/01
“You are fine in person and lost on the phone.”
No face to read
Everything you normally use to check whether you are being understood is gone. It is the same conversation and a whole band harder.
The landlady, rehearsed out loud
1
person runs this conversation
7 min
The shortest conversation
On the phone, so there is no face to read, and she has heard this before.
C1 · advancedNative pace
What actually happens
Five things people say before they start.
One of them is usually the real reason. What sits underneath it is what actually gets scored.
/02
“Your description is that it is not working properly.”
Describing a fault
What is broken, since when, and what happens when you use it. Specific beats apologetic, and it is the only thing that gets a date out of her.
/03
“You accept the first explanation you are given.”
Being told it is your fault
That is normal use. Holding the position politely, in a second language, on a phone, is the hard part and it is the whole scenario.
/04
“You have never asked and you are not going to.”
The deposit conversation
A separate scenario and a harder one, months later, about money you have already paid.
Not the situation you need?
Bring the real thing: the job description, the date on the letter, the words the school used. Everyone who runs the landlady will work from what you actually walked in with.
How a first conversation worksWho you will be talking to
The landlady, with 1 of these 1.
In whichever order helps. The first 5 minutes with a free partner cost nothing, so you can talk to two of them before you choose.
The landladyWhat it costs
One price a minute, whoever you talk to.
A harder conversation simply runs longer. The shortest way to rehearse the landlady is 7 min.
You pay for the seconds you talk, and the minutes come off a balance you already hold. Nothing renews, and you are never sent a bill. Plans and refunds.
C1 · advanced
15 min
is how long a conversation at this difficulty runs
A landlady in Peninsular Spanish, on the phone, cold, and unimpressed.
- Minutes of talking in total
- 90
- What that costs here
- $40
- The same minutes with a tutor
- $300
- You do not spend
- −$260
At $50 an hour, rounded up to the 60-minute booking nobody will sell you less than.
Your first 5 minutes
What 5 free minutes are for.
01
Take it as a call
Beatriz is phone-only on purpose, and that is most of the difficulty.
The terms, in full
- Free
- 5 minutes
- No card asked for
02
Say the fault twice
Once at the start and once as a summary. It changes the outcome more than any other single thing.
Paid for out of your free minutes
- No face to read
- Describing a fault
- Being told it is your fault
- The deposit conversation
Questions
What people ask before they start.
Nearby
What people open next.
The rest of Everyday life first, then everything else at the same difficulty.
All the situationsA guest complaining
C1 · advancedNative paceCold, polite, and entirely certain she is going to get what she asked for.1 personfrom 8 minYour child's school
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedTen minutes with a teacher, and everything you did not ask is a year of their schooling.2 peoplefrom 8 minAt the clinic
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedDescribing a symptom to somebody typing, who will ask you to repeat the date.1 personfrom 7 min
C1 · advancedNative paceCold, polite, and entirely certain she is going to get what she asked for.1 personfrom 8 minYour child's schoolB2 · confidentC1 · advancedTen minutes with a teacher, and everything you did not ask is a year of their schooling.2 peoplefrom 8 minAt the clinicB2 · confidentC1 · advancedDescribing a symptom to somebody typing, who will ask you to repeat the date.1 personfrom 7 min