#ESL Podcast 220 – Giving Opinions in a Meeting##GLOSSARY**feedback –** thoughts and opinions given in reaction to an idea or thing*The presenter asked them to complete the evaluation forms so that he coulduse their feedback to improve his future presentations.**to get something across –** to make an idea understandable or acceptable*I think I have found a great solution to the problem, but my boss never listens tome. How can I get my idea across to him?**colleague –** co-worker; people who work together*Are your colleagues complaining about the president’s decision to change thecompany’s vacation policy?**to give someone a hard time –** to make things difficult for someone*Please don’t give him a hard time about not doing his homework last night. Hismother is sick.**in (one’s) opinion –** according to what one believes*In my opinion, running is more fun than swimming. What do you think?**perspective –** a way of thinking about something; one’s view of somethingbased on a belief or opinion*To understand his perspective on the war, we need to remember that he livedin that country for three years.**to really feel –** to strongly believe*The governor wants to build a new courthouse, but the mayor really feels thatthe city needs a new hospital first.**to tend to think that... –** to usually or normally believe something; to have anatural feeling toward something*My sister tends to think that eating at home is best, but when she doesn’t havetime to cook, she eats in restaurants.**the way (one) sees it –** in one’s opinion; according to one’s beliefs*José thinks that opening a new office is a wonderful idea, but the way I see it,we aren’t ready to expand yet.**to scratch the surface –** to deal with only a small part of a topic or problem; tobe at the beginning of a long task*Even though people have walked on the moon, we have only scratched thesurface of space exploration.**to get inside (one’s) head –** to understand what someone else is thinking*The reporter will need to ask more difficult questions if she wants to get insidethe criminal’s head.**if you ask me –** in my opinion; according to my beliefs*I know that you believe that we should hire Jack, but if you ask me, I don’t thinkhe would be a good employee here.**to sink –** to put time, money, or other resources into a project*Why are you sinking so much time into this project? It isn’t that important.**that’s precisely (one’s) point –** exactly; that’s what one is trying to say*When Mom asked Dad to schedule a hearing exam, she had to repeat herselfthree times! That’s precisely her point: he needs to have a get his hearingchecked.**to be sure that –** to believe that; to be certain; to have no doubt*She is sure that it will be sunny this weekend, so she is planning a trip to thebeach.**one step ahead –** being better informed; being better prepared; being moreready*He pays for a tutor so that he can be one step ahead of the rest of the students.**to side with –** to agree with*Most people are siding with Sela, because her opinion is the most logical one.##COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1. Why does Marcelo want the company to do more market research?a) Because customers aren’t purchasing the company’s product.b) Because the company needs to understand its customers better.c) Because other companies are doing more market research.2. Ellen believes that:a) The company already has enough information about its customers.b) Other companies have done more research.c) It is too early for the company to make any decisions.##WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?to tendIn this podcast, the verb *“to tend”* means to usually or normally do something orbelieve something. For example, “My favorite class in high school was bandclass, so I tend to think that all high schools should have music programs.” Or,*“My sister tends to be much more comfortable with strangers than I am.”* Moreoften, however, *“to tend”* means to take care or look after someone or something:“While she tended her dying grandmother at the hospital, her husband wastending their grocery store.” Or, ¨He worked in the fields all day, tending thesheep and goats.”pointThe word *“point,”* in this podcast, refers to the final or most important purpose ofsomething: *“That’s precisely my point.”* Or, “I don’t see the point in continuing toargue about this.” *“Point”* can also be used to refer to a small mark, such as aperiod at the end of a sentence, or the tip of an object, such as the sharp end ofa pencil. Points are also used when keeping score during a game or on anexam: *“He scored ten points during last night’s basketball game.”* Or, “Herparents are very proud of her because she earned 97 points on the exam.”When used as a verb, *“to point”* means to extend a finger and gesture toward anobject far away: “I couldn’t find the stars he was talking about until he pointed tothem.”##CULTURE NOTEAn *“employee grievance”* is a complaint about something at work. Employeegrievances are usually about *“compensation”* (payments received for work), workschedules, and hiring decisions. Other employee grievances are about “sexualharassment” (unwanted sexual jokes or touching) or *“discrimination”* (treatingpeople differently because of their skin color, religion, or something else).Sometimes employee grievances are against the company, and sometimes theyare against colleagues.In the United States, most companies have grievance *“policies”* (written rules)that describe how employees should present their grievances. The policies alsodescribe the procedures that the company should follow when responding toemployees’ grievances. Employees are usually given a copy of the grievancepolicy when they are hired and they are expected to follow the policy while theyare working for the company.If the employees are members of a *“union”* (an organization for certain types ofworkers), they normally present their grievances to the union, which guides themthrough the process and represents the employees against the company. If theemployees are not members of a union, they need to present their grievances bythemselves.In most cases, employees should first discuss their concerns with the director ofthe department where they work. If this doesn’t solve the problem, employeesneed to put their grievances in writing and present the document to anotherdepartment, which then responds in writing. If this does not solve the employee’sgrievance, it may be presented to a higher management level. In somecompanies, if the employee remains unhappy with the company’s response, thegrievance may be presented to a committee, which then determines thecompany’s final response.Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – a##COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to number 220, “GivingOpinions in a Meeting.”This is episode 220. I'm your host, Dr.Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com. There you can find a transcript ofthe dialogue part of this podcast for free. If you want to get all of the vocabularywords, the definitions, additional cultural notes and explanations, as well as thecomplete transcript of this podcast, you can become an ESL Podcast member.More information is on our website.Today's podcast is called *“Giving Opinions in a Meeting.”* Let's go.[start of story]I was in a department meeting and our manager was asking for our feedback onimproving our product. I had a few ideas and I wanted to get them across, butone of my colleagues was giving me a hard time.Marcelo: In my opinion, I think that we need to look at the question more fromthe customer’s perspective. I really feel we need to do more market research.Ellen: I tend to think that we have enough information already and it’s time tomake some decisions.Marcelo: Well, the way I see it, we’ve only scratched the surface in getting toknow our customers. We need to get inside their heads if we want to offer whatthey want and aren’t getting right now.Ellen: You may be right, but if you ask me, I just don’t think it’s worth it to sinkmore time and money into the type of market research you’re proposing. It’s farmore than what other companies are doing.Marcelo: That’s precisely my point. I’m sure that if we can get information thatother companies don’t have, we’ll be one step ahead.That’s when the manager stepped in and offered her opinion. And, I’m happy tosay, she sided with me.[end of story]The dialogue we just heard is about two people giving their ideas - giving theiropinions or telling other people what they think in a meeting. It included severalcommon expressions that we often use in giving our opinion.The story begins with Marcelo saying that he has a meeting today; the managerhas asked for their feedback on improving their product. Feedback, *“feedback,”*is your opinion or your reaction. So, he's asking for their opinion; he's asking fortheir reaction - their feedback on improving what the company makes - theirproduct.The speaker here, Marcelo, says that he has some ideas and he wants “to getthem across.” *“To get an idea across,”* means to communicate, to express yourideas, to tell someone what you are thinking. That is a common expression, “I'mtrying to get my point across.” *“I'm trying to get my idea across,”* means I'mattempting to communicate my ideas.The problem Marcelo is having is that one of the people that he works with, oneof his colleagues, was giving him a hard time. A colleague, *“colleague,”* is aperson that you work with, not necessarily someone who is your boss, notsomeone above you but someone at the same level - the same type of work orthe same type of job that you have. These would be your colleagues. So, whenI worked at the University, my colleagues were other professors. The adjective iscollegial. When we say something is or someone is collegial we mean that theyget along, they are nice to the people they work with. The colleagues of Marceloare not so nice; they've been giving him a hard time. To give someone a hardtime means to make things difficult for them.Then we go into the meeting. Marcelo says, “In my opinion, I think we need totake a look at the question more from the customer’s perspective.” Theexpression, *“in my opinion,”* is a way that you can start a sentence when you aregoing to give your idea. Notice also that Marcelo talks about “the customer'sperspective.” Perspective, *“perspective,”* means the point of view - the way thatsomeone else sees things - the way they interpret things. That would be thecustomer's perspective, or the customer's view.*“I really feel,”* Marcelo says, *“we need to do more market research.”* Wesometimes use the verb *“to feel”* to express our opinion - to say what we think.So, when someone says, *“I feel that we need to do something,”* they're saying, “Ithink that we need to do something.”Ellen is Marcelo's colleague, and she doesn't agree with Marcelo. She says, “Itend to think that we have enough information already.” I tend, *“tend,”* to think.*“To tend to think”* means that this is the way I think, usually, or in a situation likethis, *“this is my opinion.”* *“I tend to think”* is a somewhat more polite way ofcommunicating your ideas. You are saying to the other person that this is myway of thinking; it may not necessarily be the only way of thinking. So, Ellen istrying to be nice here, and say, *“I tend to think that we have enough information,”*she's disagreeing with Marcelo. For additional explanations and additionalmeanings of this verb, to tend, see today's Learning Guide.Marcelo continues to express his ideas, he says “Well, the way I see it, we’veonly scratched the surface in getting to know our customers.” *“The way I see it”*is another way of saying this is my opinion. It might be a way of expressing youropinion a little less politely. When you are starting to get into a disagreementwith someone and you want to be a little stronger in how you give your opinion,you might use this expression.*“Well, the way I see it”* - my perspective - my opinion is that “we've only scratchedthe surface.” To scratch, *“scratch,”* the surface, *“surface,”* means that we haveonly just begun to do something, that there is a lot more information or a lot morework that we have to do. What we have done so far is just preliminary - it's justthe beginning. To scratch means normally to, for example, take your hand, andyou have a funny feeling on your skin - it bothers you - so you take your hand -your fingers - your fingernails and you scratch. A cat uses his paws - his feet - toscratch the chair. That is the verb *“to scratch.”* The surface is just the top ofsomething.Well, Marcelo goes on to say that, *“We need to get inside our customers' heads.”*To get inside someone's head, which sounds very painful, actually means tounderstand someone's thinking - to understand their perspective - the way theylook at the world. If you wanted to understand the way I think, you would need toget inside my head. I don't recommend that, however. There's nothing up there- nothing in my head!Ellen says to Marcelo, “You may be right, but if you ask me, I don’t think it isworth sinking more time and money into this market research.” *“If you ask me”* isanother way of expressing your opinion. You are saying, “well, maybe you arenot asking me - my opinion may not be important to you, but I am going to give itto you anyway, even if you don't want to hear it.”So, Ellen says, “if you ask me, I just don’t think it’s worth it to sink more moneyand time.” Sink, *“sink,”* as a verb means to spend. So, “I don't think we shouldspend more time and money on this type of research.” Usually, we use that verbwhen you are spending money for the wrong thing - you are wasting money orthat you have spent too much money already. Ellen goes on to say that it's*“more than what other companies are doing.”*Marcelo then responds, *“That’s precisely my point.”* That's precisely, or exactlymy idea; you are agreeing with me. That is the expression we would use whenyou are having a discussion and someone else says something that you thinkcommunicates the same idea, and maybe they don't realize it so you say, “that'sexactly my point - that's my idea.” The word *“point”* has many different meaningsin English. We talk about those additional meanings in the Learning Guide forthis episode.Marcelo says, “I’m sure that if we can get information other companies don’thave, we will be one step ahead.” *“I'm sure that”* is a way of expressing youropinion that you are very confident in - that you know is correct. “I’m sure that ifwe can get information, we'll be one step ahead,” meaning we will be moreadvanced or we will be in front of the other companies. A step, *“step,”* onemeaning of that word is the distance that you take with your feet when you walk.So, if you move for your feet ten times that would be ten steps. Marcelo issaying. *“we can be one step ahead.”**“The manager then stepped in,”* or stopped the meeting, or stopped thediscussion, *“and offered her opinion. And,”* Marcelo says, *“she sided with”* him.To side, *“side,”* with someone, as a verb, means to agree with someone.Usually, when two people are having an argument - a discussion - you are thethird person, you can side with one of them - you can agree with one of themagainst the other one. Sometimes these disagreements or problems can getmore serious, and so many American companies have a policy - have rules forwhat are called *“grievances.”* And, to find out more about that take a look attoday's Learning Guide.Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.[start of story]I was in a department meeting and our manager was asking for our feedback onimproving our product. I had a few ideas and I wanted to get them across, butone of my colleagues was giving me a hard time.Marcelo: In my opinion, I think that we need to look at the question more fromthe customer’s perspective. I really feel we need to do more market research.Ellen: I tend to think that we have enough information already and it’s time tomake some decisions.Marcelo: Well, the way I see it, we’ve only scratched the surface in getting toknow our customers. We need to get inside their heads if we want to offer whatthey want and aren’t getting right now.Ellen: You may be right, but if you ask me, I just don’t think it’s worth it to sinkmore time and money into the type of market research you’re proposing. It’s farmore than what other companies are doing.Marcelo: That’s precisely my point. I’m sure that if we can get information thatother companies don’t have, we’ll be one step ahead.That’s when the manager stepped in and offered her opinion. And, I’m happy tosay, she sided with me.[end of story]The script for today's podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse. Remember, you canemail us at [email protected] if you have a question or a comment about ourpodcast.From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We'll seeyou next time on ESL Podcast. is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.

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