*Business English: Telephone

A lot of people find it difficult to make phone  calls in a foreign language – and that’s understandable. You can’t see the  person you are talking to, their voice might be unclear, and you might find it  difficult to find the right words.

One thing you can do to improve  your telephone skills is to learn some of the multi-word verbs that are  commonly used in telephone conversations. Most of them are featured in this  module. Hold on means ‘wait’ – and hang on means ‘wait’ too. Be careful  not to confuse hang on with hang up! Hang up means ‘finish the call by breaking the connection’ – in  other words: ‘put the phone down.’

Another phrasal verb with the same meaning as hang up is ring off.  The opposite of hang up / ring off is ring up – if  you ring somebody up, you make a  phone call.  And if you pick up the phone, (or pick the phone up) you answer a call when the phone rings.

“Hang on a second…”

If you are talking to a  receptionist, secretary or switchboard operator, they may ask you to hang on while they put you through – put through means to connect your call to another telephone. With this verb, the object (you, me, him, her etc.) goes in the middle of the verb: put you through.

But if you can’t get  through to (contact on the  phone) the person you want to talk to, you might be able to leave a message  asking them to call you back. Call back means to return a phone call – and if you use an object  (you, me, him, her etc.), it goes in the middle of the verb: call you back. (Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business)

Learn how to make a formal business phone call, take messages, what you can say if you call the wrong number, make appointments and  book flights. Follow the instructions on Talking Business – Telephone