For professionals working in Switzerland, English is often the language that connects colleagues, clients, suppliers and international offices. Yet there is an important difference between knowing English and being able to use English effectively in a business meeting.
You may understand almost everything that is being said and still hesitate when it is your turn to speak. You may know exactly what you want to say in German, French or another language but struggle to formulate the same thought quickly enough in English. Or perhaps your English is already strong, but you want your communication to sound more polished, concise and professional.
These challenges become particularly noticeable during international video meetings. There is little time to translate mentally. Several people may speak at once. Accents differ. Questions arrive unexpectedly. Presentations move quickly, and you may need to disagree, clarify or make a decision without having time to prepare your wording.
Why International Meetings Push Your English Further
A written email gives you time. You can reread a sentence, look up a word, change the tone and correct a mistake before pressing send.
A meeting does not give you that luxury.
During a live conversation, your brain is simultaneously listening, interpreting, planning a response and deciding whether it is appropriate to speak. During a video meeting, you may also be reading chat messages, following slides, watching facial expressions and dealing with connection delays.
That is why even professionals with a relatively high level of English can suddenly feel less confident during an international call.
The problem is often not a lack of intelligence or professional expertise. It is a lack of automatic Business English: the phrases and communication patterns you need to access without stopping to translate them first.
Professional English Is Not the Same as Perfect English
One of the most useful changes an English learner can make is to stop measuring professional communication by grammatical perfection alone.
In an international company, a successful meeting may include native speakers and non-native speakers from several countries. Communication therefore works best when people speak clearly, avoid unnecessary complexity and make the structure of their thoughts obvious.
Instead of trying to create a long, sophisticated sentence, strong professional communicators often use a simpler structure:
State the main point
Tell the listener what you want them to understand before adding background information.
Give the reason
Explain the most important reason, evidence or business consideration.
Clarify the next step
End with the decision, recommendation, question or action you need.
For example, instead of spending a minute building toward your conclusion, you could say:
This is effective Business English communication because the listener does not have to search for the point.
Business English Meeting Vocabulary You Can Actually Use
Learning isolated vocabulary is useful, but learning complete phrases is often more effective for speaking.
The following expressions can help professionals participate more naturally in English meetings, conference calls and online discussions.
| Situation | Professional English phrase |
|---|---|
| Opening a meeting | “Thanks everyone for joining. The main objective today is…” |
| Introducing your point | “From my perspective, the main issue is…” |
| Giving an opinion | “My view is that we should…” |
| Adding information | “There is one additional point I would like to mention.” |
| Agreeing | “I agree, particularly regarding…” |
| Partly disagreeing | “I see your point. My concern, however, is…” |
| Clarifying | “Just to make sure I understand correctly, are you saying that…?” |
| Interrupting politely | “May I add something here?” |
| Returning to the topic | “Perhaps we can come back to the main question.” |
| Summarising | “So, if I understand correctly, we have agreed to…” |
| Closing a meeting | “Before we finish, let’s confirm the next steps.” |
How to Structure an English Business Meeting
When you are responsible for leading a meeting, structure becomes one of your most valuable communication tools.
A well-run meeting does not require complicated English. In fact, clear structure usually allows you to use simpler English because everyone knows where the conversation is going.
1. Begin with the purpose
Avoid spending the first several minutes making participants guess why the meeting exists.
Try:
2. Make the agenda visible
A short agenda reduces confusion and also gives non-native English speakers more context. Participants can anticipate the vocabulary and subject matter that will appear during the discussion.
3. Signal transitions
Small expressions can dramatically improve clarity:
- “Let’s move to the next point.”
- “Before we continue, I would like to clarify something.”
- “That brings us to the question of timing.”
- “Let’s return to the original issue.”
- “I think we can move toward a decision.”
4. Finish with actions rather than conversation
The end of a meeting should answer three basic questions:
- What did we decide?
- Who is responsible?
- When does it need to happen?
This is where good Business English becomes good business.
Do you understand English but hesitate when it is time to speak?
EnglishJetzt provides personalised English coaching for professionals who want to improve speaking confidence, meetings, presentations and international business communication.
Explore Private English Coaching →What to Say When You Do Not Understand
One of the greatest sources of anxiety in an English meeting is the fear of not understanding something.
A participant speaks quickly. The connection becomes unstable. Someone uses a phrase you have never heard before. You understand 80 percent of the sentence but are unsure about the 20 percent that actually matters.
Pretending to understand can create a larger problem later.
Strong international communicators clarify early.
| Problem | What you can say |
|---|---|
| You missed a sentence | “Sorry, could you say that again?” |
| The person is speaking too quickly | “Could you go over that last point once more?” |
| You want confirmation | “Just to confirm, the deadline is Friday, correct?” |
| You understand the words but not the meaning | “When you say ‘implementation’, what specifically are you referring to?” |
| The audio is poor | “I’m having some difficulty hearing you clearly.” |
| The connection freezes | “You froze for a moment. Could you repeat the last sentence?” |
Notice that none of these phrases make you sound incompetent. They make you sound careful.
How to Interrupt Politely in English
This is one of the areas where cultural expectations and language ability meet.
You may know what you want to say but struggle to find an appropriate moment to enter the conversation. By the time you are ready, the meeting has moved to another topic.
Learning a small number of interruption phrases can solve much of this problem.
- “May I add something here?”
- “Could I briefly come in on that point?”
- “If I may, I would like to clarify one thing.”
- “Before we move on, could I ask a quick question?”
- “I think there is one point we should consider.”
If you accidentally speak at the same time as another participant, you can simply say:
This simple expression is one of the most useful phrases in an international video call.
The Swiss Workplace: Why Business English Matters
Switzerland is multilingual. International business often adds another language: English.
Professionals in Bern, Zürich, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne and other Swiss business centres frequently interact with colleagues and clients beyond their immediate language region.
A German-speaking professional may work with a French-speaking colleague, report to a manager elsewhere in Europe and speak with customers in Asia or North America. In these environments, professional English often becomes the practical common language.
This creates an unusual challenge.
You may already be highly competent in your profession and comfortable operating in more than one language, yet still feel that your personality, authority or expertise does not come across as strongly when you switch to English.
That is precisely why Business English training in Switzerland should not feel like returning to school.
A professional does not necessarily need another general grammar course. They may need targeted practice around:
- English meetings and conference calls
- Professional English vocabulary
- Presentation skills
- Negotiation language
- English pronunciation and clarity
- Speaking spontaneously
- Small talk with international colleagues
- Client conversations
- Interview preparation
- Writing professional emails
The objective is to connect the English you already know with the professional situations in which you actually need to use it.
How to Sound More Confident Without Using More Difficult English
Confidence does not come primarily from longer vocabulary lists.
It comes from reducing hesitation.
One effective technique is to build a set of professional sentence starters that you can retrieve automatically.
| Communication goal | Sentence starter |
|---|---|
| Make a recommendation | “My recommendation would be…” |
| Explain a problem | “The main challenge we are facing is…” |
| Introduce evidence | “Based on the information we have…” |
| Express caution | “One concern I would raise is…” |
| Disagree professionally | “I understand the reasoning, although I see it somewhat differently.” |
| Give your conclusion | “So my conclusion would be…” |
Practising these structures repeatedly makes them available when your attention is focused on the business problem rather than the language.
How to Practise Business English for Meetings
Reading a list of expressions once will not make them part of your spoken English. They need to become automatic.
A more effective Business English practice routine is short, specific and repetitive.
Choose one meeting situation
For example: disagreeing, explaining a delay, opening a meeting or giving a progress update.
Learn three useful expressions
Do not try to memorise twenty phrases at once. Choose three that sound natural to you.
Say them aloud
Speaking practice should involve speaking. Repeat the phrases until you no longer need to read them.
Personalise them
Use examples from your own company, job, department or industry.
Use one phrase in your next meeting
Real communication is where passive vocabulary becomes active English.
A 10-Minute Preparation Routine Before Your Next English Meeting
You do not need to study for an hour before every international call. A focused ten-minute routine can be enough.
- Minutes 1–2: Read the agenda and identify the subjects most relevant to you.
- Minutes 3–4: Write down the two most important things you want to say.
- Minutes 5–6: Identify any technical or industry vocabulary you are likely to need.
- Minutes 7–8: Say your two main points aloud in English.
- Minute 9: Prepare one question you may need to ask.
- Minute 10: Stop studying and enter the meeting focused on the conversation rather than your English.
This last point matters.
If you enter the call analysing every sentence you produce, your speech will often become slower and less natural. Preparation allows you to shift your attention away from grammar and toward communication.
What to Do After the Meeting
Your learning should not stop when the call ends.
Take two minutes and ask yourself:
- Where did I communicate clearly?
- Where did I hesitate?
- Which expression did I need but could not find?
- Was there vocabulary I heard but did not understand?
- What is one thing I want to do better next time?
This approach turns your actual working life into an ongoing English learning environment.
When Business English Coaching Becomes Useful
Self-study can take you a long way. It is particularly useful for vocabulary, listening practice and reviewing grammar.
But there is a limitation: a book, application or video cannot hear exactly how you communicate.
Personalised English coaching becomes valuable when you want feedback on things such as:
- How clearly you express ideas
- Your pronunciation
- Repeated grammar patterns
- How natural your English sounds
- How you handle questions under pressure
- How you present information
- Your industry-specific vocabulary
- How confidently you participate in conversations
At EnglishJetzt, the emphasis is on helping adults use English in the situations that matter to their professional and personal lives.
That can include Business English lessons in Bern, private English coaching, online English lessons and targeted preparation for presentations, interviews, meetings and international communication.
The objective is not simply to know more English.
It is to be able to use the English you know when the moment matters.
Do not ask, “How can I speak perfect English?”
A better question is: “How can I communicate my expertise confidently and clearly in English?”
That is a professional goal you can train.
Frequently Asked Questions About Business English Meetings
How can I improve my Business English for meetings?
Focus on complete expressions rather than individual vocabulary words. Practise the language used for giving opinions, clarifying information, disagreeing professionally, interrupting, summarising and assigning next steps. Speaking these phrases aloud is particularly important because meeting communication happens in real time.
What English phrases should I learn for business meetings?
Begin with phrases such as “From my perspective…”, “My recommendation would be…”, “Could you clarify what you mean by…?”, “May I add something here?” and “Before we finish, let’s confirm the next steps.” These expressions can be used in many different professional environments.
How can I become more confident speaking English at work?
Build confidence through repeated speaking practice in situations that resemble your real working environment. Prepare key points before meetings, practise complete sentences aloud and gradually reduce the amount of preparation as the expressions become automatic.
Is Business English different from general English?
Yes. General English develops broad language ability, while Business English focuses on professional communication such as meetings, presentations, negotiations, emails, telephone calls, client communication and workplace conversations.
Where can I learn Business English in Bern?
EnglishJetzt provides personalised English coaching for adults and professionals, including Business English in Bern and online English coaching. Sessions can focus on professional speaking, meetings, presentations, interviews and individual communication goals.
Can Business English coaching help with international video calls?
Yes. Individual coaching allows you to practise realistic video-meeting situations, receive corrections and develop language that is directly relevant to your job. Role-playing meetings is particularly helpful for improving spontaneous speaking.
Do I need perfect grammar to speak English professionally?
No. Accurate grammar is valuable, but professional communication also depends on clarity, structure, vocabulary, listening and confidence. A simple sentence that communicates an idea clearly is often more effective than a complicated sentence that is difficult to follow.