TELEPHONE ENGLISH (ASKING TO SPEAK TO OTHERS)

Good morning / afternoon / evening everyone, depending on when you are reading this lesson. Welcome back to the Daily Vitamin! 

Today we are going to learn some expressions for asking to speak to other people. When requesting to speak with others, there is no important difference between formal workplace expressions and informal expressions that you would use in your home.

ASKING TO SPEAK TO OTHER PEOPLE: You can use any of the following options to ask to speak to someone on the phone:

1) Can I speak to NAME, please?
2) May I please speak to NAME, please?
3) I'd like to speak to NAME, if it's possible.
4) Is NAME there?
5) Is NAME (at) home?
6) Is NAME in the office?
7) Is NAME available?

Example 1: Can I speak to Mr. Smith, please?

Example 2: May I speak to the Director of Sales, please?

Example 3: I'd like to speak to someone in the Marketing Department, if it's possible.

Example 4: Is Wendy there?

Example 5: Is Janet home?

Example 6: Is Mike in the office?

Example 7: Is Rachel available?

If we combine today's expressions with the greetings from yesterday, then we can begin to form logical phone conversations:

Conversation (formal):
Speaker 1: Good morning. ABC International. How can I help you?
Speaker 2: Good morning. Is Mr Anderson there?

To be more polite (educado), speaker 2 should identify himself.

Conversation (formal):
Speaker 1: Good afternoon. ABC International. This is Rachel. How can I help you?
Speaker 2: Good morning; this is Mr Franklin from InfoSystems. Is Mr Anderson there?

Tomorrow we will look at more options for identifying yourself on the phone and begin to create more sophisticated telephone conversations.

If you have any questions about today's Daily Vitamin, please don't hesitate to post your questions or comments on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and we will get back to you ASAP.

I hope you have a great rest of the day!