Lesson 27: travelling on business the visit of a foreign partner

1. Read the dialogues and learn how to make business conversations:

Dialogue I

Business telephone conversation

Lock: Hello! Is that “Intersport?”

Secretary: Yes. Secretary speaking. Who’s calling?

Lock: Lock of Brown and Sons company. I’d like to speak to the President, please. Is he available?

Secretary: Mr. Utekeshev is on another line. Can you hold on?

Lock: Certainly.

Utekeshev: Utekeshev speaking.

Lock: Hello, Mr. Utekeshev. It’s Lock. Our delegation is coming to Almaty next week.

Utekeshev: Glad to hear that. When will they arrive?

Lock: On Monday.

Utekeshev: That’s good. And what do you think of our offer?

Lock: Our people are still studying your offer and catalogues. But we think, your prices are too high, you know.

Utekeshev: Well, we can meet next week and discuss the prices.

Lock: Agreed. See you next week.

Dialogue II

At the airport

• Excuse me … Are you Mr. Lock?

• Yes.

• I’m Arman Salimov from a railway plant. How do you do?

• How do you do?

• Have I kept you waiting?

• Oh, no …The plane’s just arrived. Thank you for coming to meet me.

• Not at all. Did you have a good trip?

• Yes, thank you. I was a bit airsick. But now I’m O.K.

• My car’s just outside the airport. My driver will take your suitcase.

• Thank you.

Dialogue III

At the plant

Mr. Lock is a representative of an industrial company. He is visiting the plant the President of which is Mr. Utekeshev. They are discussing the problem of sale of Kazakh equipment to Great Britain.

Mr. Lock: I like your plant, Mr. Utekeshev, very much. It’s really good and modern.

Mr. Utekeshev: Glad to hear that. The plant is really good. We built it only two years ago.

Mr. Lock: I wonder how long it took you to construct it.

Mr. Utekeshev: Four years, though it’s one of the biggest plants here.

Mr. Lock: You produce very good equipment, especially I like your compressors, and they are easy to operate and reliable.

Mr. Utekeshev: That’s right. Our compressors are in great demand in the world market. We export them to a number of countries of the world.

Mr. Lock: We know that the quality of your equipment is very high and we are going to conclude a contract and to place a big order with you.

2. Fill in the missed parts:

A. Hello ….!

B. Hello ….!

A. Are you …with your going to Great Britain?

B. I think everything …. all right. We discussed prices and …. delivery.

A. Did you ….. anything else?

B. No, nothing …., as far as I remember.

A. What …. the contract for?

B. For electronic equipment. We bought lots of telephones, fax machines and copiers from ….. last year. This year we are …. to buy more.

A. Congratulations! Are you …. anything else?

B. I don’t ….. .

3. Act out the following situations:

1. Your friend was on business last month. Find out, where he was and what he did during his business trip.

2. Ask your friend about his business trip. Find out, where he was, what problems he discussed and if he was pleased with the trip.

3. Phone your customer and tell him that you will call for him at his hotel to take him to the plant where he will see the equipment he is going to buy from you. Agree about the time.

4. Your customer’s representatives have been to your plant. Ask them about the visit, their impressions of the plant; answer their questions about the plant and the equipment.