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BEP 138 – Sailing Idioms: Company Performance (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms, Intermediate English /

In this Business English Pod episode, we’re going to look at how business idioms related to ships and sailing can be used to describe company performance.

The image of a ship is a powerful one in business. The ship is like a company – a huge entity that must be steered toward success, maintained properly, and carefully guided away from dangers like storms and rocks. Employees are often seen as a crew of sailors, a group that must work together as a team. So sailing idioms frequently appear when we discuss business in English.

Today’s episode starts a two-part series on sailing idioms. Lakisha and Warren are two colleagues discussing the decline of Trussock’s, an engineering firm that has been faltering since a new CEO took over.

Listening Questions

1) What are the major differences between Trussock’s old CEO and the new CEO?
2) What do Lakisha and Warren think will help change the situation at Trussock’s?

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Business English Podcast Lessons

This is a complete list of all the business English lessons published on Business English Pod from 2006 to present, starting with the most recent lessons.

Learn business English with over 600 business English lessons on everything from meetings, presentations, negotiations and interviews to business writing, grammar and vocabulary. Each lesson includes a comprehensive PDF transcript, complete with dialogues, teacher explanations, examples, and speaking practice sections. Look up key words and idioms in the glossary and practice the target language in the review section. Our mobile-friendly lesson modules combine audio and transcripts for an immersive learning experience, perfect for learning business English online on both desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, every lesson comes with practice quizzes to reinforce your listening, language, and vocabulary skills.

Use the page navigation buttons below to browse through all our lessons.

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BEP 137 – Company Tour: Showing a Visitor Around

Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Marketing English, Sales English /

In today’s Business English Pod episode, we’re going to look at language for showing a visitor around your office or factory.

There are many reasons that someone might visit a factory and take a tour. They might be a prospective client who wants to see where the products are made, or perhaps someone from head office is on an inspection tour, or it could be an official inspection to make sure you are following government or internal standards. If it’s your job to give the tour, you’ll want to make sure everything goes smoothly. So in today’s episode we’ll looking at language for guiding people on a tour and pointing out areas of interest.

We’ll be listening to Ingrid taking Carl on a tour of a factory where GC cleaning products are produced. Carl is from the head office of GC and he’s inspecting the factory where Ingrid works. His job is to make sure that the company’s factories are all up to standard and capable of handling future orders. As the dialog starts, Carl has already arrived at the factory and met Ingrid, who is ready to start the tour.

Listening Questions

1) What time of day does Carl arrive for his tour?
2) What is the problem with the detergent production line?
3) What role does newspaper play in the production of detergent in this factory?

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BEP 136 – Meetings: Making a Progress Report

A2, Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Project Management /

In this Business English Pod episode we’re going to look at making a project progress report during a meeting.

All managers need written progress reports from their staff, but it is often necessary to make a verbal progress report during a meeting. A verbal report can be thought of as a combination of a presentation and a question and answer session.

When making a progress report, you’ll need to start with the overall status of the project, and then go on to explain how much of the work has been completed, at what stage the work is now, what remains to be done and, of course, what problems might have arisen. Because the format is “live”, people may interrupt to ask questions or make comments and you should be sure of your facts when you go into the meeting.

We’ll be listening to Angela, who works in the Operations department of her company. Blaine & Co. They plan to move to a new head office and the renovation, or preparation, of their space is currently underway. Angela has visited the new office and spoken with the key people on-site. As the dialog starts, she is called upon to give a verbal report on the progress of the renovation.

Listening Questions

1) What did Angela do to prepare for this meeting?
2) Will Blaine & Co. be able to move as planned?
3) Where will Blaine & Co. get money to cover the extra costs?

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BEP 135 – Travel English: Airport Security

Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Travel /

In this Business English Pod lesson on business travel, we’ll be looking at how to deal with security checks.

In recent years getting through the security check at the airport has become a chore. In some cities, the whole process can take fifteen to twenty minutes or more. This includes standing in line, sending your bags through the X-ray machine, and walking through a metal detector, which “detects” or finds any metal you might have hidden on your body. Most security checks thus require passengers to take metal items out of their pockets and put them on a tray – or flat container – to send through the X-ray machine. Some countries – notably the United States – may even insist that passengers remove their coats and shoes.

And of course it’s not just airports that have high security – more and more tourist attractions are “beefing up” or increasing their security too. So negotiating security checks is a good skill to practice.

In this episode, Honesto and Alan are on their way home. They arrive at the airport late, so they are anxious about missing their flight. When the dialog begins, they have checked in to get their boarding passes. Now they need to go through security.

Listening Questions

1. At the beginning of the dialog, what does the security officer ask passengers to do?
2. What problem does security find with Alan’s baggage?
3. Alan has to leave an item behind at the security check. What is it?

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BEP 134 – Travel English: Getting Online at the Coffee Shop

Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Travel /

For many people, visiting a café or coffee shop is a normal part of business travel, if not everyday life. Not only are coffee shops a good place to get a cup of espresso, they are also a great location to have a quick meeting with a customer, take a short break, and – most importantly for the business traveler – get online to check your email. Many cafés are now equipped with WiFi, or wireless internet. So while you sip on your latte or your mocha, you can surf the web and keep connected.

But despite people’s attempts to make WiFi services user-friendly, or easy to use, they are sometimes difficult to connect to. So in this lesson, we’ll not only look at ordering coffee, we’ll also practice troubleshooting an internet connection.

For today’s lesson, we’ll be rejoining our friend Honesto as he stops by a coffee shop at the airport. We’ll hear to Honesto ordering a drink and attempting to connect to the café’s WiFi. As you listen, try to answer the following questions.

Listening Questions

1) What kind of drink does Honesto order?
2) What “deal” does the coffee shop offer Honesto?
3) Why can’t he get online?

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