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Business Language To GoPart 1 - InterviewsThis programme was first broadcast in 2001.
This is not a word for word transcript1 of the programmeCarmela This series is all about chunks2 of language - now, forget about dictionaries andgrammar books. You don’t have the time for that! You want short cuts toquick, fluent and natural-sounding English.
I’ll be joined each week in the studio by business English expert David Evans.
So David, why are chunks of language seen as the way forward?
David Well, I think the basic idea is that that’s the way that native speakers learn the language, so why shouldn’t non-native speakers do the same thing?
Carmella: But traditionally, non-native speakers have learnt pieces of grammar, they’velearnt the rules about grammar and individual words.
David: Yes, and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that learning a language “wordby word” or - rule - by rule; is an effective way of doing it. The trouble isthat in the business world you need to be able to communicate quickly andunder pressure -and it can often be hard to find that grammar rule or find thatTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 2 of 8bbclearningenglish.comword if you’ve been learning the language in that way.
Carmela And, of course, the business world is full of these chunks, can you give someexamples?
David: Yes, business as you say - is full of collocations, that’s words that go together;‘stock expressions’, idioms, I mean the list goes on…To give you an example, Isuppose, just with the word “business” - you can be “in business”, you can goaway “on business”, you can travel “business class”, you can “go around thebusiness world” - there are hundred of these examples.
Carmela Now each week David and I will look at a different work scenario3 and explorethe kinds of English expressions commonly used within that situation.
It may be useful to have a pen and some paper ready to write down what you hear.
In this first programme in the series, we’re starting at the beginning - andhelping you to get the job you’ve always wanted because today we’re looking atinterview language. Job Interviews are difficult anyway, even more so in asecond language. But don’t worry, today’s programme is a useful guide tosome of the most common English expressions that you’ll need in an interview.
Let’s get started - here’s an example of an interview situation.
CLIP Mary & JOHN 0’33”
Mary: John, hi. Sit down, make yourself comfortable.
Tell me, you're already an office manager in a medium-sized finance company, why doyou want to come and work here?
John: Well, I don’t know how much you know but the company have been having some problems. quite a few staff have been laid off actuallyTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 3 of 8bbc learning english.comMary: … right…John: … and although my job isn't immediately under threat, I’m not sure what the futurewill hold and, in any case, I felt that it was time to start moving up the careerladder. And I feel I want a little bit more responsibility. And that combined with thestate of the company, convinced me that it’s time to move on, really.
END OF CLIPCarmela: Now the interviewer there, asked a classic question that people often ask ininterviews - they come straight out and say: “why do you want this job”.
And what was John’s response?
David: Well, John was actually a bit negative at the start, he said that he was a little bitworried about his position in the company at the moment. He said “quite a fewpeople have been laid off”.
That’s another way of saying “quite a lot of people have been maderedundant”, they’ve been asked to leave the company, because thecompany is experiencing some kind of difficulties and so they’re reducing thenumber of staff. So, he says that he doesn’t know what the future will hold,he doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future.
Carmela: So, he begins the interview then a little bit negatively,but then he changes and starts to emphasize the positive.
David Yes. He says that he wants to ‘move up the career ladder’. We often talkabout careers as being a kind of ‘ladder’ - because it’s something that you tryTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 4 of 8bbclearningenglish.comto climb up. So, he begins to be a bit more positive and, he than goes on tosay ‘it’s time to move on’, it’s time for him to make a change and take thenext step on the ladder of his career.
Carmela: Well, it’s time for us to move on too.
This time we’re going to hear language in another interview it’s ChristopherBeale, he’s a Recruitment consultant5 and he is interviewing someone for thejob of salesman for a pharmaceutical6 company. Now, that expression moveup the ladder, is something that you’ll hear again, so, listen out!
CLIP Christopher Beale 0’30”
-So let us suppose you had moved up the ladder in our pharmaceutical company, whatwould be your priorities in approaching your job.
-The first would be to make sure that I had the support of the people working underneath7 me.
The second would be to make sure my immediate4 boss also understood the role that i wastrying to play within the company and third, would be to make sure that the customers weresatisfied.
END OF CLIPCarmela Can you tell us a bit about the question form that we heard used by theinterviewer there, David?
David: The interviewer, I think said - “if you had moved up the ladder whatwould be your priorities in approaching the job” . So, what he’s doingthere, is he’s not asking the interviewee about a real situation, he is askingabout a hypothetical one.
Talk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 5 of 8bbclearningenglish.comCarmela: So, this is an imaginary situation then ?
David: Right, an imaginary situation and he clearly marks this with language that he uses, he’s using there a structure …which I think we call ‘second conditional”
and you’ll often hear interviewers ask things like :
“what would you say .. if you faced this situation? how would you cope ifyou dealt this problem?” - those kind of things…Carmela: .. and why are “hypothetical” or “what would you do” questions so commonin interviews?
David: Well, I think it gives the interviewer an opportunity to ask not about theinterviewee’s past, but it gives them a chance to understand how theinterviewee might behave in the future if he or she should get the job. And, Ithink, the important thing from the interviewee’s point of view - is toremember this is a hypothetical situation, so choose the correct language, inother words you should answer the question with “I would”, “if I faced thatsituation I would behave in this way, if I had to deal with that problem, Iwould do this”
Carmela You’re listening to “Business Language to Go” from the BBC WorldService.
Something that’s very common in interviews is asking people about their goodpoints and bad points. Could you elaborate, David.
David Well, it’s a pretty typical interview question. You know, what are yourstrengths and weaknesses, what are your good points and bad points.
And, for the interviewee obviously the thing is to make sure that you’ve gotlots of strong points, good points and not so many bad ones. You know, youTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 6 of 8bbclearningenglish.comshouldn’t be too hard on yourself. And when you do mention a bad point, it’soften a good idea to show that you’re not only aware of it - but you’re alsotrying to improve. So, you could say ‘oh, my bad point is … I’m not very goodat Arabic, for example, but - I’ am taking lessons every week ‘ .
Carmela You’ll now hear our two interviewees talking about their own strengths.
Listen out for the language that they use.
CLIP Mary & John 0’31”
Mary: John, any other strengths that you feel you bring to the job. What are your strengthsand weaknesses in the workplace?
John: What I'd bring to the job are very, very good organisational skills. I'm strongly motivated（动机）, I’m highly committed, very a much a self-starter. I feel that my peopleskills are fairly well developed and I feel there's scope to carry out that side of myduties even better. And I firmly believe that the combination of my people skills andmy organisational ability is the right combination of skills to do this job really well.
END OF CLIPCLIP Christopher Beale 0’20”
Christopher: If you were assessing yourself on your own strengths and weaknesses howwould you summarise8 them?
Interviewee: Well I would look at it that I’m self motivated. I can also work with a groupof people. I know that I can motivate them in a manner that is good for thecompany.
END OF CLIPCarmela Let’s look at some of the language that was used there to talk about personalstrengths, David?
Talk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 7 of 8bbclearningenglish.comDavid Both the interviewees emphasized that they were motivated. I think we heardexpressions like, strongly motivated, self motivated . The first intervieweesaid he was a self-starter. We heard the phrase, highly committed -Carmela ….and all these expressions, do they all mean the same thing?
David … they all mean roughly the same thing. These are all phrases that emphasizethe fact that you are keen to do well, that you want o work hard, that you’reambitious, you want to succeed.
Carmela We also heard some very concrete examples of things, skills basically.. Tell usabout the language that was used to talk about skillsDavid: The first interviewee talked about the combination of skills that he can offerin this new job. I think he talked about his people skills, in other words - howwell he deals with people, communicates, manages and, he also mentions hisorganisational ability. In other words he was trying to explain that he wasefficient, well organized, good with systems.
I think another key-term that’s often heard in interviews as well, is teamplayer.
Carmela: … meaning?
David: Well, team player is somebody who works well with other people..
Carmela The key to successful interviews is being positive about yourself. Finally, let’shear a typical end to an interview.
CLIP Mary and John 0’10”
Mary: Right well that's pretty much all I want to ask at the moment. Do you have anyquestions for me?
John: I'd just like to know what the time scale is? When do you expect to be able to let usknow?
Talk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 8 of 8bbclearningenglish.comEND OF CLIPDavid Did you notice the expression（表达） pretty much? The interviewer there said, Ithink “right, well, that’s pretty much all I what to ask at the moment” -and this phrase “pretty much” is a typical phrase in English - it’s what wewould call “a vague marker”.
Carmela: Vague …meaning… ?
David: …Well.. meaning.. not precise. It’s an indication here, that the speaker isthinking about something, in this case, changing the subject, bringing theinterview to an end.
. And we heard the interviewee reply.. “I’d just like to know what the time scaleis” - Again that word “just” which the interviewee is using to make everythinga little bit softer, a little bit gentler, so that he doesn’t come across as being too aggressive （侵略性）Carmela OK, thanks David. And ,just to say that David Evans will be joining me nexttime for more “Business Language to Go”.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）
This is not a word for word transcript1 of the programmeCarmela This series is all about chunks2 of language - now, forget about dictionaries andgrammar books. You don’t have the time for that! You want short cuts toquick, fluent and natural-sounding English.
I’ll be joined each week in the studio by business English expert David Evans.
So David, why are chunks of language seen as the way forward?
David Well, I think the basic idea is that that’s the way that native speakers learn the language, so why shouldn’t non-native speakers do the same thing?
Carmella: But traditionally, non-native speakers have learnt pieces of grammar, they’velearnt the rules about grammar and individual words.
David: Yes, and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that learning a language “wordby word” or - rule - by rule; is an effective way of doing it. The trouble isthat in the business world you need to be able to communicate quickly andunder pressure -and it can often be hard to find that grammar rule or find thatTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 2 of 8bbclearningenglish.comword if you’ve been learning the language in that way.
Carmela And, of course, the business world is full of these chunks, can you give someexamples?
David: Yes, business as you say - is full of collocations, that’s words that go together;‘stock expressions’, idioms, I mean the list goes on…To give you an example, Isuppose, just with the word “business” - you can be “in business”, you can goaway “on business”, you can travel “business class”, you can “go around thebusiness world” - there are hundred of these examples.
Carmela Now each week David and I will look at a different work scenario3 and explorethe kinds of English expressions commonly used within that situation.
It may be useful to have a pen and some paper ready to write down what you hear.
In this first programme in the series, we’re starting at the beginning - andhelping you to get the job you’ve always wanted because today we’re looking atinterview language. Job Interviews are difficult anyway, even more so in asecond language. But don’t worry, today’s programme is a useful guide tosome of the most common English expressions that you’ll need in an interview.
Let’s get started - here’s an example of an interview situation.
CLIP Mary & JOHN 0’33”
Mary: John, hi. Sit down, make yourself comfortable.
Tell me, you're already an office manager in a medium-sized finance company, why doyou want to come and work here?
John: Well, I don’t know how much you know but the company have been having some problems. quite a few staff have been laid off actuallyTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 3 of 8bbc learning english.comMary: … right…John: … and although my job isn't immediately under threat, I’m not sure what the futurewill hold and, in any case, I felt that it was time to start moving up the careerladder. And I feel I want a little bit more responsibility. And that combined with thestate of the company, convinced me that it’s time to move on, really.
END OF CLIPCarmela: Now the interviewer there, asked a classic question that people often ask ininterviews - they come straight out and say: “why do you want this job”.
And what was John’s response?
David: Well, John was actually a bit negative at the start, he said that he was a little bitworried about his position in the company at the moment. He said “quite a fewpeople have been laid off”.
That’s another way of saying “quite a lot of people have been maderedundant”, they’ve been asked to leave the company, because thecompany is experiencing some kind of difficulties and so they’re reducing thenumber of staff. So, he says that he doesn’t know what the future will hold,he doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future.
Carmela: So, he begins the interview then a little bit negatively,but then he changes and starts to emphasize the positive.
David Yes. He says that he wants to ‘move up the career ladder’. We often talkabout careers as being a kind of ‘ladder’ - because it’s something that you tryTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 4 of 8bbclearningenglish.comto climb up. So, he begins to be a bit more positive and, he than goes on tosay ‘it’s time to move on’, it’s time for him to make a change and take thenext step on the ladder of his career.
Carmela: Well, it’s time for us to move on too.
This time we’re going to hear language in another interview it’s ChristopherBeale, he’s a Recruitment consultant5 and he is interviewing someone for thejob of salesman for a pharmaceutical6 company. Now, that expression moveup the ladder, is something that you’ll hear again, so, listen out!
CLIP Christopher Beale 0’30”
-So let us suppose you had moved up the ladder in our pharmaceutical company, whatwould be your priorities in approaching your job.
-The first would be to make sure that I had the support of the people working underneath7 me.
The second would be to make sure my immediate4 boss also understood the role that i wastrying to play within the company and third, would be to make sure that the customers weresatisfied.
END OF CLIPCarmela Can you tell us a bit about the question form that we heard used by theinterviewer there, David?
David: The interviewer, I think said - “if you had moved up the ladder whatwould be your priorities in approaching the job” . So, what he’s doingthere, is he’s not asking the interviewee about a real situation, he is askingabout a hypothetical one.
Talk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 5 of 8bbclearningenglish.comCarmela: So, this is an imaginary situation then ?
David: Right, an imaginary situation and he clearly marks this with language that he uses, he’s using there a structure …which I think we call ‘second conditional”
and you’ll often hear interviewers ask things like :
“what would you say .. if you faced this situation? how would you cope ifyou dealt this problem?” - those kind of things…Carmela: .. and why are “hypothetical” or “what would you do” questions so commonin interviews?
David: Well, I think it gives the interviewer an opportunity to ask not about theinterviewee’s past, but it gives them a chance to understand how theinterviewee might behave in the future if he or she should get the job. And, Ithink, the important thing from the interviewee’s point of view - is toremember this is a hypothetical situation, so choose the correct language, inother words you should answer the question with “I would”, “if I faced thatsituation I would behave in this way, if I had to deal with that problem, Iwould do this”
Carmela You’re listening to “Business Language to Go” from the BBC WorldService.
Something that’s very common in interviews is asking people about their goodpoints and bad points. Could you elaborate, David.
David Well, it’s a pretty typical interview question. You know, what are yourstrengths and weaknesses, what are your good points and bad points.
And, for the interviewee obviously the thing is to make sure that you’ve gotlots of strong points, good points and not so many bad ones. You know, youTalk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 6 of 8bbclearningenglish.comshouldn’t be too hard on yourself. And when you do mention a bad point, it’soften a good idea to show that you’re not only aware of it - but you’re alsotrying to improve. So, you could say ‘oh, my bad point is … I’m not very goodat Arabic, for example, but - I’ am taking lessons every week ‘ .
Carmela You’ll now hear our two interviewees talking about their own strengths.
Listen out for the language that they use.
CLIP Mary & John 0’31”
Mary: John, any other strengths that you feel you bring to the job. What are your strengthsand weaknesses in the workplace?
John: What I'd bring to the job are very, very good organisational skills. I'm strongly motivated（动机）, I’m highly committed, very a much a self-starter. I feel that my peopleskills are fairly well developed and I feel there's scope to carry out that side of myduties even better. And I firmly believe that the combination of my people skills andmy organisational ability is the right combination of skills to do this job really well.
END OF CLIPCLIP Christopher Beale 0’20”
Christopher: If you were assessing yourself on your own strengths and weaknesses howwould you summarise8 them?
Interviewee: Well I would look at it that I’m self motivated. I can also work with a groupof people. I know that I can motivate them in a manner that is good for thecompany.
END OF CLIPCarmela Let’s look at some of the language that was used there to talk about personalstrengths, David?
Talk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 7 of 8bbclearningenglish.comDavid Both the interviewees emphasized that they were motivated. I think we heardexpressions like, strongly motivated, self motivated . The first intervieweesaid he was a self-starter. We heard the phrase, highly committed -Carmela ….and all these expressions, do they all mean the same thing?
David … they all mean roughly the same thing. These are all phrases that emphasizethe fact that you are keen to do well, that you want o work hard, that you’reambitious, you want to succeed.
Carmela We also heard some very concrete examples of things, skills basically.. Tell usabout the language that was used to talk about skillsDavid: The first interviewee talked about the combination of skills that he can offerin this new job. I think he talked about his people skills, in other words - howwell he deals with people, communicates, manages and, he also mentions hisorganisational ability. In other words he was trying to explain that he wasefficient, well organized, good with systems.
I think another key-term that’s often heard in interviews as well, is teamplayer.
Carmela: … meaning?
David: Well, team player is somebody who works well with other people..
Carmela The key to successful interviews is being positive about yourself. Finally, let’shear a typical end to an interview.
CLIP Mary and John 0’10”
Mary: Right well that's pretty much all I want to ask at the moment. Do you have anyquestions for me?
John: I'd just like to know what the time scale is? When do you expect to be able to let usknow?
Talk about English ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 8 of 8bbclearningenglish.comEND OF CLIPDavid Did you notice the expression（表达） pretty much? The interviewer there said, Ithink “right, well, that’s pretty much all I what to ask at the moment” -and this phrase “pretty much” is a typical phrase in English - it’s what wewould call “a vague marker”.
Carmela: Vague …meaning… ?
David: …Well.. meaning.. not precise. It’s an indication here, that the speaker isthinking about something, in this case, changing the subject, bringing theinterview to an end.
. And we heard the interviewee reply.. “I’d just like to know what the time scaleis” - Again that word “just” which the interviewee is using to make everythinga little bit softer, a little bit gentler, so that he doesn’t come across as being too aggressive （侵略性）Carmela OK, thanks David. And ,just to say that David Evans will be joining me nexttime for more “Business Language to Go”.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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chunks
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| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
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scenario
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| n.剧本，脚本；概要 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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consultant
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| n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生 | |
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pharmaceutical
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| adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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summarise
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| vt.概括，总结 | |
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