Learn expressions you can use when making a business call, review the prepositions a and en
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| INTRODUCTION |
| James: Making a Business Call in Spanish. James Here. |
| Laura: Hola. I'm Laura. |
| James: In this lesson, you’ll learn about making a phone call. The conversation takes place over the phone. |
| Laura: It's between Alan Brown and a receptionist. |
| James: The speakers are caller and receiver, therefore, they will speak formal Spanish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Recepcionista: Centro de Investigación Gamma. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle? |
| Alan Brown: Buenos días, mi nombre es Alan Brown. Hablo del Grupo CG. Por favor, comuníqueme al departamento de Innovación. |
| Recepcionista: Un momento, por favor... En estos momentos la línea está ocupada. Lo pondré en espera. |
| Alan Brown: No, mejor vuelvo a intentarlo más tarde. ¿A qué hora cree que tenga mayor probabilidad de comunicarme? |
| Recepcionista: Usualmente, a partir de las cuatro de la tarde es más fácil contactarlos. |
| Alan Brown: Quiero hablar en específico con el Ingeniero Sosa. |
| Recepcionista: Le puede marcar a su extensión. En un momento se la doy. |
| James: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Recepcionista: Centro de Investigación Gamma. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle? |
| Alan Brown: Buenos días, mi nombre es Alan Brown. Hablo del Grupo CG. Por favor, comuníqueme al departamento de Innovación. |
| Recepcionista: Un momento, por favor... En estos momentos la línea está ocupada. Lo pondré en espera. |
| Alan Brown: No, mejor vuelvo a intentarlo más tarde. ¿A qué hora cree que tenga mayor probabilidad de comunicarme? |
| Recepcionista: Usualmente, a partir de las cuatro de la tarde es más fácil contactarlos. |
| Alan Brown: Quiero hablar en específico con el Ingeniero Sosa. |
| Recepcionista: Le puede marcar a su extensión. En un momento se la doy. |
| James: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Recepcionista: Centro de Investigación Gamma. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle? |
| Receptionist: Gamma Research Center. How may I help you? |
| Alan Brown: Buenos días, mi nombre es Alan Brown. Hablo del Grupo CG. Por favor, comuníqueme al departamento de Innovación. |
| Alan Brown: Good morning, my name is Alan Brown. I'm calling from the CG Group. Please, transfer me to the Innovation department. |
| Recepcionista: Un momento, por favor... En estos momentos la línea está ocupada. Lo pondré en espera. |
| Receptionist: One moment, please... Right now the line is busy. I will put you on hold. |
| Alan Brown: No, mejor vuelvo a intentarlo más tarde. ¿A qué hora cree que tenga mayor probabilidad de comunicarme? |
| Alan Brown: No, I will call back later. At what time do you think it would be more likely to reach them? |
| Recepcionista: Usualmente, a partir de las cuatro de la tarde es más fácil contactarlos. |
| Receptionist: Usually, from four p.m. is the best time to reach them. |
| Alan Brown: Quiero hablar en específico con el Ingeniero Sosa. |
| Alan Brown: I want to talk specifically with Mr. Sosa. |
| Recepcionista: Le puede marcar a su extensión. En un momento se la doy. |
| Receptionist: You can dial his extension. I will give it to you in a moment. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| James: There’s a few things you need to keep in mind if you are calling a business. The first is to make sure that you call within their opening hours! |
| Laura: Of course! An hour after opening and up until one or two hours before closing is best. |
| James: Yes, nobody wants an important phone call right after opening or right before closing, especially if it gets involved and needs things to be reviewed. |
| Laura: Mexicans really take notice of how you communicate with us, so always be polite. |
| James: Be careful what you say and how you say it, and also with your tone of voice. |
| Laura: Yes, those are very important! |
| James: Do you have some tips on how we can begin a phone call to make sure that we’re polite and respectful? |
| Laura: Always start with a greeting, such as buenos días. |
| James: "Good morning." Of course, use whichever greeting is appropriate for the time of day! |
| Laura: You should also address the person you’re speaking to with señor or señorita. |
| James: The former for a man, the latter for a woman. |
| Laura: Use formal language and wait for the other person to finish speaking their turn. |
| James: Thanks for those tips! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| James: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laura: poner [natural native speed] |
| James: "to put, to place" |
| Laura: poner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: poner [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: poder [natural native speed] |
| James: "to be able to, can" |
| Laura: poder [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: poder [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: comunicar [natural native speed] |
| James: "to communicate" |
| Laura: comunicar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: comunicar [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: momento [natural native speed] |
| James: "moment, time" |
| Laura: momento [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: momento [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: línea ocupada [natural native speed] |
| James: "busy telephone line" |
| Laura: línea ocupada [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: línea ocupada [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: volver a intentar [natural native speed] |
| James: "to try again" |
| Laura: volver a intentar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: volver a intentar [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: mejor probabilidad [natural native speed] |
| James: "better chance" |
| Laura: mejor probabilidad [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: mejor probabilidad [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: contactar [natural native speed] |
| James: "to contact" |
| Laura: contactar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: contactar [natural native speed] |
| James: Next we have... |
| Laura: en específico [natural native speed] |
| James: "specifically" |
| Laura: en específico [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: en específico [natural native speed] |
| James: And last... |
| Laura: extensión [natural native speed] |
| James: "phone extension" |
| Laura: extensión [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: extensión [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| James: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Laura: ¿En qué puedo ayudarle? |
| James: meaning "How may I help you?" |
| James: This is a common phrase, so let’s break it down. |
| Laura: First is en, which means "in." Next is qué |
| James: This means "what." The next word means "may I" or "can I?" |
| Laura: Yes, that’s puedo. Finally is ayudarle. |
| James: This is "help you." So altogether the phrase means "How may I help you?" |
| Laura: This is polite. You can make it informal by saying ¿En qué puedo ayudarte? |
| James: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... ¿En qué puedo ayudarle el día de hoy? |
| James: .. which means "What may I help you with today?" |
| James: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Laura: en estos momentos |
| James: meaning "right now." |
| James: This is another phrase. |
| Laura: Again, it begins with en which means "in." Next is estos. |
| James: This is "these." The final words means "moments." |
| Laura: Yes, momentos. |
| James: You can use this phrase to talk about something that is happening in real time. |
| Laura: It’s something happening now. |
| James: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... En estos momentos me siento muy feliz. |
| James: ... which means "Right now I feel very happy." |
| James: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Laura: poner en espera |
| James: meaning "to put on hold." |
| James: This is also a phrase. |
| Laura: The first word is poner, it means "put." Next is en. |
| James: Meaning "on." The last word means "wait" or "hold." |
| Laura: That is espera. |
| James: You use this on the phone when you’re waiting to connect someone. |
| Laura: You can use it in both formal and informal settings. |
| James: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... Tengo que ponerla en espera mientras reviso la información. |
| James: ... which means "I have to put you on hold while I look over the information." |
| James: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| James: In this lesson, you'll learn about making a phone call. |
| James: We’ll begin by looking at some prepositions. |
| Laura: We will look at a and en. First up is a. |
| James: On it’s own, it has a similar meaning to "to" and "at" in English. |
| Laura: You also see this preposition forming a contraction with the word el, forming the word al. |
| James: In this case it means "to the" or "at the." It has many different uses and we don’t have time in this podcast to go through all of them, so let’s just review the most relevant. You can use it to talk about physical movement. |
| Laura: For example; Voy a la oficina. |
| James: "I’m going to the office." You can also use it to express an objective. |
| Laura: Quiero aprender a nadar. |
| James: "I want to learn how to swim." You can also use it to express things such as time, distance, or direction. |
| Laura: Such as Ella tiene una cita a las 10am. |
| James: "She has an appointment at 10am." Make sure to check the Lesson Notes for a complete list of all the uses of this preposition. Let’s move onto the other preposition. |
| Laura: That is en. It can mean "in" or "on" in English. It also has many uses. |
| James: One of these uses is to talk about a specific time. |
| Laura: Voy a ir de viaje en diciembre. |
| James: "I will go on a trip in December." Or you can talk about a place or space. |
| Laura: Estoy en la oficina. |
| James: "I’m in the office." What is the main difference between these two prepositions? |
| Laura: a is dynamic, there is movement. For en, it is static. |
| James: It’s the difference between going somewhere, and being there. Now, let’s learn some useful sentence patterns that can be used when making a business phone call. |
| Laura: Por favor comuníqueme con _ |
| James: "Please connect me with_" Use this pattern when you would like to be put on the phone with someone or transfered to a specific area. For example, |
| Laura: Por favor comuníqueme con el Departamento de Tecnología. |
| James: "Please connect me with the Technology Department." Another useful phrase is... |
| Laura: De parte de _ |
| James: "On behalf of_". For example, |
| Laura: De parte de su hija. |
| James: "On behalf of his daughter." Let’s hear one more, you can use this expression when you weren’t able to talk to the person you were calling for. |
| Laura: Volveré a marcar _ |
| James: "I will call again _" |
| Laura: Volveré a marcar mañana por la mañana. |
| James: "I will call again tomorrow morning." |
| Laura: Make sure to check the Lesson Notes for more useful patterns. |
Outro |
| James: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Laura: Hasta la próxima. |
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