Small talk 3

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine.

And as you know, we've had a series going about small talk in English.

So today's lesson is a part of that series.

That's right.

Today we're going to listen to two friends, two girlfriends meeting and they haven't seen

each other for a long time.

So we're just going to see how they quickly have a small conversation.

Hey Michelle, is that you?

Wow, Grace, long time no see.

Where have you been?

Oh yeah, well, you see I got a promotion so I moved to the new Pudong office last September.

You did?

Congratulations.

Thanks a lot.

So how are things with you, Michelle?

Well, same old, same old, you know, nothing much has changed here.

Are you still seeing Chris?

No, actually we split up last month.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that.

But I met a really cute guy last night at a networking party.

So well, let's just wait and see.

Good for you, Michelle.

All right, we're back.

So now let's take a look at some of the language on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

So the first word we have here today, Marco, is the word promotion.

Grace says, well, you see, I got a promotion so I moved to the new Pudong office.

That's right.

So she got a promotion and a promotion is work related.

That means that you got a better position.

That's right.

But you didn't change companies.

So in your company, you had a job and you did well in that job.

And so your boss gave you a better job in the company.

And that's a promotion.

That's right.

Okay, so she got a promotion.

Grace, when they were talking about work and now they started talking about their personal

life and Grace asked if Michelle is still seeing Chris.

Okay, so the verb here is to see someone, to be seeing someone.

We're not actually talking about eyes and looking.

We're talking about dating.

That's right.

So if you're seeing Chris, it means you are dating Chris.

Okay.

So that's an interesting way of describing a relationship.

So you say, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm seeing someone.

I can't date you.

I'm seeing someone else.

Or you could ask someone, are you seeing anyone right now?

That means are you dating anyone?

Do you have a boyfriend basically?

Okay.

And sadly, no, they are not together anymore.

She says, actually, we split up last month.

All right.

So this is another relationship term.

To split up means to break up or to stop dating.

To stop seeing each other.

So there are two ways of seeing it, as you said, to split up or to break up.

That's right.

So unfortunately, they split up or unfortunately, they broke up.

They are no longer seeing each other.

That's right.

Okay.

But she said she had some good news because she met a really cute guy at a networking

party.

What is networking?

All right.

So networking is something that you do, especially in the business world.

You go to events, parties, happy hours, and you meet people.

You meet strangers and you talk about work and you try to meet as many people as you

can.

Okay.

So it's not really a social party to actually just go and meet random people.

You're trying to meet people that will be interesting for your business or maybe to

get some other ideas.

It's for a business purpose.

That's right.

So perhaps in your town, you own a small business and your town has decided to have a chamber

of commerce networking party.

So you can meet other small business owners.

Okay.

Very good.

So that's what we have for language takeaway.

Let's go back and listen to our dialogue for the second time.

Hey, Michelle.

Is that you?

Wow, Grace.

Long time no see.

Where have you been?

Oh yeah.

Well, you see, I got a promotion so I moved to the new Pudong office last September.

You did?

Congratulations.

Thanks a lot.

So how are things with you, Michelle?

Well, same old, same old, you know, nothing much has changed here.

Are you still seeing Chris?

No, actually we split up last month.

Oh dear.

I'm sorry to hear that.

But I met a really cute guy last night at a networking party.

So well, let's just wait and see.

Good for you, Michelle.

All right.

Let's talk about these small, quick but very useful phrases for small talk on Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

So this first phrase is a phrase that you'll hear a lot when people greet each other but

perhaps friends who haven't seen each other in a very long time.

We use this phrase, long time no see.

That's right.

Now, you look at it and it may seem like it's incorrect, right?

Because you're missing something.

That's right.

Long time no see.

Who no see?

What long time?

That's right.

But this actually means I haven't seen you in a long time.

That's right.

So the phrase is long time no see.

Hey, Michelle, long time no see.

How are you?

That's the way that you use it.

But just take it as a phrase.

Don't try to analyze it too much.

So hey, Marco, long time no see.

That's right.

Okay.

And well, they're talking and she's like, well, how are you?

And she says, well, you know, same old, same old.

All right.

This is another one.

It doesn't look right.

It doesn't look wrong.

But we do say this and twice, same old, same old.

And this means nothing has changed.

There's nothing really new in my life.

Right.

The same old things in my life.

Nothing really new or exciting.

Same old.

Exactly.

So I could say, hey, Marco, how's the job going?

You know, same old, same old.

All right.

So nothing has changed in his job.

He has not gotten a promotion.

That's right.

So now, Michelle was again describing about the guy that she met at the networking party

and she said, well, let's just wait and see.

It seems like an incomplete sentence because let's wait and see what.

All right.

So let's wait and see what?

That's the question, though.

You know, what are we waiting to see?

Well, she's basically saying we don't know how things will go, but we, you know, we'll

have to wait for the future to come before we can make a decision or figure out what's

going on.

That's right.

So, for example, Marco, we're at the office and I say, how is that report coming along?

Is it, you know, were the numbers good?

And I can say, yeah, the numbers seemed all right, but we'll just wait and see.

Perhaps we don't have all the numbers yet, so we have to wait to get the rest of them.

That's right.

So you're just basically saying I don't know what will happen in the future.

Let's just hope that it will be good and let's see what happens.

Let's just wait and see.

Let's just wait and see.

All right.

Let's go back and listen to our dialogue one last time.

And

guy last night at a networking party.

So well, let's just wait and see.

Good for you, Michelle.

Okay so this was another part of our small talk series.

As you see, very useful and quick little phrases so you can have a very brief conversation

with maybe someone you haven't seen or a little chit chat at the office.

That's right and these are things that if you remember them, you memorize them, you

can use in almost any conversation.

Also I'm sorry to hear that or good for you.

These are really great phrases that are very, very flexible.

That's right.

Actually that's a really good one.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Maybe someone gives you a little bit of bad news or something bad happened in their life.

It's very polite and a nice way of saying hey, I understand.

I'm sorry to hear that.

That's right.

So we hope that you've learned something new in today's lesson.

If you have any questions about the phrases or words you've heard, please check out our

website EnglishPod.com and leave us a question on the community section or in a note.

We'll be happy to answer them.

Alright guys, we'll see you there.

Bye.

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