Kevin: Hello and welcome to Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin Podcasting episode 75. A great place to review English words and phrases. My name is Kevin Jones. In this business edition of the podcast we will look at  a pattern used when starting a company tour.

First, listen to this conversation.

Executive: Hello Mr. Sanchez. I’m Gloria Summers. I’ll be showing you around our headquarters.

Visitor: It’s good to meet you Ms. Summers.

Executive: Nice to meet you too. So, shall we get started? Our tour should take about 15 minutes. Please be sure to stop me if you have any questions.

Visitor: OK I will.

Executive: Great. So, let’s get started. This is the twenty-second floor which has reception and 15 meeting rooms  for small meetings and for large group meetings and training.

Visitor: What’s the capacity of the largest meeting room?

Executive: Well, we can combine several rooms together for a total capacity of about 150 people. We usually do that for general company meetings.

Visitor: I see.

Executive: Shall we move on to the  twenty-third floor?

Visitor: Sure.

Executive: Here on the twenty-third floor we have all the administrative offices including HR and accounting.

Visitor: Are the executive offices on this floor too?

Executive: No. the Presidents office and the rest of the executive offices are on the twenty-fifth floor. That’s where we’ll finish.

Visitor: OK.

Executive: This floor also has the marketing, sales and sales support offices. OK, that’s it for this floor. This is the twenty-fourth floor. Here we have all of the software engineering departments. Here on the left is the SQA department.

Visitor: Excuse me what does SQA mean.

Executive: Oh sorry, SQA means software quality assurance. This is were we   do quality checks on all software before it is sent out to customers.

Visitor: I see, thank you.

Executive: On the other side here we have our R&D department were we develop new products and create customized solutions for customers.

Visitor: How many people work in R&D

Executive: Right now, about 45. However, we plan to increase that to 75 next year.

Visitor: Why is that?.

Executive: Several big projects are starting up. Our head of R&D will be meeting with you after lunch. Oh! here she is now. Rika. This is Mr. Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez, this is Rika Sato, our head of R&D.

Ms. Sato: Good to meet you Mr. Sanchez. I look forward to our  meeting.

Visitor: Likewise.

Executive: OK. Let’s move on to the twenty-fifth floor. Here are the executive offices. The president’s office is just over there.

Visitor: Is he here today?.

Executive: Unfortunately not. He’s away at the New York office. Well that’s it for the tour. If you don’t have any questions, I’ll take you to your lunch meeting with our vice president.

Visitor: That sounds fine.

Kevin: In this conversation. The executive greeted the visitor...

Executive: Hello Mr. Sanchez. I’m Gloria Summers. I’ll be showing you around our headquarters.

Kevin: Then began the tour with the phrase...

Executive: So,Shall we get started?

Kevin: She then explained how much time the tour would take.

Executive: Our tour should take about 15 minutes...

Kevin: She then invited any questions.

Executive: Please be sure to stop me if you have any questions.

Kevin: Now let’s put it all together. Listen again and try to repeat after each phrase.

Executive: So, shall we get started?

*******

Executive: Our tour should take about 15 minutes...

*******

Executive: Please be sure to stop me if you have any questions.

*******

Kevin: Good. Now, did you notice the question the visitor asked?

Visitor: What’s the capacity of the largest meeting room?

Kevin: Do you remember the word capacity? it means the maximum that something can hold. Next let’s review what to say when you don’t understand the meaning of a word.

Visitor: Excuse me what does SQA mean.

Kevin: What does SQA mean. Or you could say What does that mean?

or you could say What is the meaning of SQA.  Go back and listen the conversation again and practice some the questions the visitor asks.

That's all the time we have for this podcast. You can find a transcript for this podcast and listen to past episodes at www.nichibei.ac.jp . And be sure to check out the classes for the next term at Nichibei. We have classes in business, conversation, TOEIC, art and history and others. Find out why Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin is a great place to build you future. Join us again for podcast 76 when we’ll learn casual ways to say good bye in the office.

This podcast is a production of Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin.

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