Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 146, Suggestions at Work.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 146.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In this podcast we're going to talk about giving our ideas or suggestions in a business environment.
Let's get started.
Our company has been growing very quickly and I was put in charge of reorganizing our office space to accommodate several new employees.
I asked my co-worker Petra for her advice.
I was thinking of dividing up two of the larger offices into four smaller offices.
What do you think about that?
Well, it seems to me that doing that would only solve part of the problem.
Have you considered converting the conference room into offices?
I'm not sure that will work.
We don't have another meeting space.
If we do that, In my opinion that's not going to be a very popular solution.
The way I see it, there are no easy solutions, and that may be the best one.
Do you have any other suggestions?
No, none that would really work.
In my opinion, the only solution is to divide up the executive offices.
But I know, I know, that's not going to happen.
My suggestion is to ask a few more of the old employees.
Maybe they'll think of something.
I think you're right.
It's not going to be an easy decision, and I can use all the help I can get.
Our story begins with Fernando saying that our company has been growing very quickly and I was put in charge of reorganizing our office space to accommodate several new employees.
So the company has been growing.
It has been getting bigger.
They have been hiring or bringing in new employees.
And Fernando was put in charge of reorganizing the office space.
To be put in charge of something means to be made the person responsible for a certain task or activity.
If you are put in charge of a celebration or of a meeting or of any sort of activity, you are the boss.
You are the person who needs to be responsible.
You are the person who is supposed to get it done.
Fernando is supposed to reorganize the office space.
To reorganize means to organize again.
That prefix re- means to do again.
In this case it means probably to move some desks from one location to another, to somehow change the way the office is set up.
That is, the way the office looks so that more people can work in that same space.
We use the term office space to refer to the area where the offices are for a business.
Fernando is supposed to accommodate several new employees.
To accommodate, A-C-C-O-M-M-O-D-A-T-E, means in this case to make room for, to make space for.
I have to accommodate some new people in my company.
I have to find a place for them.
I have to arrange things so that they are able to come and work here.
Employees are of course workers, people who work for a company.
Fernando asks his coworker, another person who works at the company by the name of Petra, to get her advice.
Fernando says, I was thinking of dividing up two of the larger offices into four smaller offices.
Fernando wants to divide up the office.
To divide up means to take something and make it into smaller pieces.
It really means the same here as to divide.
I'm going to divide this into four pieces.
You could say that or you could say I'm going to divide this up into four pieces.
Up is just used for emphasis.
Fernando wants to take two large offices and divide them up or split them in half so that you have four smaller offices.
Each office would be divided into two, in other words.
He asks Petra what she thinks about that idea.
Petra says, well, it seems to me, in my opinion...
Doing that would only solve part of the problem.
To solve a problem is to find the answer to some question or some difficulty that you have.
In this case, the problem is accommodating new employees.
Petra says, have you considered, have you thought about converting the conference room into offices?
To convert means to change something from one use to another use.
Petra is recommending converting or changing the conference room into offices.
The conference room is a large room in an office building where you have meetings of 5 10, maybe 20 people, depending on how big the room is.
Fernando says, I'm not sure that will work.
Work here means will be a successful solution to the problem.
The reason why, Fernando says, is that we don't have another meeting space if we do that.
A meeting space is just a place where you would have a meeting.
If they take the conference room and convert it into offices, then they won't have a place for their meetings.
Fernando says what are your thoughts on turning the coffee room into one large office with cubicles?
What are your thoughts on is a way of asking someone for their opinion on.
That, of course, is what this whole dialogue is about expressions that we use in giving and asking for suggestions in a work environment.
This is a very common expression, what are your thoughts on?
What are your thoughts on means what is your opinion about something?
In this case Fernando wants to know Petra's opinion or her thoughts on turning or converting the coffee room into one large office.
The coffee room is, which may also be called the break room, is a place where employees can go on their break or during their lunchtime.
If it's a big room, they can sit down and eat their lunch there if they brought their lunch to work.
What Fernando is suggesting is that they convert the coffee room into one large office with cubicles.
Cubicles, C-U-B-I-C-L-E-S, are like small offices, but the walls are not as high as a normal wall.
The wall of the cubicle doesn't go all the way up to the top of the room, to the ceiling.
Cubicles are usually made by taking a big room and using these small portable walls, walls that can be moved back and forth in order to make a square space for someone to sit and work in.
Petra says, in my opinion, that's not going to be a very popular solution.
In my opinion, once again, she's giving her ideas.
That's not going to be a very popular solution.
People aren't going to like that solution.
Fernando responds by using another expression that is common in giving your opinion about something.
He says, the way I see it.
The way I see it means here's my opinion.
Here's the way I view this situation.
Fernando says there are no easy solutions.
There are no answers that are going to be easy, that aren't going to cause some other problems.
That may be the best one, Fernando says, meaning his solution may be the best one.
Do you have any other suggestions?
This is a question that you use to ask someone for additional ideas.
Do you have any other suggestions or recommendations?
Petra says no.
None that would really work.
None that would be successful.
In my opinion, the only solution is to divide up the executive offices.
In my opinion, again is a phrase we could use when we are going to give our own ideas about a situation.
The only solution, Petra says, is to divide up The executive offices.
Executive offices are offices for the leaders of the company the president, the vice president and so forth.
Petra says, but I know, I know, that's not going to happen.
She says, I know, I know, meaning she understands that that solution won't work.
She says, that's not going to happen.
My suggestion is to ask a few more of the old employees.
Petra is telling Fernando to get the opinion of other employees who have been at the company for a long time.
Maybe they'll think of something.
To think of something means to have an idea, a solution to a problem.
Fernando says, I think you're right.
It's not going to be an easy decision and I can use all the help I can get.
That last expression, I can use all the help I can get, means I'm going to need a lot of help.
There can't be too much help.
The more I get, the better my situation will be.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Our company has been growing very quickly and I was put in charge of reorganizing our office space to accommodate several new employees.
I asked my coworker, Petra, for her advice.
I was thinking of dividing up two of the larger offices into four smaller offices.
What do you think about that?
Well, it seems to me that doing that would only solve part of the problem.
Have you considered converting the conference room into offices?
I'm not sure that will work.
We don't have another meeting space if we do that.
What are your thoughts on turning the coffee room into one large office with cubicles?
In my opinion, that's not going to be a very popular solution.
The way I see it, there are no easy solutions, and that may be the best one.
Do you have any other suggestions?
No, none that would really work.
In my opinion, the only solution is to divide up the executive offices.
But I know, I know, that's not going to happen.
My suggestion is to ask a few more of the old employees.
Maybe they'll think of something.
I think you're right.
It's not going to be an easy decision, and I can use all the help I can get.
In my opinion, the world's best script writer is right here on ESL Podcast.
That's our own wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on 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.
