Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre vocabulário relacionado a fazer críticas.
Transcrição
Hi, all. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.
Today I’d like to talk about a business-related topic… criticism. First things first – listen to the word criticism again: CRITICISM. It’s as if you had an “a” between the S and the M: “criticisam”. OK, so for the second time I’m using a newsletter issued by technology company HP, or Hewlet Packard, as inspiration. This time what caught my eye was the vocabulary involved when you’re criticizing someone’s work. Or maybe I should say, when you’re constructively criticizing someone’s work. It is still very common for people to take criticism the wrong way, or to be offended, and… of course, the way you deliver your criticism makes all the difference.
However if you are planning to maintain some kind of professional interaction with American people you probably should get used to giving and receiving constructive criticism. People say ‘constructive feedback’ as well… same thing. In the time I studied and worked in the United States, no matter what kind of project I was involved in there always came a time when we had to meet with other people in order to get some feedback. Of course it can be nerve-wracking, but if you’re lucky enough to have a good boss and peers, you probably won’t be caught off guard by that kind of meeting.
So the HP newsletter I read is all about how to make criticism and the language you can use for that. I recommend reading the entire article since it’s gonna give you some insight into American culture, and also because I’m only going to touch on a few expressions from the article here, so, just click the link here on the podcast and read it to become familiar with a lot more vocabulary related to criticism.
The article splits the suggestions in three categories, and the first one is mild criticism. Mild means soft or weak, something that isn’t strong or extreme. Do you get the idea of mild criticism? Mild criticism comes across more like a suggestion but, don’t be fooled, if it’s your boss giving you the suggestion my guess would be… you’d better take it! Listen to some phrases from the article that can be used to give mild criticism:
“I think it’s good but there are a couple of things I’d like changed.” Here your boss is basically saying he or she likes what you’ve done and there are a few things you should change.
Here’s a good one:
“I’m not sure if the figures you quote on page 5 are completely up to date. Could you please have another look at them and adjust them if necessary?” “Figures” means numbers. This is an indirect way to communicate that your boss thinks you made a mistake with the numbers and they would like you to check your figures again.
Let’s move on to a few examples of moderate criticism. This one is, of course, a bit stronger or more comprehensive than mild criticism.
“It’s basically fine but it’s not quite there yet.” That means, what you did is good, it’s in the right direction, I like it, but it’s not 100% yet; it’s not completely right yet. After your boss says that, he or she will probably let you know in more detail what you should add or change.
Here’s one more:
“First of all, I don’t think the figures that are included can be right. Could you please take another look at them?” So this is another way to ask you to revise your numbers, right? But this time around your boss is being more direct. It sounds like the mistakes you’ve made here are more serious than in the first example.
And now let’s look at a couple of examples of what the article called heavy criticism.
“It’s taken me a few days to get back to you with my feedback because there are quite a few points I’d like to discuss with you.” The article points out that “quite a few” means “a lot”, and I would agree with that. When your boss says there are a few points to discuss, he or she means ‘many points’ to dicuss. When they say “Do you have a minute? I’d like to discuss something with you” they really mean “Do you have a half hour?” and so on.
And here’s one more:
“Do you see what I’m getting at? Does this make sense?” Your boss is asking you if you understand what he or she is saying; if you’re getting the point; if you see what they mean. These are very common phrases to check whether you understand, whether you get what they’re saying. Do you see what I’m getting at? Does this make sense?
So these were my chosen examples for this podcast. I disagree with how the author of the article classified the expressions: some of them don’t sound like heavy criticism to me, but I guess it really would depend on the content of the criticism. What you might notice when you read through the list is that people usually try not to sound aggressive when they’re giving someone feedback. Many people use mild words and expressions to deliver their criticism.
So tell us: have you received some criticism at work recently? How was it delivered? What do you think about the expressions mentioned in the article? Talk to you next time.
Link para o artigo original (não disponível)
Key expressions
Vocabulary concerning criticism.
Glossary
constructive criticism = crítica construtiva
there always came a time when = sempre chegava uma hora em que
nerve-wracking = qualidade de algo que nos deixa muito nervosos
be caught off guard = ser pego desprevenido, ficar sem reação
if you’re lucky enough to = se você tiver a sorte de
I’m only going to touch on = eu só vou falar brevemente sobre
Ana criou um blog de dicas de inglês em 2006, e depois de muito pesquisar o que faz alguém ganhar fluência numa segunda língua, criou seu primeiro curso de inglês em 2009.
Hello Ana you are on the top of my englsih podcasts thank you so much for your help! So could you make a podcast about how to use the word EVER some times i have difficulties do use it. See you and thanks again ! Hugs from Rio !
Yeah Ana! Good podcast, as always. Well I’ve already received a mild criticism from my boss about something that he wasn’t satisfied. Well it was when I did some graphics with figures from company’s projects. He said: “Daniele, I like it but it’s not exactly what I want. You can better the kind of graphic and you could make it as if the figures were increasing through of the trimester instead of starting over again as if our projects had decreased through the whole year instead. Do you know what I mean?”
PS: if there’s something wrong in this comment, please correct me! :)
I was travelling and only when I got home saw your new podcast. This topic make remember my boss, he’s a sales manager and he’s very demand when the content is write. He’s fifty-one years old and I think he has his own way to write. So even we knowing it, sometimes he’s getting by and aks me to write a comunicate to our sales team.
However, I write it and dedicate as much as I can to put better words, but I sometimes feel over these years that I’m in another world regard to texts, and every time when I finish it he call me and say, you intented it was well but I have something to change. Mild criticism always, he’s very smart and I’ve learned a lot of with him. Mild criticism, the companies will be pretty well we had only it. Excellent tip.
