You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Today's episode is the first in a two-part series on the basics of social English starting a conversation, keeping it going and finishing it appropriately.
Successful conversation is is an important part of networking the skill of building up a network of contacts and relationships.
In this episode, you'll be learning skills in language for starting and finishing a conversation appropriately.
In the next, you'll practice how to keep a conversation going.
Today's listening takes place at the Asia-Pacific HR Conference for Multifresh, a major global producer of health beverages.
A beverage is a drink.
You'll hear two dialogues.
In the first Penny, an HR officer from Malaysia strikes up a conversation with George, the Asia-Pacific Learning and Development Manager.
To strike up a conversation means to start a conversation, usually with someone you don't know too well.
In the second dialogue Pat, an HR officer from Australia, then tries his best to strike up a conversation.
Now, here are the listening questions.
First, what office is Penny from?
Two, what does Penny think about the speech?
Three, have Pat and George already met?
And four, does George have time to talk to Pat?
Excuse me, Mr. Chow?
Yes.
We haven't met.
I'm Penny Lin from Kuala Lumpur office.
Ah, yes.
It's great to finally meet you.
It's good to meet you too.
So, interesting speech, wasn't it?
Yes.
Looks like we have a few challenges ahead.
Long time no see.
Yes, hi.
George, you're George Chow from the Singapore office, right?
Yes.
We met last year when you visited Australia.
Oh, of course.
Yes, that's right.
I remember chatting with you over coffee.
And your name was?
Pat.
Pat McCarthy.
Ah, yeah.
Good to see you again, Pat.
Yes, it's been a while.
So, which floor are you staying on?
Up on the 12th.
Great view up there.
You?
I'm on the 3rd, right within striking distance of the bar.
Gosh, is that the time?
Sorry, Pat.
I just have to make a quick phone call.
It was nice running into you.
Oh, yes, of course.
See you around.
Yeah, see you later.
So it looks like Penny's attempt to strike up a conversation with George was much more successful than Pat's, wasn't it?
We can say that Penny and George hit it off, which means that they seem like they are going to get along well with each other.
Let's first look at Dialogue 1.
How does Penny start the conversation with George?
Excuse me, Mr. Chow?
Yes.
We haven't met.
I'm Penny Lin from Kuala Lumpur office.
This is one easy way to begin a conversation with someone you recognize but haven't met or don't know very well.
What are some other ways?
You're Mr. Barnes, aren't you?
Hi, my name's Sully.
Excuse me, aren't you Baxter Gordon?
Wow, it's great to finally get the chance to meet you.
I've heard a lot about you.
You must be Monica Childs.
You have no idea how great it is to finally meet you.
What a wonderful surprise.
But what if you don't know somebody at all and you just want to walk up and introduce yourself?
Conferences parties, dinners All sorts of networking events present you with chances to meet people you don't know.
We haven't met.
I'm Lynn Jacobs.
What's your name?
I don't think we've met.
My name is Abdullah.
Hello.
My name's Josh.
What's yours?
Of course, if you already know someone, You can just say hello again, nice to see you again, or long time no see, as Pat says to George in dialogue two.
After.
Penny has struck up a conversation with George and they've made their introductions.
Nice to finally meet you.
Good to meet you too.
What does Penny say next to get the conversation going?
So, interesting speech, wasn't it?
Yes.
Looks like we have a few challenges ahead.
Penny is using a tag question.
A question ending with, isn't it?
Wasn't it?
Aren't they?
Weren't they?
Don't you think so?
And so on.
This type of question is ideal for starting conversations because it gives your partner an easy chance to respond.
Let's look at some more typical tag questions you can use.
The food here is really great, isn't it?
Amazing team, aren't they?
It's been a long day, hasn't it?
Can you think of any more good tag questions?
I'm sure you can.
Tag questions give you a great way to get the conversation going.
Of course, you don't just network at formal social events, such as parties or dinners.
Many everyday situations provide you opportunities to meet new people.
Waiting in the hotel lobby, standing in line, working out in the gym, having a cocktail in a bar.
Sometimes we skip over the greeting and move straight to the tag question, don't we?
Great game, isn't it?
Yes, amazing.
I don't think we've met.
My name's Ronald.
What's yours?
I'm Cindy.
In addition to tag questions, there are a variety of great WH questions, which are who what where when, why and how questions.
These you can use to get the conversation going.
Where are you staying?
How long have you been in Singapore?
How was your flight?
Is this your first time here?
What do you think of the food?
When did you arrive?
So far so good.
You've studied how to open a conversation with various kinds of greetings and how to get one started by asking tag questions.
Now, let's look at more skills in Dialogue 2.
What do you do when you don't remember someone's name?
And How do you end a conversation politely?
Remember, Pat greets George in a very friendly fashion with long time no see.
This signals to George that Pat already knows him.
But George doesn't seem to remember Pat very well, does he?
So how does he handle this?
George, you're George Chow from the Singapore office, right?
Yes.
We met last year when you visited Australia.
Oh, of course.
Yes, that's right.
I remember chatting with you over coffee.
And your name was?
Pat.
Pat McCarthy.
Ah, yeah.
Good to see you again, Pat.
Of course, if you don't remember somebody's name, a good thing to do is to mention where you met them or some specific time that you remember chatting with them, or perhaps some detail of what you talked about.
Recalling details makes not remembering their names seem less rude.
What are some other ways to do this?
Ah, yes, of course.
You and I met at the trade fair in Venice last year.
You're a big Juventus fan, right?
You know, I remember talking with you about the new marketing strategy last month, but your name has just slipped my tongue.
It just slipped my tongue is an idiom that means you temporarily can't think of someone or something.
So it's an extra polite way to say you've forgotten someone's name.
So, George does a pretty good job of dealing with not remembering Pat's name, doesn't he?
Well, what happens next?
Pat tries to make a little bit of small talk about which floor they're staying on.
Pat is staying on the third floor, right within striking distance of the bar.
To strike means to hit or attack.
To be within striking distance of something is an idiomatic expression that means you're close to something.
You can say that you're within striking distance of a target or goal.
For example, now that we're within striking distance of the sales target, we need to keep our efforts up and work even harder.
Now, let's have a look at the end of the dialogue.
Does George have time to talk to Pat?
Doesn't seem so.
Is that the time?
Sorry, Pat.
I just have to make a quick phone call.
It was nice running into you.
Oh, yes, of course.
See you around.
Yeah, see you later.
So how does George finish the conversation politely?
Gosh is an informal expression of emotion.
Most people consider it very clean.
It comes from changing the D at the end of God... to SH.
Even cleaner and perhaps more formal is oh dear or oh my goodness.
So, gosh, is that the time?
Means George is surprised by how late it is.
Then he makes an excuse for finishing the conversation suddenly.
He has to make a phone call.
What are some other ways to do this?
Well, I'm afraid I'll have to be going.
It's been nice talking to you.
Would you excuse me for a moment?
Oh dear.
If you'll excuse me, I must just go and check on something.
Will you excuse me?
There's something I have to attend to.
That just about does it for today's show.
But...
Before we finish today, we'd like to give you a chance to practice yourself.
Imagine you are at the HR conference with George.
You haven't met him yet, but you'd like to.
Start the conversation by saying, excuse me, you're George, aren't you?
Wait for him to respond.
Then introduce yourself and ask him a tag question about the weather.
Are you ready?
Yes.
Oh, nice to meet you.
Yes, I agree.
Is this your first trip to Singapore?
Now, let's listen to a possible answer.
Excuse me, you're George, aren't you?
Yes.
We haven't met.
I'm Jo from London.
Oh.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.
Beautiful weather today, isn't it?
Yes, I agree.
Is this your first trip to Singapore?
Good.
Now, imagine you have to leave.
Make an excuse to finish the conversation politely.
That's all right.
Hope to see you later.
How did you do?
Let's listen to an example answer.
Oh dear, will you excuse me?
There's something I have to attend to.
That's all right.
Hope to see you later.
Great.
So that's all for today's show.
You've learned some great ways to get a conversation going and what to do if you forget somebody's name.
You've also practiced how to finish a conversation politely.
In the next in this two-part series, you'll be studying ways to keep the conversation going after you've started it.
See you next time.
