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BEP 72 – Telephoning: Voicemail Messages

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Telephone English /

When you call someone but they aren’t there, often their voicemail “picks up” or answers the phone. Then you have to leave a message. Anyone who uses the phone in their job has to deal with voicemail.

Have you ever started to leave a message on someone’s voicemail, then when you heard the “beep” sound, you didn’t know what to say? When you’re speaking a foreign language, talking without preparation can be challenging, especially when you cannot see or hear the person you’re talking to. But with a little practice, you’ll be a voicemail pro.

That’s what we’ll be studying in this Business English lesson – standard phrases and language for voicemail messages, so that next time you here that “beep” you’ll know exactly what to say.

First we’ll hear a bad example. Justin Thomas works for a shipping broker called Trivesco. Brokers are “middlemen” – in this case Justin is a “newbuildings” broker, which means he helps people buy and sell new ships. Justin is calling Sylvie Peterson, a manager at the shipbuilding company Schmidt and Larsen. In the second example we hear Justin’s colleague, Mark Rand, leave a more professional message.

Listening Questions (Good Message)

1) What is Mark Rand hoping to talk to Sylvie about?
2) When will he be available to take Sylvie’s call?
3) How does Mark put a positive finish on the message?

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BEP 69 – Telephone English: Leaving a Message

Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Telephone English /

This lesson has been updated in anew series: BEP 69A Redux & BEP 69B Redux.

People are busy. When you telephone people, they often aren’t there to take your call, so you need to leave a message. And almost everyone has to answer the telephone and take a message sometimes. Doing so professionally leaves a good impression on your customers, colleagues and boss.

Today we will hear a bad example and a good example of taking and leaving a telephone message.

Justin Thomas is with Trivesco, a major shipyard, or maker of ships. He is calling Sylvie Peterson at Daneline, a shipping company. Sylvie is a sales and purchase (S&P) broker. A broker is a middleman or negotiator. Sylvie specializes in negotiating the purchase of “newbuildings” or newly built ships. Amy, the receptionist, answers the phone.

Listening Questions

Bad Example
1) Does Amy answer the phone professionally?
2) Is Justin prepared?

Good Example
1) How does Amy answer the phone?
2) What is Mark calling about?
3) How does Amy make sure that she has got Mark’s correct phone number?

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BEP 68 – Meeting English: Dealing with Interruptions

Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English /

As a non-native speaker of English, you might often find yourself in situations like this: You’re sitting in a meeting or a teleconference, and some of the participants are native English speakers. They are speaking with one another very rapidly, and they are using some idiomatic or difficult-to-understand expressions. Someone says something you don’t understand, or perhaps something that is not true or that you disagree strongly with. You should interrupt to ask what they mean, to clarify, to correct – but you just can’t bring yourself to open your mouth. How do you start? How do you interrupt?

That’s the focus of today’s Business English podcast lesson. We’ll be studying useful language and expressions for interrupting and for resisting or stopping interruption.

The listening takes place in an internal meeting at Strand Technologies, a Hong Kong-based OEM of portable electronic devices, mainly MP3 and MP4 players. OEM stands for “original equipment manufacturer.” It refers to companies that manufacture other companies’ products for them. In this internal meeting, all three participants know each other well so the language is more informal and direct. As you listen, pay attention to how they use assertive language to interrupt each other in order to keep the meeting on track and arrive at positive result more quickly.

Listening Questions

1) What does Bill mean when he says they’re facing a “bottleneck?” What is the bottleneck?
2) Why can’t Bill just retrain the engineers he has?
3) What is Mei Lin’s suggestion to speed up the recruitment process?

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

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BEP 67 – Socializing with Colleagues at Work

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Socializing, Travel /

This is the fourth in a series of intermediate business ESL podcasts that focus on business travel. In this series we’re following a group of trainees who work for the telecommunications company Ambient as they visit their head office in Michigan in the U.S.

How do you make friendly chat with your colleagues? What kinds of topics can you talk about? We’ll be looking at some answers. In particular, we’ll cover informal greetings and how to chat about movies. As almost everyone loves to go to the cinema, movies are usually a good topic for small talk.

As our listening begins, it’s Monday morning. Honesto, a trainee from the Philippines, says hello to his American colleague Brenda as she comes in to the office.

Listening Questions

1) What does Brenda mean when she says “veg out”?
2) What are critics and what did they think about Rush Hour 3?
3) How does Brenda like her coffee?

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BEP 66 – Working with Colleagues and Making Requests

Business English, ESL Podcast, Functions, Intermediate English, Travel /

What do you do if you don’t have office space for all your employees or many of them usually spend most of their time traveling or working offsite? In the 90s, some clever manager came up with a solution – hot desking – and the rest is history. Hot desking refers to using temporary work areas that are set up for any staff who needs them.

With the invention of laptop computers and the Internet, we can pretty much work anywhere. Now, in many companies around the world from hi-tech software firms to management consultancies and even increasingly in more traditional industries such as banking and engineering, a certain number of work areas are made into “hot desks.” As long as they are empty, any one can work there. Sit down, plug in your computer, and you are ready to go! In companies where a lot of people are traveling, this is a great way to save money because it reduces unused space to a minimum.

In this Business English Podcast lesson, we’ll be continuing our series on business travel. We’re following Honesto, an Ambient Telecommunications employee from Manila, on a training trip to head office in Michigan, USA. The main language focus of the lesson is on making polite requests. Along the way, we’ll also look at some different ways to express likes and dislikes. Honesto has found himself an unused desk and is working along when all of the sudden he gets a new neighbor, Megan.

Listening Questions

1) What kind of expressions do Honesto and Megan use to make polite requests?
2) What type of training is Honesto taking part in?
3) Where is Megan from?

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