Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Business Russian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 4 - Greeting Your Russian Boss in the Morning, John Here.
Karina: Привет, I'm Karina.
John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to politely greet your supervisor. The conversation takes place at the office.
Karina: It's between Linda and Alexander.
John: The speakers are boss and employee, so they will use formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Линда: Доброе утро.
Александр: Линда, привет. Погода сегодня чудесная.
Линда: Вы правы! Температура отличная.
Александр: Как жаль, что приходится работать в офисе.
John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Линда: Доброе утро.
Александр: Линда, привет. Погода сегодня чудесная.
Линда: Вы правы! Температура отличная.
Александр: Как жаль, что приходится работать в офисе.
John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Linda: Good morning.
Alexander: Linda, hi. Today the weather is wonderful.
Linda: You are right! The temperature is perfect.
Alexander: It's a shame having to work at the office!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
John: The conversation this time was a greeting between a boss and an employee.
Karina: It’s only polite to greet each other, isn’t it?
John: I think so! Karina, how do people address their bosses in Russian companies?
Karina: Traditionally, it is common to call your boss using their first name and patronymic name.
John: Some of our listeners may come from countries that don’t use patronymic names, so can you explain what that is for us?
Karina: Sure. As I said in the previous lesson, it’s a personal name that comes from the given name of a male relative, usually a father or grandfather.
John: Is that common in all companies?
Karina: Some are more informal, and you can just use your boss’s first name.
John: While still keeping your speech formal, of course.
Karina: We don’t usually call each other Mister or Miss when speaking, but might use Господин and Госпожа and their last name in an email.
John: How about other forms of address, such as Doctor?
Karina: We don’t use Doctor for names in Russia.
John: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Karina: офис [natural native speed]
John: office
Karina: офис[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: офис [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: погода [natural native speed]
John: weather
Karina: погода[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: погода [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: сегодня [natural native speed]
John: today
Karina: сегодня[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: сегодня [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: чудесный [natural native speed]
John: wonderful
Karina: чудесный[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: чудесный [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: привет [natural native speed]
John: hi, hello
Karina: привет[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: привет [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: температура [natural native speed]
John: temperature
Karina: температура[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: температура [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: как жаль [natural native speed]
John: what a pity
Karina: как жаль[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: как жаль [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Karina: приходится [natural native speed]
John: to have to
Karina: приходится[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: приходится [natural native speed]
John: And last..
Karina: работать [natural native speed]
John: to work
Karina: работать[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: работать [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is...
Karina: Как жаль, что
John: meaning "What a shame"
John: What can you tell us about this?
Karina: You can use this to describe your true feelings and it has a strong emotional context.
John: Can it be used in both formal and informal situations?
Karina: It can, but it isn’t used often.
John: Why is that?
Karina: It is strong, so using it too much lessens the effect. Instead you can say очень жаль, что
John: meaning “It’s a pity that…” Can you give us an example using this word?
Karina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Как жаль, что пора уходить.
John: ..which means "What a pity that we have to leave." Okay, what's the next word?
Karina: отличный
John: meaning "perfect"
John: What can you tell us about this?
Karina: This adjective is used all of the time to describe many things, such as weather, results, food...
John: Is it used in both formal and informal situations?
Karina: When speaking, it can be used in both.
John: What about in writing?
Karina: You won’t see it in official documents.
John: Can you give us an example using this word?
Karina: For example, you can say.. Я знаю отличный ресторан неподалёку.
John: .. which means "I know a great restaurant nearby." Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to politely greet your supervisor. Karina, what is a good phrase to greet your supervisor?
Karina: You can simply say Доброе утро.
John: “Good morning.”
Karina: That’s a neutral phrase, but in Russian there are different levels of politeness.
John: How would a junior member of the company address their colleagues or superiors?
Karina: They can use Доброе утро as we said before, or здравствуйте.
John: That second phrase means “hello”. How about the boss of the company?
Karina: They can say anything. The informal привет, meaning “Hi” is fine. The most important part is the pronoun.
John: Can you tell us a little about that?
Karina: Вы can be either a polite version of singular “you” or the neuter plural.
John: How do you know when you can drop being formal and switch to being informal?
Karina: You just have to try and read the situation. If you’re lucky, someone will say Давайте перейдём на ты.
John: Which means “Let’s switch to the informal ‘you,’”
Karina: It should be the senior person in the conversation that says that.
John: After the greeting, comes small talk. What is a good subject for small talk?
Karina: Weather, of course! A good sentence is Погода сегодня чудесная.
John: Which means “It’s wonderful weather today.” How do we form this sentence?
Karina: The first word is погода, which means “weather”, then сегодня meaning “today”, and чудесная, meaning “wonderful”. But Russian has no strict word order, so чудесная can go first.
John: What other things can be said?
Karina: Температура отличная.
John: “The temperature is perfect.”
Karina: Температура ужасная.
John: “The temperature is horrible.”
Karina: На улице очень жарко.
John: “It’s really hot outside.”

Outro

John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Karina: Пока!

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