Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 118, Small Talk at a Business Lunch.
Welcome back to English as a Second Language podcast episode 118.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today's podcast is going to be about talking to someone a business person but in an informal way, what we would call small talk, or talking about unimportant things as part of an informal or social meeting.
Let's get started.
Hello, are you Muriel Douglas?
Yes, and you must be James.
It's nice to meet you at long last.
Yes, you too.
Thanks for agreeing to meet with us about the new account.
My associate, Susan Kim, should be here any minute.
Would you like something to drink while we're waiting?
No, thanks.
I'm fine.
Did you have a nice holiday?
Yes, I did.
My family and I went to Tahoe to ski, and the weather was great.
How about you?
I stayed in LA and it was sunny the entire weekend.
We spent most of the time at home, but we did go see King Kong on Christmas Day.
How did you like it?
It was better than I expected.
But, you know, I think I would have enjoyed skiing in Tahoe even better.
Do you go there often?
No, not much.
My wife doesn't like to ski.
She prefers vacationing where it's warmer, like Hawaii.
I don't blame her.
I really enjoy it there when we went a few years ago.
I'd like to go back sometime soon.
Yes, me too.
Oh, here's Susan now.
Let me introduce you.
We're talking about small talk and in this dialogue we began by one of the people James, saying to a woman Hello, are you Muriel Douglas?
He obviously doesn't know her and doesn't know what she looks like.
So he asks Are you Muriel Douglas?
And she says, Yes, you must be James.
The expression you must be is used when you don't know someone.
You don't know what they look like, But the situation, the circumstances tell you that that person is probably the one you are looking for.
So we use that expression, especially when we're meeting someone new and we don't know what they look like.
But it's obvious from the situation that they are that person.
Well, Muriel says it's nice to meet you to James.
It's nice to meet you at long last.
At long last, L-A-S-T, means after such a long time, after a very long time.
So perhaps here.
They talked on the phone for many weeks and at long last they met each other in this meeting.
James says that he thanks Muriel for meeting with him and says that his associate, Susan Kim, should be here any minute.
An associate, A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-E, is someone that you work with.
So someone else in your company or in your organization is your associate.
And the expression should be here.
Any minute is what we would say when you are waiting for someone at a meeting who isn't there yet, but you expect that they will be there very soon.
So that's what James is saying.
She should be here any minute, meaning very short time.
Muriel asks if James had a nice holiday.
Did you have a nice holiday?
Meaning, did you have a good time in your holiday?
And such as Christmas or New Year's or Hanukkah.
James says he did, that he went to Tahoe to ski there.
Tahoe, T-A-H-O-E, is a famous skiing place here in California, in Northern California.
And then he says to her, how about you?
Meaning, did you have a good holiday?
How about you?
That's an expression you can use after someone asks you about what you did.
Then you would say well, how about you?
Tell me about what you did.
Well, Muriel says she stayed home and they watched King Kong on Christmas Day.
They went to a movie.
And James asks, how did you like it?
Again, we're talking here about informal conversation, and so notice the topics that they are talking about.
Vacations movies.
Those are good topics that Americans will talk about with someone that they don't know very well.
They won't talk about religion or politics or anything controversial, anything that may cause problems.
So James asks Muriel, how did you like it?
Meaning, how did you like the movie?
Did you like it?
Tell me your opinion.
How did you like it?
So if you're asking someone, you see someone reading a book and you want to know if they like it and why, you would say how did you like it?
Or how do you like it?
If they're still reading it, Muriel says, it was better than I expected.
It was better than I expected, meaning before the movie, I didn't think it would be very good.
But after I saw the movie, then I thought, oh, it's better than I thought it was going to be.
She says but you know, I think I would have enjoyed skiing in Tahoe even better, meaning she would rather have gone skiing.
Notice the very common use of the word you know.
You know is a conversation filler, we would say in English.
F-I-L-L-E-R.
We use that expression you know a lot.
Young people sometimes use it too much, but it's often used when there's a pause in the conversation and you want to fill it with something.
Or you want to make sure that the person is listening to you.
And so when you say, you know... it gets their attention.
And that's another use of you know.
And here in the dialogue, Muriel says, but you know, I think I would have enjoyed skiing in Tahoe.
Meaning.
Now that I think about it, you know meaning.
She's considering it.
She's thinking about it even more.
Well, James says, or rather is asked by Muriel, do you go to Tahoe often?
And James says not much, meaning no, he doesn't go very much.
He prefers to go to Hawaii.
And Muriel says Hawaii, of course, is the beautiful island.
It's also pronounced more commonly here in the United States, Hawaii, Hawaii.
But in the island of Hawaii, they pronounce the W, Hawaii is spelled H-A-W-I, I'm sorry, H-A-W-I.
A-I-I.
In the island itself.
The people who live there call it Hawaii, where the W becomes like a V.
James tells Muriel that his wife prefers to go to a warm place like Hawaii and Muriel says I don't blame her.
I don't blame her means I understand.
I agree with her.
I would do the same thing.
To blame someone, B-L-A-M-E, means to say that they are wrong, to say that they have made a mistake.
But here she's agreeing with James' wife.
I don't blame her, meaning i agree with her.
Finally, at the end of the conversation susan, his associate, arrives and they stop with their small talk because now all three of the people are there for the meeting.
Now they can go into their regular meeting.
And he says at the end James says at the end of the dialogue let me introduce you meaning, let me introduce you to Susan Kim.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a native rate of speech.
Hello, are you Muriel Douglas?
Yes, and you must be James.
It's nice to meet you at long last.
Yes, you too.
Thanks for agreeing to meet with us about the new account.
My associate, Susan Kim, should be here any minute.
Would you like something to drink while we're waiting?
No thanks, I'm fine.
Did you have a nice holiday?
Yes, I did.
My family and I went to Tahoe to ski, and the weather was great.
How about you?
I stayed in LA and it was sunny the entire weekend.
We spent most of the time at home, but we did go see King Kong on Christmas Day.
How did you like it?
It was better than I expected, but you know, I think I would have enjoyed skiing in Tahoe even better.
Do you go there often?
No, not much.
My wife doesn't like to ski.
She prefers vacationing where it's warmer, like Hawaii.
I don't blame her.
I really enjoyed it there when we went a few years ago.
I'd like to go back sometime soon.
Yes, me too.
Oh, here's Susan now.
Let me introduce you.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
ESL Podcast English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
