同僚の資料に赤を入れたい。英語で角を立てない言い方。

Picture this: your British colleague hands in a report, and you think it needs a serious rework. In Japan, you might say nothing at all — or drop the vaguest hint and hope they pick it up. But in a typical UK workplace? Silence is often read as approval. So if you want things to actually change, you've got to speak up — kindly, but clearly.

The good news is, British English has some wonderfully polite ways to put across criticism without it feeling like an attack. One classic move is the so-called 'feedback sandwich' — start with something genuine you liked, follow up with your concern, then close on an encouraging note. It sounds almost too simple, but it really does take the edge off.

Another phrase worth keeping in your back pocket is 'I wonder if we could...' — it sounds tentative, but in British culture it's actually a fairly direct way of suggesting a change. Similarly, 'It might be worth considering...' is not a maybe — it's a polite nudge that means 'please do this.' Once you get the hang of reading between the lines like this, conversations feel a lot less stressful.

The biggest shift from Japanese workplace culture? In the UK, giving honest feedback is seen as a form of respect — it means you believe the person can rise to the occasion. Staying silent, on the other hand, can come across as indifferent. Quite a different vibe, isn't it?