Telephone English - How to Answer the Phone

Hi, It's Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your Confident

English Wednesday lesson. This week we're getting very focused on one topic

related to the telephone. It can be so terrifying, nerve-wracking to speak on

the telephone in another language. Even that first moment, those first words when

you answer the telephone in another language are very difficult and

challenging. So that is what we are going to focus on today. There are so many

topics that we could discuss related to the telephone and I actually already

have a couple of lessons on this topic. For example, important tips for

communicating confidently on the telephone or how to speak professionally

on the phone at work. And I'll leave links to those lessons just below this

video. But today I want to focus on something more personal for everyday use.

If you have an English-speaking friend, a neighbor, a colleague, a sister-in-law, or the

doctor's office calls you and those phone calls are in English, what do you

say the very first moment that you pick up the phone?

What do native speakers say? That is exactly what we're going to focus on. And

we'll also take a look at some of the pronunciation that will help you sound

more natural so that you can answer the phone and feel confident from the very

first moment in English. So today we're going to look at just four ways of

answering the phone in your everyday life in English. And these are the most

common ways that native speakers use every day. The first one is really simple.

Wo what we're going to focus on is the pronunciation. Most native speakers when

their friend, their colleague, the doctor's office, when someone calls them

in English we answer: hello? Hello? It's just a simple greeting - hello - but if

you notice when I say that word, when I answer the phone, my intonation goes up

at the end, just like a question. I'm not giving a greeting. What I'm really doing

is saying hello? Who is this? But we simply say hello. So I want you to

practice saying that but work on the intonation at the end. Your voice should

go up - hello? And imagine that you're asking the question. That will help

you have the correct intonation for when you answer the phone in that way. And

that is the simplest easiest way to answer the telephone when someone calls

you. Of course now with mobile phones we almost always know who's calling. We

don't need to ask - hello? We know who it is. We know that it's our best friend, our

children's teacher, the yoga teacher at the gym because we have their name, their

picture, their phone number right on our phone. So typically we want an expression

that's much more casual and friendly. With the people that we know really well

we have two really simple casual ways to greet someone on the phone. When we know

who they are and we want to be just relaxed and friendly the first one is: hi

Sue, what's up? Hi Sue, what's up? Now what's up is a very common greeting.

You've probably heard it before and it's just a simple way for us to say hello

and how is it going, what have you been up to.

And I want you to listen to the words because I don't say "what's up." We really

combine the two words so the sounds between the words connect with what's up (whassup)?

What's up (whassup)? A second example is: Hey Sue, how's it going? Hey Sue, how's it going?

I'm saying: how is it going. Four words. But when I say it

we really put all of the sounds together. We connect the sounds: how's it going (howz'it goin')?

How's it going (howz'it goin')? I want you to practice saying it like that because it sounds so

much more natural when we combine those sounds. How is it going (howz'it goin')? So when you know

who the person is, it's your friend, someone that you know very well at work,

simply say hey and their name, what's up, how's it going. That is an extremely

common way to answer the telephone in English. Now if it's the doctor's office

or the principal at your children's school, you probably don't want to use

something so casual and relaxed. You don't want to use what's up. So the best

way to answer the telephone when it's a number that you don't recognize and

you're not sure who might be calling you, you can simply say: Hello? This is Anne

Marie. Hello? This is Anne Marie. So you simply include your first name when you

answer the telephone. Hello? This is ___. It is an extremely polite and considerate or

thoughtful way to answer the phone because you immediately let the caller

know who they are talking to. And our last expression for today - there are

times of course when you don't know who is calling and you might answer the

phone and simply say hello and the other person, the caller, will say, "May I speak

to ___?" and then a name. For example, maybe they want to talk to you. May I speak to

Susan? May I speak to Joe? May I speak to Anne Marie? And when we hear that on the

telephone, there are two things that we can say. The first one might sound a

little bit funny, a little bit strange but we really say it. I might simply say:

this is she.

This is she. This is she. I'm letting the caller know that I am the person they

want to speak to. If they say, "May I speak to Anne Marie?" This is she.

Or I can also say, "This is Anne Marie." This is Anne Marie. And that's it for really

simple, common, natural ways for you to answer the phone in English. Whether it's

someone that you know really well and you feel comfortable with or someone new

to you, maybe someone new in your English speaking community or a new friend and

colleague who only communicates in English. Now if you want more on this

topic, I do have some other lessons on it. Make sure that you look for those links

just below this video. And as always I do have a question for you. I want to know

about your experience communicating on the phone in English. What's your biggest

challenge? What are you most afraid of? What is the hardest part of speaking on

the phone in English? I want to make sure that I give every opportunity to answer

questions that you have or to create opportunities for you to learn something

new so that you can communicate more easily and naturally in your everyday

life. So share with me in the comments: what is your biggest fear or challenge

about the telephone? Or maybe you have a success story. Maybe you have a moment

when you communicated on the telephone, you were really nervous and then

everything went perfectly well. I want to hear about it. I would

love for you to share that story. You can do all of that - ask questions, share your

challenges, your fears, and your success stories - with me in the comments just

below this video. And with that have a fantastic week. I'll see you next

Wednesday for your Confident English Wednesday lesson.