Talking about LOCATION at work - Business English vocabulary lesson (Ep.62)

Today we're talking about location. Whether you're talking about where you live or where you work, discussing location is always important and a common topic. So, if you want to improve your confidence when speaking about this in English then this episode has the vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and grammar, to help you. 

If you speak English at work and want to sound more native and natural when talking to colleagues, customers, or clients, then I hope that the vocabulary, grammar, and communication tips in today's episode will be useful for you. 

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Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge English tests and exams then you might find some of the vocabulary in this episode really useful.

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

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Transcript

Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast. My name is Chris. I'm a business English and communication coach, and I've personally worked with over 1,000 international professionals just like you to improve the way that they communicate at work in English. Thank you so much for listening and for your time. I know how valuable it is. And our topic today is location. Or more specifically, how to talk about location, in English. There is an old saying in English that the three most important things to consider when opening a business or buying a house are location and location.So that's the same thing three times. In fact, when I was growing up, there was a daytime TV show in the UK with this same name where people looked at different houses they might buy. Whether you are buying a house or choosing a place to put your business, one thing that will likely remain true for a long time is that location is important. Today we're going to focus on two things. How to talk about the location of your business or offices, and how to talk about the location of your home and where you live. We'll hear some really natural and native sounding ways to do this using both formal and informal English.So, let's get started. To begin, let's hear some ways that a native speaker might describe the location of their business or offices. We're headquartered on the trading estate. We're headquartered on the trading estate. We're based in the CBD. We're based in the CBD. Let's start with the first example, and specifically, I want to talk to you about the verb in that sentence. In the first example, we heard "We're headquartered on the trading estate." We're headquartered on the Trading Estate.So, I'm guessing that you've heard the word "headquarters" before. And when you've heard it, you've likely heard it used as a plural noun. For instance, our headquarters are near the train station. Our headquarters are near the train station. However, what you'll notice from this sentence is that I actually used HeadQuarter as a verb. And I think you can probably guess the meaning of this verb, but I'll tell you anyway. To headquarter a company somewhere is to establish or build your headquarters in that Nice. This is a regular verb, so we can just add "-ed" in the past tense. For example, we headquartered the business in London because this is where most of our clients are. We headquartered the business in London because this is where most of our clients are. We very often hear this verb in passive voice sentences too. As in, the new team will be headquartered in... Paris. The new team will be headquartered in Paris. Your headquarters, of course, commonly known as your head offices. This is the place where the most senior leadership in your team work. The most senior leadership in your company or maybe in your department. Maybe your department is headquartered somewhere. Another thing I mentioned in the first example was a trading estate. A trading estate is quite simply a part of a city or town that is specifically planned for factories and warehouses, etc. You can call this an industrial estate. In the United States, I think you're likely to hear industrial park there. Industrial park. Let's take a look now at the in the second example, and that was CBD. Remember, an acronym is when each individual letter represents a word.So some famous acronyms in the United States would be NASA, N-A-S-A being the National Aeronautical and Space Agency there. That's the space people. And the FBI being the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the police people, I guess, that So, an acronym is when each individual letter stands for a word. And in the second example, our acronym was C. BEE D. CBD. In the example we heard, we're based in the CBD. We're based in the CBD. CBD has a couple of different meanings. You will likely see it on a lot of products as a kind of alternative treatment for health issues. However, in our context, we're talking about location. And when you're talking about location, CBD stands for Central Business Area. District. Central Business District. This is the area. In the center of a city that is full of shops, offices, and often where transportation routes come together. In a lot of big cities, there are often several places that could be referred to as the CBD, so it's hard to tell where this place technically is. A city's CBD is very often simply referred to as its 'city centre'. To base something somewhere. Is a very common way to talk about a business. However, It's a common way to talk about your home, or even a hotel you're staying in.So. The next time you are in a meeting. And a colleague tells you that they're based in Berlin. You can understand that they're telling you that this is where they live. This is where their home is. I was based in South Korea for three years. But I'm back in the north of England now. These days, I'm actually based quite close to where I grew up. For the first time in many years, it's been nice to reconnect with some old friends from my childhood because suddenly they're a very short drive away. And if you want to make 2026 the year that you really become confident using English at work, then maybe we can work together. My full-time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills.So. If you need English to do your job, but you don't speak it natively, then I would love to meet you. If you'd like to book some time to meet with me through one-to-one video calls, just you and me, then you can go to BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com and find out more.And right now, you can use the code PODCAST30, that's PODCAST30, at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking of 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Sometimes my calendar gets a little busy, so if you have trouble finding a time that works for you, then you can always send me a message through the contact page on the website and ask if I have any time to fit you in. I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English speaking professionals from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders to help them achieve their goals and I look forward to meeting you. Let's move on now to talking about where you live. Your home, or even where you're personally based. Take a listen to these natural and native sounding examples of how someone might talk about their home. I live on the outskirts of the city. Just inside the ring road. I live on the outskirts of the city. Just inside the ring road. My town isn't very big. It's a commuter town. My town isn't very big. It's a commuter town. I live in the city center, just a stone's throw from the office. I live in the city center. Just a stone's throw from the office. Let's start right at the beginning with the word "outskirts". In the first example, We heard, I live on the outskirts of the city. I live on the outskirts of the city. To explore this word a little. I want to focus on the second half for a moment. Where have you heard the word skirt If all. S-K-I-R-T, skirt. Can you tell me what a skirt is?Well, you've likely heard this used to describe a piece of clothing. Often worn by women, that hangs around your waist. However, I'm here to tell you that you can use the word skirt as a verb. When we use skirt as a verb, We mean to go around the edge of something. And avoid entering it. We can use this to refer to a topic or subject that is being avoided in a meeting, for instance. You might say, "This project sounds great." But we've been skirting around the budget and I would really like to know how much this is going to cost. This project sounds great. But we've been skirting around the budget. And I would really like to know how much this is going to cost. Now that you know what we mean when we use skirt as a verb, and you've got the image of this piece of clothing in your mind, What do you think I mean? By the outskirts. Of a city. The outskirts of a city.Well, the outskirts of a city are the parts of it that are far from the city centre. Essentially the edge of the city. These are the buildings that skirt around a city. The last buildings that could really be called part of a city before you exit that town or that city. This is often a place where housing estates are, but of course you will find trading estates like those we talked about in the first half of the podcast. One thing that you'll often be near if you live on the outskirts of a city is a ring road. Which came up in the example there. A ring road is a road that goes around a city. It skirts around a city. Often these are very busy roads and sometimes they mark the very edge of a city. Many cities have these. However, if you want a good example, then feel free to do an image search for the M25. The M25, which is the ring road around London in the UK. Interestingly, you'll often find the phrase "inside the M25" used to describe places in London just generally there, because London is a very big place.Some places claim to be part of London, even though they are a long way away. You just need to look at how many airports call themselves a London airport. But we can often talk about what is inside the M25. For instance, I'm not sure if this is still true, but for a long time, teachers starting in that career would get one specific salary for the whole of the country. But if you lived inside the M25, if your school was inside the M25, you would get paid more. Simply because of the cost of living in that area. Now, one piece of vocabulary that is new for a lot of the people I work with is commute. Commute. That's C-O-M-M-U-T-E. I've spoken about this one before on the podcast, but it's worth mentioning here again. Your commute. Is the journey that you make from home to work and back again. This can be a verb. As in I commute by train. Or maybe 'I commute by bus' for instance. Or it can be a noun. In a sentence like "I have a long commute." Have a long commute. I think the longest commute I ever had was about a 45 minute bus followed by a 45 minute train followed by a 30 minute walk. I really enjoyed that job, but I didn't enjoy the commute. And so, yeah, I learned to drive. That was my solution to that problem. In my mid twenties, I learned to drive and then I commuted by car. My commute was a lot shorter after that and a lot more enjoyable. Now that you've had a quick refresher on commute, What do you think I mean by commuter town. A commuter town is a town. That is a popular place to live for commuters. This is usually a town near to a major city. This means that people can get slightly cheaper homes, maybe even live in slightly quieter areas by not living in the major city in which they work. But they can still get to work every morning within a reasonable time. A good example of this would be Luton. Which is around 30 minutes by train from London.So. Instead of trying to afford a very expensive home in London, someone might go for something slightly cheaper in the commuter town of Luton. And commute into work every morning. In London. Let's do an idiom now. And let's talk about being a stone's throw from somewhere. Or maybe a stone's throw away from somewhere. Both of those are good structures for this idiom. In the third example, we heard: I live in the city center. Just a stone's throw from the office. I live in the city center. Just a stone's throw from the office. Here's a question for you. How far can you throw? A stone. How far can you throw a stone? Perhaps a strange question. I guess the logical thing to do is to ask me how big is the stone?Well, just like this idiom, there isn't really a precise number here that I can give you. If we say that something is a stone's throw from somewhere, then we mean that it is a short distance from somewhere. If your hotel is a stone's throw from your conference venue, then you will likely be able to walk there instead of needing to take a taxi or drive. However, we can say that the commuter town Luton that I mentioned earlier is a stone's throw from London.So, a stoner's throw is a short distance. However, what we mean by short distance is definitely relative. I don't think I live in a commuter town. I'm trying to think where anyone would commute to from my little town. But I work online, I sit at this desk and I speak to people around the world, so I don't need to be close to a big city. In fact, I'm a long way from London. I'm... I don't know, maybe a five-hour drive from London, I think. Quite a long way. I'm actually closer to Edinburgh, closer to Scotland than I am to London.So, yeah, I don't get into our capital city very often. Don't forget that if you would like to discuss any of the ideas, vocabulary or grammar, etc. In today's episode, or just work on your communication skills in general, then you can book a session with me to work on your communication skills and your language skills by going to www.myspace. BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglish.com. Or click the link in the show notes. And use the code PODCAST30 at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English-speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you. Between episodes of the podcast, you can get videos every couple of days on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Just search for Breakout Business English. If there's a topic that you'd like to hear me talk about on the podcast, then I'd be excited to hear your ideas. Leave me a message or a comment on one of my YouTube videos and I look forward to hearing from you. I recently put out a video about Nvidia's $5 trillion valuation there, recently becoming the most valuable company in the world. And it's definitely an interesting topic. The video I released a couple of days ago breaks down a BBC News item about this.So we look at a video on BBC News where they are discussing NVIDIA's new valuation, and we look at the vocabulary, the phrasal verbs, the idioms, and the professional language that they use to communicate this on the BBC. So take a look at that if that's interesting to you. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, then I invite you to leave a review. Every review really helps me out and helps to push the podcast to new listeners and grow the show.So if you found this podcast useful and you think that there are some valuable things in here, then feel free to write a couple of kind words and I thank you in advance. That's a great place to request a topic for a future podcast. That is it for today. Thank you so much for listening and of course for your time. I don't know if you've been able to tell, I'm recording this after almost six hours, almost fully booked back to back with sessions.So my voice is really starting to feel it. Fortunately, I've got a couple of hours break to drink some tea, I think, before my final call today.So Hopefully this podcast has sounded okay, but my voice will be back to full health next week. That's the plan anyway.So thanks again for listening and for your choice to spend some time with this show. I hope you have a great week. I hope 2026 is going well for you so far. I hope you're off to a good start. And I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English podcast. Thanks a lot, everyone. Talk to you soon.