Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 544, Working from a Home Office.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 544.
© transcript Emily Beynon www.adrena.com using vocabulary associated with having an office at home.
Let's get started.
So this is your new home office.
It's nice.
It's functional, and I like it.
When my company decided to lower its overhead by decentralizing...
It gave employees the option to work from home.
When I heard that, I didn't think twice about making the change.
I'm not surprised.
Lots of people would kill to work from home.
No, I already have a company cell phone. and I mainly use email to communicate with the office.
I know I'd be distracted all the time if I had a home office.
It's true that there are a lot more distractions at home, but I try to block them out.
For me, it's not getting down to work that's a problem.
It's getting myself to stop thinking about work all the time.
That's one of the drawbacks of working where you live.
I'm more productive, but I'm also more work-centered.
I can see that, though I'd still take working from home over working at the office any day.
I do, but it's not very conducive to getting any work done.
Why's that?
My home office doubles as the guest room and the kids' playroom.
Our conversation begins with Adrena saying to Victor, so this is your new home office.
It's nice.
Victor says, it's functional and I like it.
To be functional means to work properly, something that meets your needs, something that does what it's supposed to do.
It's usually used to describe something that works well but isn't necessarily beautiful.
Victor says, Overhead, one word, is the amount of money a company has to spend...
No matter how many products or services it sells.
It's money that you have to spend, even if you only sell a little bit.
That would be things like the rent for an office, the price of all of the equipment and materials in an office.
These are part of a company's overhead rate.
Overhead has a couple of different meanings, however.
To find out more about those, you have to go to the learning guide.
So Victor says that his company decided to lower its overhead.
It wanted to reduce or cut its costs.
So it decided to decentralize.
To decentralize means to spread things out so they're not all concentrated or centered in one place.
We often add the suffix-ize after a word to make it into a verb. centralize, decentralize.
To centralize, of course, is the opposite, to bring everything into one place.
Well, the company is decentralizing.
It's telling the employees they can work at home.
Victor says, when I heard that, I didn't think twice about making the change.
To think twice means to hesitate twice. in making a decision.
You're thinking about it a lot.
But Victor didn't think about it at all.
He knew this was a good choice for him.
He didn't think twice.
When I saw the woman who later became my wife, as soon as I saw her, I didn't think twice.
I said, you will be my love.
Well, I didn't say that to her, of course.
She would have never come close to me if I had.
Adrena says, I'm not surprised.
Lots of people would kill to work from home.
When we say someone would kill to do something, we mean the person really wants to do that thing or have that thing.
I would kill to have tickets to the World Series next year.
I would do a lot because I really want it.
So if you have tickets to the World Series next year, please send me an email.
Of course, I won't actually kill anyone to get my tickets.
Adrina says that a lot of people would kill to work from home.
Did you have to get dedicated phone and fax lines, she asks?
Dedicated here means used for only one thing, for one purpose.
To have a dedicated phone line means that it's a phone you have just for your business uses.
You don't share your personal phone for that reason.
Adrena is asking if Victor had to get dedicated phone and fax lines, telephone lines.
Victor says no, I already have a company cell phone and I mainly use email to communicate with the office.
So he uses his cell phone as his company phone.
Adrena says, I assume you get to set your own schedule.
To set your own schedule means to decide when you are going to do certain things.
You are in control of your schedule.
You can decide you're going to start work at 9 o'clock this morning, or at 10 o'clock, or at 6 o'clock.
You set your own schedule.
Adrina says, do you find it hard to concentrate on your work?
Adrena says.
Adrena says To be distracted means not to be able to pay attention to something because you're looking at something else or you're listening to something else.
If you're talking to someone else and they're distracted, they might be looking out the window.
They might be looking at their cell phone.
They're not really listening to you.
Adrina says I know I'd be distracted all the time if I had a home office, a place where you can work in your home.
Victor says it's true that there are a lot more distractions at home.
But I try to block them out.
To block something out is a phrasal verb meaning to ignore something, not to pay attention to something, especially noise things you can hear.
When I go to Starbucks and there's somebody talking next to me and I'm trying to read, I block them out by listening to music.
So Victor tries to block out the distractions.
For me it's not getting down to work.
That's a problem, meaning it's not getting started and actually working.
It's getting myself to stop thinking about work all the time.
This is a problem with working at home.
You always feel like you're at work.
That's one of the drawbacks, he says, of working where you live.
A drawback, one word, is a disadvantage, a negative aspect of doing something.
One drawback of living in Los Angeles is that there's always traffic on the freeways.
Another drawback is the pollution.
Another drawback could be the people here.
Other than that, it's a great place to live.
Victor says, I'm more productive, but I'm also more work-centered.
To be productive means to be able to get a lot of work done in a short period of time to produce a lot of good results.
Victor says, I'm more productive, but I'm also more work-centered.
Work-centered means focused on your work.
We can use this construction, this form, with many different kinds of nouns.
You could say that she's very family-centered.
She's focused on her family.
That's what's most important to her.
That's where she spends most of her time.
You could be Language learning centered.
You always spend your time trying to improve your language skills and so forth.
Adrena says, I can see that.
I can understand that, though I'd still take working from home over working at the office any day.
When we say we can take something over something else, we mean, we would prefer that first thing over that second thing.
So, for example, Francesca is a vegetarian, so she'll always take a vegetable dish over a steak.
She'll prefer vegetables instead of the steak.
Victor says, I thought you had a home office for your real estate business.
Real estate is selling homes or buildings.
Adrena says, I do, but it's not very conducive to getting any work done.
Something that is conducive to something is helpful, useful.
Something that helps you do something else.
So Victor asks Adrena why her home office is not very conducive to getting any work done.
She says, My home office doubles as the guest room and the kids' playroom.
When we say something doubles as something else, we mean that it is used for more than one thing.
The word double actually has several meanings in English.
You know where you can find those in the Learning Guide.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
So this is your new home office.
It's nice.
It's functional, and I like it.
When my company decided to lower its overhead by decentralizing it, gave employees the option to work from home.
When I heard that, I didn't think twice about making the change.
I'm not surprised.
Lots of people would kill to work from home.
Did you have to get a dedicated phone and fax lines?
No, I already have a company cell phone, and I mainly use email to communicate with the office.
I assume you get to set your own schedule.
Do you find it hard to concentrate on your work?
I know I'd be distracted all the time if I had a home office.
It's true that there are a lot more distractions at home, but I try to block them out.
For me, it's not getting down to work that's a problem.
It's getting myself to stop thinking about work all the time.
That's one of the drawbacks of working where you live.
I'm more productive, but I'm also more work-centered.
I can see that, though I'd still take working from home over working at the office any day.
I thought you had a home office for your real estate business.
I do, but it's not very conducive to getting any work done.
Why's that?
My home office doubles as the guest room and the kids' playroom.
The script for this episode was by the...
Always productive, never distracted, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Say.
Hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
