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People who are successful in business have a wide vocabulary and effective communication skills. A poor vocabulary might act against you in professional situations, and can affect your job prospects and your career adversely. If you are serious about earning more money and getting a promotion, you need to build your vocabulary.

However, in the case of vocabulary for business, simply or randomly choosing words to learn would not help you much. You need exactly the right words to give you an edge in the corporate world. ‘In the world of business, it's important that you choose not only the most economical or concise words to get your point across (after all, time is money), but it's just as important that these words be appropriate. "Appropriate" in the world of business is easy to explain — it means professional as opposed to friendly, formal or semi-formal as opposed to informal, and precise as opposed to long-winded,’ (Guffey, M E & Almonte, R 2010, p. 66).

The words you use should not be pretentious and pompous, but must be powerful words and effective words. Your words must not confuse your listeners, but must drive in your ideas into them decisively. People who communicate effectively in the corporate world use distinct and precise words and phrases. Their listeners almost always know the meanings of these words or can easily infer them from the context; it’s just that they themselves don’t use these words.

In the corporate world, time is money. So make sure that your messages are forceful but not long. You must also avoid outdated words and expressions, which means that you must be in constant awareness of the changing language of the business world. It is also advisable to avoid technical terms and jargon, unless they are absolutely necessary, or you are talking to a selected audience who are familiar with those terms. Such is the case with slang terms and clichés, which do not work well in business communication. You must keep your vocabulary for business up to date.

Communication is considered successful only if the receiver understands the message exactly as intended by the sender. Even though this sounds simple, it is not. A lot of obstacles and barriers can cause the message to be misinterpreted or mistaken altogether. Even language skills of the sender or the recipient could affect the efficiency of the communication. ‘No matter how extraordinary an idea, it won't be understood or fully appreciated unless the communicators involved have good language skills. Each individual needs an adequate vocabulary, a command of basic punctuation, and grammar, and skill in written and oral expression,’ (Guffey, M E, Rogin, P & Rhodes, K 2010, p. 13). A good vocabulary is an essential part of good language skills, which are an essential part of good business.

REFERENCES

Guffey, M E & Almonte, R 2010, Essentials of Business Communication, Nelson Education Ltd., 1120 Birchmount Road, Toronto.

Guffey, M E, Rogin, P & Rhodes, K 2010, Business Communication: Process and Product, Nelson Education Ltd., 1120 Birchmount Road, Toronto.