Speak English Like A Pro
Do you know what ‘hit the ground running’ means? In today’s episode, you will learn more business expressions, business slang, to help you sound more natural and professional at work. Enjoy :)
Transcript
Hola amigos you are listening to the English Made Simple show, this is episode number 1-1-1, triple one, or one hundred and eleven, numero ciento once.
Hello, hello amigos! Hola happy people, welcome to the English Made Simple show my name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net, englishmadesimple punto net. And you are listening to the Short and Sweet episode of the English Made Simple show, where I teach you some useful English expressions.
Today we are going to learn some more corporate phrases – yeeey! Sounds like fun! I know!
We have already learnt some corporate buzzwords or corporate jargon in episode 107, in fact you’ve been learning business speak for the past 7 or 8 episodes. You will be experts soon, you’ll be speaking like pros very soon.
By the way, Pro is a slang word too, it’s an abbreviation actually, it’s short for the word “Professional.” Pro. You’ll be pros!
There are many more words out there actually, new jargon is being created every day even now as we speak, and it’s being created right this very moment.
I am sure in your respective countries you will have some slang words that you would use around the office.
I am going to kick off today’s show with an aussie slang word.
I came across a new one the other day, called “flatchat”. I think this is an Aussie slang, Australian slang.
For the new listeners joining the show, the word slang in Spanish is modismos.
Right, so I learnt a new Australian slang word the other day, it’s very similar to the one I used in episode number #105 – one hundred and five, and the episode is called to be flat out.
And this new word is called…Flat-chat!
Flat-chat can be written as one word or two words, flat chat.
It does have some correlation with the phrase we learnt in episode 105, it does have some similarities with the phrase: flat out, it could even be the same actually.
And it can be used in the same manner. For example, I am flat out today.
You can say to a colleague. I am flat out today.
Meaning I am super busy today.
Or you can say: I’m flat-chat today.
I am extremely busy today.
My friend from the United States was all confused when I used that phrase on her. I said: Hi Ana, I’m flat chat can I call you back in an hour? And she was like, wha’t? What did you say? Speak English!
It’s a great way to play tricks on people. You should try it.
Try it just for fun.
Before I proceed with more corporate phrases, let me explain one phrasal verb that I used earlier in the show.
I used one phrasal verb.
Phrasal verb, to come across – in other words to find, to encounter by accident – in Spanish this is encontrarse por casualidad.
So I said: I came across a new slang word the other day.
I said the phrase in the past tense by the way. I came across.
Okaaaay. Cool bananas!
I also used another corporate phrase earlier, kick-off.
A kick-off is the start of a meeting, an even or an activity or even a soccer game, a football game!
For example: I remember receiving meeting invites titled: A project kick off meeting. In Spanish it would be Reúnion de inicio.
It was a meeting about a new project that was being rolled out. There were about 10 people present at the meeting, all the relevant stakeholders that were involved in the project, for example: the project manager, computer programmers, business analysts and anyone else who had a vested interest in the project.
I hope that ALL made sense!
The next thing I would like to explain is the phrase: to run meetings.
I mentioned it in the last episode which was all about running, organizing and attending meetings, but I didn’t explain the phrase “to run a meeting”
Mmmm, I did that on purpose!
You will hear this phrase used quite often in the corporate world – who is running the meeting?
Who wants to run the meeting? (I don’t!) I am running the meeting here. I am in charge. Yo estoy a cargo.
The person who organises the meeting normally runs it as well, but it’s not always the case. The person who runs the meeting is the person who conducts the meeting and prepares the agenda.
Great, now…. Speaking of running…
I hope what we have learnt in the past few weeks will help you “hit the ground running” in any English speaking company, if you happen to be working overseas or if you happen to be working for a multinational company where you have to use English on a daily basis.
I hope the phrases we learnt will help you “hit the ground running”
To hit the ground running is an informal phrase. And according to Weon Inteligente (he is back!) it means to start working really hard on something with great enthusiasm, with excitement, with eagerness.
So I hope you feel comfortable to start using some of the phrases we learnt recently with no issues, without any hassle. I hope you are able to use them with ease.
Practise them whenever you get a chance.
So having said that, listen up guys: Your assignment, your homework for the rest of the week is to use the phrases that we have learnt in the past 7 or 8 episodes.
I dare you to use the phrase “I am flatchat” instead of saying “I am busy today”. You know just to get a funny reaction from people. Good luck with that!
That’s it for today amigos y amigas, thank you for tuning in to today’s short and sweet episode, it’s been a pleasure as always. You’ve been jamming with Milena from English Made Simple, keep out of mischief…please! Until next time, hasta la proxima!