One of the things people usually hate doing most in English is speaking on the phone. In face-to-face conversations you have facial expression, body language and other visual factors to help you understand. On the phone you only have a voice to listen to and your own voice to communicate with. Interference on the phone line or outside noise all contribute to making things more difficult. The solution? Prepare well, use your voice in the correct way, and have a few emergency phrases ready for when you get into difficulty.
COMPLEX CALLS
Telephoning to book a restaurant or calling a new friend to arrange a meeting may not cause you many problems. Sooner or later, however, you will have to make a more complex telephone call. This could be to ask for important information related to your work or studies, or, if you are living in the UK, it could be related to your accommodation.
People who work in offices often have their own very specific language, or even acronyms, for things and processes they use and perform every day. They frequently forget that people outside of their group don’t always know what those terms and acronyms mean. English mother-tongue speakers also find it difficult to distinguish between an easy word and a difficult one in their own language. They have no idea which words foreign people usually learn first.
NEW TERMS
When some friends of mine recently went through the process of renting a house in the UK, they had to deal with some difficult phone calls that were full of very specific language, such as ‘tenancy agreement’ – often referred to as the ‘T.A.’, which is the contract between the owner of the house and the person renting the property.
Then there were many other terms they had never heard of, like ‘key release’, ‘down payment’ and ‘cleared funds’. Even if your English vocabulary is extensive, every time you do something new in English, you will discover a whole range of new terms and expressions and the worst time to do this is on the phone.
BE PREPARED!
As usual, the key to a good performance starts with thorough preparation. You could very simply read about the subject you need to discuss before you make the call. In the example I gave above, you could do a simple online search with a question like ‘How do I rent a property in the UK?’ The results should give you an idea of the kind of vocabulary you’ll need for your phone conversation.
Correct pronunciation is fundamental in this situation, so, if you’re not sure how to say some of the new words you discover, you must find out. Try googling ‘tenancy pronunciation’ and you’ll find plenty of audio clips where you can hear the word ‘tenancy’ repeated loudly and clearly. This preparation will make you feel much more confident and in control when the time comes.
IDENTIFY YOURSELF
When you actually make the call, remember to identify yourself clearly so that that the person you’re calling can hear and remember your name. In English we say ‘Hello/Good morning, this is Emma Colombo’, and not ‘I am…’
It’s also a good idea to say exactly why you’re calling … ‘I’m a first year student on your Business Management course and I’m calling to ask about…’, ‘I’m calling to enquire about a two-bedroom property in Station Road,’ or ‘I’d like to go through the agenda of the meeting tomorrow.’
If you are calling from abroad you should say that too: ‘I’m telephoning from Italy/Spain.’ It will encourage the person you are talking to, to be as brief as possible and this will hopefully cut costs and simplify the language used.
Remember that excellent listening skills are fundamental to any communication and particularly to public speaking. Listen carefully to the tone of voice of the person you are speaking to. Have they understood? If they sound hesitant, ask: ‘Was that clear?’
TAKE YOUR TIME
Use your voice. Human beings often reflect each other’s behaviour, so if you speak slowly and clearly, the other person will probably do the same. If they don’t, then you need a range of simple phrases to help you: ‘I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that’, ‘Could you spell the name of the road, please?’, ‘So that’s 0787 633 957.’ ‘I’m not sure what you mean by “key release”’. And the one that never fails: ‘I’m sorry but English isn’t my first language, would you mind speaking more slowly?’
When it’s your turn to speak, take your time. Remember, the person listening wants to hear what you have to say.