Today's speaker was Matt! 🇿🇦Thank you mate! Full Transcript: Hi there! Thanks for joining me again. Today's topic is about a sales pitch, so there's going to be some phrases to do with business English. Today we've got a 30-second listening section, and then we're going to break down everything that was said, check your comprehension and make sure that everything is crystal clear. We have a warm-up question for you: What can the app do? This person is talking about an app for some reason. What can this app do? Can it make suggestions, make comments, or make lists? Listen out for it and turn off those subtitles or look away now! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Imagine having a tool that helps you keep on top of everything-all of those small tasks that add to your stress. You want to put them off or not have to worry about them completely. That's exactly what our new app does! It's not just an organizer; it's like having your own personal assistant, but at a fraction of the cost. Our AI-powered app will not only remember your daily tasks, but it will also make suggestions on how to do them efficiently. You can bet on it! In 5 years, everyone will be using these, so we want to let you in on a great investment deal before it's too late. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, he said that the app can make suggestions. Good job if you caught that! These are the comprehension questions we will talk through at the end. Pause the video now if you want to take a look before. And this is the color coding for the review that we're going to start right now. So, he said, "Imagine having a tool that helps you keep on top of everything." Now, being on top of everything means to be organized, up to date, all of your tasks are done, and you are not behind. "I tidy for 5 minutes every day to stay on top of everything." Now, there are a few different ways of saying this phrase. You can say "keep on top," "stay on top," or "remain on top." And instead of just saying "everything," you can even change what the "thing" is. So, in this example, you could say, "I tidy for 5 minutes every day to stay on top of the cleaning" or "the housework." A student of mine confused this once with "to be on top of the world." Now, I get it. The world is kind of everything, but this phrase means you're really happy, really excited, really joyful. So, a completely different meaning there. Please watch out. So, he says, "All of those small tasks that add to your stress." I think he kind of said that bit a little bit quickly-"all of those small tasks that add to your stress." Yeah, that might have taken a couple of listens to hear. "You want to put them off or not have to worry about them completely." So, what does "putting something off" mean? It means to leave a task for later, but it's not the same as postponing something. If you postpone it, you've planned to do it later. Putting something off is just, "I don't want to do this now." It's got a nuance of not really caring about it or not giving it a priority. You know you'll forget again. So, stop putting it off! Maybe someone's done this lots of times with something: "I don't want to do it now. I don't want to do it now." So, it also means to procrastinate, if you're familiar with that word, or to push something back or set it aside. But like I said, pushing something back can mean "I've scheduled it for later." This means, "No, no, no, I don't want to do it." You want to put them off. You want to put off your small tasks or not have to worry about them completely. That's exactly what our new app does! It's not just an organizer; it's like having your own personal assistant but at a fraction of the cost. If you haven't heard "a fraction of" something, in this case the cost or the price, it means much cheaper than the original price. So, if you know fractions in math, in English: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc. It depends how the person says it. If they say "a fraction of the cost," and they're giving this gesture, then you think of it as being a very small amount-maybe 1/8 or 1/10. This example uses duration: "This new highway will get me to the office in a fraction of the time." So, maybe half as long or even faster. So, that was the first part. And then he goes on to describe the app: "Our AI-powered app (artificial intelligence) will not only remember your daily tasks, but it will also make suggestions"-this was from the warm-up-"on how to do them efficiently. You can bet on it!" Okay, "You can bet on it" is used to tell the listener that they can be sure of something. You will hear this all the time in kind of sales pitches or business English. You'll hear it in other places as well: "She'll be late again-you can bet on it!" That's just somebody talking to a friend. "You can count on it," "You can be sure of it," "Rest assured." In sales, they're very often trying to use persuasive language, so this is a big one that they would use quite a lot. "You can bet on it! In 5 years, everyone will be using these." So, this app that he's promoting is going to become more popular. Things like that will become used by everybody. "So, we want to let you in on a great investment deal before it's too late." This ending sentence really sounds like a sales pitch. "We want to let you in" means to share a secret or a deal with someone. Like, this is not for everybody. This is not for the public. This is just for you! "Hey, I want to let you in on this." "I'll let you in on a little secret." "I'll let you in on a good offer, but only if you order soon!" It's a good sales tactic. So, back to our comprehension questions. What is the speaker promoting? Well, I don't think that's too tricky. He's been talking about an app. The first time you hear it is here: "That's exactly what our new app does." And you also hear it here: "Our AI-powered app will do… dot dot dot." So, that's what it is. Why is this better than a personal assistant? He talks about comparing it to a personal assistant. Why is this better? Well, he said, "It's like having a personal assistant but at a fraction of the cost," meaning it is much cheaper than hiring an assistant. I would hope so! An app should not cost more than hiring another person to do things for you. Who is the speaker talking to? A little bit harder, I think. So, I think until the end you could think he's talking to the public-people who want to download and buy the app. But at the end, he says, "We want to let you in on a great investment deal before it's too late." So, it's an investment. This is not one person buying the app. He's not talking one-to-one to somebody buying the app. He's talking to somebody or even a company. He wants funding. He wants them to either buy his idea, his whole company, or invest in a fraction of their business-something like that. So, I'd say he's talking to an investor or a company. He's not talking to one individual customer. I hope there were a few things in that video that you didn't know before. I hope it was useful, and if you'd like to keep the study session going, there's the next one. But thanks very much for watching! See you again!
@handlesareweird2 ай бұрын
You're welcome, my China... that's how South Africans often refer to each other btw :D Great video and anytime I can help with any of the other vids, let me know
@NaturalEnglishListening2 ай бұрын
@@handlesareweird we have “my old China” too! It comes from rhyming cockney slang. China plate (mate). Had no idea it was used in South Africa as well. Thanks again for taking part!