Learn English for travel with our lessons on travel English. Learn English phrases and vocabulary for checking into a hotel, making travel arrangements and dealing with customs and immigration at the airport.
Learn travel English with Business English Pod lessons on English for travel. Our travel English lessons are listed by published date with the newest lessons first.
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on conducting a factory inspection in English.
In the global economy, a company might have its headquarters in Germany, but outsource production to China and technical support to India. Or you might find a Korean company that contracts out to one factory in Malaysia and another in Vietnam. In any case, to make the right decision on production facilities, you’ll most likely need to conduct a factory inspection.
So if you’re flying halfway around the world to tour a factory or another facility, what kind of questions should you ask? And how can you make sure the factory is the right fit for your needs? Well, you’ll definitely want to ask questions about quality control to make sure the factory can meet your expectations. You might also ask about production capacity so you know they can handle the work properly. And you might ask about their approach to standards, to make sure they’re in line with your values.
Of course, talk is cheap. You might find a factory manager makes claims that are a bit unbelievable. In these situations, you’ll want to show skepticism, or doubt, and ask for evidence. This is all part of the due diligence necessary to make sure you’re making the right choice.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Cam and Vanessa, who work for an American clothing company. They want to find a new production facility, so they’re touring a factory in China. You’ll also hear Chen, a factory manager who’s giving Cam and Vanessa a tour of the facility. Cam and Vanessa want to find out if Chen’s factory is a good fit for their company.
Listening Questions
1. How does Vanessa react to Chen’s claim that they have a .25% defect rate?
2. What important issue does Cam say their company is very serious about?
3. What kind of proof does Vanessa want to see of the factory managers’ training?
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on having a confidential discussion during a business trip.
If you’ve got colleagues or clients in other parts of the world, you probably rely a lot on email and the phone. But meeting in person continues to be important for building relationships and trust, and for discussing important issues. That’s one reason, of course, why the overseas business trip remains important.
And there’s one type of discussion that can be especially difficult: discussing a confidential matter. Perhaps you need to deliver bad news, or share sensitive information or tell someone about an important change. Meeting face-to-face in these types of situations is often the best way to break the news.
So what’s the best way to go about this? Well, to begin, it’s important to set a positive tone to put the other person at ease. Next, you might want to ask him or her how things are going. That can help break the ice, and the other person might actually mention the topic you want to discuss. Once you’ve started this way, you can introduce the sensitive information you want to deliver. And because the information is sensitive, you need to ask for discretion. Finally, depending on the nature of the discussion, you might also have to provide reassurances. After all, after we hear important information, we might wonder how it will impact us.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Cam, who works for an American clothing company. He’s visiting the head of the company’s Chinese office, David. The company manufactures some of its clothing in China, and has been considering how to expand their retail activities in Asia. Cam needs to have a confidential discussion with David to share some important news.
Listening Questions
1. How does Cam ask for David’s perspective on the current situation?
2. Cam needs to tell David about a decision regarding retail in China. What point does Cam mention to introduce this decision?
3. How does Cam reassure David near the end of the conversation?
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on giving directions and getting around a city. This lesson is part of a larger series that looks at the Business English you need for a successful overseas business trip.
Getting from point A to point B in a city isn’t always simple. Even with a map, there are lots of opportunities for confusion. First of all, a map doesn’t include the names of every little shop or house. And even though a map might show you where some major things are, it won’t tell you how to get there. For these reasons, we still rely on people for advice on getting around. And whether you’re traveling and need to understand someone’s directions, or whether someone asks you for directions, you need the right language.
This is what we’ll look at in today’s lesson. We’ll learn language and techniques for describing a location, suggesting the best travel option, and describing distance. We’ll also look at how to give basic directions, how to explain a change of course, and how to ask a stranger for help on the street.
In the dialog, we’ll rejoin Cam and Vanessa, who have traveled to Shanghai on business. They’re talking to the concierge at their hotel, who is explaining to them how to get to a specific coffee shop in the city’s Pudong business district.
Listening Questions
1. What does the concierge recommend as the best travel option?
2. How does the concierge describe the distance to Hengshan Lu Station?
3. When Cam approaches a stranger in the street, what is the first question he asks?
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on taking a taxi. This will be part of a larger series that looks at the Business English you need for a successful overseas business trip.
When you travel to another city for business, what’s the easiest way to get around? Usually by taxi. You don’t have to interpret a subway map or a bus schedule. And you can be delivered directly to your destination with little confusion, though it will cost you more of course.
Yes, I said “with little confusion,” though that’s not always the case. Taxi drivers might not always understand what you want, or what you’re saying. You’ve still got to communicate clearly, directly, and politely with the taxi driver. Your fate is in his – or her – hands, and so you need to make sure you’re understood.
This is exactly what we’ll learn today. We’ll cover some important types of requests during a taxi ride, including asking for a destination, requesting a specific route, and asking for a change of course. We’ll also learn how to ask to be let out and request a receipt.
In this lesson, we’ll hear Cam and Vanessa, who have just arrived in Shanghai on a business trip. They’ve passed through immigration and collected their bags, and now they want to take a taxi to their hotel.
Listening Questions
1. What is the travelers’ destination, and where is it located?
2. Vanessa asks for a change of course to get to a bank. How does she describe how to get there?
3. How does Vanessa ask to be let out of the taxi?
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to deal with problems you might experience when traveling by air.
This Business English lesson is part of our new series of fresh takes on some of our older lessons. We’ve kept the same dialog but have new explanations and practice for our lower level learners.
When you are traveling for business, have you ever had problems that seem beyond your control? Like when you show up at the airport and your flight is cancelled. Or when your flight is late and you can’t get to your destination on time? These situations can be frustrating and difficult to deal with. But there are some language techniques that you can learn to help you solve your problems.
In this lesson, we’ll look at some of these techniques, such as getting someone’s attention, using negative questions for requests, and agreeing reluctantly. We’ll also cover making polite refusals, correcting yourself, and asking about payment. These are all things you might have to do or understand as you solve a travel problem.
In the dialog you’re going to hear a traveler called Robert. If you heard our last lesson, you might remember that Robert was traveling to Nice but stopping in Paris first. In this lesson, you’ll hear Robert in the Paris airport. He has missed his connecting flight to Nice and now he’s trying to find a way to get to his destination in time for a meeting the next day.
Listening Questions
1. When is the next available flight to Nice?
2. Why is the next available flight not acceptable to Robert?
3. What does Robert want instead of the next available flight to Nice?
4. What type of seat does the agent say is the only type available?
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