Shadowing Practice: English for Project Management | Key Words & Phrases - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Jack, our weekly status update meeting starts in five minutes.
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Are we on track with the new customer app?
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Well, overall we're on track, but we're a little behind schedule on the login screen design.
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Okay, thanks for telling me.
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Since our last meeting, we finished the main user dashboard, so that is great news
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but I need to flag a problem with the new payment feature the sales team wants to add.
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Oh, no. Is that another feature request?
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That sounds like scope creep to me.
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Exactly.
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If we add it now, it will delay our main deliverable and push back our launch date.
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I see your point, but maybe we can ask the team for sign -off on the original plan first before we change anything?
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That is a very smart idea.
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Let's get the ball rolling on this meeting.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Daily Business English Talk.
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I am Jack.
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And I am Anna.
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We are so happy you are listening to us today.
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That quick chat you just heard was Jack and me getting ready for a project meeting.
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And that brings us right to today's topic.
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Today is a very special day because this is episode one of our 16 -episode series called English for Project Management.
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That's right, Jack.
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In this series, we will follow one main story from start to finish.
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Jack and I work at the same company, and we are building a brand new customer app.
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Through this project, you will learn real business English that you can use at your job every single day.
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If you want to improve your business vocabulary, make sure to subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode.
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Today, we are talking about speaking the language of projects.
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We will look at what a project actually is, the five main phases of a project, and something very important called the triple constraint.
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By the end of this episode, you will know how to give a clear status update, how to raise a problem politely,
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and how to say no professionally when people ask for too many changes.
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You know, Anna, before I learned about formal project management, I used to think a project was just any long task at work.
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I remember my first month here when my manager asked me for a status update and I just said, I am working hard.
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I had no idea what words to use.
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That is so common, Jack.
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Many English learners feel nervous when talking about projects because there are so many special terms.
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But don't worry if this feels new to you we are going to break everything down using very simple words.
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That makes me feel much better.
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So, Anna, to start from the very beginning, how would you explain a project in simple English?
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Think of a project as a temporary piece of work with a clear start and a clear finish.
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It is created to make a specific product, service, or result.
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For example, our new customer app is a project.
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It has a start date, an end date, and a final result.
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Ah, that makes sense.
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A regular daily task like answering emails every morning is not a project because it never ends,
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but building an app is a project because once the app is finished and launched, the project is done.
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Spot on, Jack, and every project moves through five standard steps, which we call the project life cycle.
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The project life cycle.
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That sounds like a big term, but it just means the life story of a project from birth to death, right?
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Exactly.
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Simple as that.
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The first phase in the project life cycle is initiation.
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This is where you get the ball rolling.
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To get the ball rolling is an idiom that simply means to start something or get a process moving.
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In the initiation phase, you define the main idea and identify every stakeholder.
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Let's pause there, Anna.
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Stakeholder is a word I hear in almost every meeting.
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What does it actually mean?
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A stakeholder is any person or group who is interested in the project or affected by its outcome.
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This includes your boss, your team members, your clients, and even the end users of the app.
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Everyone who cares about the result is a stakeholder.
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Got it.
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So if the sales manager cares about our new app, she is a stakeholder.
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Once we identify our stakeholders, what comes next?
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The second phase is planning.
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Here you create a roadmap.
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You define your scope, which is the total work that needs to be done.
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You also set your timeline and budget.
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Scope is another huge word.
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Scope just means all the features, tasks, and deliverables that are included in the project, right?
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Yes, and a deliverable is simply the real result or item you produce.
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For example, a design draft, a software update, or a final report are all deliverables.
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In the planning phase, you also set milestones.
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A milestone is an important.. important event or checkpoint on your timeline, like finishing the first working prototype.
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I love reaching milestones.
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It feels like leveling up in a video game.
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But what happens after planning?
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The third phase is execution.
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This is where the actual work happens.
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The team builds the product, writes the code, or designs the screens.
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The fourth phase happens at the same time, monitoring and controlling.
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This is where you check if you are following your plan, manage risks, and make sure you do not fall behind.
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To fall behind means to move slower than planned and miss your schedule.
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And finally, phase five is closing.
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That is when the project is completely finished, the client signs off, and everyone celebrates.
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Exactly.
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Now, to keep all these phases under control, project managers rely on three main things.
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Scope, time, and cost.
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Together, these three things are called the triple constraint.
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The triple constraint.
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Imagine a triangle.
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One side is scope, which is what you build.
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The second side is time, which is how long it takes.
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The third side is cost, which is how much money you spend.
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If you change one side, the other sides must change too.
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That is the perfect picture, Jack.
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If your manager asks you to add five new features to the app, the scope goes up.
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That means you'll need more time, or more money, or both.
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If you don't adjust time or money, the quality will drop.
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When extra features get added slowly without extra time or money, we call that scope creep.
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It creeps up on you silently, like a ghost, until your project is in trouble.
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It really does to prevent scope creep, you need a solid baseline.
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A baseline is your original approved plan for scope, time, and cost.
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You compare your daily progress against this baseline to see if you're on track or falling behind.
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That makes so much sense.
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Now, let's practice how these concepts sound in real workplace conversations.
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We have prepared three practical dialogues.
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Listen closely to how we talk about progress, raise problems, and say no politely.
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Let's jump into Scenario 1.
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In this scene, Jack is updating me on his progress during our weekly stand -up meeting.
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Hi, Anna.
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Do you have two minutes for a status update on the app design?
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Sure, Jack.
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How are things going with the user interface?
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Overall, we're on track.
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Since our last meeting, we've finished the homepage layout and the login screens.
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That is fantastic news.
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Are we ready to move to the payment system?
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We are a little behind schedule on the payment system because we had to wait for the security approval,
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but we set a new milestone for Friday, and we expect to hit it easily.
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Great work.
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Thanks for keeping me updated.
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Let's analyze that exchange.
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Notice how I started with a summary sentence.
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Overall, we're on track.
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That gives Anna immediate peace of mind.
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Then I use the phrase, since our last meeting, we've finished.
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This shows clear progress.
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And when Jack had a delay, he used a polite phrase, we're a little behind schedule.
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He didn't panic.
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He just explained the delay and shared the new milestone.
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That is how professional project managers communicate.
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Now let's listen to scenario two.
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Here, I'm facing a technical blocker, and I need to raise a problem to Anna before it damages our timeline.
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Anna, do you have a quick moment?
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I need to flag a problem with our database integration.
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Of course, Jack.
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What's going on?
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We ran into a severe bottleneck with the external server.
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It is slowing down our entire critical path.
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If we don't solve this by tomorrow, it will push back our launch date by two weeks.
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I see.
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Do we have anything in our risk register for this or a contingency plan we can use?
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Yes, our contingency plan was to switch to a temporary cloud server.
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What I need from you is your sign -off to spend the extra budget for that cloud service.
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You have my approval.
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Let's make that switch immediately so we don't fall behind any further.
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In that scenario, I used the key phrase, I need to flag a problem.
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To flag a problem means to bring attention to an issue before it becomes a disaster.
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You also heard two very important technical terms, bottleneck and critical path.
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A bottleneck is a point where workflow gets clogged or slowed down, like the narrow neck of a glass bottle.
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And the critical path is the sequence of essential tasks that determines the total length of the project.
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If a task on the critical path is delayed, the whole project is delayed.
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That's why I asked for Anna's sign -off on our contingency plan.
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A contingency plan is your backup plan B in case a risk becomes reality.
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And sign -off means official written or spoken approval.
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Finally, let's listen to Scenario 3.
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Here, Jack comes to me with a new feature request from another department, and I have to push back politely.
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Hey Anna, the marketing team just called.
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They want to add a live video chat into the customer app before next month's launch.
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I see your point, but adding video chat right now will cause major scope creep.
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It will completely ruin our timeline.
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They are a key stakeholder, though.
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They say it is urgent for their campaign.
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I understand, but we cannot move the goalposts at this late stage.
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If we add video chat, we will miss our launch baseline what I need from you is to tell them
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we can put it in phase two after the initial launch
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we need buy -in from the project sponsor before we change the scope
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that sounds fair I will explain the situation to them
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and ask them to sign off on holding that feature for phase two in this third scene
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Jack asked for a major change
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and I had to push back to push back is a phrasal verb
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that means to oppose or disagree with a plan or change politely.
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For example, the engineering team had to push back when management requested three new features in one week.
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Anna used the phrase, I see your point, but...
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This is a brilliant phrase for English learners.
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It shows respect for the other person's opinion
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while allowing you to disagree without sounding rude
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or aggressive i also used another great key phrase what i
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need from you is this phrase gives clear direct instructions
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so the other person knows exactly what action to take next
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now let's take a closer look at the vocabulary phrasal verbs
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and idioms we use today
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so you can lock them into your memory let's start with
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our four phrasal verbs the first one is push back as we just
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First mentioned, to push back means to oppose or disagree with a plan or change politely.
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For example, the engineering team had to push back when management requested three new features in one week.
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The second phrasal verb is bring forward.
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To bring forward means to move an event, task, or meeting to an earlier time or date than originally planned.
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For example, because the client is traveling next week, we need to bring forward our final presentation to Thursday.
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The third phrasal verb is fall behind.
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To fall behind means to fail to keep up with a schedule or pace.
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For example, if we lose two developers this month, we will fall behind on our software testing.
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The fourth phrasal verb is sign off on.
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To sign off on something means to give official approval to a document, decision, or deliverable.
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For example, the The department director needs to sign off on the new budget before we hire any contractors.
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Excellent.
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Now let's examine our three idioms.
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The first idiom is on track.
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To be on track means that everything is happening according to plan and schedule.
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For example, despite the bad weather, the construction team is completely on track.
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The second idiom is get the ball rolling.
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As we said earlier, this means to start an activity or start a project moving.
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For example, let's set up a kickoff meeting tomorrow to get the ball rolling on the redesign.
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The third idiom is move the goalposts.
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To move the goalposts means to unfairly change the rules, expectations, or targets of a project while it is already in progress.
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For example, every time we finish a draft, the client changes the requirements and moves the goalposts.
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That is such a frustrating feeling.
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Now, let's review the rest of our professional key terms in simple English exchanges.
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Jack, how would you define risk register?
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A risk register is simply a document or table where you list all possible problems that could happen during a project,
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how serious they are, and how you will deal with them.
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For example, we added server downtime to our risk register during the planning phase.
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Perfect.
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And what about buy -in?
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Buy -in means getting agreement and enthusiastic support from key stakeholders for an idea or plan.
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For example, we cannot start the project until we get buy -in from the finance department.
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That's right.
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And let's not forget baseline.
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A baseline is your fixed reference point, your original approved schedule, cost, and scope that you measure future progress against.
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For example, we are comparing our current spending against our financial baseline.
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We also talked about bottleneck, which is any delay point that slows down the whole flow of work.
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For example, the legal department's slow review process created a major bottleneck for our team.
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And contingency means a plan or financial fund set aside to handle unexpected events or emergencies.
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For example, we kept 10 % of our budget as a contingency for sudden price increases.
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Finally, we had status update, which is a brief report on the current condition and progress of a project.
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For example, I send a written status update to my manager every Friday afternoon.
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Every single one of these words will help you sound confident, clear, and competent in any business environment.
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That brings us to our question of the day.
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Participating in this section is one of the best ways to practice your output.
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Today's question is, think about a project you are working on right now at work, at school, or in your personal life.
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Is your project on track, or are you a little behind schedule?
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Answering this question helps your English
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because it forces you to use today's key phrases in a real context about your own life.
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When you connect vocabulary to your personal experience, you remember it much faster.
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Here is a natural example answer you can copy or adapt.
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Currently, I'm managing a website update for my company.
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Overall, we're on track, but we're a little behind schedule on writing the new content.
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What I need for my team is to finish the text by Friday.
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Or you could say, I am planning a family trip for next summer.
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Since our last meeting, we've finished booking the flight tickets.
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I need to flag a problem with our hotel budget, but we have a contingency plan ready.
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We would love to read your answers.
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Please write your answer in the comments section or send us a message.
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We try to read every response.
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Remember, learning business English is a step -by -step process.
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Don't worry about speaking perfectly right away.
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The key is consistent practice and repetition.
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Re -listening to this episode while walking or driving is a great way to let these patterns sink in naturally.
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Absolutely.
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In our next episode, episode two, we will dive into the topic of selling the idea.
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We will learn how to present a new project proposal to your boss, get executive buy -in, and convince stakeholders to say yes to your plans.
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You won't want to miss it.
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Thank you so much for spending your time with us today.
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Keep practicing, stay positive, and build your confidence every day.
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Goodbye everyone and happy learning.
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See you next time on Daily Business English Talk.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación se basa en el vídeo “English for Project Management”. Las palabras que más se repiten: project, example, Jack, scope, phase. Este vídeo tiene 255 frases y 2866 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 17:56. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 160 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 85 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
15 palabras del vídeo que vale la pena aprender, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| scope sustantivo | /skəʊp/ | ámbito, rubro |
| phrase sustantivo | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | frase |
| baseline sustantivo | /ˈbeɪslaɪn/ | línea basal |
| delay sustantivo | /dɪˈleɪ̯/ | retraso, demora |
| verb sustantivo | /vɝb/ | verbo |
| creep verbo | /kɹiːp/ | reptar |
| milestone sustantivo | /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/ | hito, mojón |
| scenario sustantivo | /sɪˈnɛəɹioʊ/ | escenario, supuesto |
| timeline sustantivo | /ˈtaɪmˌlaɪn/ | cronología, línea de tiempo |
| server sustantivo | /ˈsɝvɚ/ | servidor |
| define verbo | /dɪˈfaɪn/ | determinar, definir |
| triple adjetivo | /ˈtɹɪp.əl/ | triple, tresdoble |
| disagree verbo | /dɪsəˈɡɹi/ | no estar de acuerdo, desacordar |
| vocabulary sustantivo | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | vocabulario |
| topic sustantivo | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | tema, tópico |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Significado |
|---|---|
| fall behind verbo | atrasar |
| bring forward verbo | adelantar, anticipar |
| slow down verbo | desacelerar, decelerar |
| sign off verbo | firmar, aprobar |
| go up verbo | subir |
| keep up with verbo | seguir, ir al paso |
| stand up verbo | levantarse, ponerse de pie |
Frases que vale la pena repetir
Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:
- Are we on track with the new customer app?
- Once we identify our stakeholders, what comes next?
- Are we ready to move to the payment system?
- Anna, do you have a quick moment?
- Jack, how would you define risk register?
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Oraciones condicionales if + oración, will/would + verbo — una condición y su resultado | If we add it now, it will delay · If we add video chat, we will miss |
| Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa | Everyone who cares · scope, which is · time, which is |
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | is created · be done · are included |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | have prepared · we've finished |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 21 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we're, don't, we've. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: initiation /ɪˌnɪʃ.iˈeɪ.ʃən/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, execution /ˌɛk.sɪˈkjuː.ʃən/, integration /ˌɪn.tɪˈɡɹeɪ.ʃən/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, temporary /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/, initiation /ɪˌnɪʃ.iˈeɪ.ʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, participate /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: scope /skəʊp/, sponsor /ˈspɒn.səː/, stakeholder /ˈsteɪkˌhəʊl.də/
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: verb /vɝb/, server /ˈsɝvɚ/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, approve /əˈpɹuːv/, solve /sɒlv/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/, oppose /əˈpoʊz/, proposal /pɹəˈpoʊzəl/, disaster /dɪˈzɑːs.təː/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como scope, phrase, baseline.
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.