How to have Phone Conversations in English
Vanessa: Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Today you’re going to learn how to have informal
and formal conversations in English on the
phone.
Let’s get started.
Vanessa: Let’s start with informal conversations
on the phone in English.
These are when you call a friend or maybe
a family member in English and you’re just
chatting about getting together, or you just
want to talk.
This is something that is a little bit less
common nowadays, because you’re more likely
to send a text message to a friend or family
member, and we don’t use home landlines as
often.
You’re more likely to use your cell phone.
You’re not really going to leave a voicemail,
you’re probably going to send a text instead.
So if you have learned phone conversations
at school a long time ago, it might be a little
bit simpler now, because there’s not as many
options.
Vanessa: [00:00:30] Let’s take a look at two
conversations that are informal on the phone,
and you’ll see how straightforward and simple
these can be.
Vanessa: [00:01:00] Hi, is this Daniel?
Daniel: Yes, it is.
Vanessa: Hi, is this Daniel?
Daniel: Yes, it is.
Vanessa: Hi, is this Benjamin?
Daniel: No, sorry, you have the wrong number.
Vanessa: Oh, sorry.
Thanks.
Daniel: No problem.
Vanessa: Hi, is this Benjamin?
Daniel: No, sorry, you have the wrong number.
Vanessa: Oh, sorry.
Thanks.
Daniel: No problem.
Vanessa: That wasn’t too bad, right?
Pretty simple and straight forward.
Well, if you’re going to talk on the phone
in a formal situation—let’s say for your
job you need to call another department, or
you need to talk with some customers—this
is going to be a little more serious because
you want to be polite, you don’t want to be
rude, and you want to make sure that they
can understand exactly what you’re saying.
So let’s take a little bit more time to talk
about formal English conversations.
Vanessa: [00:01:30] Let’s start with a basic
beginning to a conversation that you might
have at your workplace in English.
Vanessa: Hi, may I please speak with Daniel?
Daniel: Speaking.
How can I help you?
Vanessa: Hi, may I please speak with Daniel?
Daniel: [00:02:00] Speaking.
How can I help you?
Vanessa: This one was pretty clear, right?
You call someone, the person picks up the
phone and they want to talk.
They have time to talk.
But what if you call a secretary and you want
to talk with the marketing department?
Well, maybe they’re available, maybe they’re
not, maybe the person wants to ask you some
questions to see if the marketing department
actually wants to talk to you.
It could get a little more complicated.
So let’s talk about three different scenarios.
Let’s imagine that you’re calling to marketing
department and the person who picks up the
phone answers affirmatively, then they answer
with some kind of filter question, and then
they answer negatively.
What do those three different conversations
look like?
Let’s listen.
Daniel: [00:02:30] Hi, this is Daniel from
Microsoft.
May I please speak with someone from the marketing
department?
Vanessa: Yes, just one moment.
Daniel: Hi, this is Daniel from Microsoft.
May I please speak with someone from the marketing
department?
Vanessa: May I ask what you’re calling about?
Daniel: Hi, this is Daniel from Microsoft.
May I please speak with someone in the marketing
department?
Vanessa: [00:03:00] I’m sorry, the manager
of the marketing department is in a meeting
right now.
Would you like to leave a message?
Daniel: No, thanks.
When would be a good time to call back?
Vanessa: Maybe in about an hour.
Daniel: Okay, I’ll do that.
Vanessa: So far you’ve heard a lot of questions
that use, “May I …” or, “Would you …” These
are really polite words in English, and if
you incorporate these in your conversations
you’re going to take your politeness and formalness
to the next level.
So even if you don’t use these exact sentences,
if you use, “May I …”, “Would you …,” “Would
you mind …”, these are going to make your
sentences more polite.
Vanessa: [00:03:30] In our final scenario,
let’s image that you call someone, they’re
not available so you leave a message and ask
if they can call you back later.
What does that conversation look like, especially
the beginning because you’re introducing who
you are, why you’re calling.
Let’s take a look at it.
Vanessa: Hi, this is Vanessa from the marketing
department at Apple, I’m returning your call
from earlier today.
Daniel: Thanks for calling me back.
I wanted to ask you if you’d like to join
me and take over the galaxy.
Thank you.
Vanessa: [00:04:00] Okay, okay, so maybe if
you have a business conversation you’re not
going to be talking about taking over the
galaxy together, but, the beginning of the
sentence is going to be same: “Thanks for
calling me back.”
Thanks for calling me back, it’s just straightforward,
and clear, and simple.
I hope that this will be easy for you to remember,
and if it’s not you can always write some
notes and leave them at your desk so that
you can remember this expression.
Vanessa: [00:04:30] All right, now it’s your
turn.
I want to know in the comments below this
video, do you need to use English for your
job?
Have you ever spoken English on the phone
before?
I hope that this video will be useful to you,
and you can use these expressions when you’re
talking in informal or formal situations.
Thanks so much, and I’ll see you the next
time.
Bye.
Vanessa: The next step is to download my free
e-book: Five Steps to Becoming a Confident
English Speaker.
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confidently and fluently.
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for more free lessons.
Bye.