English For Telephone Conversations

Learning how to communicate effectively on the telephone is of top priority for any student that is learning to speak English and is enrolled in an ESL program. You may want to communicate effectively with relatives, friends, or even for a job interview. However, telephoning in English can be tricky, if one does not possess the necessary skills specific for telephone competency. But with continuous practice, determination, and hard work, one can pick up the necessary skills and vocabulary to be able to converse with anyone all over the world.
One of the biggest barriers to be able to effectively communicate in English is understanding common phrases, or "slang" language. These are terms that sometimes you might come in contact with, and you need to be able to develop special skills to handle them. One way to do this is by role-playing conversations to practice new vocabulary or slang, and thus prepare for any difficulty that might arise.
Even though students may be successful in face to face conservations, they will soon realize that telephoning requires specific skills that just can't be learned in the classroom. Some of these skills are as basic as the ability to speak with someone effectively through the telephone. This may not seem like a skill to someone who has spoken the language their whole lives, but to someone speaking it as a second or third language, this can prove quite difficult. The lack of visual communication often makes students nervous, and can create a challenge for someone who might be able to handle face to face conversations better.
One thing you can do is to kindly ask the other party to slow down a bit. One of the biggest hurdles for students to overcome is speed. Native speakers to the language tend to speak very quickly and with a lot of slang language. This may make it difficult to keep up effectively, so remember that it is not impolite to kindly ask the party to slow down and repeat themselves. By having them repeat key information, it will help you to comprehend what they are saying better, and naturally the party will slow down, trying to be more specific. Asking someone to repeat themselves once or twice will most likely make the person slow down their speech and talk in a slower, more formal tone.
Learning English as a second language can be challenging for even most skilled linguists, but if you stay determined, and practice a lot, you'll be speaking the language in no time. Just remember to slow down and concentrate when talking formally on the telephone and ask the party to do the same if necessary. Practice makes perfect, so find some English speaking friends to call, and practice the language with them, learning proper tone and common terms. This will help you feel more comfortable when you are on that job interview, and you'll sound as if you've been speaking the language your entire life.

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Susan Thomason

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