Small Talk 8 - Talking About Work

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and we've got another lesson in our series about small talk today.

That's right.

Today we are at the office again and we're going to be talking very briefly about something,

a business meeting that we're going to have soon.

That's right.

So let's check out our dialogue.

We'll be back in a moment.

I'm Michelle.

Hi, I was hoping to see you.

How have you been?

How's the family?

Oh, hello, Mr. Campbell.

I'm fine and Jack's doing well.

How are you?

I'm fine.

Thanks.

I got your report this morning.

Thanks for that.

Are you joining the conference today?

Yes, I'm leaving at 4 p.m.

Good.

Well, we can discuss this more then.

But I think the figures are looking very good for this quarter.

Yes, me too.

I'm planning to discuss the advertising budget at the conference.

I don't think we should continue with the TV advertising.

No, me neither. It's far too expensive.

Well, let's discuss this more at the conference. Maybe we can share a taxi there?

Yeah, sure.

All right, we're back, so now let's take a look at some vocab on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

Today in Language Takeaway we have a number of phrases and words about business. The first

one we have is, are you joining the conference today?

That's right. So we're going to go to a conference, actually, which is a little bit different

than a meeting.

That's right. A meeting is something you normally do with people at your own company. But a

conference is when people from many different companies meet.

That's right. And also, I think you don't really have too much input at a conference.

You mostly listen to other people speak about a topic or a subject.

That's right. And I think these are normally held in conference centers or hotels. You

have a nice lunch. So they're pretty big deals.

That's right. All right, so it's more of a formal business conference that we're going

to. And well, they're actually going to discuss different aspects of the company as well,

especially the figures.

All right. So in the context of business, the word figure actually means number. Okay,

so we can say the sales numbers for this year are a kind of figure.

That's right. So we're talking about money, basically, when we're talking about numbers.

That's right. So when the figures look good, it means that our income, our revenue, this

looks good.

That's right. And when we usually talk about income or revenue, we usually have to separate

it into time. And here in the dialogue, we're talking about a quarter.

All right, so quarter, Q-U, quarter, is a period of time, very common in business, that

is a quarter of the year. So three months.

Three months, that's right.

January, February, March, April, May, June, and so on.

That's right. So you have four quarters. And that's actually what, that's why you call

it a quarter because it's one fourth.

So we can say the figures for the first quarter were very good, but unfortunately, the figures

for the second quarter were very bad.

That's right. And actually, another similar way that you use quarter is the 25 cent coin.

It's called a quarter because it's a quarter of a dollar.

That's right. And if you're in America, you know that it has an eagle, a bird on one side

of it.

That's right. All right, so we are taking a look at the figures for the quarter. And

they're saying, well, it's not looking too good because we need to talk about the advertising

budget.

All right. So this is something that you think is very important. It's budget. It's how much

money you have to spend on something. And in this case, you're spending it on advertising.

So this is ads that you make.

That's right. So as you said, a budget is the amount of money that you have available

to spend on something. And on this occasion, we're talking about advertising. Now, you

can have a budget for different things, right?

You could have a marketing budget.

So the money you have for marketing.

You could have a personnel budget, which is the money you would set aside for people.

So how much you pay your employees. Right. So you can pretty much mix up many different

nouns with budget. Even you can have a budget for your home. How much you spend at home.

That's right. So many people have this for their families. They say this month I will

spend $100 on shopping and $200 on shoes.

So it's like a family budget, you would call it.

That's right. Okay. So that's all the words we have for you on language takeaway. Let's

review everything quickly and we'll be back in a bit with Fluency Builder.

Ah, Michelle. Hi. I was hoping to see you. How have you been? How's the family?

Oh, hello, Mr. Campbell. I'm fine and Jack's doing well. How are you?

I'm fine. Thanks. I got your report this morning. Thanks for that. Are you joining the conference

today?

Yes, I'm leaving at 4 p.m.

Good. Well, we can discuss this more then. But I think the figures are looking very good

for this quarter.

Yes, me too.

I'm planning to discuss the advertising budget at the conference. I don't think we should

continue with the TV advertising.

No, me neither. It's far too expensive.

Well, let's discuss this more at the conference. Maybe we can share a taxi there.

Yes, sir.

Alright, in today's Fluency Builder, we have a number of phrases you could use in a small

talk situation. The first one's a question. How's the family?

How's the family? Now, it's how apostrophe s the family, right? So how is the family

would be the extended way of saying it.

That's right. But this is a short way to say it. It's very common. And you normally say

this with people who are a little bit older, people who have kids. So I haven't seen you

in a long time, Marco, and I know you have some kids and I can say, how's the family?

How's the family? That's right. And it's actually, it may seem strange the way that this sentence

is made, but it's very, very much similar to how are you? You have how to be and you

in the subject.

That's right. And this is a very polite way to say hi. How are you? How is your family?

How is the wife?

How's the wife? And she said, well, you know what? Everything is great. I'm fine. And Jack's,

I guess that's her husband, is doing well.

Jack is doing well. So doing well, thanks. This means good. Okay. But you know, when

we say the answer to this question, how are you? I'm well. That's the correct answer.

I'm good is not correct.

Right. So if somebody says, how are you? You can say, I'm well. Or you can say, I'm doing

well.

That's a positive answer. Things are going well. You could say, not so well. That's not

a, not, not, not good things are happening.

Very good. And it's very important to point out the difference. As Catherine said, you

don't, you don't, you shouldn't use good. I'm doing good or I'm good.

Yeah, no, it's incorrect because good is an adjective and we're, we're looking for an

adverb here.

That's right.

Well.

That's correct. All right. And to finish things off, Mr. Campbell and Michelle were headed,

headed the same way. So they decided to share a taxi.

That's right. So to share a taxi means two people or three people will pay for one taxi

together. So maybe Marco, I see you on the street and I know that you have to go to a

conference. I'm going to the same conference. Let's share a taxi. It will cost less.

That's right. So you will share the cost between all the people in the cab. Now there's another

way of saying it as well. More common, I think in the, in the United States.

That's right. We say split a taxi. Let's split a cab.

Split a cab. Now remember that it's a taxi cab. So sometimes people just don't say taxi.

They say a cab. Let's split a cab. Let's share a cab.

That's right. Cab, taxi, both are okay.

All right. Very good. Good stuff. Let's listen to everything one last time.

Ah, Michelle. Hi. I was hoping to see you. How have you been? How's the family?

Oh, hello, Mr. Campbell. I'm fine and Jack's doing well. How are you?

I'm fine. Thanks. I got your report this morning. Thanks for that. Are you joining the conference

today? Yes, I'm leaving at 4 p.m.

Good. Well, we can discuss this more then. But I think the figures are looking very good

for this quarter. Yes, me too.

I'm planning to discuss the advertising budget at the conference. I don't think we should

continue with the TV advertising. No, me neither. It's far too expensive.

Well, let's discuss this more at the conference. Maybe we can share a taxi there?

Yes, sure. All right. So we're getting towards the end

of our Small Talk series. As you can see, we are taking a look at different quick but

very useful dialogues that you can have with someone, a small conversation, whether about

business, family, whatever. That's right. And in today's dialogue, we

heard two people who probably know each other talking. So sometimes you're with people who

are strangers, you don't know what to say to them. You can listen to our other episodes

on Small Talk for things to talk about with those people.

That's right. And of course, if you have any questions or comments, you can visit us at

EnglishPod.com. We hope to see you all there. Until next

time. Bye.

Bye.