Jan 10, 2018 - Telephone is truly a oldie but a goodie. It is one of those games that has stood the test of time. It is so wildly popular still today because of the sheer silliness of the game results. Kids are funny. Sometimes they are fall down, spit your drink out funny. Now take a bunch of. Aug 19, 2018 To play the Telephone or the Broken Telephone game, there should be a minimum of 6-8 heads. Try including as many people as you can as it will make the game more fun and entertaining. Make everyone stand in a straight line. For bigger groups, even a circular arrangement would work. Start the game by whispering a word or preferably a phrase in. Telephone Game This is an old favorite you may have played in school, but you can modify it to fit your workplace. Whisper a sentence in one employee's ear and have them pass along this sentence, each employee whispering it to another, until everyone has been a carrier. Broken Telephone Phrases. You can use short or long phrases to begin the game. Then hear the broken telephone sentences revealed at the end of the line or circle. Or feel pleasantly surprised by phrases that make it to the end intact. Here are some samples to get you started: The shark tank holds a guppy. I wish I had a pet alligator. Sep 17, 2014 Effective Communication: Stop Playing the Telephone Game Published on September 17, 2014 September 17, 2014. 15 Likes. 2 Comments.
Lyle guitars serial numbers. Can you drive a car?
If not, do you know several people who can drive?
You probably answered yes, and that’s because driving is easier than it seems.
Similar to driving, telephone conversations in English might also seem difficult if English is not your first language—especially business calls.
However, if you learn the key phrases that are commonly used over the phone, it becomes so much easier.
That’s why we’ve put together this helpful guide of 40 must-know phrases for professional telephone conversations. Use our tips to learn these phrases, and soon talking on the telephone at work in English will feel as simple as driving down the street!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Why Learn How to Talk on the Phone Professionally
Talking on the phone may be an essential part of your job, or you may only have to make or answer phone calls in English from time to time. You may need to speak on the phone in English every day or even as part of an exam or job interview. Sometimes your job may even depend on a phone call!
Skyping (or video calling) in English involves the same skills as traditional telephoning, but with a webcam so will be seen by the other person.
You will discover that improving your telephone skills will also help with your speaking skills in general. What’s more, it will help you gain self-confidence and even improve your self-esteem—both when speaking English and your native language.
Do you have trouble with English during business video calls?
What if you could speak fluent English in calls, and connect comfortably with your customers, colleagues, and managers?
Imagine. you could look forward to these calls instead of worrying about them.
What could this newfound confidence do for your career?
Did you know there's a course that can help you with that? It's called UpEnglish.
Don't miss this opportunity to improve your English and your career — get started with UpEnglish today.
What if you could speak fluent English in calls, and connect comfortably with your customers, colleagues, and managers?
Imagine. you could look forward to these calls instead of worrying about them.
What could this newfound confidence do for your career?
Did you know there's a course that can help you with that? It's called UpEnglish.
Don't miss this opportunity to improve your English and your career — get started with UpEnglish today.
Tips for Learning Business English Telephone Phrases
The great thing about learning these telephone phrases is that you will actually get to use them in real life. Sewer run 2 full game. Here are some tips for learning these new phrases:
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes
The first time you use some new phrases, you will probably make some mistakes. Everybody does when they learn something new; it’s completely normal.
Hopefully the people you talk to will be patient and understanding. However, some people who have never learned a second language don’t understand how difficult it can be. Don’t let them discourage you! Remind yourself: When you make mistakes, you are making progress.
Learn from your mistakes
Another great thing about mistakes is that you can learn from them. Every time you finish a phone conversation, write down the mistakes you think you made or the phrases you are not sure about.
Telephone Game Phrases For Workplace People
You may even want to record your phone conversations if that’s possible and allowed where you work. Then you can listen later—by yourself or with a tutor—to look closely for new phrases you used correctly and where you need more practice.
Use three new phrases in your phone conversations every day
Once you read the phrases below, choose three every day to use in your phone conversations or whenever appropriate. If you don’t use the new words, they will no longer be fresh in your mind. They will be part of your passive vocabulary, which means you will probably recognize them when you hear them, but you won’t be able to use them yourself on the spot.
If you can’t find a way to include them in your real telephone conversations, try writing down imaginary phone conversations so you can use the new phrases. Remember: By using new words, you learn new words!
Practice new grammar concepts in phone calls
You can use the previous learning strategy with grammar as well, not just with new vocabulary. Every time you see a new grammar structure, write it down, make your own examples with it and then use it at work!
Here are some example topics, as they relate to phone conversations.
- Could I ask who’s calling, please?
- How may I help you?
- Do you mind waiting a few minutes?
- Thanks for calling.
- I’m calling to clarify…
- I’d like to leave him a message.
- When is a good time to call?
Role play with a friend
It may also help to read out the phrases below and practice making phone calls with a friend first. You will be less nervous if you practice with somebody you know. If you don’t have someone to practice with, you can practice on your own.
Reading aloud in English will help you improve your pronunciation. If you record yourself as you practice, you can even become aware of your own mistakes.
40 Must-know English Phrases for Business Telephone Calls
Taking a call
When you answer the phone at your job, you’ll want to always greet the caller professionally. Here are two formats you might use to do so.
1. Hello/Good morning/Good afternoon. [Company name], [your name] speaking, how may I help you?
For example, if your name is Alice and you work at a company called Quick Translations, you might say:
Good morning! Lalo schifrin best of rar. Quick Translations, Alice speaking. How may I help you?
This quickly tells the caller who you are, and then lets them explain why they’re calling.
2. [Company name], [your name] speaking.
This second one is a shorter greeting: Quick Translations, Alice speaking.
![Online games for workplace Online games for workplace](https://pixfeeds.com/images/44/608662/1280-608662-telephone-game.png)
You can also use “This is [your name]” as another way to say “[Your name] speaking.”
Making a call
Sometimes you are the one initiating (beginning) a phone call. You may have more time to prepare in this case. You can use one of the formats below for greeting people when you call them:
3. Hello, this is [your name] from [company name].
For example, if you are Neil Jenkins and you work at ABC Travels, you might say:
“Hello, this is Neil Jenkins from ABC Travels.
You may want to include your surname (last name) if you know the caller doesn’t know you very well.
4. Hi, it’s [your name] from [company name].
You may also say “Hi, it’s Neil Jenkins from ABC Travels” to start a phone conversation.
Asking for somebody
It’s important to know exactly who you want to talk to and you can use one of the options below.
5. May I speak to [person’s name]?
This first phrase is a question, and slightly more polite than the next option. Here’s an example:
May I (please) speak to Mr. Smith?
6. I’d like to speak to [person’s name], please.
For example, “I’d like to speak to Mr. Smith, please.” You may use this one when you’re quite sure the person is available to talk to you.
Giving reasons for calling
At the beginning of the phone conversation it’s best to clarify why you are calling. This helps both speakers talk about what’s relevant.
7. I’m calling to ask about/discuss/clarify…
I’m calling to ask about your current printing promotion.
8. I just wanted to ask…
I just wanted to ask if you need any more articles for next month’s magazine.
9. Could you tell me…?
Could you tell me the address of Friday’s networking event?
Small talk
Whenever you want to be friendly with someone, you can make small talk. You can ask them about their day, or you may be more specific if you remember details from your past conversations.
10. Hi, [first name], how are you?
This one is more general and you can use it when you don’t remember anything specific to ask about. Bitsadmin exe.
11. How are you getting on with…?
This second phrase is more specific and should be used if you remember certain details. This will make the other person feel good about talking to you and may even improve your relationship. For example, if you remember that a company will move to a new office building, you might ask:
How are you getting on with preparations to change office buildings next month?
Taking messages
If you answer a phone call and the caller wants to speak to someone who is unavailable, you should take a message. You can do that in any of the following ways:
12. I’m sorry, she/he’s not here today. Can I take a message?
13. I’m afraid he/she’s not available at the moment. Can I take a message?
This response doesn’t tell the caller why “he/she” is unavailable. However if you know why, and it’s okay to share that information, you might say something like this:
I’m afraid she’s in a meeting until 4 p.m. Can I take a message?
14. Could I ask who’s calling, please?
You can use this phrase to politely find out who is calling.
15. I’ll give him/her your message as soon as he/she gets back.
After you’ve written down the caller’s message, you can say this phrase.
Leaving messages
On the other hand, when you make a phone call and the person you want to talk to is not there, you should leave a message for them. Here’s what you could say:
16. Could you please take a message? Please tell her/him that…
Could you please take a message? Please tell her that Cindy from accounting called about Mr. Shapiro’s expense reports.
17. I’d like to leave her/him a message. Please let her/him know that…
I’d like to leave him a message. Please let him know that tomorrow’s lunch meeting is cancelled.
Asking when somebody will be available
If you don’t want to leave a message, you can ask when would be a good time to call again: Championship manager 01 02 patch 3.9 68.
18. When is a good time to call?
19. When is she/he going to be back?
Asking for information
When you ask people to give you information, it’s important to be polite. Using the modal verb “could” and a question is helpful in this case.
20. Could I ask what company you’re with?
21. Could you give me your mobile number, please?
Asking the other person to repeat information
Don’t worry if you can’t always understand people on the phone. It happens to native speakers all time! Just ask the person to repeat the information for you: “I’m sorry, could you please repeat that?”
If you have to write down names, it’s best to ask people to spell words out for you. You can use either of the following two phrases:
22. Could you spell that for me, please?
23. How do you spell that, please?
It’s always safe to repeat important information just to double check:
24. Let me see if I got that right.
Let me see if I got that right. Your name is Barack Obama, O-B-A-M-A, and your phone number is 555-222-1111, correct?
Sometimes the connection is bad and it’s okay to ask the other person to speak more loudly:
25. Would you mind speaking up a bit? I can’t hear you very well.
Whenever you don’t understand something, it’s best to ask. The information may be important, so just ask them to repeat it for you:
26. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your first name.
Making arrangements
If you have to make arrangements, it’s important to be polite as you negotiate. Here are some phrases you might use:
27. Shall we say January 20?
28. How about the following week?
29. Would the week of January 18 work for you?
Asking for suggestions
When you have to decide on times and places to do things, you can invite the other person to make suggestions. It can be seen as a sign of politeness.
Goodix touch driver windows 10. 30. What would you suggest?
31. Do you have a time/place in mind?
Making requests
When you ask people to do things for you, it’s again essential to be polite. You can use the magic words “could” and “please” as seen below:
32. Could you send me an email with the detailed offer?
33. Do you mind sending me the report again, please?
Promising action
When you promise action, you may want to add when something is going to happen. Remember that in English we don’t use the future tense after time expressions like “when” and “as soon as.”
34. I’ll ask him to call you as soon as he gets back.
Notice that after “as soon as” we use “he gets back,” present tense.
35. I’ll send you the report as soon as possible.
Saying you cannot help
There are situations when you can’t help the other person, and it may be hard to say so. Just be firm and polite:
36. I’m afraid I can’t give you that information.
37. Sorry, but I’m not allowed to give details about that.
Ending the call
Remember to thank the other person for calling or for helping you. You can do that in any of the following ways:
38. Thank you very much for your help.
39. Thanks for calling.
40. Thank you for your time.
Once you learn some of these expressions to help you with phone calls, you will feel much better about your language skills. Don’t forget to practice them every day, and remember: People can’t always tell how long you’ve been studying English, but they can easily tell if you are smiling when speaking on the phone!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing…
To keep improving your business English, you’ll love FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized and fun English learning lessons.
It has a large library of English videos that native English speakers watch regularly.
FluentU has an entire business category filled with authentic business-related videos covering six language levels.
To show the variety of videos even inside this single category, real-world business videos on FluentU include “Introducing Business Colleagues,” “Business Buzzwords,” “Control Your Inbox!” and “What Warren Buffet Thinks About Cash.”
If you want to work on other topics later, simply use the same, familiar FluentU platform to learn with videos from other categories (such as “Science and Tech,” “Politics and Society” or “Arts and Entertainment”).
Common Workplace Phrases
Every video has English subtitles. Each word comes with an in-context definition, image and multiple example sentences.
Just tap or click on any word in the subtitles to get more information. For example, if you tap on the word “brought,” you will see this:
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The Telephone game is a real entertainer for you and your friends or family. You don’t need cards, boards, paper, pencil, or any other physical object to play it. The only thing you need to do is include as many people as you can; the more the merrier. Plentifun provides quick instructions to play the game. Take a look!
Telephone Game Phrases For Workplace Signs
Telephone Tips
- Do not ask a person to repeat the phrase.
- Don’t purposely communicate the wrong phrase as doing so would ruin the fun.
The Telephone game is popularly referred to as ‘Chinese Whispers’, ‘Broken Telephone’, or ‘Pass the Message’. The term Chinese Whispers has been considered offensive as it denotes sheer confusion and can be misinterpreted as the Chinese language being incomprehensible. This inability of comprehension of a language is also seen in another idiom, ‘It’s all Greek and Latin to me!’.
Free Games For The Workplace
So let’s be on the safer side and simply call the game Telephone or Broken Telephone. The game is meant for settings involving a lot of people, like parties, or as a fun activity in school. The game pairs really good with kids as they are more likely to make audition errors, which is the sole intent of the game. The object of the game is to pass on a message from one person to the other via several others.
Would you like to write for us? Well, we're looking for good writers who want to spread the word. Get in touch with us and we'll talk.
Let’s begin with the Broken Telephone game rules, and then move on to some examples of humorous phrases that can be used to make the game more funny.
How to Play the Broken Telephone Game
- To play the Telephone or the Broken Telephone game, there should be a minimum of 6-8 heads. Try including as many people as you can as it will make the game more fun and entertaining.
- Make everyone stand in a straight line. For bigger groups, even a circular arrangement would work.
- Start the game by whispering a word or preferably a phrase in the ear of the person standing next to you. Try whispering as softly as possible to avoid any other person from hearing it. Let’s assume that the phrase whispered is “bananas are better than biscuits.”
- The next person whispers whatever he/she heard to the person standing next to him, and the game continues in this fashion until the last person receives the phrase.
- The fun actually begins when each person hears and communicates a different version of the original phrase to the next person. So for instance, the third or fourth person might have heard “bananas are bitter than biscuits”, and till it reaches the last person, it could have been something like this, “bandannas are butter and lipsticks.”
- The first and the last person say aloud the original and modified phrase, respectively. In most cases, both the phrases have no connection at all, especially the last phrase being completely weird and funny, getting a hearty laugh out of everyone.
Hard Phrases for the Broken Telephone Game
- I’d love eating toasted cheese and tuna sandwiches.
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and says hello to the cat.
- The angry birds ate candy and crushed the subway surfer.
- A pink pig and a pesky donkey flew a kite at night.
- Rabbits rumble, giants grumble, dogs bark in the dark, and wolves woo in the blue.
- Wednesday is the hump day, but is the camel happy about it.
- Alex the Alsatian ate eleven Éclairs in the evening with an Espresso.
- The Martians invested in shares when the NASDAQ dropped several feet.
- Roger racketed seventeen balls against Sylvester alone.
- Bob the builder rented Oswald’s apartment and borrowed Noddy’s car.