To celebrate The English Center's 17th birthday this May, we've put together exactly 17 tips — one for every year we've been helping professionals find their voice in English. They're practical, targeted, and based on real patterns we see in professionals every day.
If you take only one piece of advice from this entire list, make it this one.
Speaking more slowly than feels natural is the simplest and most immediately actionable change we give our students — and it works fast. The moment you slow down, you become easier to follow. Your words sound clearer, your ideas sound more structured, and you give your listener time to process what matters.
Many professionals believe fluency equals speed. In reality, speed often reduces impact. When you speak quickly, you compress sounds, swallow word endings, and rush transitions — even if your grammar and vocabulary are strong.
What to do instead:
Slow down most at structure points:
A well-placed pause does two things: it signals to your listener that something important is coming, and it gives you a moment to compose your next thought.
Pausing feels unnatural at first, especially if silence makes you uncomfortable. But if you take note of what makes a great speaker so effective, you’ll notice how consistently they use pauses to build anticipation and drive home the point.
What to do: Before you make a point, take a breath. One second of silence before a key message can make it land twice as hard. Giving a presentation? When you step onto the stage, pause and look at the audience before you begin speaking.
English is a stress-timed language. That means intonation — the rise and fall of your voice — carries meaning, not just emotion. Flat intonation makes it harder for listeners to follow you. Misplaced stress can actually change the meaning of what you say.
In the example below, we see one sentence which can convey 5 very different meanings, depending on intonation.
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
Using intonation effectively signals confidence, not just in your speaking ability but in the truth or value of what you’re saying.
What to do: Identify the key word in each sentence and stress it. Let your pitch fall at the end of statements. Rising intonation on a statement makes it sound like a question (and that quietly undermines your authority).
Waiting until your English is "perfect" before speaking confidently is a trap. Perfection is not the goal. Impact is.
The question to ask yourself is not "Was that grammatically correct?" but "Did my message land?"
What to do: Shift your benchmark. After a meeting or presentation, ask yourself: Was I clear? Was I understood? Did I move things forward? That's what matters.
Long, complex sentences are hard to deliver fluently and equally hard to follow. When you're speaking, shorter sentences give you more control, and they're easier on your listener.
What it often sounds like: "So what I wanted to say is that I think we should probably try to move forward with the plan, but of course there are still a few things we need to look at before we can really commit to anything."
What works better: "I think we should move forward. There are a few things to check first. But the direction is clear."
What to do: Aim for one idea per sentence. If a sentence has more than two clauses, consider splitting it.
Writing out and memorizing a full script feels safe, but it rarely works in real conversations. You can't predict what others will say, and if you lose your place, you lose your confidence.
Instead, think of phrases as Lego blocks you can use to build your points appropriately in any situation.
What to do: For your next meeting or presentation, prepare three to five phrases for each stage: opening, making points, handling questions, and closing. Practice them until they feel natural — not scripted.
Over-explaining is one of the most common spoken English habits we see in professionals. It often comes from wanting to sound thorough or precise. In practice, it dilutes your message and tests your listener's patience.
What to do: Lead with your point. Pause. Add detail only if your listener asks for it. Resist the urge to qualify everything.
Try this: Answer a question in one sentence. Stop. Let the silence work for you.
Broad, flexible words like thing, stuff, get, do, make, or good are useful when you’re still getting to grips with English. But for advanced speakers, vague language is a limitation. It can make you sound less decisive and less professional than you actually are.
At an advanced level, the goal is conciseness: to say more with fewer words. One of the fastest ways to achieve this is by upgrading to stronger verbs.
Compare these:
"We need to deal with the things that are causing the delay." (11 words, vague)
"We must resolve the bottlenecks." (5 words, precise and professional)
What to do:
Instead of "making it better," try “optimizing”. Instead of "giving a talk," try “delivering a presentation”. Specific verbs reduce your word count while increasing your authority. Precision in your language signals precision in your thinking.
The beginning and end of any conversation or meeting carry disproportionate weight. A strong opening signals confidence and sets the tone. A clear close ensures people leave knowing what happens next.
These moments are also highly predictable, which makes them easy to prepare ahead of time.
What to do: Build a personal set of phrases for opening and closing. Practise them until they feel automatic. A few examples:
Disagreeing in a second language is uncomfortable for many professionals. Without the right phrases, you may stay silent when you shouldn't — or come across as more blunt than you intend.
Useful phrases:
What to do: Choose two or three phrases that feel natural to you. Practise them out loud until they're ready to use.
Signposting means guiding your audience through your presentation with clear verbal markers. It tells people where you are, where you're going, and what's most important.
Without signposting, even well-prepared content can feel hard to follow.
Examples:
What to do: Map out your next presentation and add a signpost at every transition. Your audience will thank you.
Asking for clarification may be uncomfortable, but in professional settings it’s essential that everyone is on the same page. The problem is that many non-native speakers either avoid asking altogether, or ask in a way that sounds unsure, or gives the impression they weren’t paying attention.
Professional phrases:
What to do: Replace vague responses like "Sorry?" or "What do you mean?" with structured clarification questions. It sounds more confident and assures the other person that you’re taking their point seriously — while avoiding misunderstandings.
Direct translation from your native language into English, word for word, often produces sentences that are technically understandable but not quite right. Over time, this can become a persistent habit that limits your fluency.
This is particularly common for Dutch speakers, where sentence structure, word order, and idiom often differ significantly from English.
For example: 'Ik heb het rapport geschreven" translates word for word to "I have the report written," which is of course incorrect.
What to do: Instead of translating, learn English in chunks — fixed phrases, collocations, and sentence patterns that you can use directly. The more you train yourself to think in English, the more natural your spoken English will become.
Many learners focus on individual sounds — the th, the short i, the v versus w — and while these matter, they're not the main reason communication breaks down. Rhythm, stress, and spoken patterns have a much bigger impact on how natural and clear you sound.
What to do: Instead of drilling isolated sounds, practice full phrases and sentences with natural stress and rhythm (ie. prosody, the music of language). Shadow native speakers. Focus on how English flows, not just how individual words are pronounced.
You can read more about prosody here.
Strong spoken Business English is built on a foundation of well-chosen phrases. These are the expressions that come quickly, sound natural, and make you sound like someone who knows exactly what they're doing.
Categories worth building:
What to do: Start a phrase bank — a simple document or notebook where you collect and review useful expressions. Add to it regularly. Review it before important meetings or presentations.
Recording yourself is one of the most effective — and most avoided — self-improvement tools available. It's uncomfortable, but it's also invaluable to your progress in spoken English.
Listening back lets you hear what others hear: your pace, your filler words, your intonation patterns, and the moments where your message loses clarity.
What to do: Record a one-minute spoken summary of something work-related. Listen back. Notice what you'd change. Repeat weekly.
Most feedback non-native speakers receive focuses on grammar. While grammar matters, it's rarely the main reason communication breaks down in professional settings. Clarity, structure, and delivery matter far more.
Asking specifically for feedback on clarity — not just correctness — gives you much more actionable insight.
What to do: After a presentation or important meeting, ask a trusted colleague: "Was my message clear? Was anything hard to follow?" That kind of feedback is where real improvement starts.
You don't need to work on all 17 of these at once. Pick one. Practice it deliberately for a week. Then move to the next.
Small, consistent changes to your speaking habits will take you further than any amount of grammar study. The goal is clear, confident, impactful communication, not perfection.
If you are looking for personalized, private training to improve your professional English, our Spoken Business English Course is perfect for you!
You can work with a professional native-speaker trainer and get real-world practice at our locations in:
Amsterdam (near Vondelpark or Central Station)
Amstelveen (easy parking, quiet setting)
The Hague (Zuid-Holland’s choice for English training)
Hoofddorp (close to Schiphol, central, accessible, modern)
Prefer a virtual course? Contact us about English Center courses onlin
17 Spoken Business English Tips, by Brenda de Jong-Pauley, MA, and A. Roberts, BA
Published May 2026
About the author:
Brenda de Jong-Pauley is the founder of The English Center in the Netherlands, where she has worked with international professionals since 2009. Originally from the United States, she lives and works in the Netherlands, supporting professionals in developing clear, confident English for real business situations.
Brenda holds a Master’s degree in Psychology (focused on persuasive communication) and a Bachelor’s in Education. She specializes in high-level business communication and spoken English.
The English Center is a CEDEO-recognized training provider, working with professionals and teams from international and Dutch companies and municipalities.
