This is the third episode of our video podcast series: Email Tune-up. In today’s video we’re going to look at an email request to an external supplier asking them to speed up the delivery of a shipment.
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In this Business English Pod episode, we’ll be completing our discussion of charts and graphs by studying language for making predictions and for supporting your predictions with analysis. We’ll also look at a couple of advanced ways to rhetorically emphasize a point. Rhetorical means using words effectively to get your message across.
Today’s listening continues Pat’s presentation of the market trends for Ambient and its competitors. This time Pat is coming to the “real story” – the main point – of his presentation. As you listen, see if you can catch what it is.
Listening Questions
1) What is the main focus of this part of Pat’s presentation?
2) What happened in 2005 that caused the trend in RPU to “break out” of “existing trend lines?”
3) What are Pat’s predictions for Ambient’s RPU in 2007?
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In this episode from our e-Book on presenting in English, we’ll look at how to describe the trends show by a chart or graph. To get the background to the presentation and to review language for introducing visuals, you can refer back to BEP 103 – Charts and Trends 1.
A trend is the general direction or tendency of a metric or measurement – upward, downward, flat, fluctuating, peaking, bottoming out, and so on. So, you’ll be learning how to use these and many more terms for describing your charts and graphs in fluent, vivid sentences so that you can present your data with maximum impact.
Pat, Ambient’s new Central European finance director, has just finished talking about sales revenue and is now moving on to discuss market share. The visual he will be talking about is a line graph that compares the trends in market share over the last six quarters from Q1 2006 to Q2 2007. His discussion centers on the top three players in the mobile phone business – his own company, Ambient, and their two top competitors, CallTell and Sirus.
As you listen, pay attention to the trend language that Pat uses to describe the recent changes in the market.
Listening Questions
1) Which company has the largest share of the market at the beginning of 2006?
2) How does Pat describe his own company’s performance in 2006?
3) How big is the “others” group share of the market in Spring 2007?
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Today’s podcast continues our series on business vocabulary, with a special focus on collocations or word partnerships. By focusing on words that are commonly used together you can improve your vocabulary and also your ability to understand your English-speaking colleagues.
When you think of “office administration”, what are the first things that come to mind? They might be things like paperwork, filing, copying, and other boring and repetitive tasks. Most people probably don’t think of an office manager’s job as a crucial service that supports the successful running of a company and, therefore, its ability to make money.
Well, today we’re about to meet Thomas, who’s going to tell us about the role he plays as office manager at the Mexican subsidiary of a multinational chemical company.
Listening Questions
1) How does Thomas summarize his role as Office Manager?
2) What characteristics does Thomas list as important qualities of an office manager?
3) According to Thomas, what is a common misunderstanding about the best way for an office manager to do his job?
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As part of our series on job interviews, in this Business English Pod episode we’ll be taking a closer look at the process from the HR perspective. Specifically, we’ll be studying the language of reaching a decision about whom to hire.
A Brazilian business unit of fast moving consumer goods company Fun Beverages has recently interviewed several people for an HR manager position. Now the regional HR director, Ted, and the business unit general manager, George, are meeting to discuss the short-listed, or final, candidates.
As you listen, pay attention to the language they use to compare the two interviewees and to decide which one is the best fit. In addition, we’ll study how they support a candidate, emphasize priorities, express reservations (or second thoughts), and suggest action.
Listening Questions:
1. Which candidate do they prefer and why?
2. What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two main candidates, Ronaldo and Yala?
3. What are the main reservations about Yala?
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Continuing our series on english for job interviews, in this lesson were going to look at what happens when is you’re asked back for a second round interview.
Congratulations! You were successful in your first job round interview, and you have been called back for a second interview. What should you expect? The key word is more – there will be more questions, more pressure – and, of course, more likelihood that you will get the job.
An important function of second-round job interviews is to find out whether we fit with the employer’s company culture.
In this lesson of English for interviews, we’ll study how to demonstrate that we are a good match with an organization. In addition, we’ll review some other useful second-round interview skills, such as summarizing the previous discussion and referring to something you forgot to mention earlier.
We’ll listen to Sherry’s second interview with a big international accounting firm, Grimshaw and Keene (GK). The interviewer is George Tan, an Asia-Pacific key account manager.
As you listen, pay attention to how George and Sherry establish that she is a good fit for the organization, and try to answer the following listening questions.
Listening Questions:
1. George describes GK as both “high-pressure” and “tremendously rewarding,” but he is concerned about whether or not Sherry is ready to “take the plunge.” What does he mean by that?
2. What does Sherry say is one of the things that most attracts her to GK?
3. What is George’s major concern about Sherry’s work experience?
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This is part of an ongoing series on negotiations. In this Business English Podcast episode, we’ll study how to open a traditional commercial negotiation between buyer and seller. We’ll focus on creating goodwill, starting off, setting ground rules, suggesting an agenda and exploring possibilities.
We’ll be listening to a telephone conversation between Tony, a supplier of building materials, and Paul, a purchasing manager for a large construction company in Canada. Paul is buying materials for a harbor project. A harbor is a protected area of water where boats dock, or park. For this project, Paul needs to buy anchor bolts. These bolts are the thick steel screws that are embedded or buried in concrete to support or anchor structural steel columns. Structural columns refer to the steel frameworks that hold buildings up.
This is the first time Tony and Paul have talked on the phone. As you listen, pay attention to the language they use to get the negotiation started, and try to answer the following questions.
Listening Questions
1. How does Tony begin off the phone call to establish goodwill?
2. How long does Paul say he has available for the phone call?
3. Paul asks Tony how he will be using the bolts. How does Tony respond?
4. What other option does Paul want to explore with Tony?
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This Business English Podcast episode on relationship building is part of an ongoing series on negotiation skills.
In negotiation, establishing a good relationship based on trust makes it possible to jointly search for creative solutions, to overcome blockage and even to turn conflict into a productive force.
Both Peter and Maxine are owners of local telecommunication services that provide mobile phone users with ring tones and games. Peter’s company, Textacular, has a significant presence in Denmark; meanwhile, Maxine’s company, Gamester, is based in northern Germany.
Peter is working on a plan to sell his business to a large, European-wide telecom service provider. In an effort to increase his company’s value so that he can get more money for it, Peter wants to roll up or buy other local services like his. In today’s listening, he is having lunch with Maxine to find out whether she might be interested in selling her company. As the dialog starts, they have just ordered their food.
Listening Questions
1) Have Peter and Maxine met before?
2) What does Peter say is his and Maxine’s “biggest overlapping concern?”
3) How does Peter bring up the subject of a possible merger between his and Maxine’s company?
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As we’ve discussed in other episodes on English job interviews, one goal of the person conducting the interview is to get you to “let your guard down.” Often, after a series of “warm-up questions,” the interviewer will give you a tough question. This will likely come “out of the blue,” that is, unexpectedly. We call these types of questions “stress questions” because part of the intention is to see how you react under pressure.
Common types of stress questions range from problems, such as how to solve a business case study or even a mathematics question, to “behavioral questions,” such as how to deal with imaginary work situation involving conflict or communication.
The key with this type of question is “Don’t panic!” which is the theme of this episode. We’ll be looking at strategies and language that will help you deal with this type of query coolly and calmly.
Listening Questions (Good Example):
1. What is the interviewer’s “stress question?”
2. What does Yala do to give herself some thinking time?
3. How does Yala answer the question?
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You’ve had your first and second interview in English, you’ve performed well, and you’ve been selected. You’re one of the lucky few – you’ve succeeded: You’ve got a job offer in hand. But now comes one of the hardest parts of the whole process – negotiating your salary. If you make a mistake here, all of your time and effort might be wasted.
For salary negotiation, preparation – doing your research – is obviously important. In the internet age, there are many websites that focus on salary information, so investigating the market is much easier than it has been in the past.
Knowledge, however, is not enough. We also need to have the confidence to broach, or bring up, the subject and the tools to bargain up the initial or first offer in order to reach a compromise. You will only get what you deserve if you ask for it. So in today’s episode, we’ll focus the skills you need to successfully talk money.
Fun Beverages International has already emailed an offer to Yala Santos for an HR manager position in one of its Brazilian business units. Yala has written back asking to talk with the HR director, Ted, about the details. We’ll be listening to their conversation.
Listening Questions:
1. Why does Ted say he needs Yala to begin work by the suggested start date?
2. How does Yala broach the subject of compensation?
3. How much over the median or average market rate does Ted say Fun Beverages offered Yala in recognition of her skills and experience?
4. What is the final compromise they discuss?
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