http://www.nhk.or.jp/gogaku/english/business2/index.html

 

 

Business Communication in Action  実践ビジネス英語

Hello everybody.   こんにちは。みなさん。

 

Hello and welcome to the show.

This is Heather Howard.

Let's take a look at conversation at work.

 

 

Vanishing Professions (2)

 

Grace says traditional executive assistants have not been utilized at A&A for a long time and that remote personal assistants are now hired in low-cost cities like Tucson, Arizona and Louisville, Kentucky.

Lyons says that executives no longer have 24-hour administrative support.

And Grace lists some of the other perks that executives dont receive anymore.

 

 

More than a few: A roundabout way of saying a good number, a fairly large number. She's helped more than a few people do their work. Or, there were more than a few objections to the new work schedule.

 

Disappear altogether: Vanish entirely, completely. Likewise, you can say, "We've cancelled the project altogether." It's just too expensive.

"Altogether" can also mean "in total." Altogether, the cost was 50,000 yen.

 

Be long gone: Grace says, "Here at A&A, traditional executive assistants are long gone."

 

Corporate officer: A high ranking company executive. Like Grace says, this would include the CEO, also the CFO and the COO.

 

CXO / C-suite 肩書きにC…とついた人たち

Chief Technology Officer / Chief Marketing Officer

Chief Happiness Officer / Chief Talent Officer

 

For about five years now: When we put "now" after a period of time like this, we mean "this amount of time back into the past." I've lived in Japan for almost 30 years now. So, my residence in Japan stretches from this point in time back about 30 years. Or, he's been with the company for 6 months now. So he joined 6 months ago. And you can also say, "for the past five years, ah, for the past week, etc. etc."

 

Low-cost:

 

Global headquarters: The headquarters for all of a company over the entire world. Likewise, there are national headquarters, regional headquarters, city headquarters, and so on.

 

World headquarters

HQ = headquarters 

Headquarter  verb ~に本部を置く

The research company is headquartered in Tokyo.

その調査会社は東京に本部を置きます

 

Round-the-clock: 24 hours a day, around the clock, all the time. You could say, "That store is open round the clock." Or, they offer round-the-clock emergency repair services.

 

Around-the-clock

 

Gradual phasing out: Grace says, "The gradual phasing out of positions like executive assistants reflects bigger changes in the workplace in recent years." Here "phasing out" is a noun. Of course, it can also be a verb, meaning "gradually eliminate something, gradually stop using it or doing it." The tariffs will be phased out over the next five years. Or, the government is phasing out the use of coal.

 

Flat hierarchy: A hierarchy is a ranking of people according to status or ability. So if a hierarchy is flatter, then the people are more equal. Ah, there's less concern for rank. Or, you could say the opposite and say, "We try to be egalitarian around here. But there is a hierarchy. New staff have to respect senior staff." And "hierarchy" can also refer to a group of people who have authority. The party hierarchy, for example, would refer to the leaders, the top people in a political party.

 

Perk(=perquisite):

 

Come with: Obviously, this can also mean "physically accompany." Like, John came to the picnic with his wife. We also have the expressions "come with the job" or "come with the territory." Like, in the newspaper business, working on weekends comes with the job. Or, unusual working hours come with the territory.

 

Come with the turf  芝生 縄張り

In this job, customer complaints come with the turf.

この仕事には、お客さんからのクレームはつきものだ

 

Fade away:

 

 

That's all for today.

Thanks for tuning in. Bye.