Paul Arnold Last updated: February 1, 2023

8 Shockingly Good Apps for Business English Learners

Do you want to get ahead in business?

Are you worried your English language skills aren’t good enough?

Then you should try studying business English with apps!

Whether you need to improve your English for job interviews, working in an office, being a customer service representative or even making better deals, there is an app out there that can help.

Why Use Apps to Learn Business English?
4 Apps for Business English Learners
Learn Business English with Apps

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Why Use Apps to Learn Business English?

Apps can be downloaded with a single click, and used on smartphones, tablets or even your computer. These apps have interactive tools, structured lessons, vocabulary lists, business idioms and the most recent business news and analysis from around the world. All are designed to help you reach success in the business world.

There are many benefits of using apps for business English learners.

These apps can:

Improve your vocabulary and knowledge of useful idioms and expressions
Give you the most recent business stories and expert analysis to help you understand important events
Provide the right set of tools to help you develop your business skills
Be used anytime, anywhere—while waiting for a business meeting to start or while traveling to or from work.
Offer interesting and interactive elements to reinforce the material you’re learning

So we know that apps are really useful for language learners, and that there are tons of business apps available. But which ones should you use? Which are the best?

We’ve saved you lots of time by selecting seven of the best apps out there that we think you will like and find useful. No matter what level you’re at with your English language learning, you will find something useful among these awesome apps for English business learners.

4 Apps for Business English Learners

CNBC Business News and Finance

By: NBCUniversal Media, LLC
iTunes Store | Google Play
Price: Free

From one of the world’s biggest business television networks comes an app that puts real-time business news and the latest market data from NYSE and NASDAQ right at your fingertips. If you like knowing updates right away, then you will find what you want with this fast, accurate and well-respected news source.

In addition to news programming, the app also provides access to CNBC’s popular TV shows, including “Mad Money” and “American Greed.” The breaking news alerts will help you learn about stories as they happen, and there is also pre-market and after-hours trading data.

English language learners who are at the advanced intermediate level and above should be very comfortable reading, watching and listening to stories on this app. There is a lot of great material here to get stuck into.

FluentU

By: FluentU
Website | iTunes store | Google Play
Price: Monthly subscription, free trial available. See pricing page for current rates.

FluentU is an immersion program, which means that it teaches English using content that native English speakers consume on a daily basis. This includes general English videos like movie trailers, informative talks, vlogs and music videos.

There are plenty of options for business English learners, as well: You’ll find native English examinations of business industry issues and careers, tips for business owners, business etiquette and small talk ideas and much more.

You can follow along thanks to interactive subtitles that show you the definition of any word when you click on it. You can also add it to a flashcard deck (you can make specific ones for different industries or type of vocabulary, for example) and see more examples of the word in other videos.

Every time you finish a video, you’re tested on the vocabulary and language from the video. You can find new words to study here, too, and add words to your lists. When you’re ready, FluentU has exercises you can do to memorize these words.

Thanks to all the natural context you get in these videos, flashcards and quizzes, you’ll gain a better understanding of new words than if you learned it from a textbook.

Speak English Like an American

By: Language Success Press
iTunes Store | Google Play
Price: 5 free lessons; $9.99 USD

Fun and learning are two words that sadly don’t go together often enough. But that’s not a problem with Speak English Like an American, which is an entertaining and highly informative language learning app for business English learners.

It goes deep into the language to help students master lots of tricky idioms and phrases. And it does this by following an American family around their daily lives. As the family has their regular days, the app provides you with more than 300 common idioms and expressions.

You can learn faster with the recording tool that records and plays your dialogue back to you, so you can compare and check your progress. The app is based on the book of the same name. Lesson chapters include “Bob’s Day at Work,” “Susan Hires Bob to Run Her Business” and “Ted Forms a Rock Band.”

This is a really useful app to have in your English language learning toolkit!

The Wall Street Journal

By: Wall Street Journal
iTunes Store | Google Play
Price: Free to download; In-app purchases $0.99-$22.99 USD

The Wall Street Journal is a must-read business publication, and with its WSJ app you can access the latest news and world class commentary from anywhere on the planet. While we love the print edition of this newspaper, the app version comes with many excellent media experiences that help to bring stories to life.

For the language student, this makes learning a lot easier. There are photo slideshows, interactive graphics and a full-screen video. Plus the entire software package looks great too!

The app presents readers with an exact digital copy of the print original. This means that the app has the same typeface and layout as the printed articles. The clean and simple interface makes navigating (moving around) the app a joy.

The content is updated daily, including access to breaking news, so you always know exactly what’s going on.

Learn Business English with Apps

There is no reason to struggle to say what you want to say in a business environment. Not when there is an app out there than can help.

Whatever your situation, with these apps you will be fully informed of global business happenings and learn high quality idioms and expressions that will boost your language skills and confidence levels. Enjoy!