You can use the following techniques to sound more diplomatic in English.

1. Use the past continuous to sound more distant e.g. We were hoping to hammer out the details today. / We were thinking of offering you a three month trial.Using the past continuous helps the speaker to sound more tentative and not overly direct. 2. Use negative questions to make suggestions e.g. Wouldnt it be better to..? / Dont you think we could.....? / Couldnt we.....? These questions carry the speakers opinion and ask for a reaction. 3. Use modifiers to make things seem less or smaller e.g. That may cause a slight problem for us. / We have a bit of a problem with the accounts. Using 'slight' here makes helps the speaker to be softer, phrases like a bit of, sort of, kind of came have the same effect. 4. Modal verbs can be used in a similar way e.g. We might be able to agree to that, provided...../ We may be able to help you there.. The modal verbs make the verb weaker and not as definite. 5. Use positive adjectives with not instead of negative adjectives e.g. That might not be possible / Thats not as reasonable as we hoped you would be. The positive adjectives are nicer for people to hear than negative ones. 6. Use phrases to signal bad news for the listener e.g. Unfortunately.. / Im afraid.. / Im sorry but.. / With respect.. These phrases can soften bad news.