152 How to acknowledge people in conversation

This week on the Art of Business English I have a very useful lesson for you that will improve your listening skills and ensure that you are more effective when dealing with people in many different situations. These tips are useful not only at work, but also in your personal life. 

To be a good listener, it is always a good idea to show someone that you are in fact listening to them. In order to do this, you should have knowledge of some simple expressions that you can use to acknowledge people when they are sharing information with you. 

So, let's dive in a look at some simple, yet useful expressions, which you can use, to make you a better listener. 

Watch the episode here

Listening Advice #1

Tip: Try and listen to people as opposed to jumping in with your advice. 

Great question!

Easy way to acknowledge someone who has just asked you a question. 

That's a difficult question... Let me think about that for a second. 

Helpful if you need some time to answer. This is useful for language learners as it gives you time to think about your response. 

Great/Interesting answer!

Good for acknowledging that you approve of a person's answer. 

Fantastic! or I like it!

Use a rising intonation to express your approval. 

Good one

Used also with a rising intonation to show that you like a person's idea or comment. 

Nice! or Nice one!

Expressing positive approval of an idea. Used quite informally. 

Yes! It's great/good

Expressing clearly your approval of an idea. 

Love it

Used without the subject "I", to express your complete agreement with an idea. 

I totally get what you're saying

Used to transmit to someone that you fully understand them.

So true

Spoken with a rising and falling intonation to express that you understand a situation completely and agree with the other speaker. 

Oh! I had no idea

Used when trying to sympathise with someone and to express surprise about a situation. 

Advice # 2

Tip: Try to avoid always bringing the conversation back to yourself. It's often better to ask the person how they felt in that particular situation and investigate further than jumping in with your experience. 

Final thoughts

I am sure you will agree that today's episode is packed full of easy to implement techniques to help you be a better listener. 

Tell me how you  are using this language below and give me some feedback on if you feel it has made you a better listener. 

That's it from me for another week, see you all next week on the Art of Business English.