Telephone English 101

September 24, 2009 at 5:58 pm | Posted in Course 6 | 8 Comments

Knowing how to communicate over the phone is a basic skill we all need to learn as we become proficient in the use of English. Below are some of the most common expressions that are used when making or receiving a phone call. You will also find the pronunciation. Enjoy!

The audio file for these expressions is here (copy and paste the address if it doesn’t open automatically):

AUDIO – AUDIO -http://linguavirtus.podbean.com/ (Audio for Listening) AUDIO – AUDIO

Click on “Telephone English Expressions”

Download as a pdf document:

Telephone Language1.0 PRINTABLE PDF DOCUMENT

Telephone Language

Here are some typical phrases that you can use in a telephone conversation.

Answering the phone
  • Hello? (informal)
  • Thank you for calling London Industries. Maggie speaking. How can I help you?
  • Doctor’s office.
Introducing yourself
  • Hey George. It’s Lisa calling. (informal)
  • Hello, this is Julie Madison calling.
  • Hi, it’s Gerry from the dentist’s office here.
  • Caller: Is this Lisa? —-Answer: This is she.* / Speaking.*

*The person answering says this if the caller does not recognize their voice.

Asking to speak with someone
  • Is Fred in? (informal)
  • Is Jackson there, please? (informal)
  • Can I talk to your sister? (informal)
  • May I speak with Mr. Green, please?
  • Would the doctor be in/available?
Connecting someone
  • Just a sec. I’ll get him. (informal)
  • Hang on one second. (informal)
  • Please hold and I’ll put you through to his office.
  • One moment please.
  • All of our operators are busy at this time. Please hold for the next available person.
Making special requests
  • Could you please repeat that?
  • Would you mind spelling that for me?
  • Could you speak up a little please?
  • Can you speak a little slower please. My English isn’t very strong.
  • Can you call me back? I think we have a bad connection.
  • Can you please hold for a minute? I have another call.
Taking a message for someone
  • Sammy’s not in. Who’s this? (informal)
  • I’m sorry, Lisa’s not here at the moment. May I ask who’s calling?
  • I’m afraid he’s stepped out. Would you like to leave a message?
  • He’s on lunch right now. Who’s calling please?
  • He’s busy right now. Can you call again later?
  • I’ll let him know you called.
  • I’ll make sure she gets the message.
Leaving a message with someone
  • Yes, can you tell him his wife called, please.
  • No, that’s okay, I’ll call back later.
  • Yes, it’s James from CompInc. here. When do you expect her back in the office?
  • Thanks, could you ask him to call Brian when he gets in?
  • Do you have a pen handy. I don’t think he has my number.
  • Thanks. My number is 222-3456, extension 12.
Confirming information
  • Okay, I’ve got it all down.
  • Let me repeat that just to make sure.
  • Did you say 555 Charles St.?
  • You said your name was John, right?
  • I’ll make sure he gets the message.
Listening to an answering machine
  • Hello. You’ve reached 222-6789. Please leave a detailed message after the beep.Thank you.
  • Hi, this is Elizabeth. I’m sorry I’m not available to take your call at this time. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
  • Thank you for calling Dr. Mindin’s office. Our hours are 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. Please call back during these hours, or leave a message after the tone. If this is an emergency please call the hospital at 333-7896.
Leaving a message on an answering machine
  • Hey Joel. It’s Zachary. Call me! (informal)
  • Hello, this is Ricardo calling for Luke. Could you please return my call as soon as possible. My number is 334-5689. Thank you.
  • Hello Maxwell. This is Marina from the doctor’s office calling. I just wanted to let you know that you’re due for a check-up this month. Please give us a ring/buzz whenever it’s convenient.
Finishing a conversation
  • Well, I guess I better get going. Talk to you soon.
  • Thanks for calling. Bye for now.
  • I have to let you go now.
  • I have another call coming through. I better run.
  • I’m afraid that’s my other line.
  • I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye.

Have a great day!

Advertisement

8 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. Is there telephone English expresions for listening?

    • Para bajar el archivo de audio den click en:

      http://linguavirtus.podbean.com/ (Arriba del articulo)

      Para el archivo de texto:

      Telephone Language1.0 PRINTABLE PDF DOCUMENT (Arriba del articulo)

    • Hello Fredy,

      Welcome to my blog!

      Thank you for your interest in the Telephone English expressions. I’m sorry it took me a while to reply. Your post was misplaced by the server. You can Find audio file for the telephone expressions here:

      http://linguavirtus.podbean.com/2009/04/20/telephone-english-expressions/

      I hope this helps.

      Manny

  2. Hey, I found your blog while searching on Google your post looks very interesting for me. I will add a backlink and bookmark your site. Keep up the good work! :)

    • Hello RobD,

      Welcome to my Blog. Thank you for your kind words. If there’s anything you’d like to see on this blog, feel free to send any suggestions. :)

      Cheers!

      Manny

  3. Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you. :) :)

  4. I don’t know If I said it already but …Great site…keep up the good work. :) I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks, :)

    A definite great read….

    • Hello BloggerDude,

      Welcome to my blog! Thank you for your encouraging words. I started the blog not long ago but I hope I can provide useful information to my visitors. Any ideas for content are more than welcome! :)

      Cheers!

      Manny


Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.