Shadowing Practice: How to Explain a Problem at Work in English | Business English Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Business English for Success.
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I'm Elena.
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And I'm David.
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It's great to have you with us.
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Today, we're going to practice a skill you need when something goes wrong at work.
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How to explain the situation clearly, even when you don't have all the information yet.
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Maybe the numbers in a report are wrong.
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A system stops working, a delivery is late, or a customer has a problem that needs an answer now.
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In situations like these, you may know what's wrong, but not why.
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You may not know the full impact yet.
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And while you're still checking, someone is already asking you, what happened?
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So what do you say first? first?
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What does the other person actually need to know?
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And how do you explain something that's still changing without guessing or sounding unclear?
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And by the end of the lesson, when someone asks you, what happened?
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Or what's the problem?
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You won't have to figure out your answer as you speak.
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You'll have a clear structure you can use to explain the situation professionally, even when the problem is messy,
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the information is incomplete, and you're still working out why it happened.
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So let's start with the first question.
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When something goes wrong at work, what should the other person hear first?
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Let's see what this looks like at work.
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Imagine you're preparing a monthly sales report.
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It needs to go to a client this afternoon, but while checking the figures, you notice something isn't right.
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Your manager comes over and asks, what's happening with the report?
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You know quite a lot about what happened, so you might answer, the report isn't ready yet.
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We were checking the figures this morning and there seems to be something wrong with some of the data.
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We received the file yesterday and I think there may have been a problem when the numbers were imported, so we're looking into it now.
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Imagine you're the manager hearing that answer.
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You've heard plenty of information.
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But there's still one thing you need to ask.
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Okay, but what exactly is wrong?
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And that question tells us something important.
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The problem isn't that the employee has nothing to say.
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The problem is that the most useful information is buried inside everything else.
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So let's change the first sentence.
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There's an error in the sales figures for the Asia region.
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changes the conversation immediately.
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The manager has a clear starting point.
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The Asia sales figures are wrong.
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We haven't explained the whole situation.
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We haven't explained the cause.
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We haven't explained what happens next.
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But the listener knows what the problem actually is.
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And this is useful far beyond reports.
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Imagine a customer calls because something is wrong with an order.
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You could say, there's a problem with the customer's order.
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That tells us where to look, but compare it with two items are missing from the customer's order,
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or the customer received eight items instead of ten.
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I don't just know where the problem is, I know what went wrong.
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Here's another one.
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We're having an issue with the system.
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That could mean almost anything.
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Is it slow?
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Is it offline?
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Are people unable to log in?
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Is information disappearing?
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Compare it with, the system isn't saving new customer records.
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Or, we can log in, but we can't submit new orders.
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Those sentences give the listener something they can actually work with.
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And the same thing happens with documents.
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Instead of, there's a problem with the presentation.
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You might say, the latest sales figures are missing from the presentation.
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Instead of, there's an issue with the invoice, you might say, the invoice shows the wrong payment amount.
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Instead of, we have a problem with the contract, you might say, the client received an older version of the contract.
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So when you're under pressure, don't try to explain the entire history first.
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Give the listener a clear starting point.
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What exactly is wrong?
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And notice that you don't need one special phrase to do this.
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Sometimes there's an error in the report.
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Sometimes we found a problem with the payment.
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Sometimes the clearest sentence simply describes what isn't working.
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The system isn't processing new orders or what's missing.
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Two pages are missing from the contract, or what happened differently from what you expected.
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The customer received the wrong product.
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The phrase changes.
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The communication job doesn't.
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Make the actual problem easy to understand.
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Let's go back to our report.
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Your manager asks, what's happening with the report?
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This time, you say, there's an error in the sales figures for the Asia region.
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Your manager asks, what's happening with the report?
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This time you say, there's an error in the sales figures for the Asia region.
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Now listen to the manager's next question.
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Okay, what does that mean for the report?
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Can we still send it this afternoon?
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And something has changed.
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The manager understands the problem.
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So they don't ask what exactly is wrong anymore?
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They ask, what does this affect?
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That's the next piece of information they actually need.
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In this case, you might answer, not yet.
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We need to correct the figures before we send it to the client.
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There's an error in the sales figures for the Asia region, so we need to correct them before we send the report to the client.
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That answer does more than describe the problem.
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It tells your manager what the problem means for the work.
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And sometimes that consequence is exactly what the listener cares about most.
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Imagine the ordering system stops working.
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You tell your manager, the system isn't allowing us to submit new purchase orders.
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They may immediately ask, can the team keep working?
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They can continue preparing the orders, but they can't submit anything until the system is back online.
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That gives us a much clearer picture than, the system is down, some work can continue, one specific part cannot.
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That distinction matters to the person making decisions.
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A supplier was supposed to deliver an important component today, but it won't arrive until tomorrow.
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Your manager asks, does that affect production?
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If the consequence is already clear, you can say, yes, production will start a day later than planned.
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Or, yes, we'll have to move the start of production to tomorrow.
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But what if you don't know that yet?
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Maybe the production team has some flexibility in the schedule.
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Then you shouldn't turn a possibility into a fact.
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You could say, it may delay the start of production, but we're checking whether the team can adjust the schedule.
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Same delivery problem, but the language changes because the impact itself isn't confirmed yet.
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Let's stay with that idea for a moment because this happens all the time at work.
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You may know exactly what went wrong without knowing exactly how serious it is yet.
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Imagine several customer records suddenly disappear from an internal system.
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David will be the manager and I'll be the employee explaining what we know so far.
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What's going on?
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Some customer records are missing from the system.
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How many customers are affected?
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We've confirmed 12 so far, but we're still checking the rest of the records.
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Can the support team still respond to those customers?
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Not fully.
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They can see the recent messages, but they can't access the customer's account history.
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Is this affecting all customer accounts?
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We don't know yet.
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At the moment, we've only confirmed the issue in those 12 accounts.
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Let's step out of that conversation for a moment.
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The employee didn't have a perfect answer to every question, but the situation was is still clear.
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But the conversation is still clear.
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They know the problem.
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Some customer records are missing.
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They know one confirmed effect.
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The support team can't access the account history for those customers.
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And when the wider impact isn't clear, they say so.
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We don't know yet.
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That's much more useful than guessing.
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And it's also more useful than saying there's a big system problem.
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Because big doesn't tell your manager what is actually affected.
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And different problems affect the work in different ways.
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the impact won't always be we can't do something.
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Sometimes it's a delay.
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The shipment is arriving tomorrow, so installation will have to move to Friday.
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Sometimes someone else is waiting.
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Finance hasn't approved the payment yet, so the supplier is still waiting.
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Sometimes a deadline is at risk.
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Two sections of the proposal still need to be revised, so we may not be ready for the 3 o'clock deadline.
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And sometimes the work can continue, but only partly.
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The team can keep preparing the orders, but they can't submit them yet.
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That last distinction is especially useful.
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Instead of automatically making every problem sound like everything has stopped, explain the real effect.
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What can't happen?
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What will be delayed?
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Who is waiting?
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What can still continue?
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What might be at risk?
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Let's give you a situation, but this time we won't give you the answer first.
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Your team is preparing a presentation for a client meeting at 3 o'clock.
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The presentation itself is finished, but the latest sales figures haven't been added yet.
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Your manager asks, is the presentation ready?
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What would you say?
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You could say, not yet.
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The latest sales figures are still missing, so we need to update the presentation before the client meeting.
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That's one useful answer.
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But imagine the figures aren't essential for the meeting.
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The presentation can still be used without them.
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Then your answer might be, the latest sales figures are still missing, but the rest of the presentation is ready, so we can still use it if necessary.
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Same problem?
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Different impact.
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And that's why a useful problem explanation isn't just about learning a sentence pattern.
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You have to understand what the problem actually changes in that situation.
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This time, Elena is the manager, and I'm the employee.
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Elena asks what's happening with the report, and I explain, there's an error in the sales figures for the Asia region,
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so we need to correct them before we send the report to the client.
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Then the manager asks, OK, do we know why the figures are wrong?
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And this is where the conversation gets harder.
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Sometimes the honest answer is yes, sometimes it's maybe, and sometimes it's simply not yet.
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Let's stay with that question.
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Do we know why the figures are wrong?
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If you've already confirmed the cause, the answer is straightforward.
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Imagine you checked the source files and found that an older file was imported by mistake.
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You can say, yes, we found that an older data file was imported by mistake.
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Or, the error was caused by an older data file being imported.
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In that situation, there's no reason to sound uncertain.
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You checked it.
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You found the cause.
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So you can state it clearly.
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But imagine you're still investigating.
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You notice that the problem appeared after this morning's data import, but you haven't confirmed the connection.
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Listen to these two answers.
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The data import caused the error.
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And we think the error may be related to this morning's data import, but we're still checking.
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The first answer gives your manager a fact.
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The second gives your manager a possible explanation.
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Let's hear how that uncertainty can sound in the conversation.
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I'll ask the manager's questions, and Elena will answer as the employee.
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So, was there a problem with the import?
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Possibly.
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The timing suggests there may be a connection, but we haven't confirmed it yet.
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Could it be the source data instead?
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Yes, that's also possible.
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We're checking both the source file and the import process.
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Back to the lesson.
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That sounds much more like a real workplace conversation.
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The employee isn't refusing to answer.
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They're telling the manager where the investigation currently stands without pretending that a possibility is already a fact.
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So if you're not sure, do you always have to say maybe?
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No. You can make uncertainty clear in several natural ways, depending on what you actually know.
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You might say, We think it may be related to the data import.
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Or, One possibility is that the wrong file was imported.
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Or, if you want to focus on the investigation rather than the theory, We're checking whether the problem happened during the import.
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Different wording, same professional message.
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I have a possible explanation, but I'm not presenting it as a confirmed fact.
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But sometimes you don't even have a likely explanation yet.
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Imagine a supplier delivery was due this morning.
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It hasn't arrived.
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You've checked the order details.
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Everything looks correct.
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The carrier hasn't responded yet.
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Your manager asks, why is the delivery late?
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What can you say?
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You don't need to invent an answer.
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You can say, we don't know the reason for the delay yet.
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We've contacted the carrier and we're waiting for an update.
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Or, the cause of the delay isn't clear yet.
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We're following up with the carrier now.
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Notice what makes those answers useful.
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They don't stop at, I don't know.
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They tell the listener, we don't know this yet, but this is what's happening to find out.
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Let's try a different situation.
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Several employees suddenly can't access an internal system.
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Someone tells you, it probably happened because of last night's software update, but IT hasn't confirmed that.
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Then your manager asks, what caused the system problem?
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Which answer would you rather give?
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The software update caused it, or it may be related to last night's software update, but IT is still investigating.
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The first one sounds more certain, but if the information isn't confirmed, that confidence is misleading.
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The second answer is actually more useful because it tells the manager what you think and how certain you are.
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That's an important workplace habit.
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Professional English isn't about sounding certain when you aren't.
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It's about making the level of certainty clear.
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Let's give you three situations.
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Don't think about finding the most impressive phrase.
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Decide first.
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Do I know?
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Do I suspect?
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Or do I not know yet?
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Situation 1.
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A payment was rejected.
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Finance checked it and confirmed that the bank account number was incorrect.
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Here, you know.
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You could say, the payment was rejected because the bank account number was incorrect.
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Situation 2.
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A report contains duplicate entries.
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You think the same file may have been uploaded twice, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
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Here, you suspect.
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You could say, we think the file may have been uploaded twice, but we're still checking.
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Or one possibility is that the same file was uploaded twice.
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Situation 3.
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A customer can't log in.
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You've reported the issue to IT, but you have no information about the cause yet.
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Here, you don't know.
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You could say, we haven't identified the cause yet.
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IT is looking into it now.
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Same question.
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Why did this happen?
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Three very different answers.
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Not because one is more advanced than another.
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Because the information available to you is different.
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Go back to our report.
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This time, David will ask the manager's follow-up questions, and I'll answer as the employee.
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The manager already knows the figures are wrong, and the cause is still uncertain.
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Now listen to what they need next.
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Okay, what are we doing to check it?
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We're comparing the source file with the imported data now.
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And if the source file is correct?
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Then we'll check the import process next.
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When will we know whether we can still send the report today?
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We should know more by 2 o'clock.
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I'll update you then, even if we're still investigating.
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Let's step out of the conversation.
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The communication job has changed again.
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The manager no longer needs another explanation of the problem.
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They know the problem.
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They know the impact.
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They know the cause hasn't been confirmed.
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Now they need to know, what are you doing about it?
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And when will I hear from you again?
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That last answer gives the manager something important.
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Not a promise that the problem will be fixed by 2 o'clock, but a clear time for the next update.
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That last part matters.
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The employee didn't say, we'll have the problem fixed by 2 o'clock.
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They don't know that.
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They said, I'll update you by 2 o'clock.
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That is something they can actually commit to.
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And what are we doing about it doesn't always mean your team is actively fixing something.
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Go back to the delayed delivery.
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You don't know why it's late and you're waiting for the carrier.
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Your manager asks, what are we doing now?
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You might say, we've contacted the carrier and asked for an updated delivery time.
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I'll let you know as soon as they respond.
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Or imagine finance hasn't approved a supplier payment.
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You might say, I followed up with finance and asked them to review the payment.
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I'll check again this afternoon if we haven't heard back.
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Or there's a technical problem.
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IT is investigating the issue now.
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We're waiting for their findings before we make any changes.
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Or there's a technical problem.
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IT is investigating the issue now.
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We're waiting for their findings before we make any changes is.
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The action depends on the situation.
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You might be checking something, correcting something, contacting someone, waiting for confirmation,
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or escalating the issue to another team.
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What matters is that the listener understands where things stand now.
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And real problems don't always have one fixed next step.
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Imagine an invoice has the wrong amount.
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You're checking whether the the stake is in the original order or only in the invoice.
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Your manager asks, what happens next?
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You could say, we're checking the original order first.
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If the order is correct, we'll issue a new invoice.
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If the amount is wrong there too, we'll need to confirm the correct price with sales.
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That's much more useful than simply saying, we're working on it.
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Because now the listener understands how the next step depends on what you find.
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Imagine IT is investigating a system problem.
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Your manager asks, will it be fixed by noon?
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You don't know.
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There are several ways you could respond.
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If IT has given you a realistic estimate, they expect to have it fixed by noon.
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If they only expect more information, IT expects to have an update by noon.
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And if even that timing isn't certain, I can't confirm when it'll be fixed yet, but I'll update you again at noon.
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Those answers sound similar, but they make very different commitments.
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A fix by noon, more information by noon, an update from you by noon.
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Choose the one the situation actually supports.
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We've been building this report situation piece by piece.
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Now listen to the whole exchange without the teaching interruptions.
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This time, Elena is the manager and I'm the employee.
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Just follow how the questions move the explanation forward.
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What's happening with the report?
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There's an error in the sales figures for the Asia region, so we need to correct them before we send the report to the client.
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Do we know why the figures are wrong?
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Not yet.
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We think it may be related to this morning's data import, but we haven't confirmed that.
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What are we checking?
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We're comparing the source file with the imported data first.
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If that's correct, we'll check the import process next.
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Are we still likely to send the report today?
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Possibly.
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If we only need to correct the report, we should still be able to send it this afternoon.
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We're still checking how much of the data is affected.
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Okay, when will you know more?
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I'll update you by 2 o'clock, even if we're still investigating.
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All right.
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Let me know sooner if anything changes. Will do.
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Let's come back to the lesson.
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Notice what didn't happen in that conversation.
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The employee didn't give one enormous answer containing every detail they knew.
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The information came out as the manager needed it.
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And the employee didn't have all the answers.
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They couldn't explain the cause with certainty.
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They couldn't guarantee the report would go out on time.
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But they could still communicate clearly what was wrong, what it affected, what was known and still uncertain,
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what they were checking, and when the manager would hear more.
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That's the real goal.
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Not to make every problem explanation longer, not to force every situation into one perfect four-sentence answer,
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but to help the other person understand what they need to know as the situation develops.
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So far, we've worked through one report problem together.
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Now let's see whether the same communication skill still works
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when the situation is different and when nobody guides you through it one piece at a time.
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This time, a customer has received an incorrect invoice.
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The customer is waiting, and your manager wants an explanation.
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Just listen to what happens.
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David will be the manager and I'll be the employee explaining the invoice problem.
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What's going on with the Harrison invoice?
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The invoice shows $4,800, but the approved order is for $4,200.
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The customer noticed the difference before making the payment.
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Do we know where the wrong amount came from?
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Yes.
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I checked the order this morning.
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The invoice was created using the previous price.
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Has Finance corrected it?
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They're preparing a new invoice now.
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I've asked them to send it to me first so I can check the amount before it goes back to the customer.
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How soon can we get it to them?
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Finance expects to have it ready within the hour.
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If everything is correct, I'll send it immediately and confirm with the customer.
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Okay.
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Keep me posted if there's any further delay.
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I will.
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Let's look at what made that conversation work.
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It was easier than the report situation in one important way.
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The employee knew the cause.
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They had checked the order so they could say clearly the invoice was created using the previous price price.
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And the employee also gave the impact naturally, even though the manager never asked, what is the impact?
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The customer noticed the difference before making the payment.
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That tells the manager the invoice is wrong, but the customer hasn't paid the wrong amount.
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From there, the conversation can move forward to what matters next, correcting the invoice and getting the right version to the customer.
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Imagine the same employee walks back to their desk.
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A colleague asks, has the Harrison invoice been sorted out?
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Do they need to repeat the entire conversation?
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Probably not.
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They could simply say, finance is correcting it now.
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I'm going to check the new invoice before we send it back to the customer.
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That's enough for that question.
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A clear structure helps you organize information.
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It doesn't mean you have to say everything you know every time someone asks about the problem.
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Let's make this harder.
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Imagine you work for a company that supplies equipment to business customers.
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One of your customers is expecting 20 units today, but only 15 arrive.
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The customer needs all 20 for an installation tomorrow morning.
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You contact the supplier, but at first you don't know what happened to the missing five units.
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Then your manager calls.
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For this case, Elena will ask the manager's questions, and I'll answer is the employee.
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I just saw the message about the Carter delivery.
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What happened?
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Only 15 of the 20 units arrived, so the customer is still missing five units for tomorrow's installation.
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Do we know where the other five are?
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Not yet.
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The supplier is checking the shipment now.
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Can they send the missing units today?
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They haven't confirmed that yet.
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I've asked them to check whether the units were left at the warehouse or shipped separately.
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And if they can't deliver them today?
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Then we'll need to see whether we can supply the five units from our local stock.
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I'm checking that option as well.
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Does the customer know?
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They know that five units are missing.
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I told them we're checking the fastest way to get the remaining units to them, but I haven't promised a delivery time yet.
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When are you expecting to hear from the supplier?
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They said they'd come back to me within 30 minutes.
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I'll update you as soon as I hear from them.
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30 minutes pass, and the situation changes.
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The supplier calls back.
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They found the missing units.
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But there's another problem.
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The units are still at their warehouse, and the normal delivery service can't get them to the customer until tomorrow afternoon.
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The installation starts tomorrow morning.
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I'm still the manager, and David is still the employee.
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Here's the follow-up conversation.
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Any news?
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Yes, the supplier found the missing five units.
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They were left at the warehouse.
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Can they get them to the customer tonight?
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Not through their normal delivery service.
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The earliest standard delivery is tomorrow afternoon.
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That's too late.
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What about our local stock?
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We have five units available.
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I'm checking whether we can arrange a same-day courier to the customer.
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Have you told the customer yet?
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Not about the new delivery option.
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I want to confirm the courier first so I can give them something definite.
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Makes sense.
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Let me know as soon as you have confirmation.
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I will.
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Now let's step out of the roleplay and look at what changed between those two conversations.
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At first, the cause was unknown.
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Thirty minutes later, the missing units had been found, but that created a new problem.
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The normal delivery would arrive too late.
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So, the explanation had to change with the information.
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The employee didn't keep repeating the first update, and they didn't turn possibilities into promises.
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When the manager asked whether the missing units could arrive that day, the employee said they haven't confirmed that yet.
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And when a possible career solution appeared, the employee still waited for confirmation before promising it to the customer.
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That's what clear communication looks like when a situation is moving.
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Keep confirmed information separate from possibility and update the explanation when the facts change.
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This time, you answer before we do.
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Imagine you work in an HR operations team.
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Employees need to submit their monthly expense claims by the end of today.
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This morning, the expense system stops accepting new submissions.
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IT is investigating.
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They think the issue may be connected to a system update from last night, but they haven't confirmed that.
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And right now, you don't know whether the deadline will be extended.
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Your manager asks, what's happening with the expense claims?
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Pause here and answer as if you were speaking directly to your manager.
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What does your manager need first?
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Not the whole technical history.
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Start with the actual problem.
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A possible answer is, the expense system isn't accepting new submissions, so employees can't submit their claims at the moment.
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Your manager asks, do we know what caused it?
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What would you say?
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You might say, IT thinks it may be related to last night's system update, but they haven't confirmed that yet.
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Then your manager asks, are we extending the deadline?
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Careful, you don't know.
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What can you say without guessing?
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For example, that hasn't been decided yet.
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We're waiting to see how quickly the system can be restored.
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Or, we haven't confirmed a deadline extension yet.
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I'm checking that with HR.
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And finally, when should we tell employees?
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Now you need to explain what happens next.
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You might say, I'll send an update as soon as we know whether the deadline is changing.
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If the system is still down at noon, I'll send a short message to let employees know we're working on it.
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Now hear one complete version without the help.
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I'll be the manager and Elena will be the employee.
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What's happening with the expense claims?
493
The expense system isn't accepting new submissions, so employees can't submit their claims at the moment.
494
Do we know what caused it?
495
IT thinks it may be related to last night's system update, but they haven't confirmed that yet.
496
Are we extending the deadline?
497
That hasn't been decided yet.
498
We're waiting to see how quickly the system can be restored, and I'm checking the deadline with HR.
499
When should we tell employees?
500
If the system is still down at noon, I'll send an update to let them know what's happening.
501
I'll also tell them as soon as we have a decision on the deadline.
502
Okay.
503
Keep me updated.
504
I will.
505
Back to you.
506
If your answer was different from ours, that doesn't automatically mean it was wrong.
507
Ask yourself instead, did the listener understand the actual problem?
508
Did you explain the impact you knew about?
509
Did your language show clearly what was confirmed and what wasn't?
510
And to take away the examples, think of one real problem from your own work, something you might genuinely have to explain in English.
511
Now imagine your manager asks, what happened?
512
Give your answer before we guide you.
513
Take a few seconds and explain the situation in your own words.
514
When you're finished, check your answer against four questions.
515
Did the listener understand exactly what was wrong?
516
Did you explain the effect that mattered?
517
Did your language make it clear what was confirmed and what was still uncertain?
518
And did the listener know what was happening now or what would happen next?
519
You may not need all four pieces every time.
520
The situation decides how much information is useful.
521
If your answer felt too long, try it again and remove details the listener doesn't need.
522
If it felt too vague, make the problem or the impact more specific.
523
And if you caught yourself guessing, change the language so your level of certainty is honest.
524
Here's one complete example.
525
There's an error in the monthly sales report, so we can't send it to the client yet.
526
We think it may be related to the latest data import, but we're still checking.
527
We're reviewing the source figures now, and I'll update you as soon as we confirm the correct numbers.
528
And another situation may need much less.
529
The payment is still waiting for approval, so we can't send it to the supplier yet.
530
I've followed up with finance, and I'll let you know when it's approved.
531
The goal is not to force every problem into the same answer.
532
It's to give the listener the clear information they need for the situation you actually have.
533
So the next time someone asks you what happened, you don't need to wait until you have the whole story.
534
Start with what you know.
535
Be clear about what you don't know yet.
536
And help the other person understand what the situation means and what happens next.
537
That is what makes a problem explanation useful at work.
538
Not complicated English, but clear information that matches the reality of the situation.
539
Take one real problem from your own work and explain it once today.
540
Then try it again and make it clearer, more specific, and easier for the listener to follow.
541
Thanks for practicing with us today.
542
And we'll see you in the next lesson.
543
See you next time.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Explain a Problem at Work in English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: manager, answer, customer, employee, situation. This video has 543 sentences and 5164 words to shadow. The speech runs for 35:00. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 98 of its 543 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| import noun | /ˈɪm.pɔɹt/ | Something brought in from an exterior source, especially for sale or trade. |
| invoice noun | /ˈɪnˌvɔɪs/ | A bill; a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer indicating the products, quantities and agreed prices for products or services that the seller has… |
| listener noun | /ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/ | Someone who listens, especially to a speech or a broadcast. |
| supplier noun | /səˈplaɪə/ | One who supplies; a provider. |
| noon noun | /nun/ | The time of day when the Sun seems to reach its highest point in the sky; solar noon. |
| deadline noun | /ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/ | A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed. |
| uncertain adjective | /ʌnˈsɜɹ.tən/ | Not certain; unsure. |
| approve verb | /əˈpɹuːv/ | To officially sanction; to ratify; to confirm; to set as satisfactory. |
| installation noun | /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/ | An act of installing. |
| certainty noun | /ˈsɝtn̩ti/ | The state of being certain. |
| incorrect adjective | /ˌɪn.kəˈɹɛkt/ | Not correct; erroneous or wrong. |
| upload verb | /ˈʌpˌloʊd/ | To transfer data to a computer on a network, especially to a server on the Internet. |
| submission noun | /səbˈmɪʃən/ | The act of submitting or yielding; surrender. |
| warehouse noun | /ˈwɛə(ɹ)haʊs/ | A facility for storing large amounts of merchandise or products. |
| confirmation noun | /ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/ | An official indicator that things will happen as planned. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| follow up verb | To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify. | |
| call back verb | To request someone's return; to bring back or restore; to recall. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come over verb | To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| sort out verb | To clarify by reviewing mentally. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Your manager comes over and asks, what's happening with the report?
- Your manager asks, what's happening with the report?
- Can we still send it this afternoon?
- Your manager asks, does that affect production?
- Your manager asks, what's happening with the expense claims?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If the order is correct, we'll issue · If that's correct, we'll check · If everything is correct, I'll send |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | You've heard · haven't explained · has changed |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were imported · is buried · isn't confirmed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 199 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: installation /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/, submission /səbˈmɪʃən/, confirmation /ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, shipment /ˈʃɪpmənt/, distinction /dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: installation /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/, confirmation /ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, uncertainty /ʌnˈsɜːtənti/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/, flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like import, invoice, listener.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.