In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to talk about your job.
There are lots of situations where you meet someone new and you want to tell them about your job. Maybe they ask you about it, or you just want to introduce yourself. So how do you do that? Do you just say “I am a salesman” and that’s it? No, you need to say a bit more than that.
925 English is a new business English podcast for beginners. 925 English lessons focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson features English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to get action over the telephone in English.
Being productive at work means getting stuff done. And sometimes to get our own work done, we need other people to get things done. So when you need action from someone, what’s the best or quickest way to get it? Well, often we just pick up the phone and call the person.
And what do you say? Is it okay to just come out and say “hey, do this” or “hi, do that?” Not really. You need to be firm and direct, but not that firm and direct. You might need to emphasize how important the issue is. Next, you might lead into the main issue before you actually talk about what you want or need done.
But that’s not all! If you want action, you want to make absolutely sure you’re going to get it. That’s why you might ask for a guarantee, which is like a promise from the other person. And finally, just to be 100% sure, you should finish off by confirming the action. In this way, you’re not being too direct or bossy, but you’re still firmly doing more than just making a polite request.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Nathan, who works for an aircraft company called Cyclops. Nathan is calling George at a company called Airtronics. Nathan is calling because he wants to get action on a proposal from George. More specifically, he wants to make sure George is going to submit the proposal to Cyclops today.
Listening Questions
1. Why does Nathan think it’s important for George to submit a proposal today?
2. What important question does Nathan ask that relates to whether George can complete his proposal?
3. Near the end of the conversation, Nathan asks George to do something just to confirm that the proposal is being sent. What does he ask George to do?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to make an enquiry on the telephone in English. Making an enquiry means that you want to ask a question, or questions, to get information.
Getting information over the telephone in English can be challenging! You need to be very clear about what you need, and sometimes you need to ask the other person for clarification when you can’t hear or don’t understand. If information isn’t correct, or if it’s misunderstood, there could be big trouble. So it’s important that you learn good ways of making telephone enquiries.
What do you actually do when you make an enquiry? Well, to begin, you will want to ask for information. That could simply mean telling the other person what you want to know more about. Sometimes you might also use an alternative choice question, like “is it A or is it B?” Giving limited options like that can help make things clear.
Now, what if you can’t hear the other person correctly? Well, you might have to use an expression like “sorry, what did you say?” to get the other person to repeat himself. And sometimes a word or abbreviation might not be clear and you might have to spell it out, letter by letter. All of these are ways of making sure your enquiry and the information is clear.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear George, who works for a company called Airtronics. George’s company is writing a proposal to make radios for an aircraft company called Cyclops. George is talking to Simon at Cyclops Aircraft to get some information he needs for his proposal. The telephone connection isn’t always clear, which creates some difficulty in the call.
Listening Questions
1. George asks Simon about “shipping,” or delivering the radios. What are the two choices George gives Simon about shipping?
2. At one point, George can’t hear what Simon says. How does George ask Simon to repeat himself?
3. Simon uses two words to make it clear to George that he means “XV.” What are the two words?
In our last 925 English lesson, we had a look at how to start a conversation in English. In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to keep a conversation going and how to end it.
There’s no point in striking up conversation with someone if you can’t keep it going. But what does that involve? I mean, it’s more than just asking and answering questions, right? So, what kinds of things can we say or do to make the conversation flow naturally? Well, one important way that we keep a conversation going is by showing interest in what someone says. Besides learning how to keep a conversation going, we’ll also look at language for showing interest, changing the topic and ending the conversation.
925 English will be a new business English podcast for beginner and intermediate learners. 925 English lessons will focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson will feature English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn all about how to start a conversation in English.
Sometimes we call starting an English conversation “breaking the ice.” You can think of the “ice” as that initial silence between people. It could be between strangers on a plane or coworkers in a lunch room. And when we “break” the ice, we say something friendly to start a conversation. So how do you do that? What do you say? And what topics are best?
925 English will be a new business English podcast for beginner and intermediate learners. 925 English lessons will focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson will feature English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
