Si resolver un conflicto en el lugar de trabajo es ya un asunto delicado, hacerlo en un idioma que no es nuestra lengua materna puede acabar con los nervios de cualquiera. Una frase bienintencionada puede distorsionarse con una traducción mal hecha, convirtiendo un malentendido en un auténtico problema. Si bien el diálogo que reproducimos a continuación trata una situación específica, el vocabulario usado es útil para cualquier situación en la que haya que hacer gala de la capacidad de manejar un conflicto laboral en inglés.
Conflict in the Workplace
Person 1: I can’t believe you’re asking for my help now. When I asked you for help last week, you totally ignored me.
Person 2: But I was on a tight deadline. You know that!
Person 1: Yes, I know, but it’s not the first time it happened. It seems to be a recurring theme.
Person 2: You can’t blame me for the deadlines I’m given.
Person 1: Perhaps not, but we all have deadlines. If we help each other out, we can meet them more easily.
Person 2: I would if I could, but I just don’t have the time.
Person 1: I’m starting to think you really hate me...
Person 2: Don’t put it down to a personality clash. I have no problem with you personally.
Person 1: In that case, look at it this way. My deadline is earlier than yours. If you help me now, I’ll help you afterwards. Then we’ll both meet our deadlines.
Person 2: Actually, when you put it like that, it makes a lot of sense.
Person 1: So you’ll help me?
Person 2: Sure! What do you need me to do?
NOW LET’S REVIEW THE VOCABULARY!
- ‘Can’t believe’ is a phrase used to express surprise and emphasise a statement.
- ‘Tight’ here means ‘not much’ or ‘short’. A ‘deadline’ is a completion date. So when you have a tight deadline (or you are ‘on a tight deadline’), it means you do not have much time to finish the work.
- To ‘blame’ – to hold someone responsible for doing something wrong – is a common theme in conflict situations. Experts recommend a no-blame approach to resolving issues.
- ‘To help out’ is a phrasal verb which means to help someone, especially by doing a particular job.
- Deadlines are ‘met’ (using the verb ‘to meet’). When you finish a task on the completion date, you ‘meet the deadline’.
- ‘I would if I could’ is a phrase used to say that it is not possible to do something, even though you wish you were able to help. It is often followed with, “but I can’t.”
- When you ‘put it down to (something)’, you think that the problem is caused by something in particular.
- A ‘personality clash’ refers to the friction between two people with very different personalities.
- The phrase ‘when you put it like that’ represents acceptance of the fact that a person was wrong, after it has been explained by someone else.
- ‘Make sense’ means to be clear and easy to understand.