Thuận Lương

Search the site

    VI

    JOURNAL

    Morning English Lesson: Disagreeing Respectfully in Meetings

    Thursday's Professional Communication lesson: how to push back on an idea in a meeting without sounding rude. Word of the day: diplomatic. Vocabulary, pronunciation drill, exercises, and an idiom for disagreeing well.

    · Thuận Lương · ~3 min read

    Engineers exchanging ideas in a meeting, illustrating workplace English communication.

    Read with AI

    Choose content to copy and paste into your AI assistant. Nothing is sent automatically. CMS content is converted to Markdown; original Markdown is used when available.

    It’s Thursday, so today’s lesson is Professional Communication. Specifically: what to say when you disagree with someone in a meeting and don’t want it to turn into a fight.

    Word of the Day: diplomatic

    IPA: /ˌdɪp.ləˈmæt.ɪk/
    Vietnamese meaning: khéo léo, mềm mỏng (trong cách nói chuyện, xử lý tình huống nhạy cảm mà không làm người khác mất mặt)

    • She gave a diplomatic answer when asked which design she preferred.
    • Try to be diplomatic when you tell the client the deadline isn’t realistic.
    • He’s known for being diplomatic even when the whole team disagrees with him.

    Check the pronunciation on Cambridge Dictionary or hear it in real sentences on YouGlish.

    Vocabulary Table

    PhraseVietnameseExample
    with due respectxin phép không đồng ý, nhưng…“With due respect, I think we’re underestimating the timeline.”
    play devil’s advocateđóng vai người phản biện (để test ý tưởng)“Let me play devil’s advocate for a second — what if the API changes?”
    come to a consensusđạt được sự đồng thuận chung“We need to come to a consensus before the client call.”
    take a step backlùi lại một bước, nhìn tổng quan“Can we take a step back and look at the bigger picture?”
    see eye to eyecùng quan điểm, nhất trí“We don’t see eye to eye on the pricing model yet.”

    Pronunciation Guide

    diplomatic breaks into 4 syllables: dip-lo-MAT-ic (/dɪp.lə.ˈmæt.ɪk/). Stress falls on the third syllable, MAT. A common mistake is stressing the first syllable like “DIP-lo-mat-ic” — that’s wrong, it should sound closer to “dip-luh-MAT-ick.”

    Practice sentence (read aloud 3 times):
    “I want to be diplomatic about this, but I think we should take a step back before we come to a consensus.”

    Exercise 1: Fill in the Blank

    1. With due ______, I don’t think this plan accounts for the holiday traffic.
    2. Let me play ______ ______ — what happens if the vendor raises prices next quarter?
    3. We don’t ______ ______ ______ on who should own this feature.

    Show answers1. respect  2. devil’s advocate  3. see eye to eye

    Exercise 2: Translate to English

    1. Tôi không đồng ý, nhưng tôi sẽ nói một cách khéo léo.
    2. Hãy lùi lại một bước và nhìn vào bức tranh tổng thể trước khi quyết định.

    Show answers1. I disagree, but I’ll say it diplomatically.
    2. Let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture before we decide.

    Idiom of the Day: “to play devil’s advocate”

    Vietnamese meaning: Chủ động đưa ra quan điểm ngược lại — không phải vì bạn thực sự nghĩ vậy, mà để kiểm tra xem ý tưởng có đứng vững không.

    • “I actually agree with the roadmap, but let me play devil’s advocate — what if the biggest customer churns?”
    • “Don’t take this personally, I’m just playing devil’s advocate to stress-test the plan.”

    Recommended Watching

    Daily Challenge

    In your next meeting today, when you disagree with something, don’t just say “no.” Try: “I see it a bit differently — can I play devil’s advocate for a second?” Notice how it opens the conversation instead of shutting it down.

    business-englishenglish-lessonprofessional-communicationvocabulary

    Discussion

    Comments are reviewed before publication. Your email is kept private.

    ← Back to allĐọc tiếng Việt