Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Lisa. In this video, I will give you some tips about some bad habits to avoid when you're speaking English in a professional environment. These bad habits can make you sound insecure and less knowledgeable. Both native speakers and non-native speakers of English are likely to have some of these bad speech habits. If you speak this way, you're probably not aware of it. We will also practice fixing some of these bad habits. I will show you some sample sentences, and then we will improve them by saying them differently. First, I will give you a few of my tips, and then Alex Lyon, the professional communication coach, will join us. Alex has a YouTube channel where he posts weekly videos on leadership and communication skills for professional development. His channel is called Communication Coach Alex Lyon. He's very qualified to give us advice on this topic. Okay, let's get started with my tips. My first tip is don't be verbose. Do you know what verbose means? Verbose or verbosity means using more words than are needed. Using too many words when you speak. A person who talks a lot can be considered verbose. The opposite of being verbose is being concise. It's important to be concise when you're speaking professionally. One way to be more concise is to eliminate words that don't mean anything. In a professional environment, it's important to be able to communicate quickly and efficiently. Here's an example of a verbose sentence, and then we will change it. All things being equal, what I'm trying to say is that in my opinion, all people should, for all intents and purposes, have the right to free speech. That sentence is very wordy. It's verbose. And here is the revised sentence. Everyone should have the right to free speech. That's concise. It gets straight to the point. Avoid using phrases that don't add any meaning to your sentence. So be careful who you imitate. Here are some common examples. Due to the fact that. Let's look at this sentence. Due to the fact that he isn't fluent in English, he didn't understand the contract. What can we say instead of due to the fact that? We can simply use the word because. Because he wasn't fluent in English, he didn't understand the contract. Here's another common one. In the event of or in the event that. Let's look at this sentence. In the event that he doesn't show up, we'll cancel the meeting. How can we replace in the event that? What can we say instead? You can say it like this. If he doesn't show up, we'll cancel the meeting. So you see, using the word if is more concise and more powerful. We don't need in the event that. Let's look at the next phrase. For the purpose of. We will hold a meeting for the purpose of selecting a new software system. What can we say instead of for the purpose of? We can use the word to. We will hold a meeting to select a new software system. Here's another one. The fact that. I hated the fact that I had to work on Saturday. How can we eliminate the fact that? We can simply say, I hated working on Saturdays. Some other common phrases that are overused but don't hold much meaning include. All things being equal. All things considered. In a manner of speaking. In the final analysis. My next tip is avoid using filler words. Here are some examples of filler words. Kind of. Kind of like. Like. You know. Sort of. So. Those words usually don't mean anything. It's okay to use them once in a while, but don't overdo it. A really common one that I hear is kind of like. I was working with a student who was in graduate school here in the United States. She's studying veterinary medicine and she plans to work in the United States after she graduates. And during our lesson, I noticed that her filler word was kind of like. She used it all the time. For example, she would say, I kind of like started a new class. I kind of like told her that. And I told her, imagine if your doctor said to you, you kind of like have an infection. Or he kind of like has diabetes. That would make my doctor sound unsure and definitely not very professional. I want my doctor to be certain about what he's saying. And when you say kind of like, you don't sound certain. Teenagers often use a lot of filler words, but you are professional, so you should avoid using too many of them. Kind of like means in some ways or similar to something. You can use it if that's what you mean. Let's do a quick exercise. I will say some sentences which contain the words kind of like, and I would like you to decide whether kind of like means similar to or if it's just a filler. And therefore, it should be eliminated. The first sentence is, he looks kind of like Brad Pitt. Does kind of like work here? Yes, this is okay because the meaning is he looks similar to Brad Pitt. Therefore, kind of like has a meaning. Let's look at the next example. This one was spoken by a person describing a first date. She said, I was basically kind of just like, you know what, I'm just going to go. What do you think about that one? Does that work? No. In this case, kind of like has no meaning. It's a filler. Even the word basically is probably not necessary. We can say this instead. I told myself, you know what, I'm just going to go. Or even better, I decided to go. This one was spoken by a person giving a review of a new computer. He said, it turns on kind of like you would expect from an iPhone. Does this work? What do you think? Yes, this is okay because it means similar to an iPhone. How about this one? An alligator is kind of like a crocodile. Does that work? Yes, this is okay because it means similar to. An alligator is similar to a crocodile. I heard someone say this. He was kind of like, what are you going to do? Is kind of like okay there? No, absolutely not. How would you change it? We can say it like this. He asked me what I was going to do. Or if we want to keep the quotation marks and keep it a direct quote, we can say, he asked me, what are you going to do? But we definitely don't need he was kind of like. That's slang. That's a very casual way of talking. You will hear native speakers speaking that way, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you should imitate it. Of course, if you're casually hanging out with your friends, it's okay to speak this way, but not in a professional environment. And now you will hear a few more tips from Alex Lyon, the professional communication coach. He has some good ones. Let's watch our conversation. Hi Alex.

Speaker 2: Great to see you again, Lisa.

Speaker 1: I'd love to hear your tips to help our viewers speak more concisely and to sound more professional and confident at work.

Speaker 2: Well, Lisa, thank you for having me back on the channel. And I have a couple of tips that I think will help. The first is to avoid side particles. Side particles is a term we use to describe those words and phrases that you often hear communicators repeat as a habit, but they don't add any information. Some examples are words like basically, technically, actually, essentially, quite frankly. And here's how this would sound in a sentence. Basically the report is due on Monday. Actually the font in the report is Times New Roman. Technically the restroom is the third door on the right. Most people use side particles purely out of habit. And we might think they sound good or smart on the surface, but they don't add any real value to what we're saying and they take up a lot of space in our message. And like most expressions, it's certainly acceptable to use words like this once in a while. Many people, however, use them where they don't belong or use side particles over and over again in the same way. I know a guy who says the word basically in almost every sentence and it becomes a distraction like any other filler words.

Speaker 1: That's a really good tip. You know, I had a student call me for lessons. He started by saying, basically I'm calling because, and then again, he said basically, and I noticed he also used basically maybe 10 times in our very short two or three minute conversation. People have their specific side particles that they really like to use.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. People tend to have one or two phrases or words they gravitate toward.

Speaker 1: Avoid side particles. That's a great tip. Do you have any others?

Speaker 2: Yes. I have another one that's similar and that is to avoid disclaimers.

Speaker 1: Avoid disclaimers. Can you define the word disclaimer for our viewers?

Speaker 2: Sure. A disclaimer in everyday communication is a statement that directly decreases the value of what the person is saying. So it makes what the person is saying sound less certain and less meaningful. And here are some examples. A speaker might say, this may sound like a silly idea, but, or you've probably already thought of this, or I'm sure my suggestion isn't very good, but. You can hear that these disclaimers automatically signal that our contribution has a low value. So instead of adding disclaimers, just say your point of view without diminishing it or qualifying it.

Speaker 1: That's a really important tip. I could see where that could communicate a lack of confidence. People say it because they're insecure about their message. So what do we do if we really are nervous that maybe people will disagree with our message? I think that's why people might say, oh, it's just my opinion, but should we just go ahead and say it as if we are certain? What are your thoughts about that?

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a great habit to just say what you want to say without that qualification. And it's okay, of course, to use disclaimers or side particles once in a while. That's human, but it's important to avoid this as a habit because it can undermine your credibility in the long run.

Speaker 1: Can you explain the meaning of the word qualification? We have the word qualification, such as he is qualified for the job. But when we're talking about speech and the word qualification, what does that mean?

Speaker 2: Qualification in this sense means putting a limit on what you're saying. It's saying that my contribution is limited and qualified instead of complete.

Speaker 1: That is so important, especially for my students who are non-native speakers. When they have a meeting in the United States, they often feel insecure about not only how they're saying something, but what they're saying, maybe because of the cultural differences and they're not quite sure if they should say something. So they use a lot of qualifications. That's a really, really important tip. So in order to avoid those habits, what do you recommend that we do? How should we practice this? How can we get rid of these bad habits?

Speaker 2: Well, it's really important to take out those unnecessary words and phrases, all of the ones we've been talking about. And the key is to take that out and put in a pause instead. One way to practice this is to say the word period or pause out loud. And this helps create a new habit. So at first I would say period or pause out loud as I practice. But then in time, I would learn to say that in my head. And what listeners end up hearing is a short silence, a little pause, and it sounds great. So here's how that would sound using a regular old filler. At first, anytime you hear yourself adding a filler word or unnecessary phrases, stop yourself and say the word pause or period out loud. Here's an example, before and after. The report is due on Monday. And when I practice that out loud, I would just pause. I would say the report is due on Monday. And your goal is to simply say that pause or period in your head. Yeah, it sounds much better. The report is due on Monday. So here's another example. Instead of saying, technically, the bathroom is the first door on the right, I just say, the bathroom is the first door on the right. And I'm saying the word pause or period in my head. And listeners just hear nice, clear communication. A similar tip from other people that I've heard is to instead of saying pause or period is to take a silent breath and let that silent space remain rather than the filler. Taking a breath like this works really well between sentences, which is where a lot of our bad habits show up. And when we clean up these bad habits, the resulting words remain much stronger and sound more confident almost automatically.

Speaker 1: Alex, thanks again so much for coming on my channel and sharing these tips. I know my viewers love having you on. You have a lot of valuable information to share with us.

Speaker 2: Thanks Lisa for having me on. It's always a pleasure.

Speaker 1: Make sure you go to Alex's channel. It's called Communication Coach Alex Lyon. He's got wonderful videos that will help you communicate more confidently and more professionally. I love his videos and I watch them regularly and I've learned a lot. I suggest that you try to identify your most common bad habit and begin working on that. To be more concise, it really helps to have a strong vocabulary to know many words in English. That way, you will not need to use a lot of words to explain your meaning. By using a precise word, you can get right to the point and not waste any time. So, my final tip is keep studying English vocabulary. The more words you know, the more concisely you'll be able to speak. Thanks for watching and keep practicing your English. To get the two courses, the American Accent Course and the 400 Advanced Words You Must Know for Fluent English, go to AccurateEnglish.com.