Making phone calls in English
There’s nothing worse than driving for 30-40 minutes to got to a restaurant, or a shop, when you’re on vacation, and when you get there – it’s closed!
Aaaaaargh!
The solution is to go the old fashioned route and call ahead.
But picking up the phone can be a scary thing.
What are you supposed to say, after all?
That’s the problem I’ll solve for you in today’s post.
First, you need to know there’s a certain phone calling custom you should follow.
Here’s the wrong way:
Hello. What time do you close?
And the right way:
Hello. Good afternoon… I was wondering what time you close?
It’s really, really important you say ‘Good morning’, ‘Good afternoon’, or ‘Good evening’.
Why?
Because this custom gives the other person a chance to respond. And people like that.
Here’s how it looks in a conversation:
Ring. Ring. Ring.
A. Hello.
B. Hi, this is Jeremiah calling. Good morning.
A. Good morning.
B. I was wondering what time you close today..?
A. We close at 5pm.
B. Great. I’ll be in a little later then. Thanks!
A. You’re very welcome. See you then.
Do you see how that sets up a nice back and forth? That’s important for making a nice, easy conversation.
Now let’s look at asking for help with finding the restaurant.
First, the wrong way:
Where is your restaurant? How do I get there?
And the right way:
I’m not sure how to get to your restaurant… could you give me a hand with that?
See how that works?
First, state your problem, then add : “could you give me a hand with that?”
And you can use this in all kinds of situations.
For example:
The air conditioner in my room isn’t working… could you give me a hand with that?
I need a taxi, tomorrow morning at 7am… could you give me a hand with that?
I don’t know what highway to take to get there… could you give me a hand with that?
So make sure to use this phone call custom.
Because when you started the conversation the right way, with an easy back-and-forth rhythm… just like I showed you, above… and you ask for help by stating the problem, and then ask for help… you’ll find that making calls in English isn’t as hard as you thought it was.
 Alright, practice time!
If you want to get good at English, you’ve got to practice.
So here’s today’s challenge.
Call 5 business in the United States and ask them about:
Their hours: “I was wondering what time you close?”
How you get there from ‘downtown’: “I’m not sure how to get there form downtown… could you give me a hand with that?”
And how long it takes to get there: “I was wondering how long it takes to get there, with traffic?”
If you don’t have an international plan on your phone, just open up Skype, and put a few dollars in your account and start dialing. It’s easy.
Most importantly, this is going to give you some real experience. And with experience, the lessons and the vocabulary sink in so much deeper. And the next time you’re traveling, you’ll always know exactly what to say on the phone, so you can plan your itinerary much easier, and enjoy your travels much more.
Alright, go for it!
And let me know how it went in the comment section, below 🙂