In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to make arrangements in English.
Think of all the things that flow in and out of your company. It could be anything from office supplies to raw materials. How do these things get to where they need to be? Someone is making arrangements. And although lots of things are ordered online, there are still lots of arrangements made over the phone.
So how do we make arrangements? Well, it starts with a polite suggestion or request. In polite requests, we often use the words “would” and “could.” For example, you might say “I would like to arrange a delivery” or “we would like something shipped.” Of course, “I would” can be shortened to “I’d” and “we would” to “we’d.” To use “could,” you might say “could we schedule a delivery?”
In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to talk about prices in English.
Business is all about money. The whole purpose of a company is to earn more money than it spends so that it can produce a profit. So it’s not surprising that we spend a lot of time talking about how much things cost.
Whether you’re buying materials or reviewing a budget, you may find yourself frequently asking about prices or costs. In this 925 English lesson, we’ll learn how to ask about price and cost, say something costs too much and suggest a lower price.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English for supply chain management. Today we’re going to look at the retail side of the supply chain.
In today’s world, distance isn’t always a barrier to doing business. It doesn’t matter if your company is located in France, Thailand, or the U.S. You can sell to customers anywhere in the world.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Getting your products onto shelves in other continents, or even other parts of your country, is complex. It relies on a web of people, warehouses, and information. And it might involve multiple forms of transportation, including trucks, ships, cargo planes, and trains.
We call this web of activity the supply chain. And in today’s lesson, we’ll rejoin a meeting at an American clothing company, where managers are discussing the retail side of their supply chain. During their conversation, they use lots of language specific to supply chain management. This language includes what we call “collocations,” or natural combinations of words.
When English speakers learn collocations, they don’t learn them one word at a time. Rather, they learn the words together, as a single expression. You can sound more fluent and natural in English if you learn these collocations, especially the ones related to your industry. As you listen to today’s dialog, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.
In the dialog, we’ll hear Cam and Tanya, who work for a clothing company called Boston Vintage. Tanya is a supply chain manager located in Malaysia. Cam is based in the U.S. and works as a production planner. They’re talking about expanding their retail operations in southeast Asia, and they use many collocations specific to supply chain management in their conversation.
Listening Questions
1. What does Tanya say is very ambitious?
2. What does Tanya say has fortunately not been impacted by being so busy?
3. According to Tanya, what will having a 4PL enable them to do?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English for logistics and supply chain management. Today we’re going to look at the manufacturing side of the supply chain.
When you pick a product off a shelf at a local store, it’s easy to forget what a long hard road that product has travelled. It may have parts and materials from all over the world. It may be shipped to multiple locations for processing. And once it’s ready and packaged, it may travel long distances to make it to your neighborhood.
This enormous network of information, people, materials, and processes is called a supply chain. And the people who coordinate everything are involved in supply chain management. Good supply chain management can make the difference between a happy customer and an angry customer, and between profit and loss.
In this lesson, we’ll listen to a meeting at a clothing company with a complex supply chain connecting the U.S. and Asia. During the meeting, the colleagues use many English expressions we call “collocations.” Collocations are simply natural frequently occurring combinations of words. A good example of a collocation is “supply chain management.”
Native English speakers use collocations like this automatically. And specific groups of people or fields of work have certain collocations they commonly use. By studying these collocations, you’ll improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent. As you listen to the conversation, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.
In the dialog, we’ll hear Cam and Tanya. Cam is a production planner for Boston Vintage in the U.S. Tanya is a supply chain manager helping to develop the company’s supply chain in southeast Asia. Cam and Tanya use many collocations specific to supply chain management in their conversation about the manufacturing side of the supply chain.
Listening Questions
1. What is Tanya’s first big concern on the manufacturing side of things?
2. What does Cam say that people on the ground have expectations about?
3. What does Tanya say will increase costs but help manage risk?
Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred incredible changes in how we work. At the end of 2020, a whopping 42% of the American workforce continued to work remotely. This has meant rapid upskilling and massive investments in technology and infrastructure.
According to Candace Helton, operations director at Ringspo, “It’s worth noting that 70% of companies have been working on digital transformation before the pandemic hit.” But the pandemic tipped their hands, and the resulting change in work cultures around the globe will push even more businesses to accept remote options as the new normal.
In this new normal, relationships are different. There are no corner offices in the virtual workplace, no staff rooms, and no cubicles. There are fewer physical reinforcements of hierarchy. And it’s oddly humanizing to see the CEO deal with the same interruptions, like kids and barking dogs, that we all experience working from home.
