This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 26, Bad Internet Connection?
What to Say in Business English. Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
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Yeah, guys, every once in a while we have some trouble and it's like, ah, and you want to figure it out.
I'm sure everybody has dealt with that, right?
Like on Skype or just some sort of voice chat, right?
FaceTime that the connection just doesn't work.
That can be so frustrating. So frustrating and stressful.
Yeah, yeah. So, guys, before we get started, though, we want to remind you that it's very important, just in case our connection goes bad.
No, I'm just joking. That you guys should head over to the website to get the transcripts for this episode.
Very important, right? Yes, definitely. So, head over to allearsenglish.com forward slash transcripts.
Exactly, Michelle. Guys, that's the only way to get the role plays if we do them or to get any other additional little details that we don't cover in the blog.
Absolutely. So, maybe you can guess, but we're talking about connection with the internet today, right?
So, we got a really cool message from a listener, somebody named Christina.
Thank you, Christina. Lindsay, can you read the question?
I would be happy to. I never get to read the question.
Oh. I know. Well, there you go. It's always fun.
All right, let's do it. So here we go. Here's Christina's question.
I've listened to your amazing podcast for almost two years.
Thank you for providing every wonderful episode.
Your podcast makes me feel more confident to connect with local friends.
That's so cool, Christina. We're happy to hear that.
Definitely. Yeah, definitely. So today I received a phone interview for my first part-time job.
I was quite nervous. I have no idea how to prepare for a phone interview.
I understand the phone interview will be harder than actual face-to-face interview.
However, I expect to get this job. And do you have tips for me?
When I cannot understand their question, what should I do?
Thank you in advance. All the best, Christina.
Okay. So we took this question in a specific direction.
And this may not actually be responding directly to her question.
But I think that we have probably covered similar questions in the past.
But we've taken this in the direction of the reason that you can't understand the question is because of the disconnection.
Like if you're doing the – because the connection isn't good either on Skype or on the phone.
Right, right. Exactly. Yeah. So, guys, we do have some related episodes, right?
Way back, episode 89, right, is about what not to do if you don't understand English conversations, right?
Yep, exactly. And that's a good episode.
So, basically, the point from that episode is that you should not just say, what?
Right? I had a student that I was working with for a while who was quite high level in her English, but she continued to say, what?
What? And it was quite rude and she didn't know it was rude, of course.
And that's something you want to avoid. So we're going to show you other things to say instead of what in episode 89.
And you can also go to episode 586 where we show you how to get someone to slow down.
So those are both related. But today... We're talking... But... But... Today, Michelle, what are we talking about?
But today, we are talking specifically about phrases that might be needed not only if you're on Skype one-to-one, but also if you're in like a group phone conference, right?
Yeah, exactly. Because it's important that you have the vocabulary to explain what's going on.
And this has definitely happened to us before, Lindsay, where, you know, one of us will... I think it's happened to both of us before where something's going on and we have to explain to each other or like, oh, I need a minute, you know?
So these are absolutely like real life situations.
We all can relate to this and we need to have the words to say, you know, that something's wrong with the connection.
So, um, guys, so right now we're going to do a few phrases to say that your connection is bad.
Okay. So Lindsay, what's the first one? Okay.
So the first one is if you say, I'm sorry, I think you're breaking up.
Could you say that one more time? I like that.
I like that. I feel like even if it's not with Skype, it's just on the phone.
This happens to me, right? Yeah, totally.
Breaking up. I like that. You're breaking up.
Is this a romantic breakup, Michelle? No.
This one is breaking up is like, here's an example.
Breaking up. Am I right? Okay, that's breaking up.
Oh my gosh, you're really breaking up there, Michelle.
Yeah, exactly. So that's what it sounds like when the person, you know, you just can't hear a full word or a full sentence.
Exactly. You only hear bits and pieces. You're breaking up.
So if you guys were to use that phrase, breaking up, it's very natural.
I mean, you would really impress your colleague or your friend or whoever you're talking with, your English teacher, whoever it is, okay?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or in the interview, of course, also.
Yeah. Right. So the next one is just very simple.
The connection is bad. Can you say that again?
Yep. Very simple. You're stating the obvious.
So the person doesn't think that you're slacking off or doing something else.
The connection is bad. Can you say that again?
Okay. Absolutely. And what's the third one, Lindsay?
Well, the last one is, I think I just lost you.
Could you repeat that? I like that. I just lost you.
It's like, where did you go? Where'd you go?
Also very natural. Like very, very natural.
I like that. Definitely. Yeah. And so, you know, not only do we have to have the vocabulary to say, you know, you know, the connection's not really too good. right now, but we need to, you know, then everybody's always moving around, moving into a different room, trying to, you know, maybe there's a plug that's, you know, a wire loose or something like that.
That always happens to me. I'm like, Lindsay, hello, hello, I can't hear you.
And then it's like the wire just wasn't completely in.
I love that. Oh, it's always fun. I really hope that someday, by the way, before we move into these responses, I hope that at some point when it comes to Skype and the internet, this is just not an issue.
You know, I hope we get to the point where it's absurd to think that the internet would ever disconnect.
I feel like we should be there already, but we're not.
I know. I'm always like, what is going on?
Why can't this work? It's very frustrating.
It's like we really get upset, or at least I do.
We do. I mean, we do because we've learned to rely on the internet now.
I mean, I spend a lot of time going from my connection here at home back to my hotspot when it goes out because I don't have time to go and run down to the library and hook up there.
You know, it's frustrating. So hopefully our technology is getting better and better.
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And again, I mean, I think that most of these you could use for the phone as well.
So, you know, that happens too. So, okay.
So, we're going to move on now. So, these are phrases to check if it's better.
So, you've made some change. You've put the wire in deeper.
You've made sure everything's connected.
Maybe you reconnected or you moved to a different spot or something like that.
Restarted your computer or something. Restarted your computer or anything like that, right?
But you need to check if things are better.
So, what's the first thing you could say, Lindsay?
So, you could say, how is that any better?
Perfect. Yeah, just real simple. Right. That would be a really good thing to say.
And then the next one is this one makes me giggle.
Yeah. It's like, can you hear me now? It makes you think of that commercial, right?
Was it Verizon or Sprint? I think maybe AT&T.
I'm not sure. Yeah, because that's what everybody says.
Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?
And then they made a whole commercial out of that.
And because that's what everybody says. And it's saying like, oh, with our service, like you're not going to be saying that, right?
Yeah. And then they did it like they had the person on the phone in like the Amazon or...
Right. Deserts or mountains and things. Yeah, it was funny.
Right. So it's funny because now every I feel like I don't know if people I feel like because it became so famous, maybe people avoid saying it.
But I whenever I say it naturally, I always like start laughing or to myself.
Yeah, that's true. This is almost become become like a slogan.
It's amazing the power of marketing in our culture.
Yeah. But so... But you still say it. I mean, it just happens.
You do say it. You do. I still say it. So it's practical.
Yeah. Yeah, it's a good way. Okay, and what's the last one, Lindsay?
The last one is just, how about that? Is it clear now?
Mm-hmm, is it clear now? I like that. So is the connection clear now?
Yeah. Can you hear me now, right? So these are all really saying, you know, you've made some sort of change and you're trying to improve it.
You just want to check, is it actually working what you did?
That's right, Michelle, exactly. I love that.
So we're giving you guys the tools to say that you can hear and also to check to make sure The other person can hear if you're on the other end.
So this is really good. Okay, so guys, so these are some really good phrases.
And now we are going to do a little role play for you guys.
This is actually very realistic because we were saying sometimes we do have these things, right?
Yeah, this is almost like exactly what we say whenever we have this problem.
Yeah, yeah. So you guys know this is like real natural English.
So in this role play, we are connecting on Skype and ready to record episodes.
Should we give it a go, Lindsay? Let's do it.
All right. Hi, Lindsay. Hey, Michelle. What's up?
Oh, not much. So what are we covering today?
Oh, we've got a couple of episodes on vocabulary and we have one guest episode.
Oh, huh? I think I just lost you. Could you repeat that?
Okay, sure. I said we have one guest episode.
Connection is bad. Can you say that again?
How about that? Is that clear now? No, it's pretty shaky.
Okay, Michelle, let me just hang up and call you right back.
Okay, sounds good. Talk to you in a minute.
Hey. Hey, how's that? Any better? Much better.
Okay, let's get recording. Yeah, very nice.
Okay. Okay. Good. Awesome. So that was very much something that would happen.
Very typical. So we use these phrases. I mean, that shows you guys that most of these phrases we do actually use, you know?
Right. Very natural. And what did you say, Michelle?
What? So yeah, the first thing, so you were having connection issues, I guess.
Yeah. So I said, I actually, this is kind of a little bonus, right?
I said, oh, huh? It's like, what did you say?
Right? Right. This huh? I feel like this huh, the H-U-H, the question, very common, very natural.
Another way of saying what or what was that?
Right? Yeah. Right, right, right. And I said, I actually like cut you off because I can't even tell what you're saying.
Right. So I said, Oh, huh? I said, then I said, I think I just lost you.
Could you repeat that? Very natural. Exactly.
Exactly. And then you said the connection is bad.
Can you say that again? Yeah. The connection is bad.
Can you say that again? And then you tried to fix it and you said, how about that?
Is it clear now? Exactly. And I said, no, it's pretty shaky.
And then you were like, okay, I'm going to hang up.
I'll call you back. Yeah. Sometimes I have to restart the computer.
It's terrible. And then I called you back and I said, hey, how's that?
Any better? Very good. And by then it was all fixed.
All fixed. Usually it's just start over and call back.
But again, I hope we get to the point where it's just not an issue anymore.
I'm sure we will. I'm sure we will. But yeah, it's just amazing how much we rely on these things.
But it really, I mean, it makes our lives like so good.
I mean, that we can Skype with people all over the world.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It's just so good.
It's pretty awesome. This podcast would never be possible without you.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also just the final message too, for our listeners today, guys, if you do, if you are having an interview, you know, on Skype, which is becoming more and more common or on the phone and you have a connection issue, don't panic.
Go to these phrases, communicate what's happening.
Right. And stay calm. Just do what you need to do.
If you communicate that it's a connection issue, you're not going to be looked upon unfavorably by the hiring manager.
Okay. But communicate is the first place where they see your communication skills.
Right. Right, right. So as long as if you have connection problems, that's fine.
Just, you know, if you can kind of get around them with some of these phrases, that would be really helpful.
Right. You don't need to make technology be the reason that you tank a job interview, right?
I like the word to tank. We don't want to do that.
We don't want to tank the job interview because of a bad connection.
Okay. No, for sure. Well, this has been really good.
And thank you to our listener again for this question.
Yes. Thank you to our listener. And again, go back to those other episodes that we referred to.
If we didn't quite answer your question exactly, we took this in our own direction today because we thought that this would be more relevant to our listeners, something new, something different.
Guys, send in your questions to lindsaydollarsenglish.com.
Right. And remember, get the transcripts because we, you know, we did a role play today and the role plays are not on the blog.
So you got to get the transcripts because they're really that really shows how to use them in the context and give you good ideas.
That's right. You got it, Michelle. All right.
Thanks for hanging out today. Thanks, Lindsay.
Thanks, guys. And have a great day and we will see you soon.
Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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