Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 656, Ordering Business Stationery.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 656.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is about the exciting world of paper.
Yes, business stationery, the kind of paper that has your name on it or your company's name.
It's an exciting topic.
Just wait and see.
Let's get started.
How did the investor meeting go?
In that case, can you help me with some of this work?
I would, but I'm busy ordering stationery right now.
Stationery?
You're ordering stationery?
Yes, of course.
For us to be taken seriously as a new company, we have to project a professional image.
Having good stationery is part of that.
I'm not sure.
Look, we can't go to business meetings without good business cards, right?
I guess so.
If we have any correspondence with our potential investors, we need letterhead and envelopes, right?
I suppose.
Okay, so I'm ordering those things.
In the process, I'm ordering some embossed greeting cards and some promotional postcards.
We'll also need some notepads and... Whoa!
Aren't you jumping the gun?
Why do you say that?
First we need to establish a company and then we can start behaving like one.
That's where you're wrong.
If you build it, they will come.
You mean if we start behaving like a company, then the investors will come?
Precisely.
Jermaine begins our exciting dialogue by asking Teresa, how did the investor meeting go?
An investor is someone who usually gives money to a company to help it grow or to start it.
Of course, this person wants to get their money back.
Plus, Teresa says that meeting has been postponed until next week.
To postpone means to delay, to decide to do something at a later time.
Teresa says one of the potential investors is out of town.
Germaine says in that case, meaning in that situation or because that is true.
Can you help me with some of this work?
Here we go.
Germaine trying to get someone else to do his job.
Teresa says, I would, but I'm busy ordering stationery right now.
I would means if I could, I would.
I would do it under certain conditions.
However, those conditions are not present because I'm busy.
If I weren't busy, then I would help you.
That's another way of saying that with a lot more words.
Germaine says stationary.
You're ordering stationery.
Stationery could be paper, it could be cards, it could be envelopes, all of which have your organization or your company's or your personal name address, phone number, other information nowadays email and perhaps a website address.
Teresa says, yes, of course.
For us to be taken seriously as a new company, we have to project a professional image.
To be taken seriously means to be treated by other people as important, to be considered deserving of respect.
If you want to be treated seriously, you should not go to a job interview looking like a clown or dressed in a bikini.
The employer won't take you seriously.
However, if you are a clown in a bikini, then maybe.
Teresa says that their new company, in order to be taken seriously, has to project a professional image.
To project means to convey.
What does convey mean?
It means to present yourself in a particular way so people have a certain opinion about you.
You could say she projects confidence, meaning you get the impression, you get the idea that she has a lot of confidence.
This word project can be used and pronounced differently.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations of that word.
Teresa is projecting an image.
The image is the opinion.
It's the way that other people will think of you.
If you want to project an image of a rich person, you might buy a nice car and wear nice clothing and eat at a nice restaurant.
That might project the image of a rich person.
Advice to those of you looking for a girlfriend.
Well, a certain kind of girlfriend anyway.
Teresa says that having good stationery is part of projecting that professional image.
Jermaine says, I'm not sure.
Teresa interrupts and says, look, meaning pay attention.
We can't go to business meetings without good business cards, right?
A business card is a small business card, a piece of paper that has your name address, phone number, the name of your company, perhaps a little picture, or what we would call logo symbol, of your company on it.
Germaine agrees and says, I guess so, meaning, okay, I guess that's true.
I believe that's true.
Teresa says, if we have any correspondence with our potential investors, we need letterhead and envelopes, right?
Correspondence is written communication, written messages that are sent and received, and usually by mail, by paper, but nowadays, of course, more commonly by email.
It could also be faxed.
That's correspondence, any letters or notes between two people or two companies.
Teresa says that if they have any correspondence with others potential investors, people who might want to give the company money we need letterhead and envelopes.
Letterhead one word is a piece of paper that has your company's logo or symbol, the name of usually contact information, that is address, phone number email, website.
This information is often on the top of the page.
Sometimes it's on the left side of the page.
But the page, the piece of paper, is mostly blank.
You use it to print a letter out on or, in the old days, to use a typewriter to type on it.
That's letterhead.
Envelopes are, of course, the things that you put the letter in to mail it, and the envelope will also have your company's name on it.
Germain says, I suppose meaning he agrees with Teresa that they need these things, but he isn't agreeing very strongly or very enthusiastically.
Teresa says, okay, so I'm ordering those things.
In the process.
As she's doing this, or since she is doing this, I'm ordering some embossed greeting cards and some promotional postcards.
We'll also need some notepads.
Embossed means that the paper, when you feel it, has a what we would call raised surface.
So if you put the paper on a table and you take your fingers and you go over the name of the company and the logo with your fingers, you can feel it.
That's embossed.
E-M-B-O-S-S-E-D.
She ordered some embossed greeting cards.
A greeting card is the sort of thing that you would give someone for their birthday, perhaps for an anniversary.
It's a little card that has a message on the front and usually you open it up and you sign your name inside of the card.
Greeting cards can be sent for birthdays.
They could also be sent for Christmas or a holiday celebration.
Normally companies don't have a lot of greeting cards that they use, but Teresa thinks they need them.
She also ordered some promotional postcards.
Promotional is anything that is used to get people to find out more about your company.
It's sort of like advertising.
A postcard is a small piece of thick paper that usually has a photograph on one side, and then you write on the back of the card.
When you go on vacation, when you take a trip to a new place, you could buy a postcard with a picture of that place and send it back home saying here is what you are missing for not coming with me, even though I invited you.
Something like that.
Teresa also has ordered some notepads N-O-T-E-P-A-D-S one word which have many pieces of paper that are attached or connected to each other, so that you take one and you remove it and then you have a bunch of them underneath it.
You have notepads to write on.
You may have a small one or a large one.
They're usually the size of a regular piece of paper, but all the paper is connected.
It's attached so that you can keep it all in one place.
It's different from a notebook.
With a notebook, usually the paper is attached or connected at the side, on the left side, whereas a notepad, usually it's on the top.
Also, a notebook usually has wire that goes through small holes in the paper so that it stays there.
A notepad doesn't have any wire or holes.
It just has typically glue that attaches the papers to each other.
Germaine says, whoa, meaning wait a minute, slow down.
Aren't you jumping the gun?
To jump the gun... means to do something too early, to do something before it is really necessary.
The expression comes from racing.
When you have men or women running in a race in a competition, usually the beginning of the race starts with a gun being shot, not a gun with bullets, and that indicates that the runners can start to run.
If you start running before the gun is fired, we say you have jumped the gun.
You've gone too early.
Teresa says, why do you say that?
Why do you say that I have jumped the gun?
Jermaine says, first, we need to establish a company and then we can start behaving like one.
Jermaine is saying we don't even have our company started and you are worrying about things like stationery.
Teresa says, there's where you're wrong, meaning you are wrong about that thing.
She says, if you build it, they will come.
This expression, which originally I think was from the movie Field of Dreams about baseball with Kevin Costner, means that if you build something, if you construct something, people will come.
You don't have to worry about that people won't be interested.
If you, for example, start a company, people will come and buy your product.
Of course, this isn't really true and many companies think that people will come and buy their product and they waste a lot of money on things like stationery before they really have any customers.
It's a very common problem with small businesses.
Jermaine says, you mean if we start behaving like a company, then the investors will come?
Meaning we'll get people to give us money to start and continue our company?
Teresa says, precisely.
Meaning exactly.
Correct.
Correct.
When you agree with everything the person has said, you would say precisely.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
How did the investor meeting go?
That meeting has been postponed until next week.
One of the potential investors is out of town.
In that case, can you help me with some of this work?
I would, but I'm busy ordering stationery right now.
Stationery?
You're ordering stationery?
Yes, of course.
For us to be taken seriously as a new company, we have to project a professional image.
Having good stationery is part of that.
I'm not sure.
Look, we can't go to business meetings without good business cards, right?
I guess so.
If we have any correspondence with our potential investors, we need letterhead and envelopes, right?
I suppose.
Okay, so I'm ordering those things.
In the process, I'm ordering some embossed greeting cards and some promotional postcards.
We'll also need some notepads and... Whoa!
Aren't you jumping the gun?
Why do you say that?
First, we need to establish a company and then we can start behaving like one.
That's where you're wrong.
If you build it, they will come.
You mean if we start behaving like a company, then the investors will come?
Precisely.
I won't postpone thanking our scriptwriter.
I'll thank her right now.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
