Shadowing Practice: English for Professionals: How to Give Criticism Without Offending - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi, everyone.

Welcome back to High Level Listening, your place for real English conversations at work and business English lessons.

So imagine your colleagues show you something they've been working on.

But it's not very good.

Maybe there are mistakes, or maybe it's completely different from what you expected.

You want to be honest, but you don't want to sound rude, harsh, or unprofessional.

Yeah, it can be a tricky balance.

So today we thought we'd show you exactly what to say to give clear, constructive feedback in polite business English.

And this will be included in all of our PDF transcripts for our business English bundle and the full phrase list.

We've got MP3 downloads and everything will be in the study pack.

So you can check that out in the description below.

okay for the first section we're just going to be pointing out a couple of small mistakes now

if you are just pointing out a couple of mistakes you

can say yep here's a problem we've got a problem here

but if you wanted to soften your language a little bit we're going to start positively

and we're also going to soften the problem

so let's give you an example of what that sounds like okay

so for dialogue one i'll be reviewing a document

that mark has worked on okay yeah all right okay overall

this looks pretty solid i really like how it's structured great

okay thank you i did however notice a couple of details

we should double check before sending it out okay yes of course let me know what I've missed.

All right, so let's follow the structure that we gave you guys earlier.

You're going to give them a compliment or say something positive about it, and then we're going to soften the problem.

So this is how we gave them a compliment.

Overall, this looks pretty solid.

I like how it's structured.

Okay, so I'm giving Mark a compliment.

I'm saying something positive about what he's given me for work.

I did, however, notice a couple of details we should double check before sending it out.

Now, I could have said, I noticed some problems.

That would have been very direct.

I noticed some problems.

It just doesn't sound very nice and it doesn't sound very productive, okay?

So I did, however, notice a couple of details.

Now, I'm even changing the grammar of my sentence from I noticed to I did, however, notice.

Why am I doing that?

Because my first sentence was positive and my second sentence is not so positive.

So I want to show with I did, however, I want to show a difference between the positive and the negative.

I did, however, notice a couple of details we should double check before sending it out.

Now, the final thing we did was I said we, not you.

If I can remove the word you, you, you, you made a problem, you did a problem, you, you, you, you.

If I can remove you from the sentence, it sounds so much more collaborative.

We.

I did, however, notice a couple of details we should double check before sending it out.

When Kat pointed out the problem softly, I responded quite softly as well.

I didn't say, oh, what's wrong?

I said, of course, let me know what I've missed.

So you can open yourself up to criticism and that makes you sound professional and open to changes as well.

It's win-win.

So let's go through another dialogue with the same scenario and we'll use the same structure to give a compliment, start positively and then soften the problem.

We're reviewing a presentation So, okay.

Yeah, I think this is a good start.

I think it's about 90% there.

Okay.

What do you think's missing?

One thing, the figures should be Q3 instead of Q2.

Right, right.

Good catch.

And there's a small typo.

It says manager, manager instead of manager.

Oh, wow.

Yes, I will fix that right away.

But apart from that, I think we're in good shape.

It's okay.

We use the same kind of structure i started positive this

is a good start in the previous one cat said this is solid and yes

when something is about 90 percent there i think it's almost perfect it's almost finished it's about 90 there means it's

almost good enough and then i introduced the problems one thing i didn't say the word one mistake

or one problem again we want to avoid the words problem mistake or bad so one thing

the figures should be q3 instead of q2 and there's a small typo small again i'm reducing

the size of the problem oh there's a little thing uh there's a little error oh there's one small change

if you can make problems smaller that's good too a typo is a spelling mistake i think

when we're talking about typing things on computers that's where it came from

but there is a spelling mistake there's a small typo i

do this too manger instead of manager it's missing an a and then the The final thing is also quite positive.

But apart from that, we're in good shape.

It's almost perfect.

Things are going well.

We're in good shape.

We have made a good start.

And I think with a little bit extra, we'll be ready.

Okay.

Our second topic is going to be about something that you did not expect.

So I thought it was going to be a little more like this, or I was expecting something else,

sometimes you receive something and it is not what you expected.

So we're going to be talking about this and we're going to do it in a similar way.

We are going to acknowledge the person working on the product.

We are going to say, okay, I see that you did some work here,

but then we need to show our expectations and tell them directly what you expect it.

Okay.

But we don't just want to say, this is not what I expected.

Change it.

Right.

Because that doesn't, that's not very helpful.

That's not very constructive.

So let's go through the dialogue.

All right.

Okay.

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Thanks.

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Thanks for getting this done so quickly. Of course.

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Although after reviewing it, it is a bit different from what I had in mind.

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I was expecting something more data-driven.

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Could you revise it with that in mind?

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Sure.

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Yeah, no problem.

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Thanks for clarifying.

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So remember that since we're balancing positive with negative, we can say, thanks for this.

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That's the positive one.

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Thanks for getting this done so quickly.

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Thanks for finishing it in time.

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But we're going to kind of balance that out with the negative thought.

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So then we could say, thanks, although.

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Thanks, however.

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And just like the last one where I said I did notice, I'm saying, although after reviewing it,

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it is a bit different from what I had in mind.

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So I could say it's a bit different.

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But remember, we're balancing it out.

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Thanks for this, although it is a bit different from what I had in mind.

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Something I had in mind was what I was thinking, what I was expecting.

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And then I'm going to tell them what I want.

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I was expecting something more data-driven.

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We kind of go down this path, but we do need to directly say what we want.

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Otherwise, we're never going to get it, right?

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I was expecting something more data-driven.

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Could you revise it with that in mind?

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Okay, so this is what I had in mind.

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And with that in mind, can you revise it?

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Revise too.

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It's better than fix or change or stop.

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Revise is a very professional word for that.

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OK, well, here's a second dialogue.

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Same scenario, same structure.

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Thanks for putting this together.

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I can see you put a lot of work into it.

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Yeah, sure. Of course.

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I think what you've done is useful, but the format isn't quite what the client asked for.

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Could we restructure it to focus on quarterly figures? Of course.

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Got it.

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I will rework it.

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Okay.

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Did you hear our strategy again?

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Appreciate their work first.

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I said, thanks for putting this together.

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Thanks for finding all this different data and collecting it into one.

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Thanks for putting this together.

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Thanks for doing this.

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Thanks for working so hard.

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I can see you put a lot of work into it.

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or I can see you put a lot of effort and time into it.

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So start with a compliment, then say what you would like to change.

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What you've done is useful.

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So another compliment, another bit of appreciation.

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But the format isn't quite what the client asked for.

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So again, like Kat said earlier, we want to avoid the word you.

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I want to focus on the problem most.

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The problem is the format how the information is laid out.

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The format isn't quite what the client asked for.

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Again, we want to soften the problem.

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So making problems smaller is one and saying quite is another way.

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It isn't quite what the client asked for.

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This is much nicer than saying you didn't listen to the client.

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The format isn't quite what the client asked for.

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Could we restructure it?

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Again, we Let's work together.

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It's not all on you.

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We're a team.

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Could we restructure it?

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Again, like revise in the previous dialogue, restructure is another softer word to say change.

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Could we restructure it to focus on quarterly figures?

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Some other useful phrases if you find yourself in the same situation.

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This is close, but I was picturing something a little different.

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Another one.

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What I had in mind was slightly different.

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Now, I may not have explained it clearly.

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I was thinking of a different approach.

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I think we need to go in a different direction.

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Honestly, I was thinking along slightly different lines.

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Alright, so our final situation is when something just is not possible.

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We have lots of good ideas all day long, but sometimes things cannot work out.

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They are physically impossible.

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We don't have the money.

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This is not feasible.

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So I don't want to completely shut someone down, but sometimes we have to.

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It's just not possible.

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So let's look at dialogue one and let's show you some good, clear, professional phrases to help you in this situation.

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So I was thinking we could rebuild the whole system before the launch.

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Well, I see what you're going for.

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And in an ideal world, that would be great.

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But I don't think that's realistic for us right now.

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Oh, you don't think so?

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No, just with the timeline we're working with, we wouldn't be able to deliver that properly.

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Yeah, fair enough.

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So let's focus on a few key improvements that we can actually get done before the launch.

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okay so mark's creative mark's thinking mark's telling us some information

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but it's just not going to be possible right

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so what i've kind of done is what we've been doing

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this whole time we've given a compliment we've said what we

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like about it we've said why we can't do this

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and then maybe we've offered a new direction to go in or something smaller something easier that we can actually do.

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So I see what you're going for.

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I see where you're going with this.

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I can see you thinking, you know, you're thinking big, right?

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We're thinking big.

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And in an ideal world, that would be great.

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But I don't think that's realistic for us right now.

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This is a common word.

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It's not realistic.

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It's not logical.

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It just can't happen.

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We just don't have the time, the money, the resources.

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I don't think that's realistic for us right now.

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And then at the end, I say, let's focus on a few key improvements we can actually get done before launch.

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So some real world things we can actually do, things we can actually accomplish.

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Here's a second dialogue with the same situation.

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What if we launched in three separate markets at the same time?

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I like the thinking.

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It's very ambitious, but I don't think we have the resources to support that right now.

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Why not?

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We'd just be stretching ourselves too thin.

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Yeah, fair enough.

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Let's start with one market, do it properly, and then expand from there.

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Okay, so yes, Mark got shot down again.

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And he has great ideas.

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They're just not possible.

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So I said, I like the thinking.

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It is ambitious.

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But I don't think we have the resources to support that right now.

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When you don't have the resources, you don't have the time, money, manpower.

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You don't have enough.

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You don't have enough.

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We just don't have the resources to support that right now.

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another explanation on top of that we'd be stretching ourselves too thin

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if I have two workers

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and they are working on five different projects they are stretching

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themselves too thin I would rather have two workers working on one project

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or two workers working on two projects

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that feels like a normal amount of work not stretching ourselves too thin so let's start with one market, here's my solution, do it properly,

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and then expand from there.

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Okay, then we've got one final dialogue, and we're using the same method again.

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We acknowledge and appreciate, explain the problem, and then redirect with a solution.

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So I think we should add a few more features before the launch.

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Okay, I get why you're suggesting that.

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More features always sounds good, but I think it might slow us down too much at this stage.

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You think so?

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Yeah, we risk overcomplicating things.

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Okay, yeah, I see what you mean.

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Let's just keep it simple for now and build on it after the launch.

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Okay, so again, the same method.

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Appreciate and acknowledge the work.

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Kat had a bold suggestion.

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More features.

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Maybe we're working on an app or program.

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I get why you're suggesting that.

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I get is another way to say I understand.

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I get why you're saying that.

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I get why you're suggesting that.

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I get why you're thinking that is a way to acknowledge. But here's the problem.

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I think it might slow us down too much at this stage.

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Like before when we suggested we, I'm using that again, it might slow us down.

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We're a team.

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We need to work together.

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I think it might, again, we're softening the problem, it might slow us down too much.

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My further explanation, we risk overcomplicating things.

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Risk is a good word.

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It's not certain, but when you can think about the future or think about the next stages, you can see a potential problem.

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We risk hitting that problem.

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So this is my advice based on what I think will happen.

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We risk is also good because that's me and you.

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Again, we're collaborating.

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We risk over-complicating things or making it too complicated.

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And again, lastly, redirect, suggest an idea instead.

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Let's keep it simple for now and build on it after launch.

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Again, we, the team, let's keep it simple for now.

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For now implies that maybe we can use your idea in the future, but not yet.

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So still acknowledging Kat's idea.

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And maybe I like the idea.

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We're just not ready for it right now.

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So let's keep it simple for now and build on it after launch.

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OK, so now you know how to give feedback that's honest, clear and professional without sounding rude or overly negative.

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Yeah, we think these are the kinds of phrases that make a real difference in workplace conversations.

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And you can get the full Business English study pack with PDF transcripts, phrases, dictionaries for all of our Business English videos here on High Level Listening.

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And you can find that in the link in the description below.

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Yes, which phrases would you like to use at work?

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Let us know in the comments.

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We read and reply to every single one we get here on YouTube.

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And thanks everybody for watching.

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We'll see you next time on High Level Listening.

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Bye-bye.

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Who Is This Video For?

This video is perfect for intermediate to advanced English learners aiming to master professional communication, especially those preparing for IELTS speaking practice or workplace interactions. If you struggle with giving feedback without sounding harsh, this lesson offers actionable phrases to balance honesty and politeness—critical for career growth and building collaborative relationships.

Words & Idioms Worth Stealing

The video highlights practical phrases to soften criticism. Here are key expressions to add to your toolkit:

"Overall, this looks pretty solid": A genuine compliment to start feedback, setting a positive tone.
"I did, however, notice a couple of details": Uses "however" to gently shift from praise to constructive points, avoiding abruptness.
"We should double check": Replacing "you" with "we" fosters collaboration, making the other person feel supported rather than attacked.

These phrases work in both formal settings and learn English with YouTube practice sessions, helping you sound professional and empathetic.

How to Get the Accent Right

To master the speaker’s natural tone, try shadow speak (repeating phrases aloud immediately after the video). Focus on:

Intonation: Rise slightly on "however" to emphasize the contrast between praise and feedback. For example, "I did, however, notice..."
Pacing: Slow down when delivering the critical part ("a couple of details we should double check") to sound deliberate, not rushed.
Stress: Put emphasis on "we" to highlight collaboration—this small shift makes feedback feel like a team effort.

Practice with a shadowing app to record yourself and compare it to the video, refining your delivery until it feels natural. This method not only improves pronunciation but also builds muscle memory for real-world conversations.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	they've been working · we've been doing
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has worked · I've missed · have made
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	will be included · is laid

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: English for Professionals: How to Give Criticism Without Offending - Learn English Speaking with Video

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