English Around the World Part 2.

Duration: 50 minutes.

Let’s take a look at today’s lesson

English is spoken worldwide, not only in the United States or England.
Millions use it as a second language. Each nationality adds influences from their culture, first language, and education, shaping unique expressions and styles.

Lesson Key: (V) = Vocabulary. (U) = Understanding. (R) = Reading.

The presentation.

In this role-play, you will hear an online business meeting between two women working at a pharmaceutical (drug) company.

Cassidy is an American manager presenting the end-of-year report.
Priya is an Indian colleague asking questions.

Both women speak English very well, but their styles are different because of their culture and first language.

What You Will Hear

Cassidy (American):

She speaks quickly, in a relaxed way.
She uses phrasal verbs and short forms like “kick this off” (start), “walk you through” (explain), and “gonna” (going to).
She is friendly and informal, even in a business meeting.

Priya (Indian):

She speaks politely and formally.
She uses older British English expressions, like “May I kindly request some clarification?”
She uses longer sentences and words such as “with respect to” or “much appreciated.”
Her tone shows respect for the presenter and for the group.

Notes on Why They Speak This Way

American English often sounds casual because U.S. culture values efficiency and friendliness in business. Americans prefer direct words and short phrases.
Indian English is influenced by British English (from history) and by Indian culture, which values respect and formality. That’s why Priya’s language sounds more polite and traditional.

Tips for You

Don’t worry if you don’t understand every phrase. Focus on the main ideas: numbers, results, problems, and solutions.
Listen for phrasal verbs in American English (kick off, figure out, circle back). These are very common.
Notice formal words in Indian English (kindly, request, much appreciated). These show respect, not distance.
Practice both styles. Sometimes business needs a short, direct answer (like Cassidy). Other times, it needs a polite, detailed question (like Priya).
Both ways are correct. The goal is communication. Different styles show cultural diversity in English.

Listen to the audio and read the transcript.

So, when you hear this dialogue, listen carefully to how Cassidy and Priya speak. It will help you understand not only the words, but also the culture behind the language.

American Presenter (Cassidy):
“Alright team, thanks for joining today. Let’s kick this off with our year-end results. Revenue grew 12%, mostly driven by strong sales in our oncology portfolio. We also rolled out two new clinical trials, which I’ll walk you through in just a sec. If you check slide three, you’ll see expenses stayed pretty flat, so margins improved.
That’s a big win for us. Looking forward, we’re gonna focus on scaling production and figuring out faster distribution in Latin America.”

Indian Colleague (Priya):
“Excuse me, Cassidy. May I kindly request some clarification? On slide three, you mentioned that the oncology portfolio was the main contributor to growth. Could you please specify how much of the increase is directly attributed to this portfolio, and whether such performance will be sustainable in the next quarter?”

American Presenter (Cassidy):
“Great question, Priya. About 60% of the growth came from oncology. We expect it to hold steady, since trial adoption is moving fast and doctors are picking it up quickly. I’ll send you the detailed breakdown right after this call.”

Indian Colleague (Priya):
“Thank you kindly, Cassidy. That will be most helpful. And if I may ask one more question: with respect to distribution in Latin America, what key challenges do you foresee, and how do you propose to address them?”

American Presenter (Cassidy):
“Yeah, good point. Biggest challenge is logistics, customs delays and limited cold storage. We’re partnering with two regional distributors to smooth that out. I’ll circle back with more detail in next week’s update.”