BEP 67 – Socializzare con i colleghi al lavoro

Questo è il quarto di una serie di podcast ESL aziendali di livello intermedio incentrati sui viaggi d'affari. In questa serie seguiamo un gruppo di tirocinanti che lavorano per la società di telecomunicazioni Ambient mentre visitano la loro sede centrale nel Michigan, negli Stati Uniti.

Come fai a fare una chiacchierata amichevole con i tuoi colleghi? Di che tipo di argomenti puoi parlare? Vedremo alcune risposte. In particolare, tratteremo i saluti informali e come parlare di film. Poiché quasi tutti amano andare al cinema, i film sono solitamente un buon argomento per le chiacchiere.

Mentre inizia il nostro ascolto, è lunedì mattina. Onesto, un tirocinante dalle Filippine, saluta la sua collega americana Brenda mentre entra in ufficio.

Domande sull'ascolto

1) Cosa intende Brenda quando dice "veg out"??
2) Cosa sono i critici e cosa pensano di Rush Hour 3?
3) Quanto piace il caffè a Brenda??

PDF Transcript

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 66 – Lavorare con i colleghi e fare richieste

Cosa fai se non hai spazio per tutti i tuoi dipendenti o molti di loro trascorrono la maggior parte del tempo viaggiando o lavorando fuori sede? Negli anni '90, un manager intelligente ha trovato una soluzione – desking caldo – e il resto è storia. L'hot desking si riferisce all'utilizzo di aree di lavoro temporanee predisposte per il personale che ne ha bisogno.

Con l'invenzione dei computer portatili e di Internet, possiamo praticamente lavorare ovunque. Ora, in molte aziende in tutto il mondo, dalle società di software hi-tech alle società di consulenza gestionale e sempre più in settori più tradizionali come quello bancario e ingegneristico, viene realizzato un certo numero di aree di lavoro “scrivanie calde.” Finché sono vuoti, chiunque può lavorare lì. Siediti, collega il tuo computer, e sei pronto per partire! Nelle aziende in cui viaggiano molte persone, questo è un ottimo modo per risparmiare denaro perché riduce al minimo lo spazio inutilizzato.

In questo Podcast di inglese commerciale lezione, continueremo la nostra serie sui viaggi d'affari. Stiamo seguendo Honesto, un dipendente di Ambient Telecommunications di Manila, durante un viaggio di formazione presso la sede centrale nel Michigan, Stati Uniti d'America. L'obiettivo linguistico principale della lezione è fare richieste educate. Lungo la strada, esamineremo anche alcuni modi diversi per esprimere simpatie e antipatie. Honesto si è trovato una scrivania inutilizzata e ci sta lavorando quando all'improvviso trova un nuovo vicino, Megan.

Domande sull'ascolto

1) Che tipo di espressioni usano Honesto e Megan per fare richieste educate?
2) A che tipo di formazione partecipa Honesto?
3) Da dove viene Megan?

Premium Members: PDF Transcript | PhraseCast

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 65 – Inglese commerciale: Tecniche di interrogatorio (2)

This is the second in a two-part Business English Pod lesson on questioning techniques. Last time in BEP 64 we looked at making small talk and gathering information with open questions, getting specific information with probing questions and guiding the conversation by showing interest.

This time we’ll learn several more advanced questioning techniques, including direct questions, to get information from someone who is being uncommunicative, reflective questions, to guide the conversation, and hypothetical questions, to suggest possible action. Together these techniques form a series that can be used to drill down to the information you need.

Come ricorderai, the listening takes place in a customer needs analysis: Brad, from chemical coatings producer Forrest and Brown, is visiting his customer Andy. Andy’s company, Stratos, puts together circuit boards for use in consumer electronics.

Alla fine di Parte 1 , Brad had just used a probing question to determine what exact kinds of products Andy’s company focuses on. When he discovered that Stratos was making a lot of boards for TVs, Brad decides to follow this line of questioning. As we’ll see, this is because TVs are a good match for Brad’s products.

The specific kind of TV they are talking about is an LCD TV, often referred to as a flat screen TV.

Domande sull'ascolto

1) LCD TVs produce a lot of heat. Why is this important to Brad’s sales pitch?
2) What are Andy’s main priorities in selecting conformal coatings to protect the circuit boards Stratos produces?
3) What are the main good points of the coating that Brad wishes to sell to Andy?

Members: PDF Transcript

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 64 – Inglese commerciale: Tecniche di interrogatorio (1)

Questions are an important part of almost every conversation. So being able to ask good questions is critical to communication. How can we make our questioning more effective and efficient? In this two-part Business English Podcast series we’ll be looking at some answers.

The communication skills we’ll be learning can be used in any situation, but we’ll be focusing in on an area where questioning techniques are particularly important: needs analysis. This refers to analyzing the needs of a customer as part of the sales process. We’ll study a series of questioning techniques that can be used todrill down to” – questo è, get to or uncoverthe information you want.

In today’s Business English listening Brad is a sales manager for Forrest and Brown, a producer of innovative industrial coatings and glues. Coating refers to a chemical that is applied to the outside of something to protect it. Per esempio, paint is a type of coating. Forrest and Brown producesconformal coatings”; this type of coating is used to protect printed circuit boards, or PCBs. PCBs are small flat boards covered with wiring and electronic parts. Almost all electronic devicesTVs, CD players, phoneshave them.

Today Brad is visiting Andy, who is a production manager for Stratos, an assembler of PCBs that are used in household items. We can say that Andy is Brad’sprospect” – the person he wants to sell to.

Let’s listen to how Brad asks Andy questions to analyze Stratos’ esigenze.

Domande sull'ascolto

1) What does Brad think of the Stratos facility?
2) How long has Stratos been located in its current location?
3) What kind of devices does Stratos produce circuit boards for?

Members: PDF Transcript

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 63 – Persuasione indiretta in un contesto sociale

Life is actually a constant exercise in persuasion, wouldn’t you say? What I mean is we don’t just need to persuade people in the meeting room; actually, we are constantly using the tools of persuasion across a wide variety of situations ranging from serious to casual. In addition to formal situations, everyday persuasions include when to meet, whether to extend a deadline, and even such common things as where to have lunch or which movie to see.

So the persuasive process we learned in BEP 59 , 60 & 62 is useful not just for formal business situations, but across all sorts of contexts that come up many times every day. You don’t always want to use the indirect approach to persuasion, but it’s often very useful.

Here’s an example of the persuasive process at work in an everyday situation: Julie is persuading her husband, Steve, to try a new vacation spot.

Mentre ascolti, see if you can identify the five steps of the Monroe sequence:

1) Getting attention
2) Establishing need
3) Satisfying that need
4) Visualizing the future
5) Asking for action

Because this is an informal situation, the language Julie uses is obviously quite casual and she doesn’t include any numbers or statistical data; ma, as always, a convincing description of the problem in the need step is the key to successful persuasion. And it’s important to state the problem from the perspective of the audience, which in this case is Julie’s husband.

Premium Members: PDF Transcript

Download: Podcast MP3