Learn how to ask for a specific person on the phone in a business situation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Business Russian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 13 - How to Ask to For a Specific Person on the Phone in Russian. John Here. |
| Karina: Привет, I'm Karina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn How to Ask to Talk to Somebody specific on the Phone. The conversation takes place at an Office. |
| Karina: It's between a Receptionist and Linda. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, so they’ll use formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Секретарь: "Прогресс", чем я могу Вам помочь? |
| Линда: Доброе утро. Меня зовут Линда, компания ABC. Могу я поговорить с Еленой? |
| Секретарь: Да, секунду. Вы не могли бы повторить своё имя? |
| Линда: Линда, из ABC. |
| Секретарь: Подождите, не отключайтесь. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Секретарь: "Прогресс", чем я могу Вам помочь? |
| Линда: Доброе утро. Меня зовут Линда, компания ABC. Могу я поговорить с Еленой? |
| Секретарь: Да, секунду. Вы не могли бы повторить своё имя? |
| Линда: Линда, из ABC. |
| Секретарь: Подождите, не отключайтесь. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Receptionist: "Progress," how can I help you? |
| Linda: Good morning, my name is Linda. I work for ABC. Can I speak to Elena? |
| Receptionist: Yes, one second. Can you please repeat me your name? |
| Linda: Linda, from ABC. |
| Receptionist: Hold on the line for a moment. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: When doing business, you should always be ready to make urgent telephone calls. |
| Karina: Right, in Russia, like other places, telephone calls remain the most-used means of communication in business settings. |
| John: Is there any specific etiquette when making a business phone call in Russia? |
| Karina: An appropriate time to call is usually during office hours, though it may not be a good idea to call in the first 10 minutes after an office opens, or right before the end of the day. |
| John: Good to know, what about the call itself? |
| Karina: Make sure to get straight to the point, as Russians think that business calls should be not more than five minutes long. |
| John: Is it common to call on a personal cell phone for business matters? |
| Karina: Nowadays, there is usually a personal cell-phone number written on business cards, but calling on a weekend or late at night is inappropriate if it's not an emergency. |
| John: Finally what’s the Russian for "to receive a call"? |
| Karina: принять звонок |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Karina: подождать [natural native speed] |
| John: to wait |
| Karina: подождать[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: подождать [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: отключаться [natural native speed] |
| John: to hang up |
| Karina: отключаться[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: отключаться [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Karina: секунда [natural native speed] |
| John: second |
| Karina: секунда[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: секунда [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of one of the words from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Karina: подождать |
| John: meaning "to wait" |
| Karina: The verb подождать consists of the prefix подо, meaning "to reach/get closer to something," or “to make something a little bit more,” and the verb ждать, meaning "to wait." |
| John: Therefore, the whole meaning will be "to wait for a short period of time." Karina, can you give us an example using this word? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Вам придётся подождать до завтра. |
| John: ..which means "You have to wait till tomorrow." |
| Karina: Sometimes this verb is followed by an exact period of time, in which case, the initial meaning may not apply. For example, Нужно подождать 10 лет. |
| John: meaning, "We have to wait 10 years." In this case, the verb will show the meaning, “wait until you reach the result or until something happens.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn How to Ask to Talk to Somebody specific on the Phone. What is the most common greeting on the phone? |
| Karina: Чем я могу Вам помочь? |
| John: Which means “How can I help you?” This is the typical phrase for hotel staff or company secretaries to start a dialogue with, after they say the name of the company and their own name. Let’s break it down. |
| Karina: We have Чем meaning, “By what, what way” followed by я могу “I can” and Вам помочь “help you.” |
| John: What sentences could you use to ask somebody to wait on the phone instead? |
| Karina: Подождите, не отключайтесь. |
| John: meaning “Hold on the line for a moment,” or literally, “Hold on, don’t hang up.” |
| Karina: Подождите means “hold on”, while не отключайтесь is “don’t hang up”. It may be useful to remember the whole phrase, as these verbs usually come together. They are both imperatives. Another variant is Подождите, пожалуйста, секунду |
| John: meaning “Please wait a second.” |
| Karina: or Подождите, пожалуйста пару минут. |
| John: “Please wait a couple of minutes.” Ok, now let’s take a look at how to request to speak with a certain person. |
| Karina: In the dialogue Linda asks Могу я поговорить с Еленой? |
| John: meaning “Can I speak to Elena?” Let’s break it down. |
| Karina: When requesting to talk to a certain person, you need to use the following formula, могу я meaning, “can I,” followed by the main verb and, at the end, the preposition с meaning “with” with the name of the person in instrumental case. |
| John: ...or the first name plus patronymic name, depending on the relationship. |
| Karina: Right, here is an example Могу я обсудить презентацию с Анной? |
| John: meaning “Can I discuss the presentation with Anna?” |
| Karina: To make it more polite, you can add the conjunction ли “if” - for example Могу ли я поговорить с Еленой? |
| John: “Can I talk to Elena?” Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson with a couple of sample sentences. |
| Karina: Могу я поговорить с директором? |
| John: “Can I talk to the director?” |
| Karina: Могу я поговорить с менеджером по работе с клиентами? |
| John: “Can I talk to the person in charge of customer care?” |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Karina: Пока! |
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