TECH ENGLISH

Code Review Discussions

Master the English you need for code reviews — learn polite ways to request changes, praise good code, and discuss trade-offs with your team.

Practice Tech Discussions

Scenario Context

You've been assigned to review a pull request from a colleague. The PR introduces a new caching layer, but you've spotted a potential memory leak and think the naming conventions are inconsistent. You need to leave constructive feedback that's firm but encouraging.

Why This Matters for Engineers

Code reviews are one of the most frequent touchpoints between engineers. If you struggle to articulate why a change is needed — or to push back diplomatically when you disagree — your ideas can get ignored. Non-native speakers often default to blunt feedback that sounds harsh in English, or stay silent when they should speak up. Mastering code review English helps you earn respect, ship better code, and accelerate your career growth.

Essential Phrases

“I noticed a potential issue here — could we discuss it?”

Opening a concern

formal

“Nice approach! One small suggestion…”

Prefacing a minor change

neutral

“This looks clean — I'd just rename this variable for clarity.”

Naming feedback

neutral

“Have we considered the edge case where the input is null?”

Raising edge cases

formal

“I think this could lead to a memory leak — what do you think?”

Flagging a bug

neutral

“Love the pattern you used here — very readable.”

Praising code quality

casual

“Nit: can we add a trailing comma for consistency?”

Style nit-pick

casual

“I'd recommend extracting this into a helper function.”

Suggesting refactor

formal

“Let's sync on this offline — I think there's a larger design question.”

Escalating discussion

neutral

“Could you add a unit test for this path?”

Requesting tests

neutral

“LGTM — ship it!”

Approving the PR

casual

“I'm going to request changes here — but please don't take it personally.”

Softening a rejection

formal

Technical Pronunciation

Word	❌ Common Error	✅ Correct	Tip
cache	catch	kash	Rhymes with 'cash', not 'catch'.
queue	kwee-yoo	kyoo	Sounds exactly like the letter 'Q'.
pseudo	psoo-doh	SOO-doh	The 'p' is silent — say 'soo-doh'.
deprecate	dee-PRE-kate	DEP-ruh-kate	Stress falls on the first syllable: DEP.
iterator	eye-TRAY-tor	IT-uh-ray-tor	Starts with 'IT', not 'eye'.
schema	SHEE-mah	SKEE-mah	The 'ch' makes a hard 'k' sound.

Written vs. Spoken English

Engineers often write one way on Slack or GitHub, but speak differently in meetings. Here's how to translate.

Flagging a bug

Written (Slack/PR)

This will result in a null pointer exception on line 42.

Spoken (Meeting)

“So if this value is null, we'll get a crash right here on line 42.”

Requesting a change

Written (Slack/PR)

Please refactor the above method to reduce cyclomatic complexity.

Spoken (Meeting)

“Hey, could we break this method up a bit? It's getting pretty complex.”

Approving

Written (Slack/PR)

LGTM. Approved.

Spoken (Meeting)

“Looks great to me — go ahead and merge it!”

Example Dialogue

YouHey, I've finished reviewing your PR. Overall, really solid work on the caching layer!

ColleagueThanks! I spent quite a bit of time on the eviction policy. Did anything stand out?

YouYeah — I noticed the cache doesn't release references when entries expire. That could lead to a memory leak over time.

ColleagueOh, good catch. I was relying on the garbage collector, but you're right — we should explicitly clear those.

YouExactly. Also, a small naming thing — you used 'tmpData' in a few places. Could we rename it to something more descriptive, like 'pendingCacheEntries'?

ColleagueFair point. I'll clean that up. Anything else?

YouOne more thing — could you add a test for the case where the cache is full and a new entry comes in? I want to make sure the eviction logic is covered.

ColleagueSure, I'll add that. Thanks for the thorough review!

YouNo problem — once those changes are in, I'll approve it. Great work overall.

Common Questions

How do I give negative feedback in a code review without sounding rude?

Start with what's good before addressing concerns. Use phrases like 'I think we could improve this by…' or 'Have you considered…?' instead of 'This is wrong.' Frame suggestions as questions to invite collaboration rather than dictate changes.

What does LGTM mean in code reviews?

LGTM stands for 'Looks Good To Me.' It's a common abbreviation engineers use to signal approval. In spoken English, you can say 'Looks good to me — let's merge it' or simply 'LGTM, ship it!'

How do I ask someone to rewrite code without offending them?

Focus on the code, not the person. Say 'I think this section could be more readable if we approached it this way…' rather than 'You wrote this badly.' Offer a concrete alternative and explain the reasoning behind your suggestion.

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