Dealing with a problem

In this video, Vanya goes to Yuna with a problem. Listen to the language they use for dealing with a problem and practise saying the useful phrases.

Do the preparation exercise first. Then watch the video and do the exercises to check your understanding and practise the language.

Transcript

Ana: Hi! I'm Ana. Welcome to What to Say

Do you know what to say when you need to deal with a problem? Listen out for useful language for dealing with a problem. Then, we'll practise saying the new phrases – after this.

 

Vanya: Yuna!

Yuna: Oh, morning!

Vanya: I've got a bit of a problem. 

Yuna: What's wrong?

Vanya: Can we talk in private?

Yuna: Of course.

Yuna: Right, so, what's the matter? 

Vanya: Well, I've made a mistake. A big mistake.

Yuna: OK. I'm sure we can work it out.

Vanya: It was such a silly thing to do! 

Yuna: I'm getting worried now. What's going on here? 

Vanya: OK. It was late last night and I was tired. I wasn't concentrating and I accidentally used my company credit card instead of my own to buy something! 

Yuna: Don't worry, these things happen. There's a procedure to deal with this. How much did you spend? 

Vanya: It was quite expensive.

Yuna: How expensive?

Vanya: It was very expensive.

Yuna: Vanya, how expensive?

Vanya: £3,782 … and 56 pence.

Yuna: What? You spent £3,782?! 

Vanya: … and 56 pence. 

Yuna: What was it? Vanya?

Vanya: Just a weekend break! I just like a really nice hotel!

Yuna: OK, I see. Thanks for letting me know.

Vanya: Ah! I feel so much better now I've told you. Please don't tell Noelia.

Yuna: Oh, I'm definitely going to tell her!

Noelia: Hi!

Vanya: Hi!

 

Ana: Hello again! Wow, that's a lot of money for a weekend break. So, did you notice the useful phrases used for dealing with a problem? Listen to me and then repeat. 

 

What's wrong?

I've got a bit of a problem.

Could we talk in private?

What's the matter?

I've made a mistake.

I'm sure we can work it out.

Don't worry, these things happen.

Thanks for letting me know.

I feel so much better now I've told you.


Ana: Try and use some of these phrases the next time you need to deal with a problem in English. Bye for now!

Discussion

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Average: 4.3 (56 votes)

Submitted by Senasetton on Sun, 09/03/2025 - 11:52

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In daily life, e are often involved in helping someone situations.

Friday was the last time I helped someone with a problem at work. in fact, one of my collegues have forgotten her wallet at home. At break time, she was going to by the medications that have been prescripted to here the day before. then she realised that she had forgotten her wallet. She told me that she had to start the treatment at that moment. I lent to her what she was in need of.  I was happy to be useful and also to see her happy too.

Submitted by Cheryl865267 on Mon, 03/03/2025 - 13:59

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One time there was an important meeting next day and I found my colleague informed all the attendees of a wrong address. We reported this situation to our superior and took prompt action to notify all attendees again. It was so urgent at that moment that I still remember it vividly.

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Submitted by Ghofran21 on Mon, 24/02/2025 - 17:43

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I always enjoy helping other people in solving their problems,this makes me feel satisfied and also these people are helping me when I need their help.

Submitted by cucu on Tue, 18/02/2025 - 15:34

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I remember the last time I helped my colleague at my last company. My team member offered the wrong price for our products. There was a huge difference between the current price and the offer price. We cancelled their orders, and we sent sample products to deal with the problem.

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Submitted by Anum.J on Fri, 27/12/2024 - 19:56

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I always try to help my colleagues and interns at work, helping them really ease my work.

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Submitted by ChiaraKoehrlen on Wed, 23/10/2024 - 10:04

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When was the last time you helped someone with a problem at work?

The last time I've helped someone was during my summer job. The girls who made the mistake was new and we talked about what she has done and we solved the problem together.

Submitted by gratos on Sun, 20/10/2024 - 11:25

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I always helped my colleagues at work. one time I remembered I had noticed something weird in the company 's sales report that my friend was responsible for so I hurried to fix it and avoid my friend embarrassment . It such a great feeling to help somebody secretly without letting him know who is this anonymous helper.

Submitted by shacka on Fri, 14/06/2024 - 09:48

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I've found out that one of my colleague's clients sent a wrong discount code to his customers within the campaign and my colleague who's responsible for that hasn't checked it. So I've called the client to solve the issue in order to resend the right one. After that, I told her to always check discount codes before the client's promotional campaign to make sure it works properly.

Submitted by ubaid332 on Mon, 10/06/2024 - 15:04

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When was the last time you helped someone with a problem at work?

I helped my classmate with his thesis. He doesn't know how to set the formatting and make the table of contents in a Microsoft Word document. I formatted his thesis and made the table of contents. After that, I helped him with document printing as well.

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