Build the vocabulary for bridging technical and business worlds — the specific phrases engineers use when translating technical concepts into business language and vice versa.
0 / 10 completed
1 / 10
Which phrase best introduces a technical-to-business translation?
'In business terms, what this means is...' is respectful and positions the translation as a natural bridge. 'In layman's terms' can sound condescending. The goal is to reframe the concept in the listener's language, not simplify it.
2 / 10
You need to explain a technical debt to a CFO. Which framing is most effective?
The CFO understands 'cost of change', 'deferred maintenance', and 'risk' — these are business concepts. Framing technical debt as 'accumulated deferred maintenance that increases cost of change' directly connects to business concerns like development velocity and delivery risk.
3 / 10
What does 'the business impact' mean when used by a product manager in a technical discussion?
'Business impact' refers to consequences for the organisation's commercial outcomes: revenue gain or loss, cost reduction, customer retention, competitive position. When PMs ask 'what's the business impact?', they are asking you to connect your technical work to these commercial outcomes.
4 / 10
Which phrase correctly translates 'we have a p99 latency of 800ms' for a non-technical stakeholder?
Good translation gives the meaning, not just the metric. '99% of our slowest requests take under 800ms' explains what p99 means without jargon, and 'virtually all users get a response in under a second' connects it to the user experience.
5 / 10
What does 'ROI' stand for and how do engineers use it?
ROI (Return on Investment) is a business concept used by engineers to justify work to stakeholders: 'The investment in automated testing has an ROI of 3:1 — we spend X engineering hours but save 3X in bug investigation and customer support costs.'
6 / 10
Which phrase is the most appropriate way to explain 'uptime' to a non-technical executive?
The most effective translation pairs the metric with its real-world meaning. '99.9% uptime = no more than 8.7 hours of outage per year' makes the abstraction concrete and connects to business risk (service unavailability = lost revenue).
7 / 10
What does it mean when an engineer says 'let me translate that into engineering requirements'?
Translating business goals into engineering requirements means converting abstract goals ('users should be able to find products quickly') into specific, measurable technical specs ('search results should load in under 200ms for 95% of queries'). This is a core product engineering skill.
8 / 10
Which phrase is most effective for reframing a technical risk in business terms?
Business stakeholders respond to quantified risk. 'Single point of failure' becomes meaningful when connected to 'entire payment service offline' and '$50k per hour' impact. Quantifying the risk in business terms creates urgency and justifies investment in remediation.
9 / 10
What does 'opportunity cost' mean when used in a technical planning discussion?
Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative you didn't choose. In technical planning: 'The opportunity cost of spending Q3 on the migration is not launching the enterprise tier, which our sales team estimates is worth $200k ARR.' This framing helps stakeholders make informed prioritisation decisions.
10 / 10
What does the phrase 'non-functional requirements' mean when translating to business stakeholders?
Non-functional requirements (NFRs) define quality attributes: how fast, how secure, how reliable. For business stakeholders: 'These are the requirements that determine whether the product meets user expectations for speed and reliability — not just whether it has the right features.'
This exercise, "Translation Vocabulary & Phrases", tests your understanding of tech-to-business vocabulary and phrasing through 10 multiple-choice questions drawn from real workplace scenarios.
Is this exercise free to use?
Yes. Every exercise on CoderSlingo, including this one, is completely free — no account, sign-up, or payment required.
How many questions does this exercise have?
This exercise has 10 questions. Each one presents a realistic sentence or scenario with multiple-choice options and an explanation once you answer.
What happens after I answer a question?
You'll see immediate feedback showing whether your answer was correct, along with a short explanation of why — then a button to move to the next question.
Can I retry the exercise if I get questions wrong?
Yes. Once you reach the results screen, click "Try again" to reset your answers and go through the exercise from the start as many times as you like.
Do I need to create an account to take this exercise?
No account is needed. Your answers are scored in your browser during the session — nothing is saved to a server, so you can jump straight in.
Is my progress saved if I leave the page?
No — progress within an exercise resets if you navigate away or reload. Each exercise is short enough to complete in a few minutes in one sitting.
Who is this Tech-to-Business exercise for?
It's designed for IT professionals and learners who want to sound natural discussing tech-to-business topics in English — useful for meetings, documentation, interviews, and day-to-day communication with English-speaking teams.
How is this different from reading a glossary or blog article?
Exercises like this one are active recall drills — you have to choose the correct term or phrasing yourself, which builds retention faster than passively reading a definition.
Where can I find more Tech-to-Business exercises?
Browse the full Tech-to-Business exercises hub for more practice, or explore other exercise categories covering vocabulary, grammar, interviews, and workplace communication.