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Business English for the workplace.
Hi, Tim here with another 9 to 5 English lesson.
Today, we're going to learn some expressions for answering the phone in English.
Using the telephone is an important part of business.
But the way we communicate is a little different from in-person conversations.
We have some special expressions we use to answer the phone, ask for clarification and get a call back.
At the start of a phone call, it's a good idea to make sure the other person knows who you are.
You can identify yourself in a few different ways.
Besides saying, my name is, we often use the expression, this is, before our name.
But don't try to use this expression in person.
I only say, this is Tim, when I'm talking on the phone.
Let's practice identifying ourselves at the start of a phone call.
Listen to each example, then repeat it for yourself.
Ready?
Let's get started.
Hi there.
This is Jason Locke calling from Milton Enterprises.
Oh, hello.
My name's Wendy Chambers with BMA Bank.
Good morning.
Dirk here.
How can I help?
Hello.
Francine speaking, as you can hear, we identify ourselves not only when we call someone else, but also when we answer the phone.
To do that, we just say something simple like tim here or tim speaking now.
Because we only have a person's voice on the phone, there's a higher chance we don't understand something.
It might be a single word or a whole sentence that isn't clear.
In this situation, you need to ask for clarification.
You might ask could you repeat that, or what was that?
Or you might simply say that you didn't catch something, which means you didn't hear correctly.
Let's try some examples of asking for clarification.
Remember to repeat the examples after you hear them.
Sorry, what was that?
Could you repeat that last part again?
Sorry, did you say fourteen or forty?
I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.
One very important word you heard several times in those examples is sorry.
That word helps make our requests more polite.
You also heard an example of asking for clarification between two similar words.
In this case, you just ask, did you say X or Y?
Another common situation is when you need to talk about calling someone back.
Maybe you called a business to talk to someone who's not there.
Or maybe someone called your business to talk to someone who's not in.
In any case, we need to arrange a callback.
Polite ways to arrange a callback often use the expressions, Could you? or Would you?
For example, you might say Could you ask John to call me back, or Would you like Tom to call you back later?
And sometimes it's you who has to call someone back because you're busy or have a poor signal.
In that case, you might ask, would you mind if I called you back?
Let's try some practice with asking for a callback using these expressions.
Once again, repeat the examples after you hear them.
Could you have Dave call me back at this number?
Would you like me to ask Mary to return your call?
Please have Charlie call me when he's available.
Would you mind if I called you back in 15 minutes?
One useful expression that we just heard is to have someone do something.
That is, you can say I will have Greg call you back tomorrow.
That just means you are asking Greg to call the person back.
Okay, so we've practiced some useful expressions, but how do these sound in a conversation?
Let's listen to a short dialogue between Carly and Bob.
Bob is calling Carly's office to talk with Ginny Schwartz, but Ginny isn't there.
Let's listen.
Hello, Ace Business Machines.
Hi, this is Bob Turner.
May I speak with Jenny Schwartz?
Sorry, but Jenny's not in the office right now.
Okay.
Could you have her call me back, please?
Does that make sense?
Bob identifies himself and asks to speak with Jenny Schwartz.
When Carly tells him, Jenny's out of the office, Bob asks her to have Jenny call him back.
Now it's your turn to practice.
We'll repeat the dialogue, but this time we're going to beep out the second speaker's words.
You will have to say those parts yourself.
Remember to identify yourself as Bob Turner and ask to speak with Jenny Schwartz.
Then, you'll politely ask Carly to have Jenny call you back.
Ready?
Here we go.
Hello.
Ace Business Machines.
Sorry, but Jenny's not in the office right now.
Alright, that's all for this lesson.
We've learned some great ways to identify yourself on the phone, ask for clarification and talk about calling someone back.
We'll be back soon with some more useful English expressions.
Until then, so long and happy learning.