Learn how to introduce your boss to a client 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 3 - Introducing Your Boss to a Client in Russian. John Here. |
| Karina: Привет, I'm Karina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to introduce your boss. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Karina: It's between Linda and Elena. |
| John: The speakers are acquaintances, so they will use formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Линда: Елена, это вице-президент ABC. |
| Линда: Миссис Уилли. |
| Елена: Миссис Уилли, приятно познакомиться. |
| Елена: Я - Елена, менеджер по продажам в OAO "Прогресс". |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Линда: Елена, это вице-президент ABC. |
| Линда: Миссис Уилли. |
| Елена: Миссис Уилли, приятно познакомиться. |
| Елена: Я - Елена, менеджер по продажам в OAO "Прогресс". |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Linda: Elena, this is ABC's vice president. |
| Linda: Mrs. Willy. |
| Elena: Mrs. Willy, nice to meet you. |
| Elena: I’m Elena, Progress Ltd's sales manager. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Russia is actively involved in international cooperation with different countries and hosts a lot of trade shows and other fairs. Karina, what are some of these events and where are they held? |
| Karina: Most of the events are held in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but recently other smaller cities, like Sochi or Vladivostok, have hosted the APEC Forum, International Investment Forum, and other fairs. |
| John: These kinds of events are a good opportunity to look for partners in Russia, because making direct contact with a company when you’re not in Russia can sometimes be difficult. What’s the Russian word for “business event”? |
| Karina: деловое мероприятие |
| 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: это [natural native speed] |
| John: this is, that is, it's |
| Karina: это[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: это [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: вице-президент [natural native speed] |
| John: Vice-President |
| Karina: вице-президент[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: вице-президент [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Karina: менеджер по продажам [natural native speed] |
| John: sales manager |
| Karina: менеджер по продажам[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: менеджер по продажам [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of one of the phrases from this lesson. The phrase is.. |
| Karina: менеджер по продажам |
| John: meaning "sales manager" |
| Karina: As you can see, job titles, such as “sales manager,” in Russian usually have the reverse order of the English - менеджер по продажам |
| John: Literally meaning “manager of sales” |
| Karina: Grammatically, you need to use the preposition по in-between two nouns. You can make other job titles using this formula, for example, менеджер по рекламе |
| John: meaning “advertising manager,” |
| Karina: or менеджер по проектам |
| John: meaning "project manager." Can you find these kinds of titles on business cards as well? |
| Karina: Yes, on business cards and any other kind of business communication. |
| John: Can you give us an example using one of these phrases? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Он всегда хотел стать менеджером по продажам. |
| John: ..which means "He always wanted to become a sales manager." |
| Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to introduce your boss. |
| Karina: When you introduce your boss or supervisor in Russian, be sure to indicate their position. |
| John: This will allow your business partner to understand that they’re being introduced to someone who they can refer to, to make important requests. Now let’s see how to do that in a clear way. Let’s start from the example in the dialogue... |
| Karina: Елена, это вице-президент ABC. Миссис Уилли. |
| John: meaning “Elena, this is ABC's vice president. Mrs. Willy.” |
| Karina: First, if necessary, address the person you are speaking to by stating their name. |
| John: this way, you’ll be sure you’ve got their attention. |
| Karina: Please keep in mind that titles such as мистер “Mr.” or миссис “Mrs.” are only for people of non-Russian origin. |
| John: This is because these words originally didn’t exist in Russian and foreigners don’t have patronymic names, so it’s not possible to create a polite formula of a first name and patronymic name, when referring to them. |
| Karina: On the other hand, when you’re addressing your Russian clients, remember to use patronymic names. |
| John: What is exactly a patronymic name? |
| Karina: The patronymic name, sometimes mistakenly translated as “middle name,” is a special form made from a person's father’s name. In general, you can form it by adding a suffix -вич for males and -вна for females. For example Елена Ивановна, Ивановна is the patronymic, made up of the father's name Иван followed by the feminine suffix вна. |
| John: Ok, let’s go back to the main topic. After stating the name of the person you want to introduce your boss or supervisor to, what should you say? |
| Karina: You can use this formula, Это, meaning “this,” followed by the job title, the company name, and finally the name. |
| John: This phrase is universal for introducing both men and women, and can be used in business and non-business settings. It applies when introducing a person to another person of any social or job status. Now let’s take a look at some commonly used job titles in Russian. |
| Karina: We just saw президент |
| John: meaning “president” |
| Karina: And here are some more – Исполнительный директор |
| John: this means “CEO” |
| Karina: Директор |
| John: meaning “director” |
| Karina: Директор is usually followed by по and the branch name, for example директор по продажам |
| John: meaning “sales director.” |
| Karina: сектарь |
| John: “secretary” |
| Karina: начальник |
| John: “boss.” What about the feminine version? |
| Karina: While there are feminine forms of some job titles, they are almost never used in business communication to show that a person of any gender can do the work. |
| John: Ok, now let’s take a closer look at the demonstrative pronoun we mentioned before. |
| Karina: Это |
| John: Meaning “this”. When you’re introducing someone else, knowing demonstratives is very important. |
| Karina: Demonstrative pronouns are also used to demonstrate the quality and quantity of objects or people. They change according to the case, number, and gender. |
| John: Let’s consider the masculine singular. What are all the forms? Let’s start with the nominative case. |
| Karina: этот |
| John: next is the genitive |
| Karina: этого |
| John: next is the dative |
| Karina: этому |
| John: next is the accusative |
| Karina: этого for animate and этот for inanimate |
| John: next is the instrumental |
| Karina: этим |
| John: and finally the prepositional case, |
| Karina: об этом |
| John: When you’re introducing someone, you use the neuter singular nominative |
| Karina: Right, that is это. For example, Это наша графическая команда. |
| John: meaning “This is our graphics team.” |
| Karina: Here is another example Антон, это наш исполнительный директор - Сергей Иванов. |
| John: meaning "Anton, this is our CEO - Sergey Ivanov." |
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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