Shadowing Practice: How to Handle International Client Calls Smoothly in English | Client Calls - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey everyone!
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Welcome back to English Podcast For You, your cozy little corner of the internet to learn natural, everyday English through real conversations.
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I'm Anna.
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And I'm Leo.
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Before we dive into today's topic, we just want to take a quick second to say a huge thank you.
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Seriously, thank you for clicking on this video, for spending a part of your busy day with us, and for trusting us with your English journey.
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It honestly means the world to us every single time you return to this space.
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Yes, and remember, just by sitting here and listening, you are doing something incredibly powerful for your brain.
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You're absorbing the rhythm, connect, and how real emotions sound in English.
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So don't worry if speaking feels a bit slow or scary right now.
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Your English is growing deeply, even if it's doing it quietly.
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Well, speaking of things that are scary, Anna, why did you look like you had a minor panic attack when I checked my phone before we hit record?
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Oh, God, was it that obvious?
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Leo, I have to admit something.
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Yesterday, I had an international Zoom call with a potential new client based in London.
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And… I… choked.
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Wait, you choked?
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Anna, you literally host an English podcast.
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I know, I know.
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But it's different when it's a client call, right?
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When it's casual, I'm fine.
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But the moment that little camera light turns green and a serious -looking executive says, "Let's get started," my brain just freezes.
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I started stuttering, my hands were sweating.
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I felt like an absolute fraud because of the language barrier.
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Oh, I get that.
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I think everyone listening right now is nodding their head because we've all been there.
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That phrase, language barrier, it sounds like a giant brick wall, doesn't it?
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It makes you feel like you're on one side and success is on the other.
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But honestly, most of the time, that barrier is just in our own heads.
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But did they actually say anything, or were they nice?
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They were perfectly nice.
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But at one point, the audio started lagging.
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You know that horrible robotic sound when the internet goes bad?
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The client was explaining his budget and his voice started to break up.
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Oh, the classic internet struggle.
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Can you hear me now?
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Exactly.
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His audio began to break up so badly and instead of just calmly asking him to clarify,
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my brain went into Perfect!
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No way!
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You just agreed to a budget you didn't even hear?
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Uh, yes.
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It was awful.
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I was just too embarrassed to interrupt and say, "Hey, your mic is breaking up.
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Could you repeat that?
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I thought it would make my English look bad." See, that is such an important point for our listeners.
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When a native speaker's audio begins to break up, or if they use a strange idiom, asking them to clarify doesn't mean your English is bad.
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It actually shows you are professional and that you care about getting
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"Asking someone to clarify a point is a sign of confidence, not weakness." You're right.
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It sounds so much better to say, "Sorry, you're breaking up a bit.
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Could you clarify that last point?" Rather than pretending to understand and then crying over your laptop later.
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Exactly.
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No crying over laptops allowed.
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But hey, this is actually a perfect B2 level conversation for everyone listening today.
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Today we're talking all about client calls.
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Specifically, how to handle those intimidating international Zoom meetings without stuttering or losing your confidence.
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Yes, and stick around because later in the episode we are going to do our signature calm word tour,
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where we break down all these amazing business phrases like language barrier, clarify, and break up, so you can start using them in your own career.
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So, Anna, how did the rest of the call go?
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Did you manage to save it?
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Well, thankfully, towards the end of the meeting, I remembered a tip I read online.
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Before we hung up, I told the client, "Thank you so much for your time.
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Let's do a quick recap of what we discussed today just to make sure we're on the same page." Oh, brilliant move.
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A recap is an absolute lifesaver.
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It really saved me.
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By doing a quick recap, I listed out the main action points, and that gave the client a chance to correct me on the budget part I missed earlier.
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They didn't even notice I had frozen earlier.
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They just thought I was being super organized.
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That's a pro tip right there.
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Doing a recap buys you time, clears up misunderstandings, and makes you look like a project management genius.
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Tuesday to finalize the contract.
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Look at you go!
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They want to touch base already!
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For our friends listening, when someone says they want to touch base, it just means they want to make contact or have a brief conversation to update each other.
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It's one of the most common corporate phrasal verbs ever.
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It really is.
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And you know, Leo, looking back at it now,
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I realize that international calls aren't actually about having a flawless accent or using massive vocabulary words.
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It's just about connection.
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The client doesn't care if you hesitate for a second.
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They just want to know you're listening and that you're capable of doing the job.
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Beautifully said, Anna.
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The goal of communication is clarity, not perfection.
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If you can handle the tech issues smoothly, ask people to clarify when needed, and do a solid recap at the end,
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you're already doing better than 90 % of people out there.
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Thanks, Leo.
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Honestly, hearing you say that makes me feel so much better.
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Because in the moment, you don't think about the 90 % of people who also struggle.
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You just think, "Oh my gosh, everyone else is a flawless corporate machine, and I'm just here trying to remember to breathe." Right?
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We build it up in our minds like it's a high -stakes movie scene.
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But the reality is the person on the other side of the screen might be sitting there in their pajama pants, hoping their internet doesn't drop.
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Oh, absolutely.
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My client actually had a catwalk right across his keyboard halfway through.
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It completely broke the tension.
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But it made me realize something.
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When we talk about this language barrier, we forget that native speakers have their own version of barriers, too.
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They use slang, they talk too fast, or they use weird corporate buzzwords that nobody actually likes.
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Oh, don't get me started on corporate buzzwords.
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Let's synergize our deliverables by the end of play.
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What does that even mean?
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Exactly!
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It's like a whole different language.
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So if a native speaker uses a phrase you've never heard before, it's not always your English that's the problem.
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Sometimes it's just bad communication on their part.
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That's why learning how to politely ask someone to clarify is like having a superpower.
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It really is.
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And you know, a lot of English learners tell me they feel incredibly awkward interrupting a client to ask for clarification.
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They feel like it disrupts the flow of the meeting.
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What do you think is the best way to do it naturally?
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Well, I used to think I had to wait until the very end of the call, but by then you've forgotten what they said 15 minutes ago.
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Now I try to use small verbal cues.
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If their audio starts to break up or if they say something confusing, I'll just wait for a tiny pause and say, "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that last sentence.
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Could you say that again?" or, "Just to make sure I understood,
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did you mean…" engaged, you're actively participating,
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not just sitting there passively.
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Right.
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And it prevents that awful situation I found myself in, where you're just nodding along to a budget you didn't actually hear.
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Because eventually, you have to follow up on that call.
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If you don't clear it up then, your next email is going to be incredibly stressful.
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Oh, I can imagine that email.
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"Hi, client.
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Thanks for the meeting.
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By the way, what did you actually say?" Literally my worst nightmare,
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which is exactly why that recap at the very end of the call is a total game changer.
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Even if you missed a small detail during the meeting, the recap is your safety net.
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You can just say, "Let's do a quick recap of our next steps." It brings all the focus back to the main points.
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It's like a reset button for the entire conversation.
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It ensures that both sides leave the call with the exact same expectations.
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No guessing games, Exactly.
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And it sets things up beautifully for when you need to touch base again the following week.
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You already have a clear list of what to talk about.
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It makes the next call feel like a continuation of a comfortable conversation rather than a brand new mountain to climb.
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You know, listening to you talk about this, Anna, it makes me realize how much of this is about emotional control.
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The vocabulary, words like clarify, recap, touch base, they are just tools.
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But the real work is managing that inner panic when things don't go perfectly.
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It really is.
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It's about giving yourself permission to be human.
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International business is messy.
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Technology fails, people get distracted, and accents can be tough to navigate.
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But if you approach the call with a bit of warmth and a lot of honesty, people appreciate that so much more than a rigid, perfect presentation.
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Absolutely.
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A little bit of authenticity goes a very long way.
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It really does.
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Though being too authentic can backfire.
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Like, I probably shouldn't have told him
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that I spent the 20 minutes before our call aggressively practicing my confident corporate nod in the bathroom mirror.
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Wait, you actually did that?
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Maybe.
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Look, desperate times call for desperate measures.
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I was trying to channel my inner CEO.
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But the second the laptop camera turned on,
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I realized no amount of mirror practice prepares you for a real human being staring at you with a completely blank expression.
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Oh, the blank corporate face.
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That is the absolute worst.
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It's so intimidating because you can't read their emotions.
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You're sitting there pouring your heart out, using all your best English vocabulary, and they're just staring at you like a statue.
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It makes you feel like the language barrier is a mile wide.
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Yes!
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You start overthinking every single syllable.
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You think, "Oh no, did I pronounce that word wrong?
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Do they think I'm incompetent?" But half the time, they're just trying to read an email on their second monitor or wondering what they're going to have for lunch.
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Exactly.
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It's rarely about you.
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And that's a huge mental shift for English learners to make.
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When there's a silence or a blank stare on an international call, your brain automatically blames your language skills.
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But in reality, people are just People, they get tired, they get distracted.
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Right.
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And that's why if you notice them drifting off, or if the connection starts to lag and their video freezes, you just have to take control of the situation.
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You can't just sit there in awkward silence.
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If the audio begins to break up, that's your perfect opportunity to break the ice.
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You can just say, "Oh, it looks like the connection is breaking up a bit.
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Can you still hear me okay?" It snaps them back into the room.
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That is such a good point.
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It turns an awkward tech glitch into a moment of teamwork.
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You're both fixing a problem together.
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And once they answer, you can smoothly say,
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"Great, just to clarify, were we talking about the timeline or the deliverables before the audio cut out?" Yes!
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See how naturally that flows?
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You've used the glitch to your advantage, you've asked them to clarify, and now you're right back on track.
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It completely removes the pressure of trying to be a perfect speaker because you're focusing on being a perfect collaborator.
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I love that distinction.
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A perfect collaborator, not a perfect speaker.
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Because at the end of the day, a business relationship isn't a university English exam.
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Nobody is grading your grammar with a red pen while you talk.
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They just want the project to succeed.
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Exactly.
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And if you show that you can handle a chaotic, lagging Zoom call with a smile and a calm attitude,
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that actually builds more trust than if the call had been completely flawless.
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It shows the client how you handle stress in real life.
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Man, that is so true.
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It's like a live demonstration of your problem -solving skills.
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If you can handle a bad internet connection without panicking, they know they can trust you when a real problem happens on the job.
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Exactly.
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It sets up a really healthy dynamic for the future.
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So by the time you wrap up the meeting with a quick recap of the details,
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they're already thinking, "Wow, this person is really easy to work with." They aren't thinking about your accent at all.
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And then when it's time to touch base next week, the anxiety is completely gone.
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You're not dreading the next call because you've already proven to yourself and to them that you can handle whatever happens.
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Right, you've broken down that imaginary wall.
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You realize it's not you against the client, or your English against their English, it's just two people trying to get some work done.
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It really is just two people trying to solve a problem.
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And honestly, once you see it that way, the whole concept of a language barrier just kind of melts away.
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It becomes a communication puzzle, not a personal flaw.
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Exactly.
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It shifts your energy from defense to collaboration.
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But you know, Leo, even when you know all of this intellectually, it still helps to practice the actual phrases so they come out naturally when you're under pressure.
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Your brain needs that muscle memory.
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Oh, absolutely.
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When the adrenaline kicks in during a live call, you don't want to be searching your brain for the right vocabulary.
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You want those phrases to just sit on the tip of your tongue, ready to go.
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Yes, which is the perfect cue for us to transition into our favorite part of the show.
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Let's slow things down, take a deep breath, and dive right into today's word tour.
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Welcome to our calm little word tour.
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This is the part of the podcast where we take a closer look at the key vocabulary
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and phrasal verbs we use naturally in our conversation today, so you can start using them confidently in your own professional life.
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Let's start with our very first phrase.
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Language barrier.
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A language barrier is any difficulty in communication experienced by people speaking different languages.
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In our conversation, we talked about how this barrier often feels like a giant wall, but it's mostly just a lack of confidence.
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For example, once we started focusing on the project goals, the language barrier didn't seem to matter as much.
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Repeat after me: Language barrier.
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Language barrier.
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Perfect.
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Our second word is clarify.
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To clarify means to make something clearer or easier to understand, usually by explaining it in more detail.
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In business contexts, asking someone to clarify a point shows that you are professional and paying close attention.
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For example, could you please clarify the deadline for the final deliverables?
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Repeat after me.
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Clarify.
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Clarify.
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Great job!
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Now, let's look at a very common phrasal verb used in online meetings.
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"break up." When an audio or video connection begins to "break up," it means the sound or picture becomes interrupted,
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distorted, or patchy because of a bad internet connection.
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For example: "Sorry, your microphone is breaking up.
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Could you repeat that last part?" Repeat after us.
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Break up.
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Excellent!
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Our fourth tool is a noun and a verb, Recap.
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A recap is a brief summary of what has already been discussed or decided.
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As Anna mentioned, doing a quick recap at the end of a client call
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is the ultimate safety net to ensure everyone is on the same page.
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For example, let's do a quick recap of our action items before we finish the call repeat after me recap recap
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Spot on.
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And finally, our fifth phrase is a classic corporate phrasal verb: touch base.
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To touch base simply means to briefly make contact
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or talk with someone to see how things are going or to get a quick update.
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For example, let's touch base again on Thursday afternoon to check our progress.
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Let's practice the last one together.
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Touch base.
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Touch base.
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Fantastic!
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These five phrases are incredibly simple, but using them correctly will instantly make you sound more polished, confident, and professional on your international calls.
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Definitely.
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Don't worry about being completely flawless next time your camera turns on.
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Just focus on connecting, helping, and using these tools to keep the communication smooth.
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Thank you so much for listening and learning with us today on English Podcast for You.
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Take care of your English and take care of yourselves.
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Bye, everyone.
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See you in the next episode.
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Bye -bye.
Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
In today's globalized world, effective communication, especially on international client calls, is crucial. This video not only exposes you to natural conversational English but also prepares you for the nuances of professional interactions. By engaging with the content, you’re not just listening; you’re actively practicing shadowspeak—a method where you mimic the speakers to enhance your fluency and confidence. The scenario discussed in the video illustrates common fears faced during client calls, emphasizing how language barriers often exist in our minds more than in reality.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, several expressions and grammatical structures are highlighted that are essential for navigating client relationships effectively. Here are some key phrases to note:
- "Can you hear me now?" - This common phrase exemplifies how to gracefully request confirmation during calls, particularly when technical difficulties arise.
- "Could you clarify that?" - Instead of letting misunderstandings impede communication, use this to request clarity, which shows professionalism and care about accurate understanding.
- "Sorry, you're breaking up a bit." - A polite and effective way to address audio issues without feeling embarrassed about your language skills. It demonstrates confidence and a proactive approach.
Practicing these expressions will help reinforce your ability to communicate assertively in professional situations while using shadow speech techniques to improve pronunciation and intonation.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you engage in shadow speaking, be aware of certain pronunciation nuances that may arise from the video. Here are some tricky aspects to practice:
- Words like "clarify" and "budget" can often be mispronounced, particularly in fast-paced conversations. Focus on breaking them down into syllables: clar-i-fy and bud-get.
- The phrase "lagging audio" may sound different depending on the speaker's accent. Make a point of listening closely to how native speakers articulate these terms to mimic their rhythm.
- Pay attention to the intonation used in questions versus statements. The rising intonation common in questions can significantly change the meaning and clarity of your speech.
Utilizing a shadowspeaks approach with this video will enhance your pronunciation and help you sound more natural in your conversations.
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.