Language/English/Vocabulary/Helpful-Phrases-for-the-Business-World/fr
Dans la leçon d'aujourd'hui, vous apprendrez un vocabulaire essentiel pour vous aider dans le monde des affaires en anglais. Pour aller de l'avant dans ce monde, il est important de connaître la langue que vous allez utiliser tous les jours.
J'espère que vous trouverez ce guide utile!
N'hésitez pas à modifier et ajouter des phrases et des exemples. Vous pouvez également laisser des commentaires ci-dessous.
an old hand
Une personne qui a une longue expérience, en particulier dans un seul lieu.
- Exemple : "He can help us set up a company in Paris. He's been working in France for many years and speaks French fluently. He's an old France hand."
ASAP
«ASAP» (as soon as possible) est un acronyme pour "dès que possible"
- Exemple: "I'm in a meeting now, but I'll call you back asap."
in the 11th hour
Très tard, à la toute dernière minute.
- Exemple: "The Director reached an agreement in the 11th hour."
back to square one
"revenir à la case départ", redémarrer quelque chose.
- Exemple: "If they do not accept our deal, we will be back to square one."
backroom deal
Une entente, une décision qui est prise sans que le public en soit informé.
- Exemple: "I don' t care what backroom deal he made!"
ballpark number/figure
Estimation très inexacte.
- Exemple: "I know you can't tell me exactly the date, but can you give a ballpark estimate?"
behind someone's back
Faire quelque chose "dans le dos de quelqu'un", sans qu'il en ait connaissance.
- Exemple: "it's not right to talk about people behind their backs."
behind the scenes
Fait en secret, hors de la vue du grand public
- Exemple: "He exerted some behind-the-scenes influence when the project was being planned."
bring to the table
Ce que nous pouvons apporter.
- Exemple: "I will meet with Teacher Joe's new company to show him what we can bring to the table."
carve out a niche
Trouver un marché spécifique que l'on peut contrôler.
- Exemple: "To succeed in this competitive world, you have to focus on part of it. Try to carve out a niche and be number one in that are."
a deadline
La dernière date à laquelle quelque chose doit être terminé.
- Exemple: "The deadline for handing in our essays is 5:00 this Monday"
deep pockets
Avoir beaucoup d'argent.
- Exemple: "If there is a price war, we won't win because we don't have deep enough pockets."
down time
Lorsqu'il n'est pas possible de travailler (outils, équipements non disponibles...)
- Exemple: "There will probably be a lot of down time at the conference, so I'm bringing a lot of paperwork."
easy come, easy go
Cette expression est utilisée lorsque quelque chose est gagné facilement mais est également perdu facilement.
- Exemple: "it's easy come, easy go, really, because I've just lost a small amount of money. "
fifty-fifty
Lorsque quelque chose est divisé à parts égales: 50% pour une partie et 50% pour l'autre.
- Exemple: "There is a fifty-fifty chance of this happening"
free ride
Obtenir un service sans aucun coût.
- Exemple: "Of course we should make them pay for our travel expenses. WHy should we give them a free ride?"
from day one
depuis le début.
- Exemple: "Teacher Joe has been providing the best English-learning web site from day one!"
from the ground up
Si vous démarrez une entreprise, un projet ou autre à partir de zéro.
- Exemple: "He must plan his sales campaign carefully from the ground up."
game plan
Une stratégie.
- Example: "Part of their game plan is to expand into China"
get back in/into the swing of things
To "get back in/into the swing of things" means to get used to doing something again after having a break from that activity.
- Exemple: "He only started work last week, but he quickly got into the swing of things."
get down to business
Cesser les conversations banales et commencer à parler des sujets sérieux liés aux affaires.
- Exemple: "As you have a lot to do, you better get down to business."
get something off the ground
Démarrer un projet ou une entreprise.
- Exemple: "It is my job to get this project off the ground."
get the ball rolling
Démarrer quelque chose (un projet, par exemple).
- Exemple: "Let's get the ball rolling!"
get your foot in the door
Avoir une petite opportunité, occasion qui peut devenir une grande opportunité à l'avenir, si vous faites un bon travail.
- Exemple: "Right now, I just want to get my foot in the door, so they can see what I can do. Next year I hope to start moving up in the company."
get/be on the good side of someone
Si quelqu'un vous aime.
get/have one's foot in the door
Prendre une position de bas niveau avec une entreprise dans le but d'obtenir au final une meilleure position avec cette même entreprise.
- Exemple: "You've got a clever way of getting your foot in the door, and then we can't get it closed until the proposition is carried"
give someone a pat on the back
Dire à quelqu'un qu'il a fait du bon travail.
- Exemple: "The teacher patted all the students on the back for their good work."
give the thumbs down
Refuser l'approbation.
- Exemple: "The committee gave my suggestion the thumbs down."
give the thumbs up
Donner l'approbation.
- Exemple: "We all gave Vincent's report the thumbs up"
go broke
Faire faillite ou perdre tout l'argent d'une personne ou d'une entreprise.
- Exemple: "This company is going to go broke if nothing is done"
go down the drain
Quand quelqu'un gaspille ou perd quelque chose
- Exemple: "I'm scared I'm going to be out of a job, and my experience will be down the drain."
go the extra mile
Faire plus que ce que les gens attendent.
- Exemple: "The teacher goes the extra mile to help the weaker students understand."
go through the roof
Augmente rapidement.
- Exemple: "Prices for gasoline are going through the roof."
gray area
Quelque chose d'indéfini et de difficilement classable.
- Exemple: "There is a lot of gray area when it comes to how products are marketed."
ground-breaking
Nouveaux et innovants.
- Exemple: "This expression goes back to the ground-breaking days of computers"
in a nutshell
En quelques mots.
- Exemple: "In a nutshell, I think he’s a genius"
in full swing
Le projet a été complètement démarré et progresse aussi vite qu'il soit possible.
- Example: "In the summermonths, things really get into full swing around here"
in the black
If a company is "in the black," it means that it is making a profit.
in the driver's seat
To be "in the driver's seat" means to be in control.
- Exemple: "I wish my accounts were in the black."
in the red
If a company is "in the red," it means that is not profitable and is operating at a loss.
- Exemple: "I wish my accounts were not in the red"
keep one's eye on the ball
Donner toute son attention et ne pas perdre de vue quelque chose
last straw
Le dernier ennui, la dernière trahison qui fait que quelqu'un abandonne, perd patience ou se fâche.
- Exemple: "If you want to get along in this office, you're going tohave to keep your eye on the ball."
learn the ropes
Apprendre les rudiments de quelque chose.
- Exemple: "It'll take some time for the new receptionist to learn the ropes."
long shot
Quelque chose qui a une probabilité très faible de se produire.
- Exemple: "I know it's a long shot because of her busy schedule, but maybe I can convince her to help me."
on a shoestring
Avec peu d'argent.
- Exemple: "They started their company on a shoestring and built it up to one of the largest companies in the world!"
rock the boat
Causer des problèmes ou perturber une situation pacifique.
- ExEmple: "Everything is going fine here. Please, don't rock the boat!"
round-the-clock
24 heures sur 24
- Exemple: "This place is guarded around the clock."
run/go around in circles
Faire la même chose encore et encore sans obtenir aucun résultat.
- Exemple: "The discussion kept going around in circles."
safe bet
Quelque chose qui va probablement se produire.
- Exemple: "He is a safe bet for re-election."
In the same boat
"dans le même bâteau", dans la même situation. Exemple : "He was in the same boat as any other worker who had lost a job."
see eye to eye
D'être d'accord.
- Exemple: "They don't always agree but when it comes to the most important things they see eye to eye."
see something through
Faire quelque chose jusqu'à ce que ce soit terminé.
- Exemple: "Having come this far, he really wanted to see things through."
sever ties
Mettre fin à une relation.
- ExEmple: " The company severed its ties with the CEO"
shoot something down
Rejeter quelque chose, une proposition ou une idée.
- Exemple: "He raised a good point, but they shot him down immediately."
sky's the limit
S'il n'y a pas de limite à ce qui peut être réalisé.
- Exemple: "it seems like the sky is the limit for this talented man."
small talk
Conversation sur des sujets sans importance qui n'offensent pas les gens (la météo, par exemple).
- Exemple: "Meetings often starts with small talks."
smooth/clear sailing
Pour décrire une situation où le succès est atteint sans difficultés.
- Exemple: "Once you've passed your exam, it will be smooth sailing to graduation"
snail mail
Le courrier traditionnel qui passe par le bureau de poste.
stand one's ground
Ne pas changer d'opinion ou de position.
- Exemple: "He tried to confuse me during the meeting, but Imanaged to stand my ground"
start off on the right foot
Commencer quelque chose de manière positive.
- Exemple: "We started our meetings on time and started off on the right foot."
start off on the wrong foot
Commencer quelque chose de manière négative.
- Exemple: "I don't want to start off on the wrong foot today!"
take the bull by the horns
Affronter directement une situation difficile.
- Exemple: "Let's take the bull by the horns and get this done!"
talk someone into something
Convaincre quelqu'un de faire quelque chose.
- Exemple: "He talked me into working for him."
talk someone out of something
Convaincre quelqu'un de faire quelque chose.
- Exemple: "He talked me out of working for him."
the elephant in the room
Un problème évident ou controversé dont personne ne veut parler.
- Exemple: "Increasing poverty in the world is the western politicians’ elephant in the room."
think big
Avoir des objectifs ambitieux et de grands projets pour l'avenir.
- Exemple: "To start own business, you should think big."
think outside the box
Penser à des solutions créatives et non conventionnelles plutôt qu'à des solutions communes.
- Exemple: "You won't come up with new ideas until you think outside the box."
throw in the towel
Abandonner, arrêter, quitter.
- Exemple: "She threw in the towel and left."
time's up
Le temps pour faire quelque chose est écoulé.
- Example: "Your time's up, and you have to leave now"
touch base
To "touch base" means to make contact with someone.
- Example: "I need to touch base with Pat on this matter."
under the table
Something done secretly (and usually illegally) in the business world is done "under the table."
- Example: "They probably pay them under the table so they won't have pay tax on it."
up in the air
If something is undecided, it is "up in the air." uphill battle Something that is difficult to achieve because of obstacles and difficulties is an "uphill battle."
- Example: "Things were kind of up in the air the last time we met."
upper hand
If someone has an advantage over someone else, he or she has the "upper hand."
- Example: "He is always trying to get the upper hand on others"
win-win situation
A "win-win situation" is a situation where everyone involved gains something.
- Example: "We have to come up with a win-win proposition."
word of mouth
If something spreads by "word of mouth," people hear about it through informal conversation with friends, family members, acquaintances, etc.
- Example: "We could use word of mouth marketing as a cheap way to get our product known."
writing on the wall
The "writing on the wall" refers to the evidence and clues that something (usually negative) is going to happen.
- Example: "As the CEO, he should have seen the handwriting on the wall and come up with an alternative idea."
yes man
A "yes man" is someone who always agrees with his or her superiors.
- Example: "You really cannot trust what he might say in front of the boss. Everyone knows that he is just a yes man."