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Essential Business English (Udemy.com)

Learn the English you need to communicate effectively in everyday professional situations

4.4
6,508 reviews

Created by: Jeffrey Hill

Last updated May 2025

Our take

Based on the ratings of 6,508 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in May 2025. No course pays to be reviewed.

Jeffrey Hill's course is built around ten animated dialogues set in a fictional UK fashion company. Each lesson tackles one situation, such as a job interview, a phone call, a problem with a delivery or negotiating an order. Around every dialogue sit a comprehension quiz, a listen and repeat drill, a role play, a PDF workbook and Quizlet flashcards. It runs about three hours across 52 lectures and expects you to be at B1 English or better.

Reviewers like the practical situations, the extra exercises and the grammar tips, which stay simple and don't take over. One wished the lessons were longer. The loudest complaint is sound. The intro and outro music and effects are louder than the speech, and some people who listen on headphones found it hard to get through. One learner found terms like gerund unfamiliar, another expected harder material, and one says the quiz answers don't always match the video.

Hill teaches at a business school and has over 40 years of experience, and one reviewer calls the lectures easy to follow. The course was refreshed in May 2025 with an AI role play for each lesson. The rating is 4.4 from more than 6,500 reviews, and under 2 percent are one or two stars. For a short, structured brush-up on workplace English it's good value. Advanced speakers should look elsewhere.

Best forIntermediate English learners who want scripted workplace scenarios like interviews, phone calls and negotiations.
Skip it ifYou are already fluent or want advanced business English, or loud intro music would bother you.

Pros

  • Ten workplace scenarios, from job interviews to negotiating an order, each opening with an animated dialogue
  • Every lesson adds a quiz, listen and repeat drill, role play and a ten-page PDF workbook with exercises
  • Grammar tips are kept simple and don't take over the lessons, according to reviewers
  • Recorded by voice actors with British or American accents, with downloadable MP3s and Quizlet flashcards

Cons

  • Intro and outro music plus sound effects are louder than the speech, and several reviewers found it grating
  • Only about three hours of video, and one reviewer wished the lessons ran longer
  • Aimed at intermediate learners, so stronger speakers say it's too easy and weaker ones hit grammar jargon
I really enjoyed taking part in this course, since it helped me to know how to use English in my work!
Anonymized User, a student

Suits solid B1 learners; reviewers say stronger speakers find it easy and grammar terms like gerund can trip people up.

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What you will learn

  • Understand the English used in a wide range of business and professional situations.
  • Learn and practise key language expressions for use in business and professional contexts.
  • Learn over 500 words of vocabulary.
  • Improve speaking, listening, reading and grammar skills.

Course content

12 sections · 52 lectures · 3 hours of video 10 quizzes

  1. 1Introduction 1 free preview1 lecture · 5 min
  2. 2Lesson One — A Television Interview5 lectures · 1 quiz · 18 min
  3. 3Lesson Two — The Marketing Meeting 2 free previews5 lectures · 1 quiz · 16 min
  4. 4Lesson Three — The Job Interview 1 free preview5 lectures · 1 quiz · 17 min
  5. 5Lesson Four — A Telephone Call5 lectures · 1 quiz · 16 min
  6. 6Lesson Five — Making Introductions5 lectures · 1 quiz · 16 min
  7. 7Lesson Six — A Visit to the Warehouse 1 free preview5 lectures · 1 quiz · 19 min
  8. 8Lesson Seven — Problems with a Delivery5 lectures · 1 quiz · 18 min
  9. 9Lesson Eight — The Sales Review5 lectures · 1 quiz · 19 min
  10. 10Lesson Nine — Scheduling an Appointment5 lectures · 1 quiz · 18 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Intermediate-level students who wish to improve their business or professional English skills.

What you need before you start

  • You should have at least an intermediate level of English (minimum B1 under the Common European Framework of Languages).
  • You should be able to understand simple everyday conversations and texts relating to topics you are familiar with.
  • You should be willing to spend time working on the additional resources provided in addition to watching the video lectures.

How it compares

Against the other 535 rated Udemy courses in Language Learning on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.4 out of 5higher than 13% of them
  • Reviews6,508#45 of 536 by number of reviews
  • Length3 hoursshorter than 69% of them
  • Last updatedMay 2025more recently than 62% of them

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Course Description

Do you already have a reasonable command of general English, but want to improve your ability to communicate in business or professional situations? And do so in an effective yet enjoyable way? Then Essential Business English is just the course for you!

Each of the ten lessons begins with a fully animated dialogue, set in a fictional UK fashion company called Chic Boutique. The dialogues present the key language you need to communicate effectively in a wide range of common business situations.

The situations include:

  • making a presentation

  • participating in a meeting

  • speaking on the phone

  • negotiating an order

  • scheduling an appointment

  • taking part in a job interview

  • making and dealing with complaints


Each dialogue is presented in two versions: with and without subtitles, and is complemented by:

  • a quiz to test your comprehension

  • a listen and repeat activity to help you improve your pronunciation and intonation

  • a role play where you will have the opportunity to use the key language in a simulated dialogue

  • a series of questions for you to answer about the lesson topic

  • an interactive AI-generated role play with feedback related to the lesson topic

  • a listening comprehension passage related to the topic of the lesson


All the audio material has been recorded by professional voice actors with authentic British or American accents and the dialogues and listening passages are also available as downloadable MP3 files. But that's not all! Each lesson comes with a ten-page downloadable PDF workbook, which contains:

  • a full transcript of the dialogue

  • language notes explaining key grammar and vocabulary points

  • a word list featuring definitions of the vocabulary used in the lesson

  • language exercises

  • a crossword

  • a word search puzzle


Several of these activities can also be done online, and the extra resources include Quizlet flashcard sets featuring the vocabulary used in each lesson.

At the end of each lesson, there’s a Final Quiz, to test what you have learnt. And as a special bonus, you will be able to download a 45-page PDF guide to learning English online.

So, enrol today, and start learning the English you need for your professional career.

UPDATES (May 2025)

  • Interactive AI-generated role play for each lesson
Read More Intermediate Intermediate Level product length iconTime: 3h

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Instructor Details

Jeffrey Hill

My name is Jeffrey Hill and I teach English at a business school in France. Although I’ve lived in France since 1981, I was born and grew up in Plymouth, in the south-west of England.

After obtaining a BA (Hons) degree in Hispanic Studies from Liverpool University, and a PGCE from Sheffield University, I spent two years teaching Spanish. I then obtained a Trinity College Licentiate Diploma in TESOL and worked as an ESL teacher in Spain for two years.   

I have over 40 years' experience of teaching general and business English, and have prepared students for the TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS exams. In 2004 I was awarded an MBA from Liverpool University.   

I have a life-long love of teaching and learning languages, and look forward to being able to share my experience with you.

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Reviews

4.4

6,508 ratings on Udemy

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Write a review

By Bice Sacco' on 7/5/2024

I decided to take part in this course since I wanted to know more about the use of Business English in our everyday lives and at work! I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the topic ;)

By Ivan Dekkers on 4/25/2024

it was useful, but as a non native speaker, grammar words are also difficult or unknown so a word like gerund was unknown to me

By Anonymized User on 4/20/2023

Very well prepared course. It's covered the main important topics and situation in a work. It also includes a lot of additional exercises and external sources which help to summarize the knowledge and remember words and phrases. Grammar tips are simple and do not dominate the course content.

By Anonymized User on 9/15/2022

The course is based on short practical videos which makes them easier to study It has many links to other pages where you can complete other exercises, all very practical and even fun.

By Anonymized User on 8/5/2021

I've got bad experience when I have to use my headphone. The music of these lessons is too loud, but the other sound is low, so I can't stand it. Please get rid of that terrible music.

By Anonymized User on 8/5/2021

Best for those who hail from English schools and have a proper command on the language. This course doesn't grab attention from basics but performs the work of polishing fluency over accuracy.

By Amal Simon on 11/8/2020

Useful course for developing business english

By Lucas Marques on 11/8/2020

Muito bom

By Helen SJ Gao on 11/8/2020

The course provides a guidance for daily business communication, which is helpful to me.

By Carol TC Chou on 10/8/2020

the background music at the beginning of video is too loud, did not balance with the actual class's volume

By Intissar Jacquet on 9/16/2020

RAS sauf que j'ai l'impression qu'il y a une coquille dans l'un des quizz:
"would delighted to meet with you?" au lieu de "would be delighted to meet with you?"

By Nguyet B Minh T Nguyen on 9/13/2020

This course is so interesting

Showing 12 of 82 reviews

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Overall Score : 88 / 100

Essential Business English
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 3h
  • Price: $12.99
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon May 2025
  • Level: Intermediate Intermediate
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon Yes
  • Lectures:52 in 12 sections
  • Practice:10 quizzes
  • Students:24,100
  • Subtitles:2 languages
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