9: hello and welcome to our second class of
12: telephone English in this class we will
15: look at the phrases we need when we make
17: a phone call let's start hi it's john
22: from IBM hi it's john from IBM when we
30: make a phone call and when we give our
33: name we use its its we don't use i'm ok
39: when we make a phone call we don't use
42: I'm we use it or we can also use this is
48: this is listen hello this is John from
54: IBM hello this is John from IBM so we
61: have the option of its or this is but
66: never I did you notice that when John
71: gave the name of his company he used the
74: preposition from this is john from IBM
79: this is john from IBM and we can also
83: use the preposition from to give our
86: department or office so we could say
91: this is john from the finance department
95: or this is john from the madrid office
101: now all of this is quite easy no but
105: when we vote a company normally is to
109: talk to one person in particular let's
112: see the question that we need to ask
116: could I speak to Sarah Smith please
120: could I speak to Sarah Smith please
128: John said could I speak to could I speak
132: to we can also use can I speak to can I
137: speak to and the two phrases in this
141: context are the same could I speak to
144: can I speak to now let's listen to all
149: the phrases of the video again hi it's
154: john from IBM hello this is john from
159: IBM could I speak to Sarah Smith please
165: could I speak to Sarah Smith please okay
173: I hope you found the class useful there
176: was another short class we're currently
178: making a much bigger course on telephone
181: English which will be available here of
185: course if you have any questions you can
188: send us a message or you can leave a
191: comment in the section below thank you
195: for watching and see you in the next
197: video
How to make a simple phone call in English. Part 1.
Do you need to speak in English on the telephone? Find out how to make a simple phone call in English. This class has simple examples and audio files.
Welcome to the first class in our course on English for the Telephone.
Do you have to telephone a client in the United States, Britain or Canada? In this class we will learn how to speak in English on the telephone and we will learn how to make a simple phone call.
This class looks at the phrases we need when we call somebody. If you receive phone calls in English then you need to look at our class on answering the phone in English.
In this class of Telephone English we will learn how to do the following tasks:
This part is easy! First we need to say hello:
| Hello | Normal/Formal |
| Hi | Informal |
| Good morning | Before 12:00 |
| Good afternoon | From 12:00 to 18:00/19:00 |
| Good evening | From 18:00/19:00 |
It is polite to introduce ourselves at the beginning of the phone conversation. When we give our name by phone we do not use "I am". Here are the correct phrases for giving your name by phone:
| It's John | All situations |
| This is John | All situations |
On the phone we do not normally give our name using "I am"
We should give the name of our company when we introduce ourselves:
| It's John from Spencers | |
| This is John from Spencers | |
You can also give the name of your department or the location of your office:
*Here is an infomal alternative:
Now comes the difficult part! We need to say why we are phoning. We have many different options at this stage. However, it is a good idea to use one of the following sentence forms:
For example:
This form can be used in many different situations:
We could also use the long version of these sentences:
This form can also be used to explain the reason why we are calling:
There are two options which you will use a lot when we want to speak to someone in particular:
Let's look at both of these forms:
If we want to speak to someone in particular we say:
or
For example:
We could use 'can' instead of 'could' in any of these questions. For example:
You should always try to be polite, so remember to use 'please' and 'thank you'.
If we are speaking with the receptionist of the company we normally use:
For example:
Here are some simple telephone conversations in English for you to listen to:
You find more, free, English telephone conversations in the following classes: