1. Telephone Conversations (examples)

1.

1. A: Hello!

B: May I speak to Mr. Stock, please?

A: Speaking.

B: Good morning, Mr. Stock.

A: Good morning, Mr. Brown.

2. A: Hello!

B: Could I speak to Mr. Dual?

A: Who’s calling, please?

B: This is Mr. White from the Foreign Office.

A: Thank you. I’m putting you through.

D: Dual speaking.

3. A: Five-seven-three; one-nine-oh-four.

B: Good afternoon. Can I speak to Mr. Jones, please?

A: Sorry. Mr. Jones is on the other line. Will you wait, please?

B: All right.

A: Sorry to have kept you waiting. I’m putting Mr. Jones on the line.

B: Thank you.

4. A: Hello! May I speak to Mr. Roberts?

B: Sorry, sir. Mr. Roberts is not available. Is there any massage?

A: No, thank you. I’ll call back later.

B: Right. Good-bye

5. A: Good afternoon. I’d like to speak to Mr. Tate.

B: I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong number.

A: Oh, sorry to have troubled you.

B: That’s all right.

2.

R.: Good morning, TLC Ltd. How can I help you?

Caller: I'd like to speak to Mr du Perron, please.

R.: Who's speaking please?

Caller: This is Sheila Jones from Hardword Inc.

R.: I'm afraid that Mr du Perron is on another line at the moment. Would you like to hold or can I take a message for you?

Caller: I'll hold, thank you.

R.: I'm afraid that Mr du Perron is still on the line. Would you like to leave a message?

Caller: Yes please. Could you tell him that Sheila Jones called about his latest order. Could he call me back on 021 395 66 62 as soon as possible?

R.: Certainly. Can I just read that number back to you? 021 395 66 62.

Caller: That's right. Thank you for your help.

R.: Thank you for calling.

2. Getting People to Slow Down

One of the biggest problems is speed. Native speakers, especially business people, tend to speak very quickly on the telephone. Here are some practical tips to get native speakers of English to slow down!

• Immediately ask the person to speak slowly.

• When taking note of a name or important information, repeat each piece of information as the person speaks. (This is an especially effective tool. By repeating each important piece of information or each number or letter as the spell or give you a telephone number you automatically slow the speaker down.)

• Do not say you have understood if you have not. Ask the person to repeat until you have understood. (Remember that the other person needs to make himself/herself understood and it is in his/her interest to make sure that you have understood. If you ask a person to explain more than twice they will usually slow down.)

• If the person does not slow down begin speaking your own language! (A sentence or two of another language spoken quickly will remind the person that they are fortunate because they do not need to speak a different language to communicate. Used carefully, this exercise in humbling the other speaker can be very effective. Just be sure to use it with colleagues and not with a boss :-)!