Learn how to add personality when you speak using intonation, from a conversation between a hotel staff member and a guest
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everybody! Eric here! |
| Becky: Hello everyone! Becky here. Adding Personality to your Voice When You Speak to Guests. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to add personality when you speak using intonation and accent. |
| Becky: This conversation takes place at the front desk in the late evening. |
| Eric: It’s between a staff member and a guest. |
| Becky: The speakers are in a professional relationship, so they’ll be using formal English. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Guest: I need to check in, I’m exhausted and have been looking for a vacancy all day. |
| Staff: Not a problem sir, we have a few rooms available so we should be able to help you. |
| Guest: Great. |
| Staff: Do you have any requirements? |
| Guest: A bed... |
| Staff: Haha! Okay, we have a single bedroom open for tonight. It will be $65. Would you like to reserve it? |
| Guest: Yes! |
| Staff: Okay. May I make a copy of your credit card? |
| Guest: Sure. |
| Staff: Okay, we’re all set here. Your room number is 205. You should see it right when you exit the elevator. There is a pamphlet with all of our amenity information if you are interested, or you can dial 0 if you have any questions. Will that be all for you? |
| Guest: Yes, thank you! |
| Becky: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Guest: I need to check in, I’m exhausted and have been looking for a vacancy all day. |
| Staff: Not a problem sir, we have a few rooms available so we should be able to help you. |
| Guest: Great. |
| Staff: Do you have any requirements? |
| Guest: A bed... |
| Staff: Haha! Okay, we have a single bedroom open for tonight. It will be $65. Would you like to reserve it? |
| Guest: Yes! |
| Staff: Okay. May I make a copy of your credit card? |
| Guest: Sure. |
| Staff: Okay, we’re all set here. Your room number is 205. You should see it right when you exit the elevator. There is a pamphlet with all of our amenity information if you are interested or you can dial 0 if you have any questions. Will that be all for you? |
| Guest: Yes, thank you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: As a hotel employee, it’s important to up-sell customers on hotel services and products as much as possible. But sometimes customers are tired, busy, or just focused on something else. |
| Eric: That’s right. These are not good times to upsell a guest, because it could upset them. |
| Becky: Some other times in which you probably shouldn’t try to upsell guests include when they are talking on the phone, working on the computer, or trying to get a large family up to their room. |
| Eric: So in the dialogue, the staff member realizes that the guest is tired. Because of that, she simply suggests that for more information, the guest should look at the pamphlet. |
| Becky: That’s right. She could have tried to explain everything there, but that would’ve irritated the guest. So, to make everyone happy, she simply said "you can dial zero if you have any questions". Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is... |
| Eric: vacancy [natural native speed] |
| Becky: empty place, room |
| Eric: vacancy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: vacancy [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: requirement [natural native speed] |
| Becky: qualification, restriction |
| Eric: requirement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: requirement [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: single bed [natural native speed] |
| Becky: bed for one person |
| Eric: single bed [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: single bed [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: Right when you exit [natural native speed] |
| Becky: as soon as you leave |
| Eric: Right when you exit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: Right when you exit [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Eric: The first phrases we’re going to look at are "single” and “twin." The key here is whether you are talking about a "room" or a "bed." |
| Becky: When you talk about bed sizes, there are a lot of terms for each size. |
| Eric: That’s right. One of the most confusing is “single bed” and “twin bed.” |
| Becky: These used to be two different sizes, but today, they mean the same thing. It’s usually the smallest size. |
| Eric: Now let’s look at these phrases used in the context of a hotel. "Single" and "twin" rooms refer to the number of beds, not the size of the beds. A "twin room" will generally have two single-sized beds, and a “single room” will usually have one queen-sized bed. In the dialogue, we had "Would you like a single bed room for tonight?" Here, the bed that’s actually going to be in the room is a queen-sized bed, not a single-sized bed. |
| Becky: That’s right. A "single bed" room means that there’s only one bed in the room, but the guest would be very surprised if it’s a single-sized bed! Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to add personality when you speak using intonation and tone of voice. |
| Becky: In the dialogue, we had the phrase "Not a problem sir, we have a few rooms available so we should be able to help you." |
| Eric: One of the easiest ways to make your English sound more natural and to give it more personality is to work on your intonation and tone of voice. |
| Becky: To do that, you need to understand the concept of "content words" and "function words." “Content words" are words like "chair," "have," and “reservation." These are words for things that are easily definable. |
| Becky: In contrast, "function words" are not easily definable. These include "for," "with," "these," and "if." These are function words because they perform a function in the sentence. |
| Eric: The key with intonation here is to put an emphasis on the content words, and not to put an emphasis on the function words. |
| Becky: That’s right. Let’s take the sentence "Do you have any requirements?" Here, the emphasis is on the words "have" and on "requirements." |
| Eric: Another example would be "your room number is 205." Here the emphasis is on “room number” and “205.” |
| Becky: Now, in comparison, we have tone of voice. Tone of voice refers to "how you say things." For example, having a happy tone of voice means you sound happy. You may not feel happy (laughs)... But you sound happy. |
| Eric: Tone of voice is important, because using the wrong tone of voice could make guests not want to talk to you. |
| Becky: That’s right. In general, happy tones of voice usually have a higher pitch and your voice moves around frequently. Negative tones of voice have a lower pitch and less movement. |
| Eric: For example, listen to the differences between "May I help you?" (happy) and "May I help you?" (irritated) |
| Becky: Exactly. The happy "May I help you?" has a lot of movement. The "may" is higher than the "I" and the "help" has a change in tone. The "you" at the end has a rising tone to indicate that it’s a question. |
| Eric: Now, contrast that with the irritated "May I help you?" Here, the intonation is very flat. There is some movement, but not a lot. Also, the overall pitch is low for that person’s voice. |
Outro |
| Eric: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Becky: See ya next time! |
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