you in your calendar?
Like how far ahead do you plan in your in your everyday life?
Good question.
So we have these open conversation clubs that we host for all students in any of our classes.
And I try to have those planned at least a month in advance so that all of our students can have them on their schedule and plan on them.
So that I probably plan farther out than anything else in my life almost other than like graduations and things for my kids that are planned.
You, I plan that further out than recording or meetings, right.
I'm like, I have to work around open conversation club and I really look forward to it.
So it's kind of fun to put those on the calendar.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, that's interesting.
You need to attend those more, Michelle.
I know.
I know.
I was hoping you wouldn't say that.
Yeah, I know.
I've been a bad girl.
I need to get on.
For all of our students, I try to get Michelle to pop in when she has time.
We know how busy you are, but we would love to see you in there when you can.
Yes, I'm coming.
It's looming.
No, just kidding.
It's not looming.
No, no, it's not looming.
It's not imminent.
It's approaching.
The time for Michelle to attend is coming up.
It's on my horizon.
All right.
So Aubrey, before we go, we're going to do a role play.
So here we are in the same company on different teams and we're having a meeting.
All right.
So what's on the horizon for finance?
Oh, man.
Well, we have tax season coming up, so that's stressful.
How about for HR?
Well, unfortunately, we have some layoffs coming up.
It's imminent.
Oh, that's terrible.
I know.
The threat has been looming for a while, but now it's really approaching.
Oh, this is a terrible role play.
I know.
Sorry, guys.
That's a perfect example, though.
That's a great example of something that would be imminent or looming layoffs, right?
If everyone knows you know layoffs have been announced, they're inevitable, then that's perfect for this sort of negative connotation of something that's imminent.
Yeah, yeah.
Sorry to bum everyone out.
So here we go.
I said, what's on the horizon for finance?
So what's coming up in the next few weeks to six months?
Exactly.
Interesting.
And then I said, Layoffs coming up.
They're imminent.
So yeah, coming up could be anything that could be positive.
Positive things could be coming up or negative.
In this case, layoffs are coming up.
So they're imminent.
And then I said the threat has been looming for a while.
So it's been kind of in the background.
It's been kind of coming up.
And then I said, but now it's really approaching.
So it's getting faster.
We're really almost getting there.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Looming is interesting because a person can loom over you as well, right?
When they're kind of hovering over you.
And so it's very visual and sort of physical visceral, where you sense something looming over you, hovering over you, like a physical presence.
Yes, that's true.
On the weekend, Mondays, Sunday scaries with Monday looming over you.
Looming, right, right.
So it can be actually a physical presence looming over you, or it can be an idea that's kind of giving you this weird feeling.
Right, exactly.
Yeah.
So guys, if you haven't yet, this is a little while ago, but on episode 486 of the Business English podcast, we did We Forecast an Improvement in Your English, which is a really good one to listen along to with this episode.
So definitely listen to that one if you haven't yet.
And remember, as always, to hit follow.
Aubrey, anything you want to say before we head out today?
Yeah.
Oh, this is such great vocabulary for connecting with co-workers and colleagues.
If you do have something imminent, something looming, you want to talk about it.
You even more so if you have exciting things coming up on the horizon.
You want to ask others about them.
You want to share them.
This is a great way to connect at work.
Love it.
All right, guys.
Well, thanks for listening.
And Aubrey, thanks for talking to me today.
And I hope there are only wonderful things on the horizon for you.
Same for you.
I agree.
Thanks, Michelle.
It was really fun.
Okay.
Bye, Aubrey.
Bye.
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