Hello, everyone, and welcome back to EnglishPod.
My name is Marco. My name is Catherine, and today we're talking about things at the office.
That's right. We are at the office, but this time we are going to ask our boss or manager for a raise.
Alright, so what is this word raise? Let's take a look at it in today's vocabulary preview.
Vocabulary preview. All right. So we're going to ask for a raise.
So if you are at your office and you talk to your boss and you say, I want a raise, what does that mean?
That means I want more money. Okay, so I want a raise or increase in my salary.
That's right. So a raise is a thing that you ask for.
And in this case, a raise means that you already work at the company, you already have a salary, and you want some more money each month.
Okay, so that's what we're going to be talking about today.
Let's listen to this dialogue. Excuse me, sir.
May I talk to you? Bill! Sure, come on in.
What can I do for you? Well, sir, as you know, I have been an employee of this prestigious firm for over 10 years.
Yes? I won't beat around the bush. Sir, I would like a raise.
I currently have three companies after me and so I decided to talk to you first.
A raise? Son, I would love to give you a raise but this is just not the right time.
I understand your position and I know that the current economic downturn has had a negative impact on sales.
But you must also take into consideration my hard work, proactiveness and loyalty to this company for over a decade.
Taking into account these factors and considering I don't want to start a brain drain, I'm willing to offer you a 10% raise and an extra five days of vacation time.
How does that sound? Great. It's a deal.
Thank you, sir. Before you go, just out of curiosity, what companies were after you?
Oh, the electric company, the gas company, and the water company.
All right, we're back. So now why don't we take a look at Language Takeaway.
Language Takeaway. So the conversation we just heard is a conversation between a manager or a boss and the employee.
And the employee says, listen... I need to talk to you about something.
I have been an employee of this prestigious firm for over 10 years.
So prestigious is our first word. Okay. Prestigious is an adjective, right?
That's right. And it means very respected, very well known.
Esteemed, that's right. So something that is prestigious has a good reputation.
Like, for example, some universities like you hear all the time about American universities like Harvard or Yale. which are considered to be prestigious universities or the Nobel Peace Prize is a very prestigious award Okay, so it's an adjective to describe something that's respectable, well-known, or esteemed, as you said.
Exactly. All right, and what's our next word?
Our next one is not so happy. This is what we've been experiencing in the global economy this last year or two.
It's called an economic downturn. Alright, so an economic downturn is something negative as you said, so it means that the economy is not doing very well.
Right, so economy, economic, you know what this means, but in this case, downturn is the key part of this phrase, to slow down or to decrease.
A downturn is a time when less people are making money and less money overall is being earned.
Okay, so an economic downturn. Very good.
Why don't we move on to our next word, which is negative impact.
So the thing working here is the economic downturn, and it has had a negative impact on our sales, on this company's sales.
So a negative impact, as you know from the first word, is not a good thing.
Right. It's an effect, right? That's right.
An effect, but that's negative. So it's not a good effect.
So, I could say that... Marco, being late has had a negative impact on your work lately.
Okay. Or the opposite now. What if something is a good effect on something?
So, Marco, your hard work has had a really positive impact on this company lately.
All right, good. So you can use a negative impact or a positive impact.
All right. So impact, again, is just the effect that something has on something else.
And well, the boss said that he agrees to give him a raise because in part he didn't want to start a brain drain.
What's that? This is a very common phrase you hear about countries.
They have a brain drain or they want to avoid a brain drain.
A drain is the part of a sink or a bathtub where the water goes down.
Okay. It goes away. And so brain drain means all the brains or intelligent people or educated people leave a country and go to another country. or in this case leave a company and go to another company alright so for example if all the employees at Apple Maybe they start to quit or they start to move jobs and start to work for maybe Microsoft or Google.
That's a brain drain, right? That's right, because you're talking about a large number of people.
Maybe they're all unhappy because they say that working at Apple is not very nice.
So they all leave and go to this other company The same is true with countries You can have very very well educated people Who when they stop studying They want jobs they all look somewhere else.
They go to America or Mexico or England.
And so that's called a brain drain because they all go away.
Okay. So five great phrases right there and words for you.
Let's listen to this dialogue again and we'll be back to take a look at Fluency Builders.
Excuse me, sir. May I talk to you? Bill!
Sure, come on in. What can I do for you?
Well, sir, as you know, I have been an employee of this prestigious firm for over ten years.
Yes? I won't beat around the bush Sir, I would like a raise I currently have three companies after me and so I decided to talk to you first A raise?
Son, I would love to give you a raise, but this is just not the right time.
I understand your position and I know that the current economic downturn has had a negative impact on sales.
But you must also take into consideration my hard work, proactiveness and loyalty to this company for over a decade.
Taking into account these factors and considering I don't want to start a brain drain.
I'm willing to offer you a 10% raise and an extra five days of vacation time.
How does that sound? Great. It's a deal.
Thank you, sir. Before you go, just out of curiosity, what companies were after you?
Oh, the electric company, the gas company and the water company.
This first phrase in today's Fluency Builder is one of my favorites.
It's something that we say often when we're having a conversation.
We want the other person to just tell us what they're talking about.
All right. So the guy said, you know what?
I'm not going to beat around the bush. Or you could also say, Please don't beat around the bush.
So I'm not sure where this phrase comes from, but it means please be direct or I'm going to be direct.
I will not. wait any longer to tell you what I'm talking about.
So if somebody is beating around the bush that means they are not being direct.
They're not telling you something immediately. it's you know like when a person is trying to think but it you know, has a hard time and they're really trying to explain something, but you know, it's just, well, you know what I'm talking about.
It's like that time with that thing where he did that.
Okay. This is really annoying, I know. It's called beating around the bush because you just don't say what you're thinking.
Right, exactly. So you don't say something directly.
Now, our next phrase is to take into consideration.
Take something into consideration. Well, this is something that the young man brings up when he's asking for a raise.
He says you should take into consideration. all of these great things I do this means when you make your decision I want you to think about these things so consideration means You're thinking when you're trying to make a decision to consider.
All right. So to take something into consideration or you can just say to consider.
So I'm interested in buying a new TV, but I have to take into consideration the fact that I don't have a lot of money.
That means I probably won't get a new TV.
I have to think about these things when I'm making my decision.
Right. Okay, very good. And our last phrase for today, towards the end, the boss was a little bit interested in knowing what happened or which companies were interested in him.
So he said, just out of curiosity. So this is something we say when we don't need to know something. we would like to know because we're curious, we're interested, but not because I need to know right away what companies offer you jobs.
So this is a polite way to ask. why someone did something.
So for example, So just out of curiosity, Marco, what kind of shampoo do you use?
That is very interesting knowledge that you want there.
Well, obviously, I don't need to know what kind of shampoo Marco uses, but I'm curious because maybe I'm going to buy a new kind of shampoo.
So you can start your sentence by using this phrase, just out of curiosity.
Just out of curiosity. It's a great one.
Listen for that again as we listen to today's dialogue one more time.
And we'll be back in a moment to talk about getting raised.
Excuse me, sir. May I talk to you? Bill!
Sure, come on in. What can I do for you?
Well sir, as you know, I have been an employee of this prestigious firm for over 10 years.
Yes? I won't beat around the bush. Sir, I would like a raise.
I currently have three companies after me and so I decided to talk to you first.
A raise? Son, I would love to give you a raise, but this is just not the right time.
I understand your position and I know that the current economic downturn has had a negative impact on sales.
But you must also take into consideration my hard work, proactiveness and loyalty to this company for over a decade.
Taking into account these factors and considering I don't want to start a brain drain.
I'm willing to offer you a 10% raise and an extra five days of vacation time.
How does that sound? Great. It's a deal.
Thank you, sir. Before you go, just out of curiosity, what companies were after you?
Oh, the electric company, the gas company, and the water company.
Yeah. all right we're back so interesting enough he was he needed a raise not because three companies wanted to hire him but because he needed to pay his bills Well, this is funny because he's not talking about companies, that's right, who are offering him jobs.
He's talking about the gas, the water, the electrical company.
Right. It's a very funny dialogue. I think asking for a raise is very hard to do because you know that your boss is worried about money or it's a bad time to ask.
You want to ask because it's important that you get the right compensation for your work.
Right. And actually, it's important to have a clear objective when you want to ask for a raise. more or less what you want to earn and but plausible within the company so you're not gonna ask for a hundred percent raise right you can maybe Aim for a 5 or 10% and most likely you'll get it if you negotiate properly.
That's right. And sometimes a raise isn't just about money.
You can also like he did ask for some time off.
So he gets some vacation days or perhaps some training.
Or bonuses. Or a bonus. This all depends on the kind of negotiations that you make, but it's worth it to ask.
So please let us know if you've ever had a good time or a bad time asking for a raise.
It can be a very nerve-wracking experience.
I know personally I'm very uncomfortable with it.
But we're excited to hear what you have to say.
And if you have any questions or comments, leave them for us on our website, EnglishPod.com.
All right. We'll see you guys there. Bye, everyone.
Bye.