audio file of Eslpod Number 10 A telephone conversation

transcription of Eslpod number 10 a telephone conversation

Welcome to English as a second language podcast number ten.
Welcome to another edition of English as a second language podcast. Brought to you by “ www.eslpod.com”.
I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, senior researcher at the center for educational development hear in Los Angeles, California.
Esl Podcast is specially made for you, those who are trying to improve their English listening and speaking.
If this is the first time listening to this podcast, I recommend that you go to our website, “ www.eslpod.com”, to read more about how best to use this podcast to improve your English.
Our podcast today like every day has two parts. First, we’re going to listen to a short conversation (today a telephone conversation) about asking for information politely. Then, we will talk about some of the vocabulary and expressions we use in the podcast. Let’s get started.

Receptionist: Good morning, Rothen company.
Susan Kale: Good morning, I’m trying to reach Michael Dobson.
Receptionist: I’m sorry. Mr. Dobson is not in the office.
Susan Kale: Would you know if he will be in today?
Receptionist: I’m afraid. I don’t know. Mr. Dobson’s schedule.
Susan Kale: Oh, I see. Well, I wonder if I could leave a message for him.
Receptionist: Sure, I can take a message.
Susan Kale: Please let him know that Susan Kale called and Would you please ask him to call me at his earliest convenience.
Receptionist: Would you spell your last name?
Susan Kale: Sure, it’s Kale. that’s spelled K-A-L-E.
Receptionist: And Does Mr. Dobson have your phone number?
Susan Kale: I believe so, but let me leave it just in case. My office number is 462-555-03-06 and My cell number is 462-555-62-58.
Receptionist: I’ll give him the message. is there anything else that I can help you with?
Susan Kale: No, that’s all. Thanks so much.
Receptionist: No problem, have a nice day.
Susan Kale: Thanks, you too.

transcription of Eslpod number 10 a telephone conversation

In this short phone conversation, there were several expressions that we want to discuss today. Some of them dealing with asking for things politely. Others are used when we use the telephone, particular telephone expressions that you heard. The conversation began with the receptionist, answering the phone “good morning”followed by the name of the company and then the woman on the phone asked said, “good morning”and then said, “I am trying to reach Michael Dobson.”This expression “I am trying to reach” is one we use especially on the telephone when we’re asking if someone is there. You can also say for example, “Is Michael Dobson there?” But that’s a little bit less formal. A more formal and polite way would say, “I’m trying to reach” followed by the name of the person. The woman on the phone used a couple of expressions to ask for information politely. She asked for example, at the beginning of the conversation “Would you know if he will be in today?” Would you know if followed by a statement is a way of asking a question politely. So, for example, “Excuse me, would you know if this bus goes downtown?” That’s a polite way of asking a stranger or someone in a business setting. You can also say as we heard on the conversation, “I wonder if” The expression, “I wonder if” is used when we are asking permission of another person. In this case, we heard the woman say, “I wonder if I could leave a message for him.” you could also say something like “I wonder if I could borrow your car.” I wonder if, followed by any sort of request. There were several expressions also today that dealt specifically with the telephone. We’ve already mentioned one “I’m trying to reach”, but there were a few others that you also heard. When the woman asked the man to leave a message, he said, “Sure, I can take a message.” that’s the expression “to take a message” means to get information down about a person, to give to the person not there. The woman in the conversation, Susan Kale said in giving her message, “Please let him know that Susan Kale called.” When you are calling someone and you want to give a person a message, you would say something like “Could you please tell him that Jeff McQuillan called?” or “Could you please let him know that I called.” and so forth.
Another expression that the woman used in this phone conversation was “At his earliest convenience.” The expression was “Would you please ask him to call me at his earliest convenience?” this is a polite business way of saying we would like to hear back from this person very soon, but we don’t want to say, “Tell him to call me back as soon as possible or right away.”
You can use those expressions “As soon as possible” or “Right away” if you’re talking to a friend or if it’s an emergency, but in normal business conversation, if you want someone to call back soon, you would say, “At his earliest convenience.”
A few other expressions in this conversation you will notice that the Receptionistasked the woman to spell her name. “Would you please spell your last name?” and the woman replied, “Sure, it’s Susan kale. It’s spelled k a l e.” Finally, the Receptionistasked, “And does Mr. Dobbs have your phone number?” And the woman responded, “I believe so, but let me leave it just in case.” There are two expressions here that we use commonly.
The first was, “Let me leave it” or in this case “Let me leave my phone number.”.” When you’re giving someone information over the phone, particularly your phone number, we usually use this expression “Let me leave my number for him and so forth.” Here she just says, the woman just says, “Let me leave it” The other expression she used here was, “Just in case.” Just in case means, if he doesn’t have the number, this is a backup. This is a way of giving him the information, even if he doesn’t have it down already. We use the expression in general “Just in case” to convey the idea of extra security. For example, I have to go on a long trip and I am not sure if I had my oil changed recently in my automobile in my car. So, I will say, “Well, just in case, I’m going to go and have it changed today.” We use this expression again to express the idea of additional security about a particular situation. That’s going to wrap it up today for today’s ESL podcast. We want to thank everyone who has emailed us and told us where you’re listening from, where you live and also given us suggestions about future topics on ESL podcast. Please email us at ESL POD at eslpod.com That’s eslpod at eslpod.com or go to our web site www.eslpod.com and we have our email address on there as well. You will also find on our website more podcast than are available on our I-Tunes listing. We only have the last one or two days on the I-Tunes or the podcast software that you have. If you want more podcast, you need to go to our website. That’s where we keep our older podcast; the ones that we’ve already broadcast. So, again we appreciate your listening and please email us with your ideas and suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. Will see you next time on ESL podcast. ESL podcast is produced by the center for educational development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005.