| decisions problems ideas figures excuses views proposals your colleagues |
a. You can address them. You can deal with them. You can foresee them. You can solve them.
b. You can develop them. You can share them. You can come up with them. You can brainstorm them.
c. 
You can make them. You can consider them. You can put them forward. You can withdraw them.
d. You can look at them. You can go through them. You can quote them. You can round them up.
e. You can make them. You can question them. You can reach them. You can put them off.
f. You can support them. You can attack them. You can back them up. You can chat with them.
g. You can air them. You can share them. You can express them. You can exchange them.
h. You can make them. You can look for them. You can invent them. You can refuse to accept them.
Lesson 4. The language of Negotiations
Warm Up
I. Answer the following questions. Discuss your answers with the rest of the group.
a. Do you think you are a good negotiator? Why or why not?
b. Do you know someone who is a good negotiator? What makes him/her such a good negotiator?
c. Have you ever negotiated for something?
II. Look at the picture below. Do you think these people are good negotiators? Why?
Discussion
I.Read the joke. Is there a lesson to be learnt from it?
 Two priests were so addicted to smoking that they desperately needed to puff on cigarettes even while they prayed. Both developed guilty conscience and decided to ask their superior for permission to smoke.
The first asked if it was OK to smoke while he was praying. Permission was denied. The second priest asked if he was allowed to pray while he was smoking. His superior found his dedication admirable and immediately granted his request.
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II. How direct you want to be in a negotiation is a matter of both cultural and personal choice. In which side on the line below would you place people from your own culture? How about you personally?
prefer the diplomatic approach ß--------------------|------------------à prefer straight-talking
III. Find someone in your group who put themselves on the other side of the line from you. Try to persuade each other that your side is better.
Active Vocabulary
I. The following thoughts passed through the minds of two negotiators during a negotiation. Use the words and phrases in brackets to reproduce what they actually said.
- That’s impossible.
(unfortunately/would not/possible) _______________________________________________
- We can’t go higher than 7%.
(would find/quite difficult) _____________________
- We won’t accept less than $5 a unit.
(afraid / not in the position / this stage)_________
- You’ll have to pay more if you want that.
(may / lightly)_____________________________
- We should spend more time looking for a compromise here.
(shouldn’t / little?) _________________________
- It would be a good idea to agree on a price before we go any further.
(wouldn’t / be better?)______________________
- We hoped you’d pay a deposit today.
(were hoping / able)________________________
- It will be difficult to get my boss to agree to this.
(might not / very easy)______________________
- That’s as far as we can go.
(think / about / the moment)__________________
II. What do the negotiators do to make their statements sound more diplomatically? Do you prefer the direct or diplomatic versions?
III. The following expressions are all useful in negotiations, but some letters are missing from the words. When you have completed them, the letters in the box spell out some good advise for a negotiator.
| Perhaps we should begin by outlining our initial … | p | s | t | ||||||||||||||
| Can I make a … | g | g | s | t | ? | ||||||||||||
| What if we offered you an... | a | l | t | n | e | ? | |||||||||||
| Let me get this quite … | l | r | |||||||||||||||
| Would you be willing to accept a … | c | p | m | s | |||||||||||||
| I’m afraid this doesn’t really solve our … | r | b | m | ||||||||||||||
| We may be in a position to revise our … | f | f | |||||||||||||||
| That’s about as far as we can go at this … | t | g | |||||||||||||||
| Are these terms broadly … | c | c | p | t | ? | ||||||||||||
| Let me just check I understand you … | r | r | t | ||||||||||||||
| I’m afraid we could accept this on one … | n | d | t | ||||||||||||||
| What sort of figure we are talking … | a | t | |||||||||||||||
| Could you give us an idea of what we are looking … | f | ? | |||||||||||||||
| What sort of time-scale are we looking … | a | ? | |||||||||||||||
| We’d like to see some movement on … | p | r | c | ||||||||||||||
| Can’t we just run through the main points once … | o | e | ? | ||||||||||||||
| At this moment, we do not see this as a viable … | o | t | |||||||||||||||
| We seem to be nearing … | a | e | e | t | |||||||||||||
| Well, that’s it. I think we’ve earned ourselves a … | d | k | ! |
Listening