Dialogue A: Next, please. May I help you, sir? B: Hello, yes, I’d like to open a bank account. A: Certainly, I can help you with that. What type of account would you like to open? A chequing or a savings account? B: What features do they offer? A: Well, if you just take a look here, see, with our chequing account, you can have unlimited daily transactions for a small monthly fee, and our savings account has a higher interest rate, but you must carry a minimum balance of $ 10,000 dollars. B: I see, well, I think I’m more interested in a chequing account; I'd like to have easy access to my money. A: Alright, then, with this chequing account you’ll be issued a debit card and a cheque book. Will you require overdraft protection? There is an extra fee for that. B: No, that won’t be necessary. A: In that case, I’ll get you to fill out this paperwork; I’ll need your social insurance number, and two pieces of government ID. If you could just sign here, and here, and here; we’ll be all set. Would you like to make a deposit today? B: Yes, I’d like to deposit one billion dollars.
M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to another great lesson with EnglishPod! My name is Marco. E: And I’m Erica. M: And today we’re bringing you another great lesson about being at the bank. E: That’s right! We’ve got an Intermediate lesson for you today, um, with lots of great language to help you open a bank account. M: Okay, so, let’s look at our “vocabulary preview” today. Voice: Vocabulary preview. E: Two words today. The first one is checking account. [NOTE: Canadian spelling - chequing account] M: A checking account. E: Checking account. M: So, what is a checking account? E: Well, it’s a type of bank account that lets you do your day-to-day or daily banking. M: So, it’s the normal bank account that you use to go shopping, that you… E: Yep. M: That you use to pay your bills. E: Yeah, exactly. M: The opposite, and our second word, is… E: Savings account. M: Savings account. E: Savings account. M: So, a savings account is to… E: It’s a bank account where you save your money. M: To save money, right? E: Aha. M: So, usually, you don’t touch the money at this account. E: Yeah, usually, it stays in there. M: Right, so, usually, banks will have these two types of accounts. E: Yes. M: Checking and savings. E: Aha. M: Okay, great! Let’s listen to our dialogue a first time now. E: Alright, well, today we’re at a bank and we’re going to listen as a man is opening a bank account. M: The dialogue is gonna be spoken at a normal speed, so it might be a little bit fast. E: Yeah. M: But don’t worry about it, because we’ll come back and explain everything. E: Yes. DIALOGUE M: Alright, one billion dollars. E: That’s a lot of money! M: That’s a weird laugh. E: Hehe. M: Hehe. Okay, let’s look at “language takeaway” today. Voice: Language takeaway. E: Today we’ve got four words for you in language takeaway all about money and banking. M: Money and banking. E: Aha. M: The first one that we have today is transaction. E: Transaction. M: Transaction E: A transaction. M: So, we have some great examples that will help you understand what a transaction is, so, let’s listen. Voice: Example one. A: I need a record of my most recent paying transactions. Voice: Example two. B: There’s no fee for bank transactions done online. Voice: Example three. C: Okay, we’ve deposited your money. Would you like to make another transaction today? E: So, basically, I can understand that a transaction is moving money around in your bank accounts. M: Right, it’s taking your money from… right, it’s taking money from your bank account and putting it in other account or just taking in it to spend… whatever. E: Yes. M: That’s a transaction. E: Or even putting money in to your bank account… M: That’s also a transaction. E: Aha. M: Great! Our second word – balance. E: Balance. M: Balance. E: Balance. M: Your account balance… E: Aha. M: Is how much money you have. E: Exactly. M: Right? E: An account balance. M: My account balance is two dollars right now, I think. E: That’s a bit of a problem. M: Yes. E: Good thing payday is three days away. M: Yeah! Oh, my God! Okay, our third word – overdraft. E: Overdraft. M: Overdraft. E: Overdraft. M: So, this really comes in handy, right? E: Uhu. M: To overdraft… can you tell us a little bit about it? E: Let’s say in my bank account I have five hundred dollars. M: Uhu. E: But I spend six hundred dollars. M: Right. E: So, I have an overdraft in my account, meaning I owe the bank a hundred dollars. M: Right, it’s also commonly refer to… as a negative balance. E: That’s right! M: Right? Negative balance. E: Uhu. M: Like me. Very soon I will have a negative balance. E: Okay, I think this one is a little bit tricky to understand, so let’s listen to a couple of examples of how we use this word. Voice: Example one. A: The maximum overdraft of my account is only five thousand dollars. Voice: Example two. B: I’m sorry, sir, but you’ve exceeded your maximum overdraft limit. I cannot give you any more money. Voice: Example three. C: Oh, no! I have to pay fifteen hundred dollars in overdraft fees. M: Okay, great examples! Now, we can take a look at our last word – debit card. E: Debit card. M: Debit card. E: D-E-B-I-T card, debit card. M: So, debit card is issued by the bank. E: Yes. M: And used to… E: Take money out of a… ATM. M: From an ATM-machine, right? E: Uhu. M: Right, a debit card. Not to be confuse with a credit card. E: Not the same thing. M: Alright. Okay, great! So, now we could listen to our dialogue a second time at a slower speed, so, now we can… E: We can hear all of the great language we just talked about. DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow) M: We heard some interesting phrases of how to tell somebody to do something in a polite way. E: Yes. M: So, let’s start with “fluency builder” and explain these words. Voice: Fluency builder. E: The bank teller asked this man to do a number of things in order to open his bank account and she used some great expressions. M: Right, let’s listen to how she asked the man to do some things in a polite way. E: Yes. Phrase 1: I’ll get you to fill out this paperwork. I’ll get you to fill out this paperwork. Phrase 2: I’ll need your social insurance number. I’ll need your social insurance number. Phrase 3: If you could just sign here. If you could just sign here. M: So, the first thing she said is “I’ll get you to fill out this paperwork”. E: I’ll get you to. M: Right? Right, I’ll get you to. E: Uhu. M: So, it’s just a way of saying “can you please fill this out?” E: Yeah, do this. M: Do this. E: Yeah. M: But in a different way, right? E: Aha, more polite. M: It’s pretty polite. E: Uhu. M: Then she also said “I’ll need your social insurance number”. E: I’ll need your. M: I’ll need your. Again, a polite way of saying… E: Give me… M: Give me. E: Your social insurance number. M: Hehe. Give me your social insurance… E: Yeah. M: And the last thing she said, and this is really polite, “if you could just sign here”. E: Yes. M: If you could just sign here. E: If you could just… M: If you could just wait a moment… E: Uhu. M: I’ll be with you. E: If you could just send an e-mail with your bank account number. M: Right. E: Uhu. M: Very polite way of asking for something. E: Yep. Well, some great language in today’s ‘cast… M: Yeah. E: Let’s listen to the dialogue one last time and we’ll catch all of this wonderful language. DIALOGUE, M: Okay, so, an interesting thing here: not many countries use checks. E: That’s right. M: Right? The checkbook or a check. E: Yeah, it tends to be more of an American thing. Don’t you think? M: It is, it is, I think, it is. For those of you who aren’t sure what a check is, it’s basically a piece of paper that you just sing your name and… E: Yeah, you write the amount of money and then you sing your name, right? M: Right, and then you give that to the person that… that person can take it to the bank and get money in exchange for it. E: Yes. M: It’s not very common in other countries. E: No, but from what I know, every single American has a checkbook and uses it… M: Right… E: Pretty regularly. M: Yeah, yeah. E: Yeah. M: For example, you’d pay your, uh, phone bill… E: Yeah. M: Or your electric bill use… put a check in the mailbox and… it’s paid. E: And it’s done. M: It’s an interesting thing. Also sometimes in other countries people salaries are paid through checks. E: Yes. M: Paycheck. E: Oh, yes! M: Hehe. E: I see where that word comes from. M: Paycheck. E: Aha. M: But, for example, here in China it’s not very common, right? E: U-u. M: I’ve never seen a check here. E: Me neither. M: What about in your countries? We’d like to know how the banking system works. E: Yes, come to our website at englishpod.co