Interlingua/Curso de conversation/Capitulo 3, Scenas 5 e 6 (anglese)

SCENE 5: The Geneva office of Marex Mundial: Catherina has gotten together all the members of her team to introduce them to one another. While they are waiting for the last two people to arrive, Catherina gives a letter to Petro. It's from Alice, who is spending some vacation days at the Costa Brava.

She wants to tell Petro what she has done for their transfer to Geneva. Petro becomes even more irritated when he reads this. Catherina interrupts his grumbling to introduce him to two new colleagues of his, who have just arrived.

Catherina: Good morning, Petro.

Petro: Good morning.

Catherina: Listen, all the members of the team have arrived. Olivero e Martijn have arrived, ...

Petro: Fine.

Catherina: ... and I want to introduce all of you to one another.

Petro: An excellent idea.

Catherina: Oh, Peter, there is a letter for you.

Petro: A letter? Really?

Catherina: Yes, it's from Alicia.

Petro: Thanks. (reading Alice's letter) "Just a few lines from the Costa Brava, where I have spent some very nice vacation days. The weather is really great, and everybody's very nice." Excellent! Perfect! Why don't you stay there?

Catherina: What did you say?

Petro: Nothing. I was only reading Alice's letter. "I hope that you have not had any big problems in my absence and that there will not be too much work for me when I return. In the meantime, I have organized our transfer to Geneva, and I have sent them a telex with instructions to reserve two apartments for us." That woman is intolerable. She wants to run my life as if she were my mother!

Cathreina: Good news?

Petro: What?

Catherina: Your letter, does it have any good new for you?

Petro: No, but it's really not at all important.

Catherina: It's long, that letter of yours.

Petro: Yes, a bit long.

Catherina: Well?

Petro: Well what?

Catherina: Finish the letter.

Petro: Okay. (reading Alice's letter) "We'll be seeing each other very soon. Don't worry. Everything will be just fine after I arrive in Switzerland. Alicia." I don't know how, but I've gotta find some quick way of getting rid of that woman. She's gonna ruin me!

Catherina: Petro, Petro.

Petro: Yes?

Catherina: I want to present to you the others on the team. Everyone's here right now. This is Petro Minelli. He is our engineering specialist. He can tell us if a project is feasible or not.

Petro: At least I hope so!

Catherina: And here's Olivero Rossi, our accountant. He comes from the executive offices of Trans Infra. And here's Martijn Ockrent. He is responsible for our marketing affairs, though he comes from the legal department of Trans Infra. For our marketing strategy, it is important to have someone who knows something about international law, and Martijn has strong knowledge in both areas. And here's Liliana, my assistant. She is in charge of all administrative details. That's everything. I hope that all of us will work harmoniously together and that our project will be a great success. I don't only hope this, but I am confident that everything will work out quite well.

EXERCISE 5: Introductions.

Guide: Good. Io would like some practice with the various ways of introducing oneself and of introducing a person to another person.

A man: Good morning. My name is Bryson, Paul Bryson. And over there, it seems there is someone from the Amerex Society of Mexico. Let's go over ther to talk with him. I believe that his name is Garcia, Mario Garcia. He works in their marketing department. Good morning. My name is Bryson, Paul Bryson.

A woman: How do you do. Are you Mario Garcia?

A man: Ah, yes. That's me. My pleasure. I am from the company Rodea Brothers of Milan. I work in their sales department.

A woman: I am Gertrude Johnson from the American company Xerox, and I work in their offices in Berlin.

A man: I am very pleased to meet you. Allow me to introduce to you my friend Robert Garnier from Paris.

A woman: Hello, Roberto.

A man: And this is Hubert La Salle. He is one of my colleagues. We work in the same department of Rodea Brothers.

A woman: My pleasure, Hubert.

Guide: Good. I'm understanding a bit better. But even now I have some trouble with the exact pronunciation of the names in the European language that I don't know. Let's return now to see how things are going with Catherina and her new team.

SCENE 6: The Geneva offices: As the scene begins, Petro is talking with Olviero Rossi, the accountant of the company. He want's Rossi's help in arriving at prices and expenses for the plan of a project that he has started to develop. Rossi insists that the prices that he will produce will be applicable only for the project that Petro has on hand and that they can't be applied to any other project for any other city. But Petro already knows that. He doesn't need all the details.

Then Petro dictates two letters, one to Mr. Melville, saying that he soon will be sending him the information he wanted. The other letter is to Alicia. In this letter Petro pretends to be the administrative officer. In it he tells Alicia that unfortunately it was impossible to find two neighboring apartments and that he was only able to find for Mr. Minelli a very small one-room apartment.

After doing this Petro goes to Catherina to describe his conversation with Mr. Melville and the letter that he has sent him. Obviously he hopes that Catherina will approve, but her reaction is not exactly what he expected.

Petro: Olivero, you are the accountant, aren't you?

Olivero: Yes.

Petro: You control our costs.

Olivero: Yes.

Petro: I would like to work up a list of prices and costs. Can you help me?

Olivero: Yes. I'm here to do things like that.

Petro: Have you had commercial relations with Saudi Arabia in Paris?

Olivero: Yes.

Petro: I've studied the numbers and come up with a small description of a hypothetical project. Here it is.

Olivero: Ah, yes. It's a project that includes all services for a city of a million inhabitants.

Petro: Yes, that's right.

Olivero: But you can't use exactly this same project for another city.

Petro: Yes, I know that. I don't need all the details. I need a marketing document only.

Olivero: Very well, I can give you a series of figures. But you must understand that they are very rough.

Petro: Yes, of course. I now must dictate two letters. Dear Mr. Melville, em, ee, el, vee, I, double el, ee. You've asked me for some details concerning our activities, comma, our prices, comma, and our services, period. I am enclosing with this letter some information about what we can offer our customers. I am confident that you and your colleagues will find it interesting, period. Please excuse me for sending you this letter somewhat late, period. I have had to dedicate a lot of time and effort to the inauguration of our new offices in Geneva, period. I look forward to your response and would like to convey to you my best wishes. This is the end of the first letter.

Here's the second one, addressed to Miss. Alicia Martini, em, ay, ar, tea, I, en I, Marex Mundial, Strasbourg. You can find the address in the directory. Dear Ms. Martini. We have received your telex dated May the thirteenth asking for two apartments for Mr. Petro Minelli. period. We regret to inform you that we have been able to find only one small studio apartment for Mr. Minelli. No. Write "a very small one-room apartment," period. We hope that we will be able to help you in the future, period. Please be assured of our best wishes.

This letter should be under the name of the administrative director in Geneva. End of the second letter. Very well, this should have the effect that I want. Catherina?

Catherina: Good morning, Petro. Come on in.

Petro: Listen, I would like to talk to you about someone who can possibly help us.

Catherina: Oh, good.

Petro: Yes. I met him during my trip to Geneva, and I believe that he can perhaps refer some work to us.

Catherina: Oh yeah?

Petro: Yeah. I have written him a letter in which I furnish various specifications, including prices, to show him what we can do. But I want to consult with you about it, naturally, before sending it out.

Catherina: Yes. I have seen your letter, Petro. It is directed to a Mr. Melville, I believe.

Petro: Yes, exactly. You never know. He could offer us some interesting possibilities. It would be a good idea to start with a rather important project. I don't know him, but ...

Catherina: Exactly where did you meet him?

Petro: In the plane. He seemed very nice, but I want to say once again that I don't know him. He told me that he has many good contacts at the government level, and he spoke very seriously about them.

Catherina: It doesn't surprise me that you found him to be serious. It also doesn't surprise me that that he gave you his personal instead of his professional address.

Petro: What do you mean? Do you know him?

Catherina: He is the sales manager of our biggest competitor.

Petro: What?

Catherina: Yes, exactly. He is the sales manager of CCG. I'm convinced that we are better, but it would not be a good idea to give him any detailed ideas of our activities.