This week in our English blog: using the phone in English! We are going to have a look at something that is sometimes very daunting* to learners in any language: communicating effectively on the phone. In the 21^st century world of email, text messages and other online methods of communication, it is often possible to avoid speaking on the phone in English.

However, you will still sometimes need to have an effective conversation on the phone in order to function 100% in English. Besides, we want to feel confident when we are working with a new language, so it is important to be comfortable in many different situations because you really never know when speaking on the phone might be your only choice for making plans, solving a problem or getting help.

Improving Listening Comprehension

Our first point of focus isn’t directly related to speaking on the phone, but it something that we must discuss if we truly want to conquer ‘phone English’. It’s about listening in general. Being more comfortable listening in English will give you an immediate advantage when you are on the phone, and this involves spending time listening.

You might think of it like a new pilot who is learning to fly an airplane. It is, of course, important to learn about all the parts of the airplane and how to control it, but eventually, you need to spend (or “log” as pilots say) a lot of hours actually flying in an airplane before you are going to develop the skills and confidence you need to be successful.

Listening in English, like flying in an airplane, needs to feel comfortable, not strange. In order to achieve this, we have to spend a lot of time practicing. Fortunately, the Internet has a lot of resources for practicing listening in English. You can have a look at English Portal’s resource page for some listening links.

3 of our favorite resources are:

TED talks: these are very popular. They have talks on many different topics. These are videos that usually have helpful visuals:

https://www.ted.com

Oh, by the way, “TED” is an acronym** that stands for: technology, entertainment, design. 

BBC Reel: these are also videos and usually have topics related to nature, science and technology:

https://www.bbc.com/video

NPR: these are not videos. This is 100% listening with no help from visuals, so they are very good practice. They also cover many different topics, including many different stories about news, culture, arts, tech and current events. This is an invaluable*** resource:

https://www.npr.org

Now, to the phone!

Ok. Finally, let’s talk specifically about communicating effectively on the phone in English. Spending lots of time practicing listening is wonderful, but it is also good to have some guidelines in mind before we dive into a phone call. Let’s assume that we are not calling a friend. Our phone call might be to get information or because we need a service. In any situation on the phone, we first need to do two things:

1- Introduce ourselves:

Hi, my name is…

2- Explain why we are calling:

I’m calling to…

I’m calling because…

We may also want to confirm that we are speaking with the correct person:

Is this the ____________ department?

Are you with ____________ …?

Be Ready

Using the phone in English can be stressful, so it may help us if we are prepared with some information that the person may ask us for. This could be:

Our physical address (where we live)

Our email address

Our phone number

Our account number   
(if it is company that provides a service)

Our order number       
(if we have a problem with something we purchased)

This is one reason why it is so important to be comfortable with numbers!

Anticipate Questions

Another part of being on the phone in English that we should be ready for is the other person asking us questions, so remember your question words and anticipate some possibilities:

Who…?                      

Who am I speaking with?

Who is your insurance provider?

What…?                      

What can I help you with today?

What is your date of birth?

When…?                     

When would you like to schedule that?

When is a convenient time to…?

Also, we will probably need to use several question words:

Who should I contact for help with that?

How do you spell that?

What does that mean?

Why do I need to do this?

Can you tell me more about that?

In addition to our language, using a friendly tone of voice and using strategies for polite language can be very helpful. To explore this more, have a look at our previous blog post about making requests sound polite.

Additional Considerations

Even if we are communicating successfully, it is possible that the person to whom we are speaking may not be able to help us, so they may communicate something to us about necessity, so it’s good to be prepared to hear this type of language, such as:

You will need to…

You have to…

You must…

We also need to be prepared with certain language that will help us with communication problems on the phone. There is a question that we already use when we are speaking with anyone, anywhere and don’t understand something:

Could you please repeat that?

This is one of the most useful things you can communicate when you are learning a language, and it is especially useful here. On the phone, you can’t see the person’s mouth, facial expressions or hand gestures, so communication is often more difficult.

Other ways to say this are:

Can you say that again?

Excuse me, I didn’t catch that.

What if they repeat and you still don’t understand?

I’m sorry, one more time, please.

It is even ok to be honest and say:

Sir/ma’am, could you speak a little more slowly? I’m from France/ Japan/Brazil/etc.

Don’t be shy about telling someone that you didn’t understand. This is not your first language, and you are not a robot.

Speaking of machines, you may also have a problem with something you have no control over: technology. Maybe your phone signal or the other person’s signal is bad.

If this is the case, you can say:

I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch that, you cut out for a minute.

I’m sorry. I can’t hear you! You’re breaking up!

Or just, the very common:

Can you hear me?

Conclusion

Toward the end of the conversation, you are likely to hear something similar to:

Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Finally, it is good to know how to “wrap up” (or end) a conversation:

You have been so helpful! Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

There is, of course, another possibility. Maybe the person has not been helpful. Maybe they have been really rude. If this happens, one possible response is:

I would appreciate your not speaking to me that way.

Like anything, speaking on the phone in English will become easier as you practice it more. You will get more comfortable and confident. Be sure to check out some of the recommended listening links above. Don’t be intimidated by having to speak on the phone. Your English skills are most likely better than you realize!

As usual, here are your vocabulary links:

*https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/daunting

**https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/acronym

***https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/invaluable

This week’s post in our English blog focuses on different ways to say hello in English. This should be pretty basic because one of the first things we learn in English is to say ‘hello’. This ought to be simple, right? Hmm. It’s not complicated. It’s just a little strange sometimes because there are actually many (very different) ways to say “hello”.

Let’s have a look!

Ok, yes. The first and most standard way to say “hello” is just…”Hello”.

And then we have the less formal: hi.

What is “formal”?

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/formal

How about “informal”?

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/informal

There are variations to “hi”, like:      

hiya    
(though you might hear other versions of this)

Then there is also:                             
hey or heyo              

or even 

hey hey

(this one seems to be popular with kids)

You can see what’s happening here. Native English speakers- especially younger generations- will take simple ways to communicate and “spice them up” (make them more interesting).

What else do we have?

We have “yo”.          
This is also very informal.

Then we have one that is a little funny….
”howdy”. 

What is “howdy”? Originally, it was a form of “hello” that became popular in rural areas a long time ago. Most people would think of cowboys or places like Texas when they think of “howdy”. However, now you might hear this greeting just about anywhere, either as a joke, or even as a now “normalized” greeting.

We also have greetings that are connected to time. These are not new, but a lot of times they become shorter, so…

Good Morning becomes:                
Morning!       

Or        

Mornin!

Good Afternoon:                                

Afternoon!

Good Evening:                                   

Evening!        

Or        

Evenin’

So far, these forms of greeting other people are pretty simple. Now we should look at another way to say “hello”: by using questions. I say “using” questions instead of “asking” questions, because with these phrases, we’re not really always looking for information. Here’s an example:

How are you?                                    

Or less formally: “How are ya?”

Yes: “How are you?”

This looks like a simple English question. It has a question word (how). It has a subject (you). It has a verb (are). Easy!

This question can be perplexing* for international speakers of English.

* https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/perplexing

This question isn’t really a normal question. It’s just a way to say “hi”.

Here are a few possible situations:

Batman: How are you?  

Joker: I’m good.      

(end of greeting) 


Batman: How are you?        

Joker: Not bad. 

(end of greeting) 


Batman: How are you?

Joker: Fine, thanks!

(end of greeting)

Or how about this situation. Imagine that Batman and Joker work in the same office. They are walking down the hallway, going past each other like this:

————————————————-

                 Batman –>

                                     <– Joker

————————————————-

Here’s the conversation:

Batman: How are you?

Joker (nods his head and smiles)

They both keep walking. End of conversation.

It may seem strange that someone (in this case, Batman) would ask a question and then just keep walking without waiting for a response, but this is not that unusual.

Now let’s look at the really strange one:     What’s up?

For most people there is only one answer to this question, and it looks negative but actually isn’t.

Batman: What’s up?

Joker: Not much.

That’s it. There are, of course, variations, such as: “Nothing” and “Not a lot”.

There are also variations on the form of this so-called question:

What up?

And even:

Sup?

You read that correctly: sup.

“Sup” means “What’s up?”

“What’s up? means “How are you”

“How are you?” means “Hello”

So…

“Sup” means “hello”.

Welcome to English!

Oh boy! We all have to go to the doctor sometimes. This means we have to talk to a doctor! This is not always a great experience in your native language, and the experience can be more difficult and tiring if you are trying to do it English. First, let’s move forward thinking that we are not going to the emergency room right now. Right now, we are going to a doctor that is called a “GP”. This stands for “general practitioner”. This doctor provides general medical treatment, rather than specialized medical treatment. Basically, this is the doctor you go to when you get sick.

So there’s our first piece of vocabulary: 

I’m sick.

Another useful word for this topic is the verb “see”. You know this word. Here we use it to mean “visit”

Example: 
       
I need to see a GP.

or

I’m trying to find a GP to see.

Another piece of dreaded vocabulary for this topic is “insurance”.

*this comes from the verb “dread”: 
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/dread

Insurance can be very frustrating. If you don’t have insurance, you will need to pay “out of pocket”, which just means that you actually have to pay for the doctor’s services.

If you do have insurance, the staff at the doctor’s office will ask you for different information from your card, like an “ID Number” They may also ask if you have “HMO” or “PPO”. These are acronyms, similar to USA or EU or UN. HMO and PPO are different types of insurance plans and your card will probably have one of them.

Let’s do some more vocabulary. In English, we have phrases called “collocations”. These are combinations of words. A good collocation for doctors is “make an appointment” (instead of “take an appointment” or “do an appointment”.

Example:        
I need to make an appointment to see Dr.——-.

Another piece of vocabulary that you will probably hear at the doctor’s office is “fill out”, which is a phrasal verb that means “complete”. Phrasal verbs are verbs that have more than one word, and their meaning is usually different from that of the main verb by itself.

Example:        
Please fill out this form while you are waiting.

There are other phrasal verbs and collocations that you might here at the doctor’s office. Here are some possibilities:

“Please, roll up your sleeve”                                    

roll up (phrasal verb)

Because…

“I’m going to take your blood pressure.”               

take one’s blood pressure (collocation)

Or

“Open up”                                                                  

open up (phrasal verb)

(this means open your mouth)

Because…

“I’m going to take your temperature.”                   

take one’s temperature (collocation)

Note: temperature is a strange medical word because it can just mean the number:

Example:                    
Your temperature is 98.6.

However, it can also mean that your body temperature is high if we make a collocation with the verb “have”.

Example:                    
Oh, you have a temperature. It’s 102!

You might also hear a phrasal verb or a collocation to communicate the same idea:

Example:                    
What kind of medications are you taking?            

to take medication (collocation)

What kind of medication are you on?

to be on (yes! Phrasal verb!)

These are some ways that the nurse might communicate with you. Now we should consider some ways that you can communicate with the doctor. When we do this, we are usually talking about pain (noun).

We can do this by using verbs and adjectives to describe other nouns (parts of our body).

Two common words for this are the verb “hurt” and the adjective “sore”.

Example:        
My throat/back hurts.    


Or        

I have a sore throat/back.                                                                      

Another common method is to combine a part of the body with the word “ache” in order to form a noun and create another collocation with the verb “have”

Example:           
I have a headache.

I have an earache.

Hopefully this has been a helpful introduction to useful English language vocabulary for talking to the doctor, and hopefully you will not need this vocabulary anytime soon!

For some extra practice, here’s an excellent link to a picture dictionary in the Internet Archive that can help you learn the parts of the body in English:

https://archive.org/details/oxfordpicturedictionary3rdedition/page/n111/mode/2up

There are many challenges when you are learning English (or any foreign language). One of these challenges is especially tricky: how to make requests sound polite. 

What does “tricky” mean? Here is a great dictionary to use: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/tricky

Ok. Let’s continue. It is very important in English to understand how to use language that is polite. Using polite speech varies greatly between different languages, especially if you try to translate.

Let’s look at some possible ways to express a need or desire. Let’s talk about pens. Yes, pens. A pen is a simple object, but getting a pen is a little complicated if you want to sound polite in English.

(What does “complicated” mean? 

Have a look: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/complicated)

Let’s look at some different ways to communicate the same idea. The first few examples are not very polite, but they become more polite as we continue:

Example:        Give me a pen.

Ok. This is not polite speech in English for several reasons. First, it is a command. In English we use the imperative tense for this-notice that this sentence does not have a subject included. Second, it is very short and direct. Sometimes this can make spoken English sound impolite. Third, because it is a statement instead of a question, it is not a request.

Example:        I need a pen.

Hmm. This example sounds a little better in English because we are not commanding or ordering someone to do something. In fact, this sentence really should be acceptable, but it is still too direct for it to sound polite in English. This is when translating can be a problem because in many languages the statement “I need a pen.” would sound ok.

Example:        Can I use your pen?

Now we are starting to be in an area of language that sounds more polite. Even though “can” is not the most suitable word according to the strict rules of the English language, the word “can” is usually very acceptable to most English speakers. It is important to remember that most native speakers in English (just like native speakers in your language) use language that most other speakers accept as normal, rather than using grammar and vocabulary that language books say is correct.

Example:        May I borrow the pen?

Now we are really getting polite (and even more formal). This is because we are using the verb “may” for permission. Even though “may” is technically the verb we should use for polite requests, it has come to sound a little formal (especially in American English) because so many native speakers use “can” instead. Notice that this example and the previous example are both in the form of questions instead of statements. 

Example:        
Would you mind if I borrow your pen?

This is another good example of making a request using polite speech. The reason is the use of the phrase “Would you mind”. First this is a commonly accepted wording for how to make requests sound polite. Second, it makes the question longer and therefore, sound less direct. 

We can see that the words we choose are very important. We must also remember that the sound (or “tone”) of our voice is extremely important. Usually when the pitch of our voice sounds higher, the needs or requests that we are trying to communicate will sound more polite.

We hope this has been helpful in understanding how to make requests sound polite in English. Remember to listen for examples like these when you are practicing listening in English!