Negotiations

Whenever we take part in a conversation in which we need to reach an agreement with our interlocutors, a negotiation is taking place.

This way, the term negotiation is not just restricted to the business world, but it can be applied to many aspects of our everyday life -deciding which present to buy for a friend or deciding which film to see at the weekend are examples of this wider sense of a negotiation.

In our academic life, the second part of the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas oral exam, the interaction, is in fact a negotiation.

Whenever we take part in a negotiation, we must consider our friends' or classmates' perspectives on a given topic as much as our own. To do so, some expressions can help us to give a framework to both our ideas and those expressed by the people we are talking to.

There are some expressions we can use to fully agree with someone:
I completely agree with you.
You are absolutely right.
Yes, you have a point there.

There are some expressions we can use to fully disagree with someone:
I'm afraid that's not how I see it.
I'm not sure I agree.
I'm sorry but I don't agree.
I can see what you mean but ...

There are some expressions we can use to show partial agreement.
I agree with you to some extent.
I agree with you up to a point.

Self-study activity: Get together with an English-speaking friend a discuss this topic:
The only reason to learn a language is if the language will help you gain a good job.
Don't forget to use the above-mentioned expressions to agree and disagree with your friend.