Lead in: Hey guys, today we`re going to learn a number of useful functional language expressions for dealing with communication problems that arise during teleconferences.

Scenario 1: when you need to interrupt someone during the call, you can say

Excuse me, may I interrupt?

If I may interrupt, could you explain…

Sorry to interrupt, but…

Do you think so? My impression is that…

What? That’s impossible.?We/ I think…

Just a moment….

Can I say something here?

Pardon me for interrupting, but…

I’m sorry to interrupt, but…

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Scenario 2: sometimes you are the one being interrupted, so you can handle this situation in this way

Yes, go ahead.

Sorry, please let me finish…

If I may finish this point…

Can I come to that later?

That’s not really relevant at this stage…

Can we leave that to another discussion?

I’m afraid I can’t agree with you on that.?As I was saying…

That’s out of the question.

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Scenario 3: there are sometimes you have to ask for or give clarifications in order to make some information clearer and easier to understand, so you can use the following expressions

What do you mean by…?

I’m not sure I really understand…

Could you go into more detail about…?

So you’re worried about…?

If I understand you,…

This means…

What I mean is…

What I want to say is…

To explain this in more detail…

Is that okay?

Is that clearer now?

I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.

I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.

I sorry, but I don’t follow you.

Would you mind going over that again for me?

Could you say that again, please?

Could you repeat that, please?

Could you explain what you mean?

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Scenario 4: when you encountered with communication problems, you can deal with them by saying this

Could you speak more slowly, please?

Would you mind speaking more slowly, please?

Would you slow down a little, please?

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Scenario 5: when you need someone to repeat some information, you can make a request like this

So, you say you can give us a discount of…?

Okay, you are willing to…, right?

Your telephone number is… and your email address is…Let me just confirm that. Your company is called...

Let me just repeat what you have said.

I’d just like to confirm what you’ve just told me.

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Scenario 6: Sometimes technical issues may arise, too, probably due to poor network performance or any other technical reasons. When it happens, you can use the following expressions to help yourself out.

You might want to try…

Are you using…?

Is this clearer now?

Could you put your phone on mute until it gets quieter there?

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Teleconference Drill 1

You will now listen to a teleconference with three speakers who are all from the same company, but work in different locations. Jack, a senior level associate at a global insurance agency, is facilitating the teleconference from his office in London. The participants are Jack’s colleagues Michelle from Hong Kong and Patrick from Edinburgh.

Jack: Thanks Michelle, for joining us from Hong Kong, and Patrick, for being present from our Edinburgh office. I’m Jack, and I’ll be facilitating the call from London. If everyone’s all set, let’s get started. Michelle, are you ready?

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Michelle: Hi Jack, I’m all set.

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Jack: Great. Patrick?

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Patrick: I’m good to go.

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Jack: Right, thanks. We should be done in around forty-five to sixty minutes. I hope you have a copy of the agenda I sent across by email earlier.

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Patrick: Yes, got it, thanks.

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Michelle: I’ve got mine too.

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Jack: Excellent. The first item is a matter of some concern. As you can see from the figures on the first slide, there seems to be quite an upsurge in the level of fraudulent claims we’ve received this year. Michelle, I’d like you to start by giving us the statistics on that from the Hong Kong office.

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Michelle: Thanks Jack. Well, the figures from the last quarter don’t look good. We’ve had a 13% increase in unsubstantiated claims, and…

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Patrick: If I may interrupt, what exactly do you mean by unsubstantiated claims? Aren’t we discussing fraudulent claims here?

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Michelle: Well yes, but many fraudulent claims are unsubstantiated, right?

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Jack: I believe Michelle is referring to claims that are unsubstantiated and believed to be fraudulent. Is that right, Michelle?

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Michelle: That’s right, Jack.

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Jack: Patrick, you could use the ‘raise hand’ icon on your VoIP system there when you want to clarify something during a presentation.

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Patrick: Oh, right. I didn’t know that could be done.

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Jack: Please go on, Michelle.

Michelle: Thanks Jack. As I was saying, the figures show that we need to step up our field investigation processes to create greater percentages of verifiable claims. The pie diagram on this next slide shows that these percentages have been falling steadily over the last year. Yes, Patrick?

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Patrick: I just wanted to clarify if these figures are directly proportional to the --

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Michelle: Sorry, Patrick, I can’t hear you very well.

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Jack: Patrick, are you using a headset?

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Patrick: No, I’m on a mic.

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Jack: You might want to put on a headset -- do you have one handy?

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Patrick: Yes, just give me a second.

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Teleconference Drill 2

You will now listen to a teleconference call with three participants. Julie, a production designer at an interior design firm, is facilitating the call with her colleague Will and a prospective client, Anthony.

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Julie: Anthony and Will, I’d like to welcome you both to this discussion. Anthony is in this meeting as a representative of Li Merchants from Shanghai, and Will is my associate from the Manchester office. I’m Julie, and I’ll be facilitating this discussion from our Hong Kong office.

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Anthony: Thanks Julie, I’m looking forward to the discussion. Will, I’m happy to talk to you.

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Will: Hi Anthony, glad to be a part of this.

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Julie: Anthony, thanks very much for joining us today, and we hope that we can clarify your questions about the negotiation. I sent out a copy of the agenda by email earlier today. We’ve scheduled an hour for this discussion. The first item is to address Anthony’s questions about his company’s market needs. Anthony, would you like to tell us about those?

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Anthony: Thank you Julie. Can I use the whiteboard for my slides?

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Julie: Yes, of course. I’ve enabled your call so you can control the slide show yourself.

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Anthony: Thanks Julie. Well, you can see here that we’re the leading company in the Chinese garment market for western formal clothing for women, but our competitors are not very far behind us. We’re looking for exciting new designs that will help us gain a wider margin in the market.

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Julie: Thanks Anthony -- if we could just pause for a bit to look more closely at the details and brainstorm some ideas together. Will, I’d like your inputs on this.

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Will: Well, Anthony, we’ve been thinking about Li Merchants’ needs, and I believe our new range of formal wear for women will appeal to your market. We have...

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Anthony: Pardon me for interrupting, but I’d just like to clarify if this range has already been released in the European market?

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Julie: Will, could you respond to Anthony’s question?

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Will: Yes, it has, but we can offer you an exclusive deal on the Asian market.

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Anthony: Thanks for clarifying that, Will.

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Julie: Will, please continue.

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Will: I have a couple of slides here that will show you some figures on how the new collection has taken the market by storm. Hold on, that isn’t the right slide there.

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Julie: How about the previous one -- is this the one you wanted?

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Will: No, it seems to be going forwards instead of back to the previous one. Let me see if I can.....

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Julie: Why don’t you just give us a quick summary of the statistics, so that we can move on to the next item on the agenda?

Ending remarks: Alright, guys. That’s all for today. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment below. And please hit the subscribe button, really appreciate that. Stay tuned. Until now, I`ll see you next time. Bye.