ENGLISH PHONE CONVERSATION How to make a Reservation
Have you ever wanted to call a restaurant
to make a reservation?
Using the phone in a language that’s not your native language can be intimidating.
I’ve put together a sample conversation for
calling a restaurant to make a reservation.
Today, we’re going to listen to the conversation
and do an in-depth pronunciation analysis
of some of it.
In this conversation, the person calls to
make a reservation.
She asks about availability and then they
have a discussion.
Let’s listen to the whole conversation and
then we’ll talk about the various phrases
you might need when making a phone call like
this.
Hi!
Do you have any availability for a party of
six at 7pm on Friday?
This Friday?
Let me check.
Mmm… it looks like we don’t have 7pm.
The earliest I have is 8:30.
Wow.
Okay, nothing before that?
Nothing at like 5pm or anything like that?
No, I’m sorry it’s graduation weekend at temple
so we’re really booked up.
Okay let me check with the others in my party
and see what they think.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
Sounds good!
Have a great day!
Thank you.
The first thing she says is: hi!
Do you have any availability for a party of
5 at 7p.m.
On Friday?
She asks for availability.
Are there any empty tables she can reserve
or have they all been reserved already?
She fills in the number of people in her party.
That is the total number of people that will
be eating the time and the date.
Do you have any availability for a party of
6 at 7 on– try that.
You pick out a party size, a time, and a date,
and fill it in.
The date can be something like Saturday or
October.
Come up with your sentence and practice it
out loud.
can she book this reservation that she wants?
No. let’s listen to his response.
This Friday?
Let me check.
Um…
It looks like we don’t have 7p.m.
The earliest I have is 8:30pm.
Unfortunately, we don’t have 7 p.m. is the
answer.
There’s no table at 7 p.m.
He does offer an alternative saying the earliest
I have is 8:30.
That was nice of him to give further information.
If you call for reservation, and someone just
says: no, sorry.
We don’t have that.
You could say: do you have anything available
earlier or later?
Try that.
Say it out loud with me.
Do you have anything available earlier or
later?
Let’s go back to the conversation.
8:30 pm won’t work for her so she asks about
anything earlier.
Wow.
Ok.
Nothing before that?
Nothing at like 5 or anything like that?
And unfortunately, the restaurant doesn’t
have anything earlier.
He offers an explanation I think, adding information
to a rejection always makes the rejection
a little more friendly.
He says: no, I’m sorry.
It’s graduation weekend at Temple so we’re
really booked up.
“Booked up” is a phrasal verb that means
there’s nothing available.
All the options have been taken by someone
else.
So now she’s left with the option of 8:30
or nothing at all.
She decides she doesn’t want to make the decision
herself.
So if she’s going to check with her friends,
she says: ok, let me check with the others
in my party and see what they think.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
So she’s saying I’m not going to book the
8:30 slot right now.
Practice that sentence with me.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
I’ll give you a call back if we decide to
book.
“call back” means I will call you again
so there’s no more information that needs
to be exchanged and he wraps it up with some
friendly phrases and says bye: Sounds good.
Have a great day.
Thank you!
The phrase “sounds good” is like saying
“I understand, have a great day” or “have
a nice day”.
When you’re speaking with someone at a business,
like at a restaurant, or to shop, it’s common
for that person to say this to you as the
interaction is ending and she responds with
“thank you”.
Now, how to sound natural when speaking these
phrases in American English?
How to be understood?
I do an in-depth analysis of the whole conversation
in the conversation course in my online school,
Rachel’s English Academy.
Will give you a free preview here, an analysis
of the first line where we talk about things
like word stress, reductions, the flap T,
and so on, in a real conversational English.
I you like this kind of exercise and you think
you want more of them, there are dozens of
them in Rachel’s English Academy and I add
more every month so check out rachelsenglishacademy.com
for information on subscribing.
Here’s that conversation analysis now.
Hi!
Do you have any availability for a party of
6 at 7p.m.
On Friday?
This is a pretty long sentence, a pretty long
thought group.
Hi do you have any availability for a party
of 6 at 7p.m.
On Friday?
No breaks.
Let’s take a listen again and think about
what words you think are the clearest and
the longest, the ones that stand out of the
sentence the most.
Hi do you have any availability for a party
of 6 at 7p.m.
On Friday?
Hi do you have any availability for a party
of 6 at 7p.m.
On Friday?
First of all, hi!
Hi!
Has sort of an up-down shape and then a little
bit of a break.
It could be considered a separate thought
group: hi!
Hi!
Especially because it’s at the beginning of
the sentence and because it’s a greeting and
she wants to sound friendly, the pitch is
higher and this does make it stand out of
the rest of the sentence more.
Hi!
Hi!
Hi!
Hi!
Do you have any availability?
I feel like she takes the word availability—
availability— and really stretches it out.
The stressed syllable there: availability—
is ‘bil’ but the syllable ‘vail’ availability—
also has a little bit of stress.
Availability— da- da- da- da- da- da- So
the primary stress is on the fourth syllable
but there is secondary stress on the second
syllable.
Availability— availability— Hi!
Do you have any availability for a party of
6 at 7 p.m.
On Friday?
Then the other word that I hear being the
most clear, the most sticking out of the sentence,
the most obvious, is
Hi do you have any availability for a party
of 6 at 7p.m.
On Friday?
If you did not mark or feel the same stress
that I did, that’s okay.
Party and six and fri— also had some stress
but the thing to notice is that not every
word is given equal weight.
Some words are said much more quickly.
Hi!
Do you have any availability for a party of
6 at p.m on Friday?
And actually these three words: do you have—
do you have— are set really quickly and
a little unclearly.
I don’t hear the h.
Do you have— do you have— do you have—
is what I hear, not: do you have— but: do
you have— do you have— do you have—
do you have— do you have— it’s not uncommon
to drop the h in these function words like
have, had, his/her.
Do you have— do you have— do you have—
and the word ‘do’ said so quickly that
it almost doesn’t have a vowel: dya— dya—
do you have— do you have— although she
dropped the h so it was: do you have— do
you have— do you have— do you have—
do you have— do— do— do you— it’s
almost like we’re making it just one syllable,
connecting the D right onto the word ‘you’:
do you— do— do you have any— do you
have any— do you have any— do you have
any— do you have any availability— availability—
availability— So that word was a little
slower: availability— and notice that the
t is a flap t here.
Bility— availability— availability—
availability— do you have any availability
for a party of six— for a party of six—
for a— for a—
So these two words linked together and reduced.
For a— for a— for a— It’s almost like
we don’t have a vowel here.
It’s the F sound and then the schwa R sound
and R absorbs the schwa so they’re just one
sound: For a— for a— for a— moving right
into the next sound which is the schwa for
‘a’: for a party— for a party of six—
for a party of six— for a party of six—
for a party of six— so par— has more stress
there than for a party— this is a flap T:
party— party—
Remember, the T is a flap when it comes between
two vowels like it did here, or when it comes
after an R and before a vowel or diphthong.
Party— party— party— party of six—
party of— party of— party of— You could
drop the V sound here but she doesn’t.
She makes a really quick V sound along with
the schwa.
Party of— party of— party of six— party
of six— party of— of— party of six—
party of six at seven pm— at seven— at
seven— Okay so the word ‘at’ often reduces
to the schwa sound.
She doesn’t do that.
She does have an AH vowel but it still said
very quickly: at— at— at— at— And
the T here is a stop T because the next word
begins with the consonant so that would be
the S sound in the word: at— at— at—
party of six at— party of six at— at—
at— at— party of six at 7 p.m.
On Friday.
PM on Friday— PM on Friday—
So the letters P and M are said with their
letter names here and that would be the P
consonant and the EE vowel and then the EH
as in bed vowel and the M consonant: PM—
PM— PM— PM— PM— And any time we’re
seeing a series of letters out loud like JFK,
PM, HBO, stress is always on the last one.
So M has more stress than P: PM— PM— PM—
PM— PM— PM— PM— PM— AM would sound
like this: AM— AM— AM— Can you tell
that I’m stressing the second one?
AM and that would be spelled in IPA with the
AY as in Say diphthong and then again the
EH as in bed vowel and the M consonant: AM—
AM— PM— PM— So on both of these cases,
we’re linking the two words together: AM—
AM— PM— PM— PM— 7 pm on Friday—
7 pm on Friday—
So everything links together, the ending N
of seven, M into the vowel of ‘on’, 7
pm on Friday— This can either be written
with the AH as in father, or the AW as in
Law vowel.
It’s so quick here.
It’s kind of hard to tell what she uses: 7
pm on Friday— 7 pm on Friday— 7 pm on
Friday— I would probably write it with the
AH as in father vowel: on Friday— Friday—
on Friday— Okay, the pitch goes up at the
end.
She’s asking a yes/no question and so making
the pitch go up shows that she is inquiring.
On Friday— on Friday— do you have any
availability for a party of six at 7 p.m.
On Friday?
I call this kind of analysis of Ben Franklin
analysis.
To see more videos like that on YouTube, click
in
the description.