Learn how to greet your boss in the morning
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Business Russian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 4 - Greeting Your Russian Boss in the Morning, John Here. |
| Karina: Привет, I'm Karina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to politely greet your supervisor. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Karina: It's between Linda and Alexander. |
| John: The speakers are boss and employee, so they will use formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Линда: Доброе утро. |
| Александр: Линда, привет. Погода сегодня чудесная. |
| Линда: Вы правы! Температура отличная. |
| Александр: Как жаль, что приходится работать в офисе. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Линда: Доброе утро. |
| Александр: Линда, привет. Погода сегодня чудесная. |
| Линда: Вы правы! Температура отличная. |
| Александр: Как жаль, что приходится работать в офисе. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Linda: Good morning. |
| Alexander: Linda, hi. Today the weather is wonderful. |
| Linda: You are right! The temperature is perfect. |
| Alexander: It's a shame having to work at the office! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: The conversation this time was a greeting between a boss and an employee. |
| Karina: It’s only polite to greet each other, isn’t it? |
| John: I think so! Karina, how do people address their bosses in Russian companies? |
| Karina: Traditionally, it is common to call your boss using their first name and patronymic name. |
| John: Some of our listeners may come from countries that don’t use patronymic names, so can you explain what that is for us? |
| Karina: Sure. As I said in the previous lesson, it’s a personal name that comes from the given name of a male relative, usually a father or grandfather. |
| John: Is that common in all companies? |
| Karina: Some are more informal, and you can just use your boss’s first name. |
| John: While still keeping your speech formal, of course. |
| Karina: We don’t usually call each other Mister or Miss when speaking, but might use Господин and Госпожа and their last name in an email. |
| John: How about other forms of address, such as Doctor? |
| Karina: We don’t use Doctor for names in Russia. |
| 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: офис [natural native speed] |
| John: office |
| Karina: офис[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: офис [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: погода [natural native speed] |
| John: weather |
| Karina: погода[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: погода [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: сегодня [natural native speed] |
| John: today |
| Karina: сегодня[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: сегодня [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: чудесный [natural native speed] |
| John: wonderful |
| Karina: чудесный[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: чудесный [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: привет [natural native speed] |
| John: hi, hello |
| Karina: привет[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: привет [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: температура [natural native speed] |
| John: temperature |
| Karina: температура[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: температура [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: как жаль [natural native speed] |
| John: what a pity |
| Karina: как жаль[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: как жаль [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: приходится [natural native speed] |
| John: to have to |
| Karina: приходится[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: приходится [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Karina: работать [natural native speed] |
| John: to work |
| Karina: работать[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: работать [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Karina: Как жаль, что |
| John: meaning "What a shame" |
| John: What can you tell us about this? |
| Karina: You can use this to describe your true feelings and it has a strong emotional context. |
| John: Can it be used in both formal and informal situations? |
| Karina: It can, but it isn’t used often. |
| John: Why is that? |
| Karina: It is strong, so using it too much lessens the effect. Instead you can say очень жаль, что |
| John: meaning “It’s a pity that…” Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Как жаль, что пора уходить. |
| John: ..which means "What a pity that we have to leave." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Karina: отличный |
| John: meaning "perfect" |
| John: What can you tell us about this? |
| Karina: This adjective is used all of the time to describe many things, such as weather, results, food... |
| John: Is it used in both formal and informal situations? |
| Karina: When speaking, it can be used in both. |
| John: What about in writing? |
| Karina: You won’t see it in official documents. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Karina: For example, you can say.. Я знаю отличный ресторан неподалёку. |
| John: .. which means "I know a great restaurant nearby." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to politely greet your supervisor. Karina, what is a good phrase to greet your supervisor? |
| Karina: You can simply say Доброе утро. |
| John: “Good morning.” |
| Karina: That’s a neutral phrase, but in Russian there are different levels of politeness. |
| John: How would a junior member of the company address their colleagues or superiors? |
| Karina: They can use Доброе утро as we said before, or здравствуйте. |
| John: That second phrase means “hello”. How about the boss of the company? |
| Karina: They can say anything. The informal привет, meaning “Hi” is fine. The most important part is the pronoun. |
| John: Can you tell us a little about that? |
| Karina: Вы can be either a polite version of singular “you” or the neuter plural. |
| John: How do you know when you can drop being formal and switch to being informal? |
| Karina: You just have to try and read the situation. If you’re lucky, someone will say Давайте перейдём на ты. |
| John: Which means “Let’s switch to the informal ‘you,’” |
| Karina: It should be the senior person in the conversation that says that. |
| John: After the greeting, comes small talk. What is a good subject for small talk? |
| Karina: Weather, of course! A good sentence is Погода сегодня чудесная. |
| John: Which means “It’s wonderful weather today.” How do we form this sentence? |
| Karina: The first word is погода, which means “weather”, then сегодня meaning “today”, and чудесная, meaning “wonderful”. But Russian has no strict word order, so чудесная can go first. |
| John: What other things can be said? |
| Karina: Температура отличная. |
| John: “The temperature is perfect.” |
| Karina: Температура ужасная. |
| John: “The temperature is horrible.” |
| Karina: На улице очень жарко. |
| John: “It’s really hot outside.” |
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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