Recently a lot of you have asked me about how I've learnt Spanish. After living in Spain for nearly 4 years now I think it's actually a good point to look back and share what things I've done to get where I am now.  When I came to Spain at 26 I basically spoke NO Spanish. I'd been taught Spanish at secondary school but had forgotten absolutely everything. After doing a very basic beginners course arrived in Madrid and I didn't understand ANYTHING.I'm going to tell you how I've managed to get to where I'm at now, some little strategies that worked well for me but also the REAL picture of what it's been like - warts and all!  I hope you can take something away from it or just have a giggle relating to the struggles of learning a language!  Even though you might be learning a different language than me, the struggles are the same - getting the grammar right, understanding people, having the confidence to speak etc. Enjoy!ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST -  Business English every WednesdaySign up to my newsletter to to get exclusive content from the podcast and be the first to hear about my courseGet more of my business English content on my InstagramListen to me as a co-host on Culips English Chatterbox showDonate and support me and my content Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

Being able to make your English less direct when required is an important part of speaking English internationally. Different cultures have different ways of doing things but you need to be able to adjust when needed. Being too direct could put people off, make it more difficult to build relationshops and just sound a little rude, even though I'm sure that would never be your intention.The 1st in a mini series of this topic I give you some quick tips adout how you can soften your English if you need to. In this episode we will look at:Using Could to form polite suggestionsUsing Wouldn't in negative sentencesUsing Might/May for desiresI hope it's useful!ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST - Bringing you Business English every WednesdaySign up to my newsletter to to get exclusive content from the podcast and be the first to hear about my courseGet more of my business English content on my InstagramListen to me as a co-host on Culips English Chatterbox showDonate and support me and my content  Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

Let's continue our look at business phrasal verbs that student hardly ever use that are great to know and understand or even try it out in the next business meeting! Recently, I've been obsessed with phrasal verbs with "through". Through in a phrasal verb has a few meanings such as communication such as put through, get through (telephones) but in today's episode I want to look at two meanings which are experiencing difficult situations and completing or finishing something.I'm going to take you through (see! there loads with through!)To go throughTo push throughTo rattle throughTo run throughTo see something throughTo sit throughTo waltz throughEnjoy!ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdaySign up to my newsletter to to get exclusive content from the podcast and be the first to hear about my courseGet more of my business English content on my InstagramListen to me as a co-host on Culips English Chatterbox showDonate and support me and my content     Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

Acronyms are a business person's best friend. They save us time so that we don't have to say all the tricky words, which can be handy from an English learner point of view.We use them in writing and also in speaking however there are two important things to take into account. 1) Is the acronym spoken? Not always. 2) How do we say the acronym? Sometimes we say it together and sometimes we say the letters individually. There are also rather frequent mistakes to avoid that are common for Spanish speakers.I go through a selection of the most common business acronyms and answer those two questions for you. Here are the main ones we are going to talk about so that you can follow:ASAP, KPI, FYI, COB/COP, EOD, ETA, WFH, SEO, CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CTO, ROI, NGO, SWOT.I hope it's useful! ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdaySign up to my newsletter to to get exclusive content from the podcast and be the first to hear about my coursesGet more of my free business English on my InstagramDonate and support me and my content Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

Today I share with you an exercise that I really like to do with my students as it's one of the most common things that you might be asked to do if you work on a project with English speakers or where English is the common language. I've also touched on some really nice vocab that you can use to avoid using the same-old stuff like "at the moment", "so far", "in the future. A little bit of variation is good!I suggest you get a pen a little notepad or take some notes on your device of the vocab that could be useful for you. ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdayLearn even more business English on my InstagramDonate and support me and my content   Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

I continue my series of "What I would really say...". Here are some natural expressions to use at each stage of arranging a meeting at work. I've done it from the perspective of speaking rather than writing. In written form it might be slightly different.  I've been working on this a lot with my students recently and wanted to share this with you. If you want to practice by yourself, bring up your own schedule and pretend to arrange a meeting with yourself.Enjoy!ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdayLearn even more business English on my nstagramDonate and support me and my content Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

We continue looking at conditionals in a business context. Today we touch on the 1st conditional (or future conditional) whatever you prefer! This is a structure that you might potentially have to use if you are working in English  on big project teams, making decisions based on realistic situations. I give you some real examples in context with a situation that is very current to what is going on in the world of business today.Enjoy!ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdayFind me on InstagramDonate and support me and my content Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

I did the dangerous thing and asked people on my Instagram to "Ask me a question." Alongside the standard Insta Qs any person gets on social media of "Are you single?" and "How old are you?" I've extracted some interesting questions that I am going to talk about today.All wrapped up with some English advice along the way. Enjoy and make sure you subscribe to the podcast and follow me on Instagram.ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdayCulips Chatterbox Podcast Self-Authoring Suite - One of the things I did last year that has helped me with my goals.Find me on Instagram Donate and support me and my content Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

This episode was inspired by a student (Thank you, Pablo) who said "Anna, there are loads of business expressions in English with the word "ball". I hadn't really noticed before but he was absolutely right and I thought, that would make a great episode. So, here it is! Enjoy! ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdayGet even more of my English content on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/anna2nsenglish/  Donate with buy me a coffee and support me and my contenthttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/annawith2nsShow Less Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish

Meetings, meetings, meetings!If you run international meetings in English or you want to learn how to do it then this episode is going to be great for you. I'm going to talk about a few things that people don't normall talk about:How to set focus in a meetingHow to stop someone going off trackHow to delegate actionsEnjoy!ANNA WITH 2NS PODCAST. Business English every WednesdayGet even more of my English content on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/anna2nsenglish/  Donate with buy me a coffee and support me and my contenthttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/annawith2n Say hello on LinkedIn @AnnaConnellyFollow me on Instagram @annabusinessenglish