Tuesday Teaser. 1-10 are situations you might find yourself in. How would you deal with them and what would you say? Sometimes there are, of course, different possible answers.
1) On the phone: you ask the other person to write down your company address.
2) You hand out papers to the participants of a meeting.
3) You meet a business acquaintance. It was his birthday a day earlier.
4) In a restaurant with a client, ask what s/he wants.
5) On the phone: Your boss doesn’t want to speak to pesky caller. Get rid of him.
6) In a formal meeting, you want to put in your two cents (sein Senf dazu geben).
7) You arrive at internal meeting 10 minutes late.
8) Your colleague asks to borrow something off you (e.g. hole punch (Locher))
9) You see a colleague carrying a heavy box.
10) At a social event in a bar, you announce you will buy in these drinks.
Answers. 1) ….. 2) ….. 3) ….. 4) ….. 5) …… 6) …… 7) ……. 8) …… 9) …… 10) ……
Answers to Tuesday Teaser. Just a quick reminder of the questions. 1-10 are situations you might find yourself in. How would you deal with them and what would you say? Sometimes there are, of course, different possible answers.
1) On the phone: you ask the other person to write down your company address. Possible answers: Have you got a pen handy? / Could you just make a note of …. ? Would you like to take down the address?
2) You hand out papers to the participants of a meeting. Possible answers: Here you are / there you go. (Please no PLEASE – typical Denglish)
3) You meet a business acquaintance. It was his birthday a day earlier. Possible answers: Happy birthday belatedly / Many happy returns belatedly.
4) In a restaurant with a client, ask what s/he wants. Possible answers: What are you having/taking? Have you made up your mind? (with native What do you fancy?)
5) On the phone: Your boss doesn’t want to speak to pesky caller. Get rid of him. Possible answers: I’m afraid, Mr Smith isn’t available right now. / He asked me to ask /tell you not to call again, thank you.
6) In a formal meeting, you want to put in your two cents (seinen Senf dazu geben). Possible answers: Excuse me, I’d like to come in here. / If I could just say …? / If I may just interject (einwerfen) at this point? VERY FORMAL.
7) You arrive at internal meeting 10 minutes late. Possible answers: So sorry for coming late, was tied up with (beschäftigt mit) a customer. / Sorry, I’m late. Got held up (jdn aufhalten) in traffic / by Dave.
8) Your colleague asks to borrow something off you (e.g. hole punch (Locher)) Possible answers: Yes, go ahead / Yes, feel free / Yes, help yourself / If you can find it, you can have it – for those untidy ‘desk’ people.
9) You see a colleague carrying a heavy box. Possible answers: Can I give you a hand? Here let me grab that end/side of the box. Or you could be mean (gemein) and ask “Can you manage?”
10) At a social event in a bar, you announce you will buy in these drinks. Possible answers: They’re on me. / It’s my round. / I’ll get this one/round in.