Telephone Language

Telephone Language

1. This lesson will give you some useful phrases to use on the telephone.

2. When you call someone, you need to introduce yourself (especially if the caller doesn’t recognize your voice).

You can say:

“Hey Bill! It’s Mary.” (informal)
“Hello, this is Bill Smith calling.” (formal)

3. If someone calls you and you don’t recognize their voice, you can say:

“Who’s speaking, please?”

4. If someone calls you and asks to speak to you, you can say:

“This is she.”

5. If you want to talk to someone special, you can say:

“Is Bill in?” (informal)
“Is Bill there, please?” (more formal)
“Can I talk to your mother, please?” (more formal)
“Hello, this is Mary may I speak to Bill, please?” (formal)

6. If you need to leave someone a message, you can say:

“Will you ask him/her to call _______ please? Here’s my number: ”

7. If you don’t want to leave a message, you can say:

“Okay, I’ll call back later. Thank you.”

8. If you can’t understand what the other person is saying, you can say:

“Can you repeat that please?”
“Can you speak a little louder please?”
“Can you speak a little slower please?”
“Would you mind spelling that for me?”

(When we are spelling something in English, we usually say:
A as in apple, B as in boy, C as in cat, D as in dog, etc.)

9. If you need to make an appointment, you can say:

“Hello—this is _________ I need to make an appointment (for my son/daughter) with Dr. _________”

If it is a “sick visit”, say:

“I am sick” or “She/He is sick.” I have a _____________.” Or “She/He has a ________.”

If it is a regular physical, say:

“I need a physical.” Or “She/He needs a physical.”

Then say:

“Can we come on ____________(date) at ________(time)?”

You should repeat the date and time to make sure you have them correct. You can say:

“Let me repeat that, just to make sure. It’s _______ (date) at ___________ (time).”

10. When you are ready to end a phone call, you can say:

“I need to get going. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Thanks for calling. Good-bye.”
“I'll talk to you again soon. Good-bye.”