BULATS Speaking Part III: Sample Answer 1
You are organizing a conference at a hotel. You are now meeting with a representative from that hotel to discuss arrangements. You need to find out the following information:
You: Hello, there. My name is Kate Price from Mitsubishi Motors. As you know we’re planning on holding our engineers conference soon, and I’d just like to find out a little information from you. Ok? So, firstly I’d like to ask about the size of your largest room?
Hotel staff: Yes, so our largest room is 10 meters by 6 meters.
You: Right, I see. And what equipment would be available if we booked that room?
Hotel staff: Well, you’d be able to have five tables, 20 chairs, an overhead projector, flip charts and pens. You’d have to bring your own laptop though.
You: Of course. I expected that. So, how much is this going to cost per hour, then?
Hotel staff: Our conference rates are 12000 yen per hour, including lunch break.
You: Hmm, perhaps a little expensive but fairly normal for Tokyo, I guess.
Do you think the conference is offering value for money?
You: As I said, the price was a little expensive but in Tokyo you couldn’t expect anything cheaper unless it was an old, run-down location, so I’d accept what the hotel offered.
Discussion: What are the important factors behind a good conference?
You: I feel that cost is vitally important for a good conference. The company has to balance the cost against the benefits that the conference is likely to bring. If the conference can lead to big company-changing decisions, it might be better to pay more for a fine venue so that everybody feels inspired to think better. How do you feel about this?
Examiner: Hmm. I think I agree with most of that. In addition, I think that a good conference depends heavily on the skill of the keynote speaker. If they keynote speech is boring, people generally tend to have negative attitudes to the entire conference, and think it is both a waste of time and money. What do you think about that?
You: Yes, I would entirely agree. I have attended some conferences where the keynote speaker has been very uninspiring, and I was thinking that I’d rather be in the office – it was so boring. On a different point, I also think good food and drinks are essential for a successful conference. We waste far too much energy complaining about refreshments. Don’t you think so?
Examiner: Yes, a lot of the refreshments I have tasted have been very poor quality, and don’t inspire me to great things at all. So, how about the location: what is your take on that?
You: Well, as I said before, cost is a very important factor to consider, but – if the budget allows – there’s nothing like an inspiring venue to get the creative juices flowing! The best one I went to was the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. You may know it from the movie: Lost in Translation. The view from that giant window is fantastic. A clear blue-sky view for blue-sky thinking!
Examiner: Sounds like you were concentrating more on the view than the conference itself! Thank you for your time today.
- How big the largest room is
- What equipment is available
- How much does it cost
You: Hello, there. My name is Kate Price from Mitsubishi Motors. As you know we’re planning on holding our engineers conference soon, and I’d just like to find out a little information from you. Ok? So, firstly I’d like to ask about the size of your largest room?
Hotel staff: Yes, so our largest room is 10 meters by 6 meters.
You: Right, I see. And what equipment would be available if we booked that room?
Hotel staff: Well, you’d be able to have five tables, 20 chairs, an overhead projector, flip charts and pens. You’d have to bring your own laptop though.
You: Of course. I expected that. So, how much is this going to cost per hour, then?
Hotel staff: Our conference rates are 12000 yen per hour, including lunch break.
You: Hmm, perhaps a little expensive but fairly normal for Tokyo, I guess.
Do you think the conference is offering value for money?
You: As I said, the price was a little expensive but in Tokyo you couldn’t expect anything cheaper unless it was an old, run-down location, so I’d accept what the hotel offered.
Discussion: What are the important factors behind a good conference?
You: I feel that cost is vitally important for a good conference. The company has to balance the cost against the benefits that the conference is likely to bring. If the conference can lead to big company-changing decisions, it might be better to pay more for a fine venue so that everybody feels inspired to think better. How do you feel about this?
Examiner: Hmm. I think I agree with most of that. In addition, I think that a good conference depends heavily on the skill of the keynote speaker. If they keynote speech is boring, people generally tend to have negative attitudes to the entire conference, and think it is both a waste of time and money. What do you think about that?
You: Yes, I would entirely agree. I have attended some conferences where the keynote speaker has been very uninspiring, and I was thinking that I’d rather be in the office – it was so boring. On a different point, I also think good food and drinks are essential for a successful conference. We waste far too much energy complaining about refreshments. Don’t you think so?
Examiner: Yes, a lot of the refreshments I have tasted have been very poor quality, and don’t inspire me to great things at all. So, how about the location: what is your take on that?
You: Well, as I said before, cost is a very important factor to consider, but – if the budget allows – there’s nothing like an inspiring venue to get the creative juices flowing! The best one I went to was the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. You may know it from the movie: Lost in Translation. The view from that giant window is fantastic. A clear blue-sky view for blue-sky thinking!
Examiner: Sounds like you were concentrating more on the view than the conference itself! Thank you for your time today.
BULATS Speaking Part III: Sample Answer 2
You ordered a parcel for delivery at 12pm today. It is now 3pm and the parcel has yet to arrive. Telephone the delivery company and find out the following information:
You: Hello, there. I’m calling about a parcel which I ordered to be delivered at midday today. It’s now three hours later and I’m still waiting for the delivery. Could you tell me what has happened?
Delivery Company: Certainly. Could I just have your product order number?
You: Yes, it’s XY4037.
Delivery Company: Thank you. I’ll just check that up. Ok, so XY4037 appears to be stuck in traffic in Chiba.
You: Stuck in traffic? For three hours?
Delivery Company: Yes, according to the driver report there are massive tailbacks in Chiba. For several kilometres.
You: But… if you knew that, why wasn’t it possible to inform us earlier?
Delivery Company: I’m sorry. I thought we did inform you earlier, at least according to our system.
You: I don’t think so.
Do you think this is good customer service?
You: I don’t see how that can be good customer service. There was no contact from the firm, and yet the firm pretended that they had contacted. And there was no apology either, which is unforgivable in Japan.
Discussion: What are the important factors behind good customer service?
You: I think one of the key factors to remember is “apologizing.” If you have made a mistake, as the company in the example before clearly did, you have to own up to it and explain what you are going to do about it. Would you agree with that?
Examiner: I’m not sure whether I’d entirely agree because in the US and the UK there is something called “compensation culture,” where people feel that if a company is keen to pay out compensation, they will make more and more wild complaints.
You: That’s true, but I think so long as the complaints policy is clear, it will be ok. And I certainly feel that in the case of the delivery company, not delivering a product provides justifiable cause for complaint. That aside, I also feel that communication is another important factor. Again, referring to the example, that company made a simple communication mistake, didn’t it? As a customer, I would have been far less angry if the situation had been communicated more clearly.
Examiner: Yes, I certainly agree. And how about “service with a smile?” Do you think that’s important too?
You: In Japan, yes. No matter how bad you are feeling, it is your duty to smile, to project the best possible image to the customer. I think if you smile, the customer smiles more too. Don’t you think so?
Examiner: When I’m a customer, I don’t think that’s true. But for my wife, I think it does hold true. Thank you for your time today.
- Where the parcel is now
- Why it is late
- Why you were not informed of the delay
You: Hello, there. I’m calling about a parcel which I ordered to be delivered at midday today. It’s now three hours later and I’m still waiting for the delivery. Could you tell me what has happened?
Delivery Company: Certainly. Could I just have your product order number?
You: Yes, it’s XY4037.
Delivery Company: Thank you. I’ll just check that up. Ok, so XY4037 appears to be stuck in traffic in Chiba.
You: Stuck in traffic? For three hours?
Delivery Company: Yes, according to the driver report there are massive tailbacks in Chiba. For several kilometres.
You: But… if you knew that, why wasn’t it possible to inform us earlier?
Delivery Company: I’m sorry. I thought we did inform you earlier, at least according to our system.
You: I don’t think so.
Do you think this is good customer service?
You: I don’t see how that can be good customer service. There was no contact from the firm, and yet the firm pretended that they had contacted. And there was no apology either, which is unforgivable in Japan.
Discussion: What are the important factors behind good customer service?
You: I think one of the key factors to remember is “apologizing.” If you have made a mistake, as the company in the example before clearly did, you have to own up to it and explain what you are going to do about it. Would you agree with that?
Examiner: I’m not sure whether I’d entirely agree because in the US and the UK there is something called “compensation culture,” where people feel that if a company is keen to pay out compensation, they will make more and more wild complaints.
You: That’s true, but I think so long as the complaints policy is clear, it will be ok. And I certainly feel that in the case of the delivery company, not delivering a product provides justifiable cause for complaint. That aside, I also feel that communication is another important factor. Again, referring to the example, that company made a simple communication mistake, didn’t it? As a customer, I would have been far less angry if the situation had been communicated more clearly.
Examiner: Yes, I certainly agree. And how about “service with a smile?” Do you think that’s important too?
You: In Japan, yes. No matter how bad you are feeling, it is your duty to smile, to project the best possible image to the customer. I think if you smile, the customer smiles more too. Don’t you think so?
Examiner: When I’m a customer, I don’t think that’s true. But for my wife, I think it does hold true. Thank you for your time today.