Hello everyone, and welcome back to Real Talk, the Q -Lip series where we teach you the English that you need to know for real life, everyday situations.
Joining me today is my co -host, Cassie, and we're going to teach you guys how to call the non -emergency line and how to talk about maybe an issue or a problem that you've encountered in your life that you're worried about or concerned about, but is not really a pressing urgent emergency.
So let's bring in Cassie here and we'll get started with this episode.
Cassie, I forgot to say hello.
Hello. How's it going?
Hello. I'm doing well, and you?
I'm good, Cassie. Off the top of your head, could you brainstorm here with me a few situations where you may need to call the non -emergency line?
You know, I could think of a bunch of random ones.
Like maybe if I saw a kind of large stray dog somewhere in the neighborhood and, you know, some people are terrified of dogs.
So I'd maybe call that line or like a weird rabid looking raccoon that's running through the neighborhood tearing into trash cans.
I don't know. What else?
Um, maybe if I saw, ah, like a big tree falling into the road, that would need moved.
How about you? Those are great examples.
A big scary dog running around off leash, a rabid raccoon, which are quite scary.
Raccoons can be quite scary.
A fallen tree. I was just mentioning before we started recording here, Cassie, how where I go running, I have have to run under this little bridge.
And beside the bridge is kind of a little tunnel that goes under the road.
And they're doing some maintenance work down there.
And they have some machinery operating, maybe like a pump or something.
And there are many exhaust fumes coming out of that little underground under the bridge area.
And it looks like smoke.
And I think maybe in that kind of situation, there's a sign that says, hey, this isn't smoke.
Don't call in. We're just doing some work here.
But if there weren't a sign like that, maybe that's the kind of situation.
You see some smoke coming out from a weird area under a bridge.
That might be a time that you want to call the non -emergency line.
Yeah. Because you know, it's not a full -blown fire.
So it's not an emergency exactly.
But you're like, it might become an emergency.
Let me call the other line.
Right. We have that expression in English, where there's smoke, there's fire.
So you might want to think about calling the non -emergency line.
And perhaps it's evident from this term that we call it the non -emergency line.
But Cassie, could you give us the official definition?
What are we talking about when we say non -emergency line?
We're talking about a phone line that is connected to the police or maybe the fire department.
And you call that number when you need to talk to an official person about a situation that is not exactly an emergency.
You don't need someone right away, but you think that, you know, someone official should come and take a look.
And every English speaking country will have an emergency line and a non -emergency line.
And in North America, in our countries, Cassie, in the USA, in Canada, you call 911 if you have an emergency, right?
And that will connect you with either the fire department or the ambulance or the police department, and they can assist you in an emergency situation.
But I don't know for your area of the States, Cassie, but in Canada, we don't have a flashy non -emergency line number like that.
you just have to google like your local police station or fire station and then the number will come up but each city and each area has a different number what about where you live in the states honestly i have no idea um i i moved to korea when i was what i don't 21 and i'd never had a situation like that before when i was younger um i'd be curious maybe i'll google it after this episode.
Yeah, I have a feeling that it's the same because it's a non -emergency.
I guess they figure that you have the time to look in your phone for a minute and to Google it and find out what the non -emergency number is.
But I guess we should say that you shouldn't call the emergency line 911 in North America if you have a non -emergency, right?
If you see a raccoon that that you think may be rabid, wandering around in your backyard, don't call 911.
That's reserved for extreme emergencies that are very, very urgent, and where the situation is very, very dangerous.
Okay, now that we've got all of the definitions and the background information out of the way, Cassie, I'm just going to break down and tell our listeners here what we'll do in this episode.
So guys, we're going to listen to two example conversations where somebody calls the non non -emergency line just to report something that isn't urgent but that they are concerned about.
And we're going to listen to how they do that really clearly and really effectively in English and then we'll go through it one more time and we'll break down some of the key expressions and vocabulary that the caller used to be able to achieve their goal of making that report.
So Cassie, our first example conversation is going to be between a concerned neighbor and a dispatcher at the police non -emergency line.
And a dispatcher is what we call the person who answers the phone in this kind of situation.
So the person on the other end of the line who handles all the calls, receives all the calls, this person is the dispatcher.
So we will listen to this conversation example right now.
Here we go. Let's do it.
Police non -emergency line, how can I help you?
Hi, I'm calling because I haven't seen my elderly neighbor in a few days and I'm getting a little worried.
Their lights have been off at night, and their mail is beginning to pile up.
Okay, thanks for letting us know.
So, just to confirm, there's no signs of danger or medical emergency right now?
Yeah, that's right.
I haven't seen or heard anything alarming, but I'd just feel better if someone could come and check on them.
Okay, so we'll send an officer over to do a wellness check.
What's the address?
address? It's 1725 Elmwood Avenue, apartment 203.
Okay. 1725 Elmwood, apartment 203.
Got it. And your name and number in case we need to follow up?
Sure. My name is Jane Smith and my number is 555 -3290.
All right. Thanks, Jane.
Someone will be over shortly.
All right. So Cassie, in this conversation, we heard a concerned neighbor call the police non -emergency line because she was worried about her elderly neighbor.
And yeah, you know, this could happen if you had an elderly neighbor, somebody who maybe is older and perhaps they live alone and you usually see them every day, right?
They're your neighbor as you go to and from your home.
But if you haven't seen them for a little while, and you're not sure what's going on, and in this case, the mail was piling up.
So that neighbor got worried.
Cassie, what does that mean?
The mail was piling up?
That means maybe outside of the door, the mail, you know, it's delivered daily.
And if it's piling up outside the door, there's a pile of mail that might be growing bigger and bigger each day.
And that means the neighbor knows that the elderly neighbor is not collecting their mail.
And in this kind of situation, I think it's probably a good idea to call the non -emergency line just to have someone check in.
I mean, it really is case by case.
If you had a very close relationship with that neighbor, maybe you could knock on their their door directly and check in on them.
But maybe it's just somebody that, you know, you say hi to when you're walking down the street and you're not too close and you don't want to barge in on their privacy.
So you could maybe call the non -emergency line and have them check in instead.
So now that we've heard the example, Cassie, let's go through it one more time and break down and explain some of the key expressions that were in that conversation.
And Cassie, I'll let you do the the honors, which one would you like to highlight first?
I mean, this is not a super special phrase, but I like the way that the caller started her sentence.
The dispatcher asked, how can I help you?
And the caller started just by saying right away, hi, I'm calling because yada, yada, yada.
In this case, she said, I'm calling because I haven't seen my elderly neighbor in a few days.
But I like this phrase, I'm calling because, because it gets right to the point.
You're saying, okay, I'm on the phone.
This is the reason why.
And then you're not, you know, holding up the phone line.
Yeah, exactly. So you could say, I'm calling because there's a crazy raccoon running around in the park.
I'm calling because a tree fell down in the park, right?
Just very direct and to the point, but also very polite.
We also have many different other expressions we can use in English.
We could say something like, I wanted to report something I noticed.
There's a tree that fell down in the park, or I have a concern I'd like to share.
And then you could go on to explain the details.
So I think all of those are very good ways to start this conversation.
And guys, I know a lot of times we don't know what to say right away when somebody picks up the phone, right?
Hello? Then you have to say your first sentence.
Oh, my God, what am I going to say?
I mean, sometimes this even happens to people when they're speaking in their native language.
So in your second or third language, yeah, it can be difficult.
So I'd recommend using one of these expressions.
And Cassie, the one that you highlighted there, I'm calling because blah, blah, blah, is just really direct and very to the point, but also polite at the same time.
You can use this not just for the emergency hotline.
Anytime you have a question for any company, maybe if you're trying to make a hair appointment or a dentist appointment, you could say, hi, I'm calling because I'd like to make an appointment, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, I mean, even if you wanted to order pizza, right?
I don't know if anybody actually phones the pizza place anymore.
I think probably everybody just orders online or with an app.
But if you are old school and you do phone the pizza place, you could even say that I'm calling because I want to order two pepperoni pizzas, please.
Right? It would work.
Okay, Andrew, what's the next phrase that stuck out to you?
The next expression that caught my attention was, I'm getting a little worried.
I'm getting a little worried.
And in the example, we heard the caller say, I'm getting a little worried that I haven't seen my elderly neighbor, right?
right? So again, here we're showing some concern.
I'm worried about my neighbor.
We're polite, but also when we put that word little inside, it makes it seem like it's not a huge emergency.
It's not urgent, right?
It's like also communicating a little bit of doubt.
Like like maybe there's no issue.
I'm not sure, but it might be a good idea to check, right?
So I think in a non -emergency situation, communicating your slight concern, your slight worry with an expression like I'm getting a little worried is a good idea.
And Cassie, are there any other ways that come to mind that we could communicate that something is not really, really super urgent urgent in this kind of situation?
Yeah, actually, I think you could even use that exact word that you just used right now, Andrew, urgent.
You could say, oh, it's probably not urgent, but I saw this happening.
Maybe you could go check it out.
Something like that.
Yeah. Yeah. So I think using these words, probably, maybe, it's probably not urgent, but maybe you could check it out.
Or I'm getting a little concerned, a little worried, or sometimes we use the word bit, a bit worried, a bit concerned.
Then, yeah, that would communicate that, you know, it's on your radar.
You're thinking about it.
You're concerned enough to call, but you don't think it's an emergency.
They don't have to come over immediately.
Yeah. Or I have a bad feeling about this.
Hmm. Yeah, I have a bad feeling.
It doesn't seem right.
Right? Often we use that word seem to it doesn't seem right.
Doesn't seem good. Exactly.
All right, Cassie, another interesting expression that we heard in this example was wellness check, wellness check.
You know, that's a really kind of common expression these days, a wellness check.
Can you tell everybody what it means?
Yeah, it means when some sort of professional, either medical or psychiatric, psychiatric dealing with mental health, you know, checks in on you.
They make sure that you're doing okay.
So a wellness check could be to check in on your physical health to make sure that you're living your best life.
You're breathing, you're healthy, you're not injured.
And you could also have a mental wellness check to make sure that you're in a good mental state, you're not depressed or something like that.
And usually I have the feeling that when we do a wellness check, a health professional will come to you.
Is that the sense that you get as well, Cassie?
Like maybe if you, I don't know, you had a cousin that was maybe dealing with some mental health issues and you are concerned about their safety or their health you could call and ask for a wellness check and then a doctor or a health professional would go and visit your cousin and check in on them or same sometimes we use this to talk about homeless or unhoused people you know if they do a wellness check then a medical professional will go and visit those people and check in on them to see how they're doing.
So yeah, I have the feeling that when we use a wellness check, most of the time it's when a doctor or medical professional is coming to visit the patient.
Yes. And especially in this case with the elderly, because I don't know about you, Andrew, but if I heard that my neighbor's mail was piling up, I would be afraid that they fell and couldn't get back up on their own.
So having a doctor go directly to the site would be ideal in case it ends up being an actual emergency.
Absolutely. Very good.
All right, Cassie, maybe one more thing that I wanted to talk about here is this phrasal verb that we heard in this conversation, which was a really, really useful one to know, guys.
I would recommend memorizing this one and adding it to your vocabulary because it's super common and super useful.
It is to check in on someone.
Check in on someone.
One of those two preposition phrasal verbs, Cassie, in on.
Cassie, what does it mean to check in on someone?
To check in on someone is to kind of the same thing as a wellness check.
It means to go and see the condition of someone so if you check in on them uh if you check in on them about their health you're going to see if they're they're feeling okay or maybe a mom might go check in on her son who's supposed to be doing his homework to make sure he's actually doing it or if he's you know sneaking video games or something um so yeah to check in on someone is to to go see them and make sure they are okay or doing what they're supposed to be doing.
Yeah, great examples.
We could also use this in a professional setting too.
Like maybe you have a supervisor or a boss who's always checking in on you to see how you're doing.
That can be really stressful sometimes.
It's like, leave me alone.
I just want to work and keep checking in on me.
Makes me nervous. Yeah, it makes me nervous.
I can't work. Exactly.
So a very, very useful phrasal verb to know for your listening and speaking skills, guys.
All right, Cassie, I think we're ready to move on to our second conversation example for today.
And in this one, we're going to hear a caller phone the fire department non -emergency line.
And why don't we take a listen to that example right now?
Here we go. Fire Department, non -emergency line.
What can I do for you?
Hello. Yeah, I'm calling just because I saw a man lying on a bench near the corner of Main and 5th and he looked like he might need help.
He wasn't really moving.
Okay, thanks for the call.
Is he conscious or responsive?
Not quite sure. I didn't want to get too close, but he seemed unwell.
while. Okay, we'll send someone to check on him right away.
Did you notice anything else?
Yeah, he had a blue backpack and he's got a shopping cart with him, but that's about all I remember.
Got it. And can I get your name and number in case the team needs more info?
Sure. My name's Alex Riviera and my number is 555 -9142.
Thanks, Alex. We'll take care of it.
in this example conversation we had the fire dispatcher and a caller who was concerned about a man lying on a bench who was not moving and using our context clues here we might assume that this man might be homeless because he had a backpack and a shopping cart next to him in the the street which is a common thing that the homeless population has in cities in the north in North America and so Cassie we heard the caller just call in again maybe because he was concerned about the health of this guy that he saw on the street and yeah again you know if you're just a regular person you don't have any
medical knowledge you're not sure really what to do like you might might see somebody who needs help and you're unsure, like maybe they do, maybe they don't.
If it was very, very obvious that they needed help, then you would want to call the emergency line, right?
But if you're not so sure and it doesn't look like a huge emergency, then maybe the non -emergency line is the way to go.
And I don't know, Cassie, if you have any CPR training or anything like that, but I sure don't.
And so I don't think I could be very helpful in this situation.
Really, the only thing that I could do to be helpful would be to call the non -emergency line.
Anyways, Cassie, why don't we get into examining that example conversation in a bit more detail and going through some of the key expressions.
And again, I'll defer to you first, Cassie, which expression jumped out at you in this example?
I think the first expression that jumped out is very similar to one that we heard in the previous example but in this one it was he looked like he might need help and this was the caller talking about the man lying on the bench he looked like he might need help he wasn't really moving and this expression again we said is great when you don't think it's an emergency but you are concerned about someone you see something that doesn't look right, you think there might be a problem.
Absolutely. So yeah, guys, all of these words, all of these expressions that we're saying here, he looked like he might need help.
Maybe he needs help.
He didn't seem okay.
He seemed like he could use some help, right, all of these expressions and words that we're using here are downplaying the issue.
So we're communicating that it's not a serious emergency.
We're kind of taking it a step back.
So we can use all these words like we mentioned in the last example, you know, seem, maybe, might to de -escalate the situation and to communicate that it's not a pressing, urgent emergency.
So So yeah, very good, Cassie.
An expression that jumped out at me was, I didn't want to get too close.
I didn't want to get too close.
Just meaning that you're saying that I'm not the right person to get involved, but at the same time, you're still showing that you're concerned.
So it might be good to communicate that.
It's also saying that I don't really know too much. I didn't go and slap the guy in the face and tell him to wake up, right?
Grab him by the collar and shake him.
I didn't do that. I didn't get too close.
But you're still concerned and you're still caring for him.
Cassie, are there any other things we could say in this kind of situation?
Any other ways we would phrase that naturally?
Yeah, you could use phrases such as I kept my distance just in case or I stayed back, but it just didn't look right.
So I thought I'd call.
You know, you're emphasizing the fact that, you know, I'm not qualified to help this person, but I still feel concerned for them.
I kept my distance, but I'm calling you now just in case.
And then a little bit later towards the end of the conversation, the dispatcher asked for the caller's name and phone number.
And I think if you felt concerned in this situation, you don't really have to give that information.
information it's case by case but depending on the region that you are in in the world maybe you don't want to give this information so yeah that is optional but it's helpful if you can give it just in case they need to call back and get more information from you so the dispatcher asked for the caller's name and phone number and then to end the call they said we'll take care of it and we'll take care of it just means, okay, your responsibilities are done now.
Thank you for calling.
We'll take responsibility.
The fire department will take responsibility and we'll go and check on the person who is in need of some assistance.
And yeah, there's some other different alternative expressions you may hear a dispatcher use in this situation.
Maybe they They would say, we'll send somebody out or someone will head on over to see what's going on.
Or maybe we'll take a look, right?
We'll take a look means to go check that expression that we heard earlier.
We'll go check on him, right?
Something like that is probably what you'll hear at the end of the call.
And that will signal to you that things are sort of wrapped up and you've done your duty as a concerned citizen.
listen. Yes, exactly.
Well, Andrew, I think we explained those situations very well.
Yeah, I think so. And guys, I hope you'll never have to make a call like this, but it's always good to be prepared to know what to do just in case you have to.
Better to be safe than sorry.
Better to be safe than sorry.
Exactly. All right, Cassie.
So I think that will bring us to the end of today's episode.
Guys, thank you for studying English with us today.
That was super awesome.
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We are excited to hear what you have to say.
Okay, Cassie, that'll wrap things up for us.
Thank you again and take care.
See you later. Bye guys.
