COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 19: Tough
Negotiations.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 19. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In this episode, we’ll try to negotiate or arrange a good deal or bargain. It’s a
story about my experiences renting an apartment here in Los Angeles. Let’s get
started!
[start of story]
I'm not what you would call the world's best negotiator, but sometimes it's
necessary to engage in a tough negotiation. Take, for instance, the time I had
to renew the lease on my apartment. This was back in college, when I was
renting a small studio in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles. When my
lease was up, the landlord and I sat down to hammer out the terms of a new
lease.
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do," he said. "I'm going to give you a break on rent if
you sign a two-year lease instead of just a one-year lease."
"Well," I said, "I don't know. What sort of break are we talking about here?"
"I'll give you a 5% rent increase instead of a 10% increase in exchange for you
signing a two-year lease. It's a win-win situation: you get a cut in rent, and I get
the security of a two-year lease."
At this point, I decided to make a counter-proposal. "How about this," I said, "You
give me a one year lease with a six percent increase."
"No, I can't make that sort of deal," he said. "But here's what I can do, and it's
my final offer: I'll pay for your electricity for the first 6 months of the lease, along
with the other terms I mentioned before."
"You drive a hard bargain. Okay, it's a deal," I said. I guess I could have tried to
bargain him down a bit more, but I was happy with our agreement. Now all I had
to do was sign on the dotted line.
[end of story]
Today we’re talking about negotiations. Negotiations are when you have to try to
reach an agreement on something with someone, either in business or in your
personal life. Tough negotiations are difficult negotiations, negotiations that
require a lot of effort or work.
I started by saying that “I’m not what you would call the world’s best negotiator.”
Someone who negotiates is called a “negotiator” (negotiator).The phrase, “I’m
not what you would call,” means “No one thinks that I am very good at this” or “I
would not be called by someone else (this thing).” We often use it as a way to be
humble, to not brag or boast about yourself. So, when I say “I’m not what you
would call the world’s best negotiator,” I’m saying I’m not very good at
negotiating.
When you use this phrase about someone else, it is a criticism. If someone is a
very bad singer, you could say, “He’s not what you would call the world’s best
singer.” People say that about me all the time.
I said in the story that “sometime it’s necessary to engage” – to take part – “in a
tough negotiation.” Then I said, “Take, for instance, the time I had to renew the
lease on my apartment.” Take, for instance means simply “For example” or “As
an example.” “The time I had to” here means “When I had to.”
I said I had to “renew the lease on my apartment. “To renew some agreement or
contract” means to extend it, to make it go longer. So, when you have an
agreement and you renew it, you’re committing to a longer period of time. You
are promising to do what the contract says for a longer time.
I say that I’m trying to renew my lease. A “lease” (lease) is a rental agreement, a
contract between two people where one person owns something and the other
person pays to use it. A lease is a contract to rent an apartment or some other
building. You can also use the term “lease” for a car. If you’re leasing a car,
you’re just paying rent on the car. You are using someone else’s car by paying
them money.
For an apartment in the United States, typically you sign or agree to a one-year
lease. After one year, you can usually renew your lease.
I said that the tough negotiations that I was part of were back in college. We use
that expression “back in” to mean “when I was” or “at the time of.” For example,
could say, “Back in the 1920s, people liked to dance to jazz music.” That
means that in the 1920s, people enjoyed dancing to jazz music.
I said “I was renting a small studio in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles.” A
“studio” apartment is a one-room apartment. Everything is in one room: your
bedroom, your bed, your kitchen, your clothes. You just have one room. If you
have a separate room for the bedroom, that would be called a “one-bedroom”
apartment. But this was just a studio apartment. The “Miracle Mile area” is just a
part of Los Angeles, in the middle of the city of Los Angeles.
I said that my lease was up. When a lease is coming to an end, we can use the
expression “was up” or “is up.” We also use that with the word “time.” “Time is
up” means there’s no more time or the time is over, the time is finished. If you
have students who are taking an exam and the teacher says, “Time is up!” she
means, “Stop working on your exam, the time is over.”
In the story, my lease was up, so the landlord and I sat down to hammer out the
terms of a new lease. A “landlord” (landlord) is someone who owns a building
and rents part of the building to someone else. I said I was sitting down or
meeting with my landlord “to hammer out the terms of a new lease.” “To hammer
out something” or “to hammer something out” means to negotiate, to figure out,
to come to a solution. “Terms” (terms) in a negotiation are the specific points that
you are negotiating about. So, for a lease on an apartment, the terms would be
how long the lease is, how much you pay for rent, whether you pay for gas,
electricity, and water, and so forth.
I then used a couple of expressions that are very common in negotiations,
whether it’s a personal or business negotiation. One of them was, “I’ll tell you
what I’m going to do.” This is an expression that we would use before we give
someone our proposal, our ideas for an agreement we are negotiating. The idea
here is that we are going to give the person a good deal, a bargain, perhaps a
low price.
I said that the landlord told me he would give me a break on rent. A “break”
(break) here means a reduction, when you make something less. The expression
is “a break on something.” “I’m going to give you a break on the price of a new
car” means “I’m going to reduce or lower the price for you.” The landlord said he
would give me a break on rent if I signed or agreed to a two-year lease instead of
just a one year lease.
I responded to the first proposal by my landlord by saying, “What sort of break
are we talking about here?” The expression, “What sort of (something) are we
talking about?” means “What exactly are the details?” For example, my friend
wants to go on a trip, and he wants to go camping in a tent out in the middle of
the desert. So I say, “Well, what kind of tent are we talking about here?” meaning
“Give me more information about it.” By the way, I would never go tenting or
camping in the desert. In fact, I’d never go tenting anywhere. I’m not a camper.
Anyway, back to – let’s return to – our story: I said that the landlord proposed
only increasing my rent 5% instead of, or in place of 10% in exchange for signing
a two-year lease. “In exchange for” is a common negotiating term. It means: You
give me something, I give you something. We exchange or give each other
something of value.
My landlord says this is a “win-win situation.” “Win-win” means “You win and I
win” – we both benefit or gain something from the negotiation. The landlord said I
would get a cut in rent. A “cut in rent” is the same as a “break on the rent,” a
reduction in the rent.
Now, I wasn’t happy with the landlord’s first proposal, so I made a
counterproposal. A “counterproposal” means after someone proposes or give his
ideas, you reply with or give your own ideas. We even use that word “counter” as
a verb: “He countered my proposal with another proposal.” Instead of
counterproposal you can also say “counteroffer.”
I introduced it by saying, “How about this?” and then I gave him my idea. That
expression “How about this?” is used before we are about to give someone our
views or ideas about how the contract or the negotiation should be. You can use
this expression when you’re trying to come to an agreement with someone about
what to do about any situation. For example, you could say, “You want to go to
the movies. I want to go to the beach. How about this? We go to the movies first,
and then the beach.” That is how we use “How about this?”
I said, “How about this?” and then gave my counterproposal: “You give me a
one-year lease with a six percent increase.” He responded by saying, “No, I can’t
make that sort of deal.” A deal is an agreement.
He then said to me, “But here’s what I can do, and it’s my final offer.” There are
two expressions here: “Here’s what I can do” and “final offer.” “Here’s what I can
do” is what you would say in a negotiation when you are not agreeing completely
with the other person, but you’re willing to compromise in the negotiation. To
compromise means you give up something and the other person gives up
something.
The other term my landlord used was final offer. When someone says, “It’s my
final offer,” they mean “That’s all I’m willing to do or to give.” The person is not
going to compromise anymore.
My landlord’s final offer was that he would pay for my electricity – my electrical
bill – for the first six months of the lease, “along with,” or in addition to, the other
terms he already mentioned.
I ended by saying to my landlord, “You drive a hard bargain.” A “hard bargain” is
a difficult bargain or difficult agreement. The expression “to drive a hard bargain”
means that the other person is a very tough negotiator, that the negotiations are
very difficult. I then say, “It’s a deal,” meaning “I agree to your terms.” I accept
your proposal.
I say that “I could have tried to bargain him down a bit more.” “To bargain
someone down” means to get them to reduce their price or to compromise more.
I did not try to bargain my landlord down because I was happy with or satisfied
with the agreement.
After I agreed to my landlord’s terms, I said that “All I had to do was sign on the
dotted line.” “All I had to do” means “The only thing I had to do.” The “dotted line”
in a contract, is where you put your signature indicating you agree to the
contract. This is a common expression in English, “to sign on the dotted line.” It
means you are going to sign a contract agreeing to something.
Now let’s listen to our story this time at a normal speed.
[start of story]
I'm not what you would call the world's best negotiator, but sometimes it's
necessary to engage in a tough negotiation. Take, for instance, the time I had
to renew the lease on my apartment. This was back in college, when I was
renting a small studio in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles. When my
lease was up, the landlord and I sat down to hammer out the terms of a new
lease.
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do," he said. "I'm going to give you a break on rent if
you sign a two-year lease instead of just a one-year lease."
"Well," I said, "I don't know. What sort of break are we talking about here?"
"I'll give you a 5% rent increase instead of a 10% increase in exchange for you
on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
signing a two-year lease. It's a win-win situation: you get a cut in rent, and I get
the security of a two-year lease."
At this point, I decided to make a counter-proposal. "How about this," I said, "You
give me a one year lease with a six percent increase."
"No, I can't make that sort of deal," he said. "But here's what I can do, and it's
my final offer: I'll pay for your electricity for the first 6 months of the lease, along
with the other terms I mentioned before."
"You drive a hard bargain. Okay, it's a deal," I said. I guess I could have tried to
bargain him down a bit more, but I was happy with our agreement. Now all I had
to do was sign on the dotted line.
[end of story]
The best deal in English language learning is right here on ESL Podcast. That’s
because we have the world’s best scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Tse.
From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan, thanks for listening. Come
back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,
hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan
GLOSSARY
what you would call – what most people would consider; a good example of
* The food was not what you would call high quality, but it tasted fine.
tough negotiation – an intense discussion in which two sides argue for different
conditions until they can reach an agreement or compromise
* It was a tough negotiation, but Mrs. Redrick eventually managed to reach a
deal that both sides were happy with.
to renew – to make an agreement again, usually with similar terms, after the first
agreement is no longer valid
* When Terrance’s contract with the football team expired, he decided not to
renew it and joined another team instead.
lease – an agreement stating that one is able to use an apartment, house, office,
or building owned by someone else for a period of time for a certain payment
* Evelina signed a lease that would allow her to live in the apartment for two
years.
to be up – to expire; to stop being valid or in effect
* The original agreement was up, so Hans needed to make a new agreement
with the client.
landlord – someone who owns a property that someone else pays to use
temporarily
* The landlord was angry when the person he had rented the apartment to
moved away without saying anything and without making the last payment.
to hammer out the terms – to determine the conditions or details of an
agreement
* Kamie managed to find an ideal business partner, but she still needed to
hammer out the terms of their partnership.
break – relief; a condition or quality that makes a situation easier
* After Stan had a hard day at work, his wife gave him a break and let him relax
instead of making him help with the housework as he would normally do.
in exchange for – in return for; as a trade for
* Brenda gave her classmate the candy from her lunchbox in exchange for the
cookie from his.
win-win – without any negative results for anyone involved; describing a
situation where two opposing sides both win or receive benefits
* It was a win-win situation: both Kurt and his brother would get to go to the
movie, and all Kurt needed to do was agree to watch it together.
counter-proposal – an offer made in reply to someone else’s offer; a suggested
form of an agreement made after someone else stated a different suggestion
* Masako did not like the original conditions offered to her, so she made a
counter-proposal that would be more beneficial to her.
deal – an agreement or compromise; a set of conditions in which two opposing
sides get some of what they want but not all of what they want
* Joshua and his parents made a deal that he would be allowed to drive the car
on Saturday nights if he washed and cleaned it once a week.
final offer – the last set of conditions one is willing to accept when forming an
agreement, not being willing to make any more compromises
* When the seller said that it was his final offer, Inga knew that she either needed
to accept it or find someone else to buy the product from.
to drive a hard bargain – to make it difficult to oppose; to make it difficult to get
a better set of conditions
* Maximo drove a hard bargain, but his clients always walked away happy.
to bargain (someone) down – to talk with someone else until that person
agrees to conditions that are better for one; to discuss the price until it is lowered
* I don’t know how Sharlene is able to bargain the seller down to such a low
price!
to sign on the dotted line – to write one’s name on a formal document
indicating one’s approval or understanding of an agreement
* Once Dylan signed on the dotted line, the contract was complete.
