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BEP 89c – Telephone English: Making Arrangements

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on making arrangements on the telephone.

Communication can be hard enough with a person who’s right in front of you. It gets even harder when you’re on the telephone and you can’t see the person. And if it’s all in a language other than your native language, well let’s just say things aren’t easy!

When talking on the telephone, clarity is critical. You can see how important it is to be clear when you make arrangements. If you’re talking about times and places and making plans, confusion could lead to missed appointments, missed flights, or missed opportunities.

Some skills are useful in all phone conversations, like asking if someone is busy when you call them. Other skills are especially useful for making arrangements, like interrupting someone to confirm information and asking about preferences. You might also have to reassure people and show flexibility when making arrangements.

In today’s dialog, we’ll join a telephone conversation between Marco and Adriana. Marco works for an Italian fashion company called Viva. Adriana works for Foxtrot, Viva’s distributor in the U.S. Marco is calling to make arrangements for a visit to the U.S. for an expo, or trade show.

Listening Questions

1. What does Marco ask Adriana before he begins discussing their travel arrangements?
2. When Marco begins telling Adriana about his flight plans, how does she interrupt him?
3. How does Marco respond to Adriana’s question about the kind of food they want to eat?

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BEP 164c – Football Idioms (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms, ESL Podcast / June 21, 2026

Welcome back to Business English Pod. With the World Cup underway, we’re taking another look at one of our lessons on English idioms related to football.

People have been competing in and watching some form of sports for thousands of years. Sports enduring popularity has helped it grow into a $2.3 trillion a year industry. And it’s expected to just keep on growing.

Among all sports, there’s one that is far and away the most popular, and that’s football, or soccer. Almost half the global population counts themselves as fans of the sport. So it’s no wonder that something this popular has impacted the English language.

Listen to any conversation in a sales meeting, around the water cooler, in the boardroom, or over drinks between colleagues and you’re guaranteed to hear idioms related to football. These idioms are so common that most people don’t think for a second about where they came from. They’re just a natural part of everyday language.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Marilyn and Karl, two colleagues at a publishing firm. They are talking about Karl’s interest in a job at the company’s Sydney branch. Karl is hoping Marilyn can help him decide whether to apply for the job.

Listening Questions

1. How does Karl’s wife feel about moving to Sydney?
2. Why does Karl feel like he’s cheating on his own company?
3. What advice does Marilyn give at the end of the conversation?

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BEP 163c – Football Idioms (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms, ESL Podcast / June 7, 2026

Welcome back to Business English Pod. With the World Cup about to kick off, we’re taking a fresh look at one of our lessons on business English idioms related to football.

What do you call an activity where groups of people compete strategically against each other as they strive to be the winner? I mean an activity with a clear goal where success requires strong teamwork and a commitment to excellent performance? Some of you might be thinking about sports. Some of you might be thinking about business. Well, you’re both right.

There are so many obvious similarities between sports and business, it’s no wonder that we see the language of sport come into play in the corporate world. And there’s a particular type of language that we’re going to focus on in this lesson, called idioms. Just like the expression “come into play,” which means to be involved or to be a factor in something.

Now when I say “football,” I’m referring to the game with the round ball that players kick into a net past a goalkeeper. It’s what North Americans tend to call “soccer,” to differentiate it from their own game of football, which is a whole different ball game altogether! Internationally, football – or soccer – is the most popular sport in the world. So it’s no wonder it has inspired so many idioms commonly used in business.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Karl and Marilyn, two friends who work at a publishing company. Karl is thinking about applying for a job at the company’s Sydney office. He has some doubts though, so he asks Marilyn what she thinks.

Listening Questions

1. How does Karl describe his approach to his career?
2. Why is Karl worried about the other candidates for the job he’s interested in?
3. What does Marilyn say happens at the Sidney office?

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BEP 35c – English Meetings: Clarifying What Was Meant

Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Functions, Intermediate English / May 12, 2024

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on clarifying in English meetings. Previously we looked at how to clarify what was said when you didn’t hear properly. Today we’re going to look at how to clarify what someone means in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Life would be simple if everyone said what they meant clearly and directly. But that’s not the way things work. People often speak indirectly or use words that are a bit confusing. For this reason, we often need to clarify what people mean.

There are several ways to do this. You can tell someone you don’t understand. Or you might confirm an idea or restate what someone says if you think you might understand. And it may take some time to work out the general meaning or the meaning of a specific word.

Today we’ll listen to a meeting between Michael, Rachel, and Ryan. Michael is leading the meeting and talking about the disappointing launch of a new product. During the conversation, it’s not always clear what people mean. For this reason, they use several different expressions for clarifying what was meant.

Listening Questions

1. What expression does Michael use about the “numbers” that Ryan tries to clarify?
2. What does Ryan ask about that Michael wants to clarify?
3. What word does Michael use that Rachel asks about near the end of the conversation?

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BEP 34c – Clarifying and Confirming What Was Said

Business English, ESL Podcast, Functions, Intermediate English / March 17, 2024

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to clarify what was said during a conversation.

Communication is rarely easy. There’s so much that can go wrong in a conversation, especially on the phone. We might not hear someone well, we might hear them incorrectly, and we might not understand words or expressions in the same way. For that reason, we need to be able to clarify what was said.

There are a few basic ways to clarify that are extremely useful. We can use “WH” questions, like who, what, where, when, and why. We can ask people to repeat what they said and repeat things for people when they haven’t understood us. And we can use tag questions to confirm that we’ve heard correctly.

Today we’ll listen to a telephone conversation between three colleagues: Benny, Wim, and Andre. They are speaking on the phone for the first time in a while. During their conversation, they use several expressions to clarify what was said.

Listening Questions

1. What does the receptionist say that Benny doesn’t understand right away?
2. What question does Benny ask that Wim needs repeated?
3. What question does Benny restate about the river in Rotterdam?

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