Talking About Problems & Difficulties - Business English Vocabulary

Problems, problems, problems... watch this Business English Vocabulary lesson and learn lots of different ways to talk about problems and difficulties. Don't miss 4 useful idioms at the end of the lesson!

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 Some simple ways to talk about problems:

have problems with + noun

- We’re having some problems with the new production line.

We can also use the word trouble

- We’re having some trouble with the new production line. A tip here: don’t say troubles, say trouble

We can also use difficulties

- We’re having some difficulties with the new production line. Say it with me 123

And, we can also use issues

- We’re having some issues with the new production line. Say it with me123

Some ways to talk about difficulties:

We can say that something is "difficult or hard to do"

- It’s very difficult to find a reliable supplier.
- It can be quite hard to write business reports in English.

We can also say "find it difficult or hard to do something"

- We find it difficult to attract new customers.
- He finds it hard to make presentations in English.

Verbs and adjectives that often go together with the word problem:

Verbs
Tackle / address / deal with a problem:
to take action and start trying to solve the problem

- We need to tackle this problem immediately.
- There are several problems that need to be addressed.
- Susan is very experienced at dealing with complex problems.

Adjectives
We can use minor and major to talk about the seriousness of a problem. A minor problem is not so serious whereas a major problem is very serious.

- We had some minor problems at the start of the project but nothing serious.
- If we don’t take action now, this could become a major problem.

An immediate problem is one that exists now, and needs to be dealt with quickly

- Climate change is an immediate problem.

A persistent problem is one that continues to exist or happen, especially for longer than is usual

- We’ve been having persistent problems with our IT systems.

Idiomatic expressions connected to problems and difficulties:

come to a head

If a problem or difficult situation comes to a head, it suddenly becomes worse and has to be dealt with quickly

- Business had been bad for a while, but the situation came to a head when we lost our biggest client.

in dire straits

If you are in dire straits, you are in an extremely difficult or serious situation

- The coronavirus has left a lot of businesses in dire straits.

teething problems

The difficulties you experience during the initial stage or start of an activity or project

- We had some teething problems when we started using the new software, but we managed to solve them quite soon.

see light at the end of the tunnel

If you see light at the end of the tunnel, you see signs of hope for the future after a long period of difficulty.

- Turnover was pretty bad for the first 6 months of the year, but now we can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Do you know any other idioms or expressions connected to problems or difficulties? Let me know in the comments

Видео Talking About Problems & Difficulties - Business English Vocabulary канала Derek Callan - English for Professionals