Learn how to make business-related small talk
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to Polishpod101.com. This is Business Polish for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 11 - Making Small Talk in Poland. John here. |
| Marzena: Cześć, I'm Marzena. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make business-related small talk. The conversation takes place in a restaurant. |
| Marzena: It's between Monika and Tomek. |
| John: The speakers are professional acquaintances, therefore, they will speak formal Polish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Monika: Panie Tomku, miło mi było pana znowu zobaczyć. |
| Tomek: Mnie również. Cieszę się, że interesy idą dobrze. |
| Monika: Tak, ostatnio mamy dużo pracy. |
| Tomek: Następnym razem zapraszam do naszej firmy. Pokażę pani linię produkcyjną. |
| Monika: Dziękuję. Brzmi bardzo ciekawie. |
| Monika: Czy możemy prosić o rachunek? |
| Tomek: Proszę mi pozwolić zapłacić. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Monika: Panie Tomku, miło mi było pana znowu zobaczyć. |
| Tomek: Mnie również. Cieszę się, że interesy idą dobrze. |
| Monika: Tak, ostatnio mamy dużo pracy. |
| Tomek: Następnym razem zapraszam do naszej firmy. Pokażę pani linię produkcyjną. |
| Monika: Dziękuję. Brzmi bardzo ciekawie. |
| Monika: Czy możemy prosić o rachunek? |
| Tomek: Proszę mi pozwolić zapłacić. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Monika: Mr. Tomek, it was nice to see you again. |
| Tomek: Same here. I'm glad your business is going well. |
| Monika: Yes, lately we have a lot of work. |
| Tomek: Next time, please visit our company. I will show you our production line. |
| Monika: Thank you. That sounds very interesting. |
| Monika: Can we get the bill, please? |
| Tomek: Let me pay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: It sounds like Mr. Tomek runs his own business. |
| Marzena: Yeah, that could be the case. |
| John: What other working options are there in Poland? |
| Marzena: Freelancing is becoming more common in Poland. |
| John: It’s becoming pretty popular? |
| Marzena: More people are registering as freelancers each year. |
| John: Why is it becoming more popular? |
| Marzena: Unfortunately, some have no choice. |
| John: Why is that? |
| Marzena: Because companies won’t hire them full time. |
| John: I suppose that if you can’t get enough hours to be full time in one place, you’re left with no choice. |
| Marzena: That’s right. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: zobaczyć [natural native speed] |
| John: to see |
| Marzena: zobaczyć [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: zobaczyć [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: również [natural native speed] |
| John: too |
| Marzena: również [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: również [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: interes [natural native speed] |
| John: business |
| Marzena: interes [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: interes [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: następny [natural native speed] |
| John: next |
| Marzena: następny [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: następny [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: firma [natural native speed] |
| John: company |
| Marzena: firma [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: firma [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: ciekawie [natural native speed] |
| John: interestingly |
| Marzena: ciekawie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: ciekawie [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: rachunek [natural native speed] |
| John: check, bill |
| Marzena: rachunek [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: rachunek [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Marzena: zapłacić [natural native speed] |
| John: to pay |
| Marzena: zapłacić [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: zapłacić [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: Czy możemy prosić o rachunek? |
| John: meaning "Can we get the bill, please?" |
| John: Let’s break down this phrase a little. |
| Marzena: First is czy, a question particle. Możemy is next, and means "can we." After that is prosić o. |
| John: This means "to ask for." The final word means "bill." |
| Marzena: That is rachunek. |
| John: This is useful in a restaurant or bar. |
| Marzena: It sounds formal but can be used in many different settings. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say... Przepraszam, czy możemy prosić o rachunek? |
| John: ...which means "Excuse me, can we get the bill, please?" |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Marzena: Proszę mi pozwolić zapłacić. |
| John: meaning "Let me pay." |
| John: This is a phrase. |
| Marzena: First is Pozwolić. |
| John: This means "to let," in the context of letting someone do something. |
| Marzena: There is also zapłacić a perfective form of the verb płacić. |
| John: "to pay." This phrase can be used when you want to pay for someone. |
| Marzena: It’s rather formal, so you wouldn’t use it with your friends. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say... Ależ proszę mi pozwolić zapłać. |
| John: ... which means "But please, let me pay." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about business small talk. Can you give us a phrase that you think would be useful when making small talk in a business setting? |
| Marzena: cieszę się, że |
| John: This means "I’m glad that." |
| Marzena: It’s quite formal, and cieszę się, że can be used by both men and women in that form. |
| John: You would then add a sentence after it to show what you are glad of. Can you give us an example? |
| Marzena: Cieszę się, że przyjęła pani moje zaproszenie. |
| John: "I’m glad that you accepted my invitation." How about one more? |
| Marzena: Cieszę się, że transakcja się udała. |
| John: "I’m glad that the transaction went well." Now, let’s look at invitations. |
| Marzena: In informal settings you can use verbs such as przyjedź. |
| John: This means "come." Although business invitations are usually formal, there are some situations when you don’t need to be too formal. |
| Marzena: In a business setting you can use the verb zapraszać. |
| John: "To invite" |
| Marzena: You’ll use it as either zapraszam, "I invite" or zapraszamy |
| John: "we invite." The verb is usually followed by a preposition, which changes depending on whether it is a place or an event. |
| Marzena: We usually use do with a place and na with an event. |
| John: Let’s look at the sentence pattern. |
| Marzena: Zapraszam do naszej firmy. |
| John: "I invite you to our company." Here, the noun is in genitive case. |
| Marzena: Zapraszamy do zwiedzania. |
| John: "We invite you to go sightseeing." This is also in genitive case. |
| Marzena: Zapraszam na kawę. |
| John: "I invite you for a coffee." Here, the noun is in accusative case. |
| Marzena: Zapraszamy na uroczyste otwarcie naszego sklepu. |
| John: "We invite you for the grand opening of our shop." This is also in accusative case. Let’s finish this lesson by looking at how to accept or decline the invitations. |
| Marzena: Będzię mi bardzo miło. |
| John: "It will be a great pleasure." |
| Marzena: Bardzo dziękuję za zaproszenie, ale niestety nie dam rady. |
| John: "Thank you for your invitation, but sadly I will not make it." |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Marzena: Do zobaczenia! |
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