Making arrangements on the phone: Three skills

Telephoning in English requires a variety of skills. One of them is having those survival phrases ready to stop your dialogue partner when you need to.

Listen:

If you are practising alone, try recording yourself saying those phrases. Many laptops these days have a built-in microphone, and desktop computers generally allow you to use a headset. Try using a free online playback tool, like Vocaroo .

If your biggest problem is understanding foreign accents, then an excellent way to improve your listening and speaking skills is to join a talk group connecting people from all over the world, like the BBC MB talkgroup on Voxopop.

Finally, brush up your standard telephone phrases, so they become automatic and you can produce them without thinking. On the next page we review 12 phrases that will come in handy when you phone to make arrangements.

Anne Hodgson