Speaking Skills - Paying for things

Jack: Can you lend me a tenner, Rich?

Rich: A tenner? What for?

Jack: I need to pay the taxi and I’ve left my wallet at home.

Rich: Taxi? You’re getting paid too much!

Jack: Yeah, yeah. Come on the meter’s ticking.

Rich: Alright. I suppose you want a couple of quid for the tip as well.

Jack: That’ll do nicely. See you in a minute.

Welcome - Paying for things

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, going to look at the language of paying for things.

Jack: That’s right. It can be quite difficult paying for things sometimes because there might be specific language and also cultural differences to think about.

Rich: In some places, it can be easy to pay for things. When I’m abroad in a country that doesn’t speak English do you know where I love going?

Jack: Where?

Rich: The supermarket. It’s brilliant. You get a trolley and put things in it. You pay for your things with your card at the checkout. You leave with your stuff. Job done and not a word spoken!

Jack: Not a word?

Rich: Well, it depends where I am. I might try saying bonjour or as-salamu alaykum or maybe spasibo or grazie. But that’s all I need.

Jack: Come on Rich, you’ve got to try a bit harder than that!

Rich: Yes, I know and we want our listeners to try harder than that too. That’s why, in this podcast, we’re going to look at some situations when you pay for things that might be trickier … more difficult.

Jack: When this podcast is over we hope that you will feel more comfortable paying for things in some different situations.

Rich: We want this podcast to help you with the language you can use and some of the phrases you might hear when paying.

Jack: And we hope that it will give you an idea of aspects of British culture too because it’s not just language that can be confusing in these situations.

Rich: So, we’re not just going to speak about paying for something in the supermarket.

Jack: No!

Topic Focus

Rich: In this section, we’re going to roleplay four different situations where you have to pay for things.

Jack: Your first task is to listen to our dialogue and try to guess where we are and what we are paying for.

Rich: For example, we might be in a greengrocers and Jack might be paying for some tomatoes.

Jack: After the dialogues, we will tell you where we were and then have a look at some of the language we used and give you some other things to think about when you are in these situations in the UK.

Rich: Right? Are you ready?

Jack: I’m ready.

Rich: I know you’re ready. I meant our listeners.

Jack: Ahh! Let’s start. Roleplay number one. Where are we and what am I paying for?

Rich: And can you tell me which stand you’d like to sit in?

Jack: I think we’d like to sit in the centenary stand.

Rich: That’s fine there are plenty of seats available. How many seats were you after?

Jack: I’d like two, please.

Rich: Two adults?

Jack: Yes.

Rich: OK. Are you club members?

Jack: No.

Rich: And it’s for the Liverpool - Newcastle match, right?

Jack: That’s right, yes.

Rich: So that’s two adults for the Newcastle match in the centenary stand for non-members. Can you give me your credit card number, please? That’s the long number on the front of the card.

Jack: Hold on. Let me get it. OK, it’s 4567 8456 7721.

Rich: And the expiry date.

Jack: It’s 09 21.

Rich: And the security code on the back of the card.

Jack: Er … where’s that?

Rich: It’s the last three digits on the back of the card.

Jack: Ah yes, here. It’s 302.

Rich: Perfect. We will put the tickets in the post and they should be with you in a day or two.

Rich: Roleplay number two. Where are we and what am I paying for?

Jack: Where to mate?

Rich: Leicester Square, please

Jack: Is it your first time in London?

Rich: I’ve been here a couple of times but I don’t know it that well ...

Jack: You should definitely go to Covent Garden that’s near Leicester Square … and are you a football fan …

Later ...

Jack: Whereabouts mate?

Rich: Just here is fine.

Jack: That’ll be £12.40

Rich: There you go. Keep the change.

Jack: Cheers. I’ll just get your bags.

Jack: Roleplay number three. Where are we and what am I paying for?

Rich: Quick! Run! We’ll miss it!

Jack: Alright! I’m coming!

Rich: Don’t worry. It’s the number 63. We need the 41.

Jack: Thanks for making me run!

Rich: Look it’s here now.

Jack: Go on then get on! What’s that?

Rich: It’s an Oyster card. You don’t have one?

Jack: No

Rich: You’ll have to pay then.

Jack: Err … How much is a single to Liverpool Street?

Rich: It’s a flat rate. Two pounds.

Jack: Right. I’ve got a tenner here.

Rich: You can’t pay with that. You need the exact change. I’ll lend you a couple of quid.

Rich: Roleplay number four. Where are we and what am I paying for?

Jack: Would you like anything else? A coffee?

Rich: No, thanks. Just the bill, please.

Jack: Of course. Would you like to pay by card or cash?

Rich: By card.

Jack: No, problem. Contactless OK?

Rich: Err …

Jack: You can just put your card here and wait for the beep. It’s contactless, you don’t need to put the card in the machine.

Rich: Oh. I don’t think I have that.

Jack: That’s OK. Put your card in the machine and press the green button.

Rich: Yes, of course. It says pounds or euros?

Jack: You can choose to pay in pounds or you can pay in your local currency.

Rich: Ahh … I see. Pounds … and this

Jack: You can add a tip if you wish.

Rich: Of course. OK ... enter your pin. Dum de dum ... Good.

Jack: Would you like a receipt?

Rich: Yes, please. 

Answers

Jack: We asked you to listen to four dialogues and think where we were and what we were buying.

Rich: The first roleplay was on the telephone to a ticket office at a football stadium. Jack was paying for football tickets.

Jack: The second roleplay was in a taxi and Rich was paying for his journey.

Rich: The third roleplay was on the bus and Jack was paying his bus fare.

Jack: And the fourth roleplay was at a restaurant and Rich was paying for a meal. Did you get them all right?
Language Focus

Rich: In this section we going to take a look at some of the phrases we used in the roleplays that are useful for you to learn. Let’s start with the ticket office on the telephone.

Jack: When you buy things on the telephone you usually have to use your credit card.

Rich: There are three things to listen for when paying by credit card. Your credit card number, the expiry date of your card and the security number.

Jack: Most credit cards in the world look similar so these numbers should be easy to find. The credit card number and expiry date are usually on the front of the card and the security number on the back.

Rich: The security number is often called the CVV number and is usually the last three digits of the number on the back of your card.

Jack: The second roleplay was in a taxi and there are some useful phrases to learn here. The taxi driver might say ‘where to?’ when you get in or you might just need to say where you want to go if he or she doesn’t say anything.

Rich: Another phrase to learn is ‘that’ll be …’ a taxi driver often says this when he gives you the price. That’ll be £20 for example. A taxi driver might not say pounds either. He might just say twenty or he might say something more informal like twentry quid mate!

Jack: Another useful phrase is ‘keep the change’. If the taxi fare is £18 pounds you might say keep the change when you give £20 to the driver. This is common in the UK.

Rich: The third roleplay was on a bus. A useful phrase to know is exact change or exact change only. This means that the driver won’t give you any money back so you need to pay the exact price of your ticket.

Jack: This is quite common in the UK so it’s useful to have some change in your pocket.

Rich: Another useful phrase is flat fare. This means that the price is the same for all tickets on the bus. This is quite common in some UK cities.

Jack: Rich mentioned an Oyster card in the roleplay. This is a type of card that you can buy to use on public transport. Different cities have different types.

Rich: In London, for example, you can’t use cash on buses. You have to pay with an Oyster card or a contactless bank card. If you have one of these you just swipe your card when you get on a bus.

Jack: Our final roleplay was in a restaurant and there were some useful phrases in this roleplay too. Can I have the bill, please is always a useful phrase to know.

Rich: And waiters often ask if you would like to pay by card or cash. That’s a useful phrase to know.

Jack: And you might hear a waiter say contactless OK. This is a really common way of paying by card nowadays.

Rich: Would you like a receipt is useful too. A receipt is a record of what you paid on a bit of paper.

Football Phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week?

Jack: Yes, I have, but first, last week’s football phrase. The phrase was hospital pass. It’s when one player kicks the ball to a teammate when there is an opposition player nearby. This is a dangerous thing to do because both players will try to get the ball and they might crash into each other.

Rich: I thought it was a pretty difficult expression so well done to those of you who got it right. People who got it spot on include Liubomyr, Sabanoleg and Violinka from Ukraine, Ahmed Adam from Sudan, Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Lakerwang from China, Elghoul from Algeria and Haruyuki from Japan.

Rich: What’s this week’s football phrase?

Jack: This week’s football phrase is a football word. It’s a ****. This is an event that happens to decide which teams play each other in a cup competition. For example, last week the **** was made for the World Cup in Russia.

Rich: This word can confuse people because it’s got another meaning in football that’s more common.

Jack: Not too much help, Rich!

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Jack: And don’t forget to listen to our round-up show called ‘This Week’. All the action from Matchweek 16 will be on the Premier Skills homepage on Monday.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!