Workplace English Podcast - Workplace English Training E-Platform

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  • 4.0 (5)
  • LANGUAGE LEARNING

Online Business English Training

Episodes

  1. 12/11/2024

    BEP42: Clarifying and Confirming Instructions

    When you’re given verbal instructions, it’s essential that you clarify anything you don’t understand or are unclear about. Even if you feel you’ve understood everything correctly, it’s a good idea to repeat back the instructions to whoever gave them to you to ensure that you haven’t misunderstood or missed anything. This will help to minimize any errors you might make whilst you are carrying out the instructions. In this podcast lesson, you’re going to listen to two dialogues. In the first dialogue the instructions given are quite brief and straightforward. In this case, the listener waits until all the instructions have been given before making any clarifications. In the second dialogue, the instructions are longer and more detailed. In this dialogue, the listener clarifies the instructions at appropriate points while they are being given. When listening to the dialogues, make a note of some of the common expressions used to clarify and confirm the instructions.

  2. 11/20/2024

    BEP 67: Saying 'No' in the Right Way

    Introduction Most of us find it difficult to say ‘no’ when someone asks us for a favour, don’t we? It’s difficult to say ‘no’ when you know someone needs your help. It becomes even more difficult to say ‘no’ in the workplace, because you don’t want to offend anyone. However, it’s possible to refuse to do something in a polite and nice way that does not annoy anyone, hurt their feelings or cause offence. In this lesson, we will look at how to say ‘no’ in the workplace in a way that ensures that the other person can see your point of view. You can do this by speaking factually, firmly and using a calm and polite tone. Situation 1 You will now listen to two versions of a conversation between Jim and his boss. In the first version, Jim is not able to say ‘no’, and ends up having to do the favour and also make his boss feel that he is doing it unwillingly.

  3. 08/31/2024

    BEP 39: Entertaining: Practical English in a Bar and Restaurant

    Entertaining is considered an important aspect of business communication. Not all professional interactions take place in an office environment, and knowing how to entertain business associates in informal environments, such as in bars and restaurants, is an important part of the communication process. While communication with clients in social settings is not as structured as that in professional settings, it does have its unwritten rules about etiquette and language usage. Since different social settings require different aspects of communication, it’s a good idea to know what to say and how to behave in such situations. You are now going to listen to a dialogue between Sheila, a consultant in Mumbai, and Jeremy, a British client with Sheila’s company who is visiting the city.

  4. 08/14/2024

    BEP 53: Making Comparisons

    A common task in business is to compare things such as costs, service, reliability, performance, etc. It's only through making comparisons that we can make decisions about which is the cheapest, the most reliable, and the best buy. The characteristics of a product or service are described by adjectives, such as 'cheap,' 'heavy,' 'wide', 'reliable,' etc. So it's important for you to know how to compare adjectives. In this podcast lesson, we’ll look at a number of ways commonly use to compare adjectives. You’re going to hear the Human Resources Manager, Marion, and the Technical Support Manager, Alex, have a meeting to compare three English language training consultants – Empire English, Superior Speaking and Accent on English. They have to decide which company to use. They will talk about each company, how long the company has been in business and how successful the company has been. They will also talk about the price of the training, the training materials, and the experience of the trainers.

  5. 07/31/2024

    BEP32: Small Talk Before a Business Meeting

    “Results depend on relationships. That’s what Don Petersen says. He is the ex-CEO of America’s Ford Motor Company. You will find that being able to make small talk—especially before a business meeting—will help build good relationships. And, good business relationships will help you get the results you want. Think of small talk as an engraved business card: small but impressive. Impressive, that is, if you do it well. SITUATION 1 Listen now to small talk used by Dan, who is about to make a presentation featuring his leadership training firm. He especially wants to win approval from Susan Lynch, head of employee relations for a multinational firm. Pay attention to Dan’s manner and manners as well.

  6. 07/09/2024

    BEP 10 – Describing Charts and Trends

    A good graph, diagram or chart can bring your presentation to life. Remember that "a picture can paint a thousand words". Putting graphical information into words can be easy as long as you keep your sentence structure simple. In your reading, you will come across a great variety of words and expressions to describe trends. However, when you speak you should only use words whose meaning you are totally sure of. Use clear and familiar words at all times. Remember that your one objective in giving your presentation is to get your message across to your audience clearly and simply. Your objective is not to impress your audience with your extensive vocabulary. First, you're going to listen to someone describing three different graphs during a presentation. Then we present the language and grammatical structures you need to accurately describe trends. After that, you can practice using the language by completing a number of exercises. And finally, we'll summarise the topic in our podcast lesson.

  7. 05/27/2024

    BEP 58: Teleconferencing: Communication Problems

    In the modern business world, teleconferencing is an essential means through which business associates in different places communicate with each other. Teleconferencing may be done through audio or both audio and video channels, and is a cost-effective way of conducting business meetings with colleagues and associates who are in different parts of the same country or the world. Because teleconferencing is dependent on long-distance communication and sometimes unreliable technology, problems in communication can often arise. For example, participants may not be able to hear each other because of audio problems. Also, a frequent concern is that native speakers of English tend to speak very quickly, and non-native speakers may find it difficult to follow what they are saying over a conference call. In such cases, it is useful to know how to interrupt politely, ask for clarifications, and handle general problems in communication. SITUATION 1 You will now listen to a teleconference with three speakers who are all from the same company, but work in different locations. Jack, a senior level associate at a global insurance agency, is facilitating the teleconference from his office in London. The participants are Jack’s colleagues Michelle from Hong Kong and Patrick from Edinburgh.

  8. 05/12/2024

    BEP 23: Questioning Techniques

    In this podcast lesson we're going to focus on questioning techniques once again. Questioning is the most important way of exchanging information in business situations. Since there are many situations where questions are used in gaining information, there are, of course, many different ways of asking questions. The most important thing to consider when asking questions concerns your relationship with the person you are speaking to. Obviously, the closer you are to someone, the more informal your questions can be. It’s advisable, though, to be more polite than is usually necessary if you are unsure how polite or formal to be. Informal, direct questions may be considered impolite in certain situations with certain people; formal, indirect questions can often be considered inappropriate in other situations. Would you use the same type of questions with your subordinate as you would with a customer? Would you question your boss in the same way you'd question your colleague? It's doubtful.

  9. 04/01/2024

    BEP 73: Making Polite Requests

    Introduction In business, we often have to ask someone to do something for us. There are many different ways of making requests in English; some requests are direct and others are indirect. In general though, the more indirect your request, the more polite it will sound. And unsurprisingly, indirect requests generally include more words than direct requests. In some cultures it may seem strange to use such polite language, but in western culture, it's very important to be as polite as possible, especially if you are asking someone to do something for you or requesting information from them. In general, the language of a request becomes more polite if you are asking a big favour, and/or if you are speaking in a more formal situation to someone, perhaps to your superior at work or to a customer or client. When speaking to friends and colleagues in informal situations, however, requests tend to be shorter and more direct. In this podcast lesson, you’re going to listen to a number of short conversations in which the speakers make different types of requests. Pay attention to the language of each request. At the same time, consider the relationship between the two people speaking as well as the nature of each request. Situation 1 In the first situation, Rachel asks her boss, Mr Green, if she can have a day off work. Since she has a fairly formal relationship with her boss, she must be extra polite when asking this favour.

  10. 03/03/2024

    BEP 68: Telephoning - Checking Back and Confirming

    Introduction Talking on the telephone is a skill that you can develop by paying attention to the different things that you have to remember. Many times, you need to take down details like names, addresses and telephone numbers. You should always repeat these details back to the caller and confirm with the caller that you have noted them correctly. This is especially important if you are speaking to someone for the first time. You should take down their name and contact details very carefully and confirm all the details with the caller before ending the call. Situation Andy Wang has been asked by his boss, the Training Manager, to collect some information on language consultants offering in-company training courses. Andy then phones World Language Centre after seeing an advertisement in an English language learning magazine. Amy Nassar handles all phone enquiries for World Language Centre. It's very important that she notes down the details of each enquiry very carefully. She has developed several techniques to ensure that she notes down the correct information.

  11. 02/18/2024

    BEP 09 - Reporting on Progress

    In meetings and teleconferences a common task is to update participants on the progress of a project or your area of responsibility. In this podcast lesson we focus on the verb tenses and language used when reporting on progress.

  12. 01/21/2024

    BEP 80: Passing on Telephone Messages to Clients

    Introduction Remember when passing on messages to clients, details are very important. It does no good to relay a message if you’ve forgotten the time of the appointment or can’t remember the name of the person calling. Everyone makes mistakes and sooner or later most people forget a detail, but the most important thing is communicating this information clearly and accurately.  When you’re being given a message to pass on to someone, never be afraid to ask for clarification, repetition or anything else, particularly when dealing with detailed information. It’s much more important to ask a few times and be sure it’s right than to give out the wrong information. In this podcast lesson, you're going to listen to Beth relaying some messages to her company's clients. Beth works as a receptionist for a large garment manufacturer. Today is the first day back in the office after a one-week holiday, and several managers are still on vacation. They've instructed Beth to pass on messages to clients they know will be calling. Situation 1 In the first situation you’re going to listen to Beth passing on a message to a client.

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Online Business English Training

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