This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 60.
Is it a work in progress? How to share what you're working on in English.
Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
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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 Michelle, how you doing? Hey Lindsay, I'm good.
I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I have a question for you today.
What? Well, do you have any projects that you're working on these days?
Anything in progress? Well, I'm working on moving.
Oh, yeah. Does that count? That totally counts.
Have you already moved or have you not moved yet?
I'm in the process right now. I have like a couple of weeks where I can do it.
It doesn't all have to be done at once. So that's good.
But it's still it's definitely I would say it's a project.
How's the project coming along? Yeah, it's coming along.
It's coming along. You know, it's not easy, but figuring out getting people to help and what we need and what we don't need and selling something.
So, yeah. It's kind of fun when you have a new place and it's like you have this blank canvas to decorate, right?
Yeah, yeah. But I'm not very good at that.
So I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm trying to choose some paint colors and things like that.
And some people just have an eye for design, but I do not have that eye.
I'm sure it'll be great, Michelle. Thank you.
Put the personal touch on it and it'll be perfect.
I'll try. Yeah, thank you. All right. Before we get started today, guys, I want to say thank you to our awesome reviewers.
Thank you for reviewing us in the iTunes store.
You guys are great. So thank you to hashtag Amicia from Brazil, Hiren3DUA from Vietnam, Chanakarn55 from Thailand, and Alex2017Hi from Canada.
Yeah. Thank you guys. You guys are great.
You wrote awesome reviews. You always help us when you write a review.
So guys, if you haven't done it yet, go on over and leave us a review.
Okay. Very cool. Perfect. Yeah. So we're planning something.
Yes, we are. What are we planning, Michelle?
The Urban English Adventure in Boston. Exactly.
So that's an example of a long-term project that is in progress, right?
Just like you're moving into a home. Yes.
But it's coming along, right? Little by little, piece by piece.
What are we doing, Michelle? Well, we're putting the plan together, right?
So what's going to happen on that weekend, everything like that.
And with backup plans, right? Because what if it rains?
Oh, my gosh. I'm praying that it doesn't rain because we really want to be outside.
And at this point, this episode comes out in mid to late July.
So you guys were about a month away now at this point.
And you guys are confirmed. We've got our group probably by now.
And we're so excited. But we're making backup plans on backup plans, OK?
We're going to be it's going to be awesome.
So excited about it. So today, Michelle, what are we talking about then?
Today we're talking about making progress, right?
Building things, testing things, taking action out there in the world.
Yeah, and I thought that today would be good to start with a mindset, to start with a certain kind of mindset.
And it's a mindset that a lot of successful entrepreneurs use.
And it's also in line with our vision of connection, not perfection, right?
So that's our vision here at All Ears English for you guys.
And we hope that that's a vision you take out into your life in the world.
So what's the quote, Michelle? The quote is, you don't learn to walk by following rules.
You learn by doing and falling over. And that's by Richard Branson, who is the founder of Virgin Group.
Very, very successful businessman. Yes. Yeah.
He's like when people think of entrepreneurs, that's kind of who they think of.
Yeah. Yeah. I really like this quote because it's so true, isn't it?
Like if you think about a baby, how a baby learns to walk, the baby doesn't look at a textbook on instructions on how to walk and they don't get mad at themselves that they fall down.
What do they do instead? They get back up.
Exactly. And they try again. They make a mistake, try again.
So, you know, that's what we want you guys to be doing with your English.
And that's in line with today's episode about this idea of making progress, testing things out, right?
Trying it little by little, getting back up again and keeping going.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. Awesome.
So, Michelle, we have a great question today from a listener.
Would you mind reading the question? Sure.
Here we go. That would be cool. Thank you.
Hi, Lindsay and Michelle. I am writing from Barcelona, as many others.
As many others, I usually listen to your podcast first thing in the morning while getting ready to go to work.
It also gets me in the mood of English to start the day as I teach English as a second language for all ages.
Oh, wow. Great. That's cool. Wow. So cool.
Um, I found your podcast the best way to have that input of English that I don't have in Barcelona every day.
Well, thank you. So this is the question.
One of my students works as a forecaster.
And recently, we reached the goal to have her talking in front of an audience. in Berg about her projects.
She was talking with some native speakers and they asked her about a tool that she is working on regarding forecasting.
She wanted to say that the tool is not ready yet and that it is still being tested, but she couldn't find the right words to say it.
I found in test, on test, in trial, in beta, in test program, which one is better to say?
This is Spanish. So how's your Spanish, Michelle?
Should I try it? You do it. You do it. Okay.
So what he's saying is la herramienta está en pruebas.
Oh, my God. My accent is getting terrible.
Better than mine. Yeah. The tool is being tested, right?
That's what this says in Spanish. Okay. Okay.
Keep going, Michelle. Thanks for your time.
Cheers, Pablo. All right. Thanks, Pablo.
That's awesome. Great, Pablo. Good question.
I love how specific this question is. Guys, if you have a specific question, detailed question, go to lindsayatallearsenglish.com and send it to me.
We will answer it on the show. All right?
Yeah. Cool. Abercrombie's Viral Denim Sale is back.
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So we have two different questions here the way I see it, Michelle.
What are the two questions? Well, the question is about saying it's in progress versus it's being tested.
Yeah, because they're not the same thing in my mind.
Yeah, sure. So we're going to show you guys a few ways to say that something's in progress.
Then we're going to show you how to say that it's being tested.
OK, so let's start with the progress. What could we say?
We have a lot of ways to say this. And again, this goes back to our mindset for today, our quote, you know, something little by little, making progress, failing, getting back up again.
OK, so what's the first one, Michelle? Okay, so it's in progress.
You could say it's still a work in progress.
Yeah, I feel like I hear this a lot. Yeah.
And I like that still, right? It's like, you know, we're still working on it.
Oh, that's the next one. Oh, that's so funny.
I didn't even realize it. And that's what it led me to.
So guys, you know, it's natural. It's natural English if you just thought of it and you didn't even see it listed there as the next option.
So one more time. What's the next option?
We're still working on it. And the next one is we're making some progress.
Okay. But it's not done or it's not finished yet.
Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Good. And then the last one is it's coming along.
Oh, and we could also vary this by saying it's coming right along.
It's coming right along. It's coming right along.
It's getting better. We're working on it.
It kind of adds like a bit of a positive tone to it.
Do you think so? Yeah. Yeah. I like that.
I like that. Exactly. So now let's talk about, for our listener, Pablo, about how to say that it's being tested because, again, it's a different thing, right?
Slightly different thing. What would you say, Michelle?
Okay. You could say, we're still doing some testing.
Okay. Or it's being tested out. So it's being, being, the to be verb, right?
It's being tested out. Right, right, right.
Or we are running some tests on it. Nice.
And the next one is if it's a tech product, like if we're talking about like an app, you could say it's in beta or we are running user tests, right?
That's a bit more technical, okay? Some kind of an application, a program, a website, something like that, okay?
Right, right. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. So today's episode is going to be short and sweet, but we're going to run into a role play now.
And actually, this really fits in with what's going on at All Ears English because this summer we are making an app.
Yay! I know. So, so many exciting things happening at All Ears English this summer, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And pretty soon we're going to be looking for testers.
Actually, we're recording this like a month in advance.
So it's hard to say when this episode comes out, but we will be looking for beta testers that you can have the app on your phone, guys.
So if you're an iOS user, drop me an email if you're interested and we'll talk about that.
OK, so in this role play, Michelle, what's happening?
OK, so in this role play, I am a tech developer writing code for the new All Ears English app.
And you are who, Lindsay? I am a marketing person and we are trying to work together.
Often it's hard, you know, for the tech person to work with a marketing person.
Yeah, it can be hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Different ways of thinking, right?
Yeah. Okay, let's give it a try. Okay, here we go.
Hey, so Michelle, I hate to bug you about this, but how is the new app coming along?
Well, we're making some progress, but it's not done yet.
Still a bunch of things we have to do. Okay, then what's the next step when it's done?
Sorry, after it's done, it will be in beta, but we're going to run some user tests.
Okay. Oh, so you mean students will get to use the app and try it out?
Well, yeah, if they use iOS and they sign up in time.
Cool. Sorry, I messed some of that up. Oh, that's okay.
No, we all make mistakes. No worries. Okay, so let's go back through this and see what we used here for our listener Pablo and for all our other listeners.
What did we use here? Well, first I said, well, we're making some progress, but it's not done yet.
Yeah, exactly. We're making some progress.
I feel like that phrase is so natural. Yeah.
Yeah. I like it too. Yeah. And then I said, still a bunch of things we have to do.
Yeah. Just very natural. And then the next one we said was, after it's done, it will be in beta.
Right. Right. So that's the tech word we said.
That's the tech word. And that's what we refer to when we have a real version of it and it's actually working, but people can use it, but it's not officially launched yet, or it could be launched with a beta launch.
Okay. So we get a little bit technical there and we are going to run some user tests.
Right. Again, kind of techie. Yeah. Yeah.
I like that. Yeah. So we've given you guys a bunch of different ways to be technical about this or just because we use this in different aspects of our life.
Right. Like what are some other areas we might talk about progress, things that we're working on, Michelle, like our degree, maybe.
Right. Right. Being in school. Yeah. Getting a degree.
I'm trying to think. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.
No, go ahead. Go ahead. I was thinking a relationship, but that's not that's not you want to really say, oh, we're in progress.
So that that might be a little bit different.
Maybe if you're getting in like physical rehab, like if you've been in an injury and you have.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a good. Yeah. Or or like you're trying to get in shape, like little by little, step by step, that kind of thing.
Yeah. OK. Yeah. Yeah. So that's great. So guys, if you're not building an app yourself or you're not, you know, working on a weather program, then this can also work for you.
There are lots of ways this could apply to your life, these phrases, okay?
But remember, just keep an eye out for our announcements about the app.
We are going to be looking for beta testers.
This fits in perfectly. And, you know, if you're interested, drop me an email at lindsay at allearsenglish.com and we will talk about how to get that app on your phone.
Okay, guys? Very cool. Perfect. OK, awesome.
Michelle, where can listeners go if they're preparing for the IELTS exam?
OK, if listeners are preparing for the IELTS exam, they can go to all.
Oh, sorry. They can listen to the IELTS Energy podcast.
That's OK. Yeah. Go over and subscribe to the IELTS Energy podcast.
You can search for that in iTunes. OK, very cool.
All right, Michelle, we are out of here for today.
All right. Thanks, guys, for listening. Have a good one, Lindsay.
Talk soon. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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