English Lesson — Friday Morning: Negotiating Compensation With Confidence

Good morning! ☕ Today’s session is for the five minutes everyone dreads more than a system outage call: the number conversation. A recruiter or your manager asks what you’re expecting, and the words that come out next decide whether you leave money on the table or walk out with what you’re actually worth.

📖 Word of the Day: Benchmark

• Word: benchmark (noun / verb)
• IPA: /ˈbɛntʃ.mɑːrk/
• Vietnamese meaning: mức chuẩn, điểm tham chiếu để so sánh (ví dụ: mức lương thị trường để so sánh với offer của bạn)
• Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/benchmark
• YouGlish (real pronunciation in context): https://youglish.com/pronounce/benchmark/english

3 example sentences:

1. “I benchmarked my offer against three other companies before I went back to them.”
2. “Glassdoor and Levels.fyi gave me a solid benchmark for senior engineer pay in this city.”
3. “Without a benchmark, you’re negotiating blind — you don’t know if the number is fair or low.”

💡 Note: “benchmark” is also common in engineering (“we ran a benchmark on the new database”), so tech professionals usually already know the word — this lesson is about the career-conversation meaning, not the performance-testing one.

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🗂️ Vocabulary Table

Phrase	Vietnamese	Example
Market rate	Mức lương theo thị trường	“Based on my research, the market rate for this role is higher than your opening offer.”
Counteroffer	Đề nghị phản hồi lại (trong thương lượng lương)	“After they sent the offer, I came back with a counteroffer two days later.”
Total compensation	Tổng thu nhập (lương + thưởng + cổ phần…)	“When you compare offers, look at total compensation, not just base salary.”
Walk away (from a deal)	Rút lui, bỏ qua một thỏa thuận	“I was ready to walk away if they couldn’t meet my minimum number.”
Non-negotiable	Điều không thể thương lượng	“Remote work two days a week is non-negotiable for me at this point in my career.”

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🔊 Pronunciation Guide

Benchmark has two syllables, stress on the first: BENCH-mark

• BENCH — like the furniture word “bench.” Don’t drop the “ch” sound at the end; it’s a full “ch” like in “lunch.”
• MARK — rhymes with “park” or “dark.” Keep the “ar” sound long and open, not a short “uh.”
• Say it as ˈBENCH-mark, with clear stress on the first syllable — not “bench-MARK.”

Common mistake: Vietnamese speakers sometimes soften the final “k,” making it sound like “benchmah.” Close your mouth fully on the hard “k” at the end.

Practice sentence — read this out loud 3 times:

“I used three salary benchmarks before I made my counteroffer.”

Say it slowly the first time, focus on the stress pattern BENCH-mark the second time, and say it at natural speaking speed the third time.

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✍️ Exercise 1: Fill in the Blank

Fill in each blank with a word or phrase from today’s lesson (benchmark, market rate, counteroffer, total compensation, walk away, non-negotiable).

1. I checked the _______ for this role before accepting the first number they gave me.
2. After reviewing the offer, she sent back a _______ with a 15% higher base.
3. Don’t just compare base salary — look at _______ _______, including bonus and stock.
4. He was prepared to _______ _______ if the company wouldn’t move on salary at all.
5. A four-day work week is _______ for some candidates in this market.

Show Answers

1. market rate
2. counteroffer
3. total compensation
4. walk away
5. non-negotiable

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🌐 Exercise 2: Translate to English

Translate these Vietnamese sentences into English using today’s vocabulary.

1. Tôi đã tham khảo mức chuẩn lương thị trường trước khi đàm phán.
2. Sau khi nhận offer, tôi đã gửi lại một đề nghị phản hồi cao hơn.
3. Làm việc từ xa hai ngày một tuần là điều không thể thương lượng với tôi.

Show Answers

1. “I checked the market benchmark before negotiating.”
2. “After receiving the offer, I sent back a counteroffer with a higher number.”
3. “Working remotely two days a week is non-negotiable for me.”

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🎭 Idiom of the Day: “Ballpark figure”

Vietnamese meaning: con số ước lượng, khoảng chừng (không phải số chính xác)

2 examples:

1. “I can’t give you an exact number yet, but a ballpark figure would be around $120K.”
2. “Just give me a ballpark figure for now — we can get precise later in the process.”

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📺 Recommended Watching

1. Linda Raynier (YouTube) — career coach with practical, scripted phrases for salary negotiation conversations in English.
2. Self Made Millennial (Madeline Mann, YouTube) — short videos on negotiating offers and talking about compensation without sounding awkward.
3. YouGlish — “benchmark” (linked above) — hear the word used by real speakers across different accents and contexts.

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🎯 Today’s Challenge

Before your next 1:1 or performance conversation, write down one sentence using “benchmark” to justify a number — for example: “Based on my benchmark research, this role typically pays X in our market.” Say it out loud once before you need it for real.

See you this evening for the next session! 🌆