How to express ourselves politely in English – 1st part

Courtesy is important. Even when we are invited to say something unpleasant, if we do it in a polite and polite way, it will be perceived easier. In Bulgaria we have been taught to say ‘please’, ‘thank you’, to talk to you. Let’s see which expressions in the English language will contribute to our polite and respectful expression to the interlocutor.

Current advice will do us good, especially if we are doing business in the UK. Read them and enter them in your dictionary!

As we have already mentioned, polite expression mitigates the effect of an unpleasant message. For example, you have to delay with an order. You know your client will not be charmed. But the English are a nurtured nation, they will not react as sharply as we, the temperate Bulgarians. This, however, does not mean that we do not owe them some mitigating words and expressions in the message. For example, if we want to say:

-I’ll be late at the end of the project. – There will be a delay in the completion of the project.

it is good to bring it more delicately:

-I think there might be a little delay in completing the project. – I’m afraid there may be a slight delay in the completion of the project.

The mild, bit, a bit bit, slightly, etc., mitigating effect of the messages are the words. All of them cover the Bulgarian “light”, “little”, “weak”. For example, the too straightforward sentence “We will go out of the budget.”  may be expressed as “We might run slightly over budget.”

The questioning negation is also mitigating. Here is an example:

-You must refuse the order! – We should cancel the order!

this may be replaced by:

Do not we have to cancel the order? – Should not we cancel the order?

In English it is not good to express a direct accusation, especially when we are not sure someone is guilty. That’s why Passive Voice is used. Here, again, an example:

-You broke your pen! – You have broken my pen!

And we could speak not as direct observers, so we do not sound like accusers:

– My pen was broken. – My pen has been broken.

These and other ways of expression contribute to our good relationships with people. But in order for us to be aware of them, we should learn the English language and especially the polite phrases in it. At the Raya London Training Center, we are ready to give you a variety of tips and help you with your daily or business communications.

English language teaching should not be an end in itself but must meet the needs of our real public and private engagements. That’s why we’re trying to offer working examples with our short articles. If you have difficulty communicating in English, or if you have any questions, tell us the topics of our next material, which we hope will be useful to you.

Author Iveta Radeva