This is the Business English Podcast Episode 347.
Not allowed to answer?
What to say in English.
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Hello Aubrey. How's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? Good, but I have a question for you.
All right, here it comes.
So has anyone ever asked you a question, let's say at work, that you just weren't at liberty to answer?
Oh, that is a good question.
At work, I feel like sometimes someone would ask about a coworker that was a little personal and I would even if I knew, let's say we're good friends, I wouldn't feel like it was my place to answer, I think.
Yeah, that makes sense.
It's tricky. Yeah, I'd say it's definitely happened at times and it's always an interesting choice what to say because you don't want to come off in a way that's abrasive to the person, right?
You need to maintain your relationship with the person, but you also don't want to give information that you shouldn't be giving or tell something about yourself that you maybe would put you at a disadvantage in some way.
Right, this is a little bit sensitive because just like you said, it would be very easy to make the person who asked feel criticized.
Or feel judged if you don't answer depending on how you say it.
So I'm excited for this.
We are going to give you guys a lot of ways that you can answer a question because there's so many different scenarios.
This could come up where you are not allowed or just feel like you shouldn't give an answer.
Yeah, I mean one of the big scenarios is when you are the one that's interviewing someone for a job, right?
Right, yeah, right.
You might be asked, maybe the candidate would ask about salary or about a health plan.
And there could be several scenarios where either you don't have the information or they're not supposed to get it yet.
Yeah, there are all kinds of options.
Yeah, or benefits, right?
I mean, it's kind of a faux pas to ask too early in the interview process about salary benefits, the things you get, right?
It doesn't come off very well, so it's usually not advised, but not everyone knows that.
And so they might make that mistake.
So if you're the one interviewing people, what do you say?
That's one scenario, right?
I'll bring what else?
What would be another?
Or it might be perhaps you work for a company and someone has left and maybe you knew them well so you know why.
You know why they resigned.
And another coworker or your boss asks why they left?
What were their reasonings?
What were they upset about?
And you might not feel like it's your place to give that information.
Sure, so when you're being asked about information about your colleagues that you just don't feel that you can share, that you should share, to be an integrity, right?
A lot of the way people judge us as professionals, we don't want to be the office gossip, right?
We're trying to avoid this.
Right. Because imagine if you do answer, then the person you're giving this information to will no longer trust you to keep their confidences.
Right? That's true.
You're sort of setting this reputation of being, like you said, the office gossip, someone that you can't trust a secret with.
And so people will be more careful about what they tell you.
Or let's say that someone is, you've just found out that a coworker that you're close to is pregnant, and they just started a job, right?
And they're still in that three month range, a temporary where there might be some, that might be a disadvantage for them moving into a new job when they're just pregnant, right?
And you don't want to share that for them.
That information. Exactly.
Right. That's definitely going to be, they're up to them to decide when and how they share that information.
So yeah, if someone were to ask you, if they're pregnant, what would you say?
You know, you feel like you can't confirm, but there are all kinds of scenarios where you need these phrases where you can share that you're not going to provide that information, but in a respectful way.
It's kind of today's about kind of how to be discreet, right?
At work, how to be discreet, and how to, yeah, just not say more than you should.
And that can lead to a lot of problems for you later.
And the other person potentially too.
So good. This comes from a student question, right?
Yeah, we've had students that have asked us, you know, what can I say when I'm either not allowed to provide information or I don't have that information?
And as a pro tip, we wouldn't recommend saying, I'm not allowed to answer that, right?
Because it sort of undermines you.
You're sometimes that's the easiest thing to do.
You're sort of throwing someone else under the bus saying it's out of my hands.
I'm not allowed. But it does sort of take away your power.
Yeah, it's saying that someone else made this rule and it's, yeah, so there are better things you could say.
So today we're going to give you four better options, right?
So let's get into them, Aubrey, what would be the first one?
So first you could say, I'm sorry, but that information is not available.
And you can see how these are all very specific to certain questions, right?
Because if, you know, for a lot of the scenarios we gave you, this wouldn't be ideal.
We'll sort of give you phrases for each one.
This would be perfect if, like, if you are hiring a candidate and they're asking questions too early, maybe they're asking how many candidates are applying, you know, about, they're asking about benefits.
They're asking about salary then this would be perfect.
You know, I'm sorry, that information is not currently available.
Yeah, and it's good because what this does by flipping it around and not saying, I can't tell you or I, you know, I'm not allowed to answer.
I don't have that. You're taking the emphasis off you and putting it on the information.
The information is just not available.
It's very straightforward, right?
This is a tactic we use in English to use the passive voice.
And now the subject is not me, it's the information.
That information is not available.
It can be pretty empowering.
It's a way to skirt something, right?
Avoid something. What would be number two?
So number two is very similar just to say, details about that are not being provided at this time.
And again, this is not where someone has asked you about someone's personal information.
This is more for those scenarios that are more like if you're HR and there's a lot of information that you're privy to that you are not allowed to share.
This is perfect, right?
Details about that are not being provided at this time.
Yeah, this is not when someone asks you how much your coworker makes, right?
That would make it, if you say it comes from an institution, right?
This is institutional important.
That's a really important to note.
Or if someone's just gotten pregnant or something, that's not the response, okay?
Some of these don't work for every scenario.
Good. Exactly, right?
Yeah, these are very much for when you're in more of an official capacity.
And this as a teacher, when I was a teacher, we were mandated reporters.
There was certain information that we had about students that we would never share with other students or teachers or parents.
And I would use these types of phrases, right?
Where you're keeping it very professional.
It's very institutional, like you said, Lindsay.
Yeah, for sure. The third one is that information will be available at a later date.
We're still staying in the passive voice, right?
And what about this one, Aubrey?
Yeah. Again, sort of another way of saying this, right?
And sometimes if you give one of these responses and then someone sort of continues to ask in another way, then this is sort of just a way to rephrase it and just restate that that information is not available.
And you're just saying it another way.
Yeah, it's coming later.
It's coming later, right?
And number four, what would be that?
And then this is more for those personal questions, right?
You could say, it's probably not my place to answer, but you can ask them directly.
So this is if someone's asking why someone left your company is somebody pregnant, right?
This is more for personal information you might know.
I love this junk to say, it's not my place to answer.
I love this one. Yeah.
This is perfect for those personal questions that, you know, the information is not being kept by the institution.
It's just that you don't feel that it would be an integrity to share it.
You can't speak for that person, right?
Exactly. Yeah. This is a great way to say that.
And this is sort of idiomatic to say it's not my place, right?
Because what does we use place in so many ways, but this junk means I don't have a right to share that, right?
I don't feel comfortable.
I don't have their permission to share.
Yeah. We could potentially do another episode on this phrase, it's not my place, because it goes beyond just giving information at work.
It's, you know, asking personal questions in different scenarios, or I don't know, maybe as a parent, I'm not sure what you think about this, Albert, but disciplining your kids' friends.
I don't know if that's a place where that's not my place.
Right. And the kids will say, but so -and -so does it.
Well, I'm not their parent, right?
It's not my place to correct this.
So that scenario, that phrasing goes across a lot of different situations in life.
Yeah, good point. Listen for, look for a follow -up.
Be sure you're following on Aller's English, because that might be something we cover on the Aller's English podcast.
Could be good. Could be good.
Now, what else do we need?
There's a couple of other scenarios here.
Yeah, we want to share a couple phrases when you may need to let them know when they will receive information.
So for example, with these HR scenarios, they might at some point receive that information.
So for example, you could say, I will be able to let you know, and then blank, and then whenever that is.
After a second interview, once the decision is made, after we meet in person, right?
Whatever needs to happen before that information would be provided.
Yeah, that can really kind of relax the situation and put the pressure off of you, right?
To give that information.
If you're allowed to let them know when they will know, that's probably going to end the conversation, then you can move on.
Yes, if you're allowed to give that information, right?
Or number five, a decision should be made in two weeks or on Saturday or in two months.
Right. So this is like if someone is asking, when will I know when will the if you can give them a date or a general date.
Absolutely, right. A decision should be made by and then give them the time.
And then I think it's important for listeners to know about this other phrase, which is what is the phrase, let's go into it first.
Yeah, so you might hear or you might answer.
I'm not at liberty to say, and this means, you know, I don't have permission to say I'm not allowed to say is basically what that means.
But it does feel a little cold to me.
What do you think, Lindsay?
It feels like this is a tough one because it could feel cold.
It also could feel too joke jokey, like to kind of facetious or just making fun of something.
You really have to pay attention to the context.
Is the person being serious?
Are they being cold?
So that's a good point that could be said sort of playfully, especially if the information is playful, like I'm not at liberty to say.
Yes, that's playful clearly.
And maybe we're at a party or just socializing or something very different from a scenario where you're trying to get information in H .R.
with the H .R. department.
Exactly. So I would be careful with this one.
It sounds it might sound extremely formal or a little more, like you said, institutional or cold, or it might come off as sarcastic and playful.
And so I would go with one of these other phrases that are more straightforward.
Your meaning will be clear.
Yeah, it's too easy to miss the mark with that one.
There's too many ways it could go off the rails.
I agree. Yes. Okay, Avri, let's jump into a roleplay conversation today.
So what's happening here?
What's the scenario for us?
All right. So in this scenario, I am a vendor that is hoping to be chosen by Lindsay's company.
I'll start us out ready.
Can you tell me if we've been selected as the vendor?
Oh, I'm sorry, but that information is not yet available.
Okay, no problem. Do you know when I can expect to hear their decision?
The selection process should be finalized by Friday and then we'll reach out.
Nice. So these are more of these official term, right?
There's nothing personal here.
I'm just trying to get information out of you that either you don't know yet or you're not allowed to give yet for some reason.
You need that phrase to let me know that that information is not yet available.
Yet available. Good.
Yes. And then you said this, I said the selection process should be finalized by Friday.
So you're giving a timeline, right?
Exactly. And that's this final phrase that we gave where you can provide them the time.
If you're allowed, if you have an idea when they will know that is, I mean, it, you know, sometimes it is going to get them off your back for another way to say that, right?
Because they often will be anxious about something and they just want to know when will I know?
And this is important for a takeaway today.
It just matters. Well, first of all, like I said, we don't want to be an office gossip.
We don't want to be sharing things that we aren't at liberty to share.
There you go. I used the phrase.
What else, Aubrey? What should we keep in mind?
And then the tone of what you're saying, especially for that.
I'm not at liberty to say, but a lot of these as well.
We are using these phrases in order to be respectful, in order to not make someone feel criticized for asking something that maybe they shouldn't have.
Maybe it was too personal or maybe they're asking too early.
So if we're careful with our phrasing, then we can help someone not feel criticized.
Yeah. For our listeners at your level, the tone really matters.
Our tone matters so much at this level of advanced English.
So knowing how you're coming off is so important.
Huge. And then not just to say, you know, I'm not allowed to say that it's sort of a throwaway phrase and maybe feels easier.
But you have to sort of think about the impression that that gives, right?
Will they respect your opinion and your right to make decisions?
Immediately after. That's a good point.
All right. Because it takes away your agency, right?
It just makes it seem like you're kind of just a process in the part of the process and you don't have that agency.
It's not accurate if you are a decision maker and if you write, then you don't want to give that impression and undermine yourself.
You got it. All right.
Good stuff, guys. If you love business English, then hit the follow button and we'll be back soon.
Awesome. See you next time.
All right. Take care.
Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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