Business English News is a new show on Business English Pod about current events, especially things happening in the business news.
As a company built and run on Mac computers, and with an audience that mainly uses Apple products to listen to our podcasts, it’s only fitting that we (re)launch this show with a tribute to Steve Jobs, who passed away on Wednesday 5th October.
This is the second of our two-part Business English Pod series on idioms related to time.
Time is a very precious resource. And for this reason, time management is a very important issue at work and in business. We’re always thinking about how to better manage our time, get our work done, juggle deadlines, arrange schedules, and follow timelines. Time, like money, is something that we can measure, budget, save, and even waste.
English is rich in idioms related to time. These idioms are very useful in business considering time is such a constant concern. In our last episode, we covered many common and useful expressions related to time in general. Today, we’ll look at a few more, particularly ones related to a lack of time and expressing a sense of urgency.
We’ll rejoin Jeff and Claire, two managers who are overseeing the development of a mobile phone app and a new website. Previously, we heard them talking about the design and development of the app. Today, they’re going to focus their discussion on the new website.
Listening Questions
1. Why is the website behind schedule?
2. Which part of the team usually waits to do their work?
3. When do they hope to assemble the website?
Welcome back to Business English Pod. In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at business English idioms related to time.
At work and in business, time is always a concern. We rush to get to the office “on time,” we work hard to finish projects “in time” and we sometimes have to work “overtime” to get it all done. If you’re like most people, you watch the clock and the calendar constantly. It’s hard not to with such busy schedules and tight timelines.
In English, time idioms focus on a few key ideas. We hear the word “time” a lot, as well as the words “clock” and “hour”. Many of the idioms are related to speed, duration, regularity, and how late or early something happens or is finished. We also see a lot of idioms related to time pressure.
In this lesson, we’ll hear a conversation between Jeff and Claire, two project managers who are overseeing the development of a mobile phone application and a new website. We will hear them discuss timelines on different parts of the project and different project teams.
Listening Questions
1. What does Claire say about the designers?
2. What does Jeff say about the writers?
3. Which part of the project is behind schedule?
This business English vocabulary lesson is the first of a two-part series on Business English vocabulary related to Internet technologies. In part one, we’ll have a look at some of the basic tools and concepts that allow the Internet to function.
