This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 16.
Want business English success? Learn to give and take.
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For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you? I'm doing all right, Michelle.
How about you? I'm doing well. I'm doing well.
Not too... Can't complain. Can't complain?
That's good. Awesome. So, guys, we did an episode just recently about Lost and Found.
So today we want to talk about two other words, give and take.
Yeah, I like that idea. Give and take. Very common verbs, right, in the English language.
So good ones to work on here. Awesome. So yeah, that's basically what we're doing.
And we're going to use this to talk about jobs today.
So how can you use give and take at work?
Good question. Yeah, exactly. But you have to be careful because you have to think about the culture of the company you're working for, right?
So some of these may be appropriate and some of these may not be appropriate depending on your company culture because some of these are a little bit more casual work. or a little bit more maybe sarcastic in a way, but you just want to be careful that you aren't using these all the time in very formal situations.
If your office is more formal, you might want to be careful with some of these phrases, okay?
Good tip, Michelle. I like it. Okay. All right.
So, we have some phrases with give, and we have some phrases with take.
All right? Are you ready? I am. Are you?
Okay. I am ready. Okay. Okay. So the first one is, what is it, Lindsay?
Okay. So here it is. Give it a rest. Give it a rest.
And you can use this outside of work or in work.
But again, it has to really be appropriate, right?
Yeah. So it could be kind of rude, right?
You could use it with a friend as a joke.
Like, for example, I could say to my friend who, like, Will my friend, quote unquote, who won't stop eating French fries, give it a rest like enough, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. It has to be you have to be very familiar with the person and close to them, you know, to be able to talk to them because it's it is kind of rude if you say it to a boss.
You just can't. It's too casual. Yeah, you want to just be really careful.
So this would be for like that super, you know, maybe even more like a startup type feeling where you have a small team, maybe the people are your close friends, things like that.
But we'll give you more examples later, right?
Yeah, totally, Michelle. And the second one is give me a clue.
Hmm. So does that mean like, like, tell me, give me a hint?
Like, give me a clue? Right, right. Give me a clue.
Like, what are you like, what are you getting at here?
What are you talking about? What's the main point?
Right? Yeah, I like that. Mm hmm. Right, right, right.
Thank you. And then the next one we have is give me a second.
Give me a second. Yeah. Okay. Also be careful with this.
It depends on the context. It depends on who you use it with.
Right. Kind of a good way to get some extra time with something.
Yeah. This one is super casual. But we've got to be careful because if your boss comes and knocks on your door and you're in your office and says, oh, I'd like to speak with you.
If it's a very formal workplace, you can't say, give me a second.
Just give me a second. It's way too casual for your boss.
But sometimes you could. If you have a close relationship with your boss or you're in a young company, you might be able to say that.
But just be careful. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, good.
So let's move on to take. So... Take a hint can also be rude depending on the context, but in a certain way, it isn't.
So, for example, you could say, oh, I think we should take a hint about what our competitors are doing to get ideas for the future or something like that.
I like to use take a hint in the sense of like people are trying to tell you something.
Right. But you're not picking it up like, oh, this person can't take a hint.
You know, we keep on suggesting that, you know, it's time to go.
But the person wants to stay at the bar or something like that.
You know. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. The next one is what, Lindsay? take a chance.
So what is that? So to take a risk, right?
To do something that's risky, to take a chance, like we could say at work, for example, oh, we're going to take a chance on this person and hire them, but we don't know if they're the right person for the job or we're going to take a chance.
Oh, excellent. Excellent. Perfect. And then we have a couple more.
So we have take a second. Right. So we did give me a second and take a second.
So what's the difference? Well, I would use this maybe when I'm going to take a quick break.
Take take is coming up everywhere. Right.
I'm going to take a quick break like, oh, I'm going to take a second and just grab a coffee.
I'm going to step out for a second. You know, I need some time.
Let me take a second to think. Right. So things like this, like ways of taking time.
Right. Or you could be telling someone to take a second to do something.
Could you take a second and help me out with this?
Yeah. Yeah. Or could you like take a second to think about it?
I like that. Yeah. Cool. And then finally, we have take your time.
Take your time. Like, don't rush. You know, I like that expression.
Haste makes waste. Oh, I like that. That's good.
Yeah, it's kind of like an 80s expression, but haste makes waste.
I find that that's always true. You know, we end up taking more time if we rush through things because we have to go back and do them again because we've made mistakes, you know, so take your time.
Right, right. Exactly. So, yeah, again, guys, this all goes back to the company culture, right?
Are you in this kind of situation where you can kind of throw around, you know, more casual language, right?
Or are you not? And you really have to think about it, you know, pay attention to what other people in your office are doing.
Exactly. Start by observing, you know, when you're new and maybe you just came over from your country, you're new in your company, you have to take some time, right?
Take your time and observe the culture and sit back.
It's okay to not jump into conversations right away.
See how people interact with each other.
And then you can decide how casual or formal you need to be.
Right, exactly. That's really important.
So don't, you know, don't forget to do that.
Because, like we said, you need to take a hint from the other people in the workplace to see what's going on.
How am I going to connect to people at work?
Who can I say certain things to, right? Maybe you're really close friends with your boss, you know, people do have these situations, like especially I think in a small startup type thing. where they're really close friends with their boss and they can be a little bit more free with what they say.
But you definitely want to make sure that that's okay before you take any chances.
It's all about take, take, take, take. Give, give, give and take.
Take and give, give and take, give and take.
You have to give and take. And a good relationship, business or otherwise, is always based on give and take.
Yes. okay awesome all right so should we should we uh give it a try yeah what's happening in this role play today michelle okay lindsey so we are in a meeting here and we're kind of a little bit more casual here and um so we're in a meeting and we're discussing things and you abercrombie's viral denim sale is back and spotify listeners get an extra 15 off with code spotify af Abercrombie is known for their denim.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. You're going to ask me to, you know, kind of present something a little bit.
Okay. Let's do it. Okay. So you'll see. You'll see.
Okay. Here we go. Okay. So we're going to look at some figures that should give us a clue as to how our customers feel about the newest product.
What say you, Michelle? Thanks, Lindsay.
Oh, sorry. Sorry. Give me a second. I'm pulling up the information.
Sure. Take your time. Okay, here we go.
Everyone, let's take a second to think about how this company has changed from the beginning.
Looking at these figures I have here, it seems our customers were happy when we took a chance and came out with the second edition of our product.
Our sales went through the roof. Excellent.
Clearly, we should take a hint and continue to revamp our product often.
Right. I agree. So let's give it our best shot for version three.
Okay, we're done here. Let's give it a rest.
Go home, everyone. Okay. Very short meeting.
Kind of a quirky meeting leader here. I said, what say you, Michelle?
Yeah, actually, that's kind of a little bonus phrase.
I've been hearing that everywhere. Really?
I have not heard that. That's so interesting.
I had never heard it and now I'm starting to hear it and I I don't know what's going on I mean I've really heard it mostly on TV interesting but I had never heard it before and now I'm hearing it all around so have you heard it around New York No, not so much, but I've heard it on TV, so it's a good thing to understand, and I have a feeling that it's going to creep its way into more people's conversation.
That's just my guess. I mean, that's what happens.
The dictionary is dynamic. New phrases are added all the time.
I was just reading how Merriam-Webster was just adding a bunch of new phrases, things like FOMO and…
TMI. And those are being added to the dictionary now.
Right. So I don't know where this what say you came from, but it basically just means like, what do you think?
Right. It's kind of a cute way of saying, what do you think?
Right. Yeah. It's like, what do you say?
Right. Just what say you? Right. I don't know why.
What's the intonation supposed to be for that?
I didn't really know how to. I think it's like, what say you, Michelle?
Okay. Interesting. What say you? So you guys don't, you don't have to use that, but just be ready for it.
You know, you might hear it. Yeah, you might hear it.
And obviously it's not a, I wouldn't say it's the most grammatically correct phrase.
Well, it sounds like it would be something that would be used like in a Shakespearean play, right?
Way back in the times of, you know, Shakespeare's plays, like something we would have read.
What say you? It's funny because when I hear it, I think it's more I mean, yeah, I can see why you said that.
But when I hear it like around, I think it sounds more like casual and cutesy.
Oh, wow. Interesting. I don't know. So let's see.
I don't know. I have I have a guess that this is going to be a new phrase, like a new bigger phrase, but I don't know.
Maybe I'm wrong. The jury's still out on that then.
The jury's still out. All right. Let's take a look at the phrases that we used.
So the first one is you said we are going to look at some figures that should give us a clue as to how our customers feel about the newest product.
Yeah. And then I said, sorry, give me a second.
Or you said, sorry, give me a second. Yeah.
And that was okay. Right. Like I was just kind of pulling up the information, getting it out of my folder.
And that's okay. I mean, it's casual, but it's, I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
I mean, it's said in a very just stalling for time way, not like, give me a second, you know?
Oh, yeah, it's fine. I mean, I think it's all about context.
So our listeners really have to be present in their meetings at work and understand what's okay and what's not, right?
Just get a sense of how people are reacting toward you.
Are they very like, very much waiting for you?
Are they impatient? Then maybe if you said, give me a second, it would be frustrating for them.
Right, right, right. So and then you were very nice and you said, sure, take your time.
Yeah, I did. That's true. And then you said, okay, let's take a second.
Right. To think about how this company has changed from the beginning.
Okay. And I said, it looks like our, oh, it seems our customers were happy it got deleted.
But when we took a chance and came out with a second edition of our product.
Exactly. So then I said, clearly we should take a hint.
Yeah. Take a hint, right, from that experience and revamp our product often.
And then I said, so let's give it our best shot.
I don't think we went over this one. I think it's somehow – ah, yes, it went missing.
Give it our best shot, right? So what does that mean, to give something your best shot?
Yeah, let's give it our best shot. Let's do the best we can.
Exactly, exactly. So that's another one, guys, with give.
And then finally, you ended the meeting, you know, in kind of a funny –
Funny way, very casual. You said, let's give it a rest.
Go home, everyone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another way that I think about give it a rest is like if someone's doing something annoying, you know, you might say that to like a teenager.
Come on, give it a rest. Like stop, stop like banging your head on the door or something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And one little bonus phrase.
Let's see. Oh, yes, I said it. Our sails went through the roof.
Through the roof. Oh, very good. Very good.
That's a good sign. That's a good thing.
Right. Exactly. Very high sales. Anyway, so guys, these are some good phrases you can use with give and take.
But again, the most important thing, be careful.
Observe what other people are doing. Listen to what they say and see what is the culture of your company.
And yeah, but these can be some really useful phrases.
You got it, Michelle. That's it. And guys, if you want to get into our Charismatic Connector course where we show you how to really be well-liked, you know, today was a business-related episode and the Charismatic Connector is all about how to be well-liked at work in the business space.
There are a lot of things you need to do beyond just your actual work to build those relationships, to get the promotion you want, to get the income you want, to do well at work, to succeed.
So go to allearsenglish.com forward slash charisma.
We'll show you how to be charismatic at work in English.
And remember to check out the transcript for this episode.
Yep. Allersenglish.com forward slash transcripts.
Excellent. All right. Well, this has been fun.
Thank you, Lindsay, for hanging out. And thank you guys for listening.
Okay, Michelle. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.
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