Common English for foreign company office

1. In the middle of something?
Are you busy?

I know that there are many people who have learned a saying for a certain concept, and then they will only use this saying. For example, are you busy? 'Many people know how to say this sentence in their country. "Are you busy? "When talking about studying in the United States for three years, he will only say" are you busy? ". In fact, sometimes we need to broaden our horizons and make different changes to the same concept, just like" are you busy? "In this sentence, laomei is also very often used" in the middle of something? ", (But this sentence is closer to" are you busy right now? "Is it busy to ask if people are 'right? "Are you busy? "It has a wide range of meanings. Can it mean 'latest' busy ?) Don't underestimate this small change? "Besides, sometimes you know How to deliberately use" in the middle of something? "I believe that your English will be different from others. for example, if you want to gossip in the office and are afraid that people are busy, you can ask him, "in the middle of something? "(Busy ?)

I remember that the usage of in the middle of something was also found in a black movie down to earth not long ago. However, the actor used this sentence to propose an argument, "The first kiss is always in the middle of something. "That is to say, the first kiss always happens when talking about half of the talk, or when you are doing other things, it is usually not surprising. he also thought, "the first kiss is the only real kiss in your relationship. "(only the first kiss is the real kiss)," The others are just protocols "(all others are just a perfunctory and imaginary story .)

2. What are you up?
What are you doing?

Just like in the example above, 'What are you doing? 'Usually we will only say, "What are you doing? "Isn't that boring? In fact, sometimes we can put it in other words. For example: "What are you up? "I also asked people what you are doing. Let me assume that you are in the office and want to find someone to gossip about, so I asked my colleagues," in the middle of something? "He replied," kind of. "(that's it.) Then you can break the casserole and ask," What are you up? "(What have you been busy with recently ?) In addition, sometimes the old beauty will ask "What are you up? "What do you want to do recently? With another greeting "what's up? "It means very close, but you have to listen to each other's tone! Sometimes "What are you up? "Does it mean" what are you doing? "But it is, 'What are you doing? ! For example, when you see someone messing around with your stuff, you can ask him, "Hey, what are you up? "That is, scold him. What are you doing? '. Or, like the father of a drug dealer in the blow movie, scold his son, "I know what you are up. "(I know what you are doing .) in the above examples, "What are you up? "What are you doing? "To replace, just because we want to change while talking, we need to learn several different ways.

Actually, "What are you up? "There are many other meanings. I will not list them here. But another common explanation is: 'What is the progress? 'For example, if a friend tells you that he is writing a martial arts novel (just like my labmate), you can ask him, "What are you up? "(How is the progress?) and his answer may be," I am writing chapter 3 now. "I am writing Chapter 3.

3. Can you just give me a ballpark figure?
Can you give me a rough number.

Ballpark refers to a park dedicated to ball games, especially a large baseball stadium. For example, at home of the Atlanta Braves, Turner Field is a ballpark. What is ballpark figure? Generally, in baseball games, not the audience today is reported. For example, is it 49,132? This number 49,132 is ballpark figure, but it is only an approximate estimate, so ballpark figure refers to the approximate estimate. so in the company, if the boss asks the accountant, what is the total amount of water and electricity fees last month? Then add a sentence, "Just give me a ballpark figure. "It means that I only need a large number. even some lazy people just talk about ballpark, so the boss may say, "I'll need a ballpark of the revenue last year. "(I need the approximate number of revenue last year .) you need to know that this ballpark is what ballpark figure means.

In fact, there are many slang statements like ballpark. If you ask Americans, I promise 99.9% of them know what ballpark means. however, many foreigners, no matter whether they are fluent in English or stay in the United States for a long time, still often do not understand the situation. professor Xiao binlin's guidance is a European, but he has been in the United States for more than ten years. Fluent English is naturally a poor language. but what? Once I told her, "I can only give you a ballpark. "she asked me what ballpark meant. the reason I want to tell you this story is to tell you how to use this slang to talk to Americans. It is usually okay, but if you are going to talk to the Americans, it is also very fluent, ABC, or foreigners who have lived in the United States for a long time, do not guarantee they can understand.

4. Bottom line: we have to turn into profit by 2002.
The most important thing is that we must turn to profit before 2002.

Have you read the financial statements? The above are a lot of dense figures, which tell you how much your company has, how much depreciation, and how much accounts are receivable. but these are not the most important. The most important line is the bottom line. net earnings tells you whether the company is making money or losing money in total, (This is actually the most important thing, isn't it ?) Therefore, the word bottom line becomes the most important thing. For example, there is a sentence in the mall.Famous saying, "In business, if you don't take care of your MERs, somebody else will. and that is the bottom line. "(if you don't care about your customers, others will. This is the most important principle .) in addition, bottom line also has a 'final baseline ', which means 'no longer let back. for example, the boss can tell employees, "Bottom Line: We have to ship this order by Friday. "(my final constraint is that we must deliver the goods before Friday .)

5. The new CFO was sent to bring the company out of the red.
The new chief financial officer was sent to save the company from the deficit.

Chinese people like red, so when the stock market rose sharply, it was red. however, European and American countries have different perceptions of red. Red represents a loss and a deficit. as mentioned above, if bottom line is written in red, it means that the company will lose money as a whole. on the contrary, if it is written with a black pen, it indicates that it is profitable. therefore, we can often hear about in the red or in the black, which means that the company does not make any money. of course, we can also use the simplest statement: lose money and make money, or unprofitable and profitable, to indicate losing money or making money. for example, this company makes money. You can say, "this company is in the black. "," The comapny is making money. "or" the company is profitable. "Yes.

When talking about this profitable, I have to remind you of the word "Non-Profit", because some people often make mistakes. the word "Non-Profit" does not mean making money, but "non-profit". For example, we can say that it is a non-profit organization and a non-profit organization like the Consumer Culture and Education Foundation, such organizations do not aim to make money. however, nonprofitable means that, if you do not make any money, it is equal to unprofitable or non-profit-making.

6. Shelly just called in sick.
Shelly just called to ask for sick leave.

Call in sick is a phrase that is often used in the office. It refers to a person who calls to say that he is ill and cannot come to work. if you are interested in listening to this sentence, you may wish to see "what women want? "(Male) I remember the phrase" call in sick. of course, there must be a considerable proportion of this kind of thinking, that is, they are just lazy and don't want to go to work. Otherwise, they are making excuses for collective strikes, for example, "some workers called in sick to have a strike. "(some workers strike by collective calls for sick leave .)

What should I do if it is normal to take sick leave (sick leave/medical leave? You can say, "I need a sick leave for two days. "(I need two days of sick leave .) or if your wife is about to give birth and wants to take personal leave, you can say, "I'm asking for a three-day paid/unpaid personal leave for my wife's labor. "(because my wife is born, I want to take three days off .) as for whether to deduct the money? (Paid/unpaid) depends on the company's policy.

7. I just heard that seven people are going be laid off next month.
I just heard that the company wants to cut seven employees next month.

The unemployment rate has been rising recently, so I will also talk about layoffs. there are many methods for companies to lay off employees. The most common one is the word layoff (if it is written separately: Lay off is a verb, but it is a noun to write it together ). for example, "Cisco issues a profit warning, plans layoffs. "(Cisco issued earnings warning, plans to cut jobs .) of course, we can also use a more oral statement to describe cut jobs or slash jobs. For example, we can also say, "Cisco plans to cut/slash jobs. "(Cisco plans to lay off employees .) according to roadside news, layoff is listed in the latest commonly used 3000 vocabulary in English due to its recent significant growth in its ranking in English. ^__^

What if I am unfortunately laid off in the United States? Remember two sentences. The first sentence is, "Whose demo-was this? "(Who decides this .) as the saying goes, if you have a debt, you first need to know who is driving you. In the future, you need to deflate your car tires to know which one you want to put. in other words, "I am between jobs. "This sentence is useful when looking for a new job. don't say, "I just got laid off. "It's hard to hear! You should say, "I am between jobs. "I happen to be in the gap between the two work rooms. it sounds quite euphemistic. This is what Joseph taught me, a friend who had just been cut, because he spoke about "I am between jobs. "A new job has been found in Houston, Texas.

8. He suggested we shoshould go to eat after my graveyard shift.
He suggested that we could eat together after my night shift.

Shift is called shift in English, for example, three shifts are called three shifts. for example, "we have to work in three shifts to keep the company running. "(we must take three shifts to keep the factory running .) I think everyone knows that the three shifts are day and night, night shift and night shift. in English, daily shift is day shift or regular shift, while night shift is night shift. what about the night shift? There is an interesting way to explain it, called Graveyard shift. So if you want to explain that you are on the night shift, you can say, "I work on the graveyard shift ."

Why is it graveyard shift? This is a widely-spread story. In the 19th century, people may accidentally bury people who are still living as dead people. to avoid such a tragedy, they mounted an electric bell in every coffin so that the 'body' that had unexpectedly woken up could be ringed for help. therefore, another elder brother must conduct inspections at the cemetery (Graveyard) at night so that someone can immediately notify their families when the bell rings. so the night shift became graveyard shift. do you believe this legend? It's up to you!

9. I am only a regular 9-to-5er.
I am an ordinary 9-to-5 office worker.

I believe that the Chinese word "9 to 5" should be directly translated from the English word "9-to-5", right? Most of the work time of office workers is fixed from to, so 9-to-5 is usually used for commuting. I remember once I talked to laomei, who had been working in the society for many years and came back to the institute, about his motivation to go back to school, and he told me, "I don't want to work 9 to 5 for the rest of my life. "(I don't want to do nine to five jobs all my life .) in addition, such office workers can claim to be 9-to-5er, that is, 9-to-5 office workers. but what about me like Xiao binlin? I should have claimed to be 10-to-3er. (Of course I didn't go home so seriously at three o'clock in the morning, but I went home for a nap at three o'clock P.M !)

10. I refuse to work overtime during the weekend.
I refuse to work overtime on weekends.

Overtime is called work overtime. for example, if someone calls you out for dinner tonight, you say, "Sorry, I have to work overtime. "I just told him that I'm sorry, I have to work overtime tonight. however, it is interesting that besides 'overtime ', overtime can also be called overtime. for example, you can say "you have to pay me overtime! "(You have to pay for my overtime.) But now the time is good. I just want to whisper.

In addition to this pay overtime, laomei also uses two other words: double time and one-half. double time refers to double wages, while time and one-half or time and a half refer to double half. for example, if the boss asks you to do some extra work, you can say, "if you pay me double time, I'll do it. "(if you pay me twice, I will do it .) re-create a sentence, "I like to work on holidays because I am on time and a half. "(I like to work on holidays because my salary is twice and a half .)