Learn how to ask for help in a difficult business situation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to Polishpod101.com. This is Business Polish for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 13 - Asking for Help in a Difficult Business Situation. John Here. |
| Marzena: Cześć, I'm Marzena. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for a favor. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Marzena: It's between Karolina and Marek. |
| John: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak informal Polish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Karolina: Pomożesz mi z tym rozliczeniem? |
| Marek: Jasne, tylko muszę odpowiedzieć na kilka maili. |
| Na kiedy to masz? |
| Karolina: Na wczoraj, ale wiesz jak to jest "lepiej późno niż wcale." |
| Marek: Dobrze, prześlij to na mój adres. Usiądę do tego po lunchu. |
| Karolina: Świetnie! A możesz jeszcze mi pomóc z tym raportem finansowym? |
| Marek: A ty to trochę nie przesadzasz? |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Karolina: Pomożesz mi z tym rozliczeniem? |
| Marek: Jasne, tylko muszę odpowiedzieć na kilka maili. |
| Na kiedy to masz? |
| Karolina: Na wczoraj, ale wiesz jak to jest "lepiej późno niż wcale." |
| Marek: Dobrze, prześlij to na mój adres. Usiądę do tego po lunchu. |
| Karolina: Świetnie! A możesz jeszcze mi pomóc z tym raportem finansowym? |
| Marek: A ty to trochę nie przesadzasz? |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Karolina: Would you help me with this settlement? |
| Marek: Sure, I just need to answer some emails. When is the deadline? |
| Karolina: Yesterday, but you know, "better late than never." |
| Marek: Okay, send it to my email, please. I will look at it after lunch. |
| Karolina: Great! Could you also help me with this financial report? |
| Marek: Aren't you asking for a little bit too much? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Wow, Karolina had a few things that she needed help with in that conversation! |
| Marzena: Yes, she was already late with the settlement, so maybe that put strain on her other jobs. |
| John: I guess so. At least Marek can help with the settlement for her. |
| Marzena: Teamwork is very important in Polish companies. |
| John: Do the companies do anything to help promote teamwork? Are there regular team meetings for example? |
| Marzena: Yes, there’s usually a team meeting every month. |
| John: It’s good for teams to get together and discuss performance and any issues. |
| Marzena: I think so too. More and more of these meetings are in English, too. |
| John: Oh? Why are they in English? |
| Marzena: Because of the increase in foreign workers in Poland. |
| John: Even so, it’s still important to learn Polish if you want to do business in Poland. |
| Marzena: Yes, it is! So keep studying! |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: pomóc [natural native speed] |
| John: to help |
| Marzena: pomóc [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: pomóc [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: rozliczenie [natural native speed] |
| John: settlement |
| Marzena: rozliczenie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: rozliczenie [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: jasne [natural native speed] |
| John: sure |
| Marzena: jasne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: jasne [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: odpowiedzieć [natural native speed] |
| John: to reply |
| Marzena: odpowiedzieć [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: odpowiedzieć [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: email [natural native speed] |
| John: e-mail |
| Marzena: email [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: email [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: późno [natural native speed] |
| John: late |
| Marzena: późno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: późno [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: przesłać [natural native speed] |
| John: to send |
| Marzena: przesłać [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: przesłać [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: usiąść [natural native speed] |
| John: to sit down |
| Marzena: usiąść [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: usiąść [natural native speed] |
| John: And lastly... |
| Marzena: przesadzać [natural native speed] |
| John: to exaggerate |
| Marzena: przesadzać [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: przesadzać [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: lepiej późno niż wcale |
| John: meaning "better late than sorry." |
| John: Let’s look at this phrase. |
| Marzena: Lepiej means "it's better" and is followed by późno. |
| John: That’s an adverb that means "late." The last word in the phrase means "not at all." |
| Marzena: wcale. We use niż to compare two things. |
| John: So altogether it means "it’s better to be late than not at all," or "better late than sorry." |
| Marzena: It’s a famous proverb you can use in most settings, but maybe not in high level business talks. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say... No nic, lepiej późno niż wcale. |
| John: ...which means "Well, better late than never." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Marzena: usiąść do |
| John: meaning "to sit down to (doing something)." |
| John: This is also a phrase. |
| Marzena: Usiąść is a verb that means "to sit down." It is followed by do. |
| John: This is a preposition meaning "to." |
| Marzena: You can use this to say that you are going to start doing something. |
| John: Or that you’re going to start doing it seriously. |
| Marzena: Yes, it works in that scenario too. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say... Muszę dzisiaj do tego usiąść. |
| John: ... which means "I have to sit down to this." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about asking for a favor. Is it okay to ask a coworker for a favor in Poland? |
| Marzena: Yes, it’s totally fine! |
| John: So, this is something very important to know. |
| Marzena: Yes. To ask a favor, we must change the verb into future tense. |
| John: We will use perfective verbs in present tense. Let’s look at an example using the verb for "to pay." |
| Marzena: The perfective of this is zapłacić. If you change that to the present tense, it is zapłacę. |
| John: And that is a future tense meaning "I will pay," or "I’m going to pay." |
| Marzena: The big difference is the aspect. This can be difficult for learners, but the common prefixes for perfective are: wy-, za-, po-, na-, do-, od-, o-. |
| John: Also remember that when we ask for a favor, we need the verb in the second person singular form. Let’s hear some examples. |
| Marzena: Pójdziesz za mnie na spotkanie? |
| John: "Will you go to the meeting for me?" |
| Marzena: Pomożesz mi w tym? |
| John: "Will you help me with this?" Next let’s check a few time expressions. This will be important in many situations in the office, so we’ll hear them in some sentences. |
| Marzena: Przedwczoraj mieliśmy zebranie. |
| John: "We had a meeting the day before yesterday." |
| Marzena: Jutro przyjeżdża klient. |
| John: "The customer will come tomorrow." |
| Marzena: Wyślij mi to do jutra. |
| John: "Send me this by tomorrow." There’s a full list in the lesson notes. We’ll finish with some financial expressions that you will probably hear no matter what your role in the company is. |
| Marzena: księgowość |
| John: "accounting" |
| Marzena: księgowy, księgowa |
| John: That’s "accountant", first is the masculine and then the feminine. |
| Marzena: rachunek |
| John: "bill" |
| Marzena: wypłata |
| John: "salary." Let’s finish on a sentence example that might be important! |
| Marzena: Kiedy dostanę wypłatę? |
| John: "When will I get my salary?" |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Marzena: Do zobaczenia! |
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