Learn phrases and sentence patterns to express opinions and concerns at work
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Expressing Opinions and Concerns at Work in Mexico. John Here. |
| Laura: Hola. I'm Laura. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing opinions and concerns at work. The conversation takes place at the coffee table. |
| Laura: It's between Alan Brown, Alma Cordero, and Fernando Rojas. |
| John: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak formal Spanish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Fernando Rojas: ¿Qué opinan de la nueva estrategia planteada durante la reunión? |
| Alan Brown: Me parece interesante... |
| Alma Cordero: Yo creo que les faltó considerar el impacto desfavorable que tendrá elegir Perú como mercado inicial. |
| Alan Brown: Estoy de acuerdo con usted. |
| Fernando Rojas: Opino que Colombia en este caso sería un mercado más eficiente. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Fernando Rojas: ¿Qué opinan de la nueva estrategia planteada durante la reunión? |
| Alan Brown: Me parece interesante... |
| Alma Cordero: Yo creo que les faltó considerar el impacto desfavorable que tendrá elegir Perú como mercado inicial. |
| Alan Brown: Estoy de acuerdo con usted. |
| Fernando Rojas: Opino que Colombia en este caso sería un mercado más eficiente. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Fernando Rojas: ¿Qué opinan de la nueva estrategia planteada durante la reunión? |
| Fernando Rojas: What do you think about the new strategy proposed during the meeting? |
| Alan Brown: Me parece interesante... |
| Alan Brown: I find it interesting... |
| Alma Cordero: Yo creo que les faltó considerar el impacto desfavorable que tendrá elegir Perú como mercado inicial. |
| Alma Cordero: I think they didn't consider the adverse impact that will have to choose Peru as an initial market. |
| Alan Brown: Estoy de acuerdo con usted. |
| Alan Brown: I agree with you. |
| Fernando Rojas: Opino que Colombia en este caso sería un mercado más eficiente. |
| Fernando Rojas: In my opinion, Colombia would be a more efficient market in this case. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: We didn’t hear the actual meeting in the conversation, but we did get to hear the aftermath. |
| Laura: Yes, Fernando, Alan, and Alma were discussing their opinions of it. |
| John: It appeared that they didn’t quite agree with the strategy that was suggested. |
| Laura: No, they definitely had some concerns about it. |
| John: Is it common to disagree in Mexico? How do people deal with disagreements? |
| Laura: It is common, but you should always be respectful and polite. |
| John: Of course. Do you have any advice on how to do that? |
| Laura: Try to focus on the idea, not the person. |
| John: That’s a good idea. Make it clear that your only issues are with the idea. |
| Laura: Use formal Spanish, so that you can give it the seriousness and respect it deserves. |
| John: What kind of sentence would be good to use here? |
| Laura: Desde mi punto de vista, desafortunadamente no me gusto la propuesta para nada. |
| John: "From my point of view, I unfortunately did not like the proposal at all." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laura: opinar [natural native speed] |
| John: "to express an opinion" |
| Laura: opinar[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: opinar [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: plantear [natural native speed] |
| John: "to propose" |
| Laura: plantear[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: plantear [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: planteado(a) [natural native speed] |
| John: "proposed" |
| Laura: planteado(a)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: planteado(a) [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: caso [natural native speed] |
| John: "case" |
| Laura: caso[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: caso [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: reunión [natural native speed] |
| John: "meeting, reunion" |
| Laura: reunión[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: reunión [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: elegir [natural native speed] |
| John: "to elect, to choose" |
| Laura: elegir[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: elegir [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: mercado inicial [natural native speed] |
| John: "initial market" |
| Laura: mercado inicial[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: mercado inicial [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: mercado eficiente [natural native speed] |
| John: "efficient market" |
| Laura: mercado eficiente[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: mercado eficiente [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: considerar [natural native speed] |
| John: "to consider" |
| Laura: considerar[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: considerar [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Laura: desfavorable [natural native speed] |
| John: "unfavorable" |
| Laura: desfavorable[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: desfavorable [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... |
| Laura: faltar considerar |
| John: meaning "missed to be considered." |
| John: Let’s break down this phrase. |
| Laura: First is faltar, which means "lack, having an absence." Next is considerar. |
| John: This is the verb "to consider." |
| Laura: You can use this to show not taking something into account. |
| John: So, for example, if a decision is being made, but something hasn’t been thought about or looked into, you can use this phrase. |
| Laura: You can use this in formal and informal situations, but it is often heard in business settings. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... Nos falta considerar la cantidad de personas que llegarán más tarde. |
| John: ...which means "We are missing to consider the amount of people that will arrive later." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laura: impacto desfavorable |
| John: meaning "adverse impact." |
| John: This is also a phrase. |
| Laura: First is impacto, which means "impact." Next is desfavorable. |
| John: This means "unfavorable, negative, adverse." |
| Laura: You can use this to talk about a negative result. |
| John: When can this phrase be used? |
| Laura: It can be used in both formal and informal situations. But it is mainly heard in a business environment. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... Tuvo un impacto desfavorable sobre el medio ambiente. |
| John: ... which means "It had an adverse impact on the environment." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laura: en este caso |
| John: meaning "in this case." |
| John: What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Laura: First is en, which means "in." Next is este. |
| John: That means "this." The final word means "case." |
| Laura: Yes, that is caso. |
| John: You can use this phrase to describe something that is happening in a specific situation. |
| Laura: It can be used in both formal and informal situations. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... En este caso, no entiendo como resolverlo. |
| John: ... which means "In this case, I don't understand how to solve it. " |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing opinions and concerns at work. |
| John: We’ll start by looking at opinions. We’ll look at some sentence patterns that will help you with this. |
| Laura: Me parece_ |
| John: "I find it…"or "It seems to me…" |
| Laura: For example, Me parece que es una propuesta interesante. |
| John: "I find it to be an interesting proposal." If you want to share what you believe in, you can say... |
| Laura: Yo creo que_ |
| John: "I think that…" Let’s hear an example of this. |
| Laura: Yo creo que merece otra oportunidad. |
| John: "I think that he deserves a second chance." If you want to share your point of view and the way you feel about a situation... |
| Laura: Yo considero que_ |
| John: "I consider that…" |
| Laura: Yo considero que los resultados son muy importantes. |
| John: "I consider that the results are very important." And last, if you want to share a referenced opinion, you can say... |
| Laura: Con base en_ |
| John: "Based on…" |
| Laura: Con base en los resultados del mes pasado. |
| John: "Based on last month’s results." As well as expressing opinions, you might also need to express concerns, so we’ll look at some patterns that will help with that. |
| Laura: The first one is Me preocupa que_ |
| John: "It worries me that…" |
| Laura: Me preocupa que se cancele el evento. |
| John: "It worries me that the event will be cancelled." In case something serious concerns you, you could say... |
| Laura: Me mortifica que_ |
| John: "It mortifies me that…" |
| Laura: Me mortifica que se repita el error. |
| John: "It mortifies me that the mistake will be repeated." Let’s hear one more phrase that you can use to express your concern... |
| Laura: Yo creo que le faltó_ |
| John: "I think it lacked…" |
| Laura: Yo creo que le faltó iniciativa. |
| John: "I think it lacked initiative." |
| John: Listeners, find more examples and sentence patterns in the Lesson Notes PDF of this lesson. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Laura: Hasta la próxima. |
Comments
Hide