Learn how to ask for information about office procedures
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Business Italian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 12 - Asking for Information About Office Procedures. Eric Here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao, I'm Ofelia. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for information about office procedures. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Ofelia: It's between Linda and Paolo. |
| Eric: The speakers are acquaintances, so they will use informal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Paolo: Linda, grazie di tutto. |
| Linda: Grazie Paolo. Altrettanto! |
| Paolo: Dove devo mandare la fattura? |
| Linda: Mandala all'ufficio contabilità. |
| Paolo: Ho capito. A presto! |
| Linda: Ci vediamo! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Paolo: Linda, grazie di tutto. |
| Linda: Grazie Paolo. Altrettanto! |
| Paolo: Dove devo mandare la fattura? |
| Linda: Mandala all'ufficio contabilità. |
| Paolo: Ho capito. A presto! |
| Linda: Ci vediamo! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Paolo: Linda, thank you for everything. |
| Linda: Thanks Paolo. Equally! |
| Paolo: Where should I send the invoice? |
| Linda: Send it to the accounting office. |
| Paolo: OK. See you soon! |
| Linda: See you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Ofelia, are there many freelancers in Italy? |
| Ofelia: Yes, in the last few years in Italy, more companies have been tending to avoid hiring people as regular employees, opting instead for project contractors. |
| Eric: This is especially true if the project requires a high level of specialization or some niche expert. How do you say “freelancer” in Italian? |
| Ofelia: libero professionista |
| Eric: which literally means "freelance professional" and refers to a person who works with many companies on a project basis. |
| Ofelia: These kinds of workers are expected to have a code, called partita iva |
| Eric: Which is the "VAT number," and allows the state to financially monitor them. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Ofelia: grazie di tutto [natural native speed] |
| Eric: thank you for everything |
| Ofelia: grazie di tutto[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: grazie di tutto [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ofelia: altrettanto [natural native speed] |
| Eric: as much, equally |
| Ofelia: altrettanto[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: altrettanto [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ofelia: mandare [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to send |
| Ofelia: mandare[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: mandare [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ofelia: fattura [natural native speed] |
| Eric: invoice |
| Ofelia: fattura[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: fattura [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Ofelia: ufficio contabilità [natural native speed] |
| Eric: accounting office |
| Ofelia: ufficio contabilità[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: ufficio contabilità [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Ofelia: altrettanto |
| Eric: meaning "as much, equally." This word doesn’t have a real counterpart in English. |
| Ofelia: But in Italian it’s used on a daily basis. For example, it's the most common way to reply to Buon appetito! |
| Eric: which means "Have a nice meal!" and is what you need to say before you start eating. Similarly, you can use it when replying to anyone who wishes you well. |
| Ofelia: Depending on the context, it can be used either as an adjective or as an adverb. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word as an adverb? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say.. Dovresti arrivare altrettanto velocemente che loro |
| Eric: ..which means "You should arrive as quickly as they do." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Ofelia: ufficio contabilità |
| Eric: meaning "accounting office" |
| Ofelia: This phrase is made up of a masculine noun, ufficio, "office," and a feminine noun, contabilità, meaning "accounting." |
| Eric: When you need to add an adjective or an article, you should consider only the main noun’s gender. |
| Ofelia: In this case, the main noun is ufficio. |
| Eric: Using the same structure you can create different offices names, |
| Ofelia: Right, for example ufficio personale, meaning "HR office," or ufficio vendite, meaning "sales office." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using one of these phrases? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say.. L'ufficio contabilità è chiuso. |
| Eric: .. which means "The accounting office is closed." |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to ask for information about office procedures. Whether you’re working as a regular employee or as a freelancer, there will be many times when you need to ask for details about office procedures. Let’s see how to do it. |
| Ofelia: First, be sure of what you want to ask and choose the right question word. In the dialogue, that is dove. |
| Eric: which means “where.” Let’s review the other main Italian question words. |
| Ofelia: We have Quando |
| Eric: “When” |
| Ofelia: Quanto |
| Eric: “How much” |
| Ofelia: Come |
| Eric: “How” |
| Ofelia: Cosa |
| Eric: “What” |
| Ofelia: And Perché |
| Eric: Meaning “why”. When asking for specifics in a business setting, it’s important to be as accurate as possible. |
| Ofelia: Another important element when asking for guidance is the verb dovere. |
| Eric: which means "to have to," or "must," and you have to conjugate it according to the subject, and then add the verb that indicates the main action in the infinitive form. |
| Ofelia: In the main example from the dialogue we have Dove devo mandare la fattura? Devo is the first person singular of the present indicative, and means “I have to” or “I should” and mandare la fattura, is the infinitive meaning “to send the invoice.” |
| Eric: This pattern is very useful because it makes it clear that you are asking about a rule. Let’s see some more examples with different question words, |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, Quando devo distribuire la posta? |
| Eric: “When should I deliver the mail?” |
| Ofelia: Come deve compilare la fattura il cliente? |
| Eric: “How should the customer fill in the invoice?” |
| Ofelia: Dove devo archiviare le fatture? |
| Eric: “Where should I file the invoices?” |
| Ofelia: Another useful way of asking about rules is to substitute the pattern dovere + an infinitive verb, with bisogna + an infinitive verb. Bisogna means “it’s necessary.” |
| Eric: This is simpler, since you don’t have to conjugate the first verb, which is already in the third person singular and refers to an action in general, without a specific subject. |
| Ofelia: We can ask the same questions using this alternative pattern, for example Quando bisogna distribuire la posta? |
| Eric: “When is it necessary to deliver the mail?” |
| Ofelia: Come bisogna compilare la fattura? |
| Eric: literally “How is it necessary to fill in the invoice?”, actually meaning “How do you need to fill in the invoice?” |
| Ofelia: Dove bisogna archiviare le fatture? |
| Eric: “Where do you need to file the invoices?” Ok, now let’s see how you might answer this kind of question. |
| Ofelia: There are three possibilities. |
| Eric: What is the first one? |
| Ofelia: As in the dialogue, the answer may be an indication in the imperative mood. |
| Eric: What is the example in the dialogue? |
| Ofelia: Mandala all'ufficio contabilità. |
| Eric: meaning “Send it to the accounting office.” |
| Ofelia: Mandala is compounded from manda, which is the imperative form from the verb mandare, meaning “send!” and the enclitic feminine pronoun la, which means “it” and refers to the feminine noun fattura. |
| Eric: The imperative is more likely used if what you are going to do is in your favor. What is the second type of answer? |
| Ofelia: It can be an indication that has the same structure as the question, if what you are going to do is necessary for respecting the rules, and not in your favor. For example, Bisogna inviare i dati entro stasera. |
| Eric: which means “It’s necessary to deliver the data by tonight.” |
| Ofelia: The same thing may be expressed with the imperative, as in Invia i dati entro stasera |
| Eric: Meaning “Send the data by tonight.” This implies that the data should be delivered for your benefit. |
| Ofelia: Or it can also imply that you are given an order. |
| Eric: Finally, the answer can just be a simple indication, containing only the necessary information. |
| Ofelia: For example, Entro stasera. |
| Eric: which means “By tonight.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Ofelia: A presto! |
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