BE 399: How to Check If Your Colleague is Okay in English
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 399. How to check if your colleague is okay in English.

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Hey, Michelle, how are you today? Hi, Lindsay. I'm good. Lindsay, is everything okay with you? Yeah, everything's okay. Why do you ask? Oh, I don't know. I just wanted to check in, just make sure everything's okay. All right. Actually, today we are going to answer a great listener question from Maya. Yes. We love listener questions, Michelle. We love when our listeners take the time to write in and they observe English out in the world and they ask us a question, right?

- Definitely, I love it. All right, so Lindsay, do you want me to read the question? - Sure, Michelle, go for it. - All right, here we go. It says, "Dear Lindsay, hi Lindsay and the All Ears English team. Thank you for your great content. I live in Japan and I've been listening to All Ears English for almost three years. Thanks to you, I feel my English skills have improved gradually."

And so thank you so much for listening, Maya. And guys, if you're not listening to All Ears English, head on over to All Ears English and listen to that. That's our other show. Okay. So Maya says, I have a question. When you want to show that you care about someone, you might say, is everything all right? Or is everything okay? The other day when I wanted to help my friend, I said, is it okay? Is this wrong?

I'd like to know the difference between is everything okay and is it okay? I look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes, Maya. Thank you, Maya, for that question. It's a great question, Michelle. And we love this question because it's very specific and it's very high level, right? This may be a common mistake that people are making that we're going to clear up today. But first, guys, go ahead and hit the follow button right here on the Business English podcast so that you don't miss a single episode.

right right exactly all right so first of all i just want to say maya you sound like a very nice and helpful friend that you were concerned about your friends so um i'd like to have a friend like you that's great um lindsay let's get into this if there was something wrong in your life i mean earlier i said to you is everything okay yes you did yes yeah how would it have sounded if i said to you lindsay is it okay

It would have sounded confusing to me, Michelle, right? I would have been confused. I would have said to you is what okay? Right. Or I would have expected you to say, is it okay if we or if I like asking permission for something, right? Right. It would have been confusing. I can tell you that much.

Exactly. I mean, it's very nice. It's nice, you know, what's behind your question, but it does sound a little bit awkward. So I agree that to me saying, is everything okay? Or you could say, is everything all right? That sounds a lot more common. Yes. Yes. So, yeah. I mean, and sometimes in the workplace, I mean, we do need to check on our colleagues. We need to see what's going on. Maybe somebody... And...

maybe you just want to make sure every somebody is in the right mindset um totally yeah and we encourage this right we encourage this build those relationships at the workplace because when you're uh struggling with something eventually one day you want people to be checking on you checking in on you too right so that's good but the problem is is it okay is incomplete right right it's very incomplete because we don't know what the

it is. Yeah. Right. Like you said, if I said to you, is it okay? You would say, is what okay?

I mean, Lindsay, when might you use is it okay? Yeah. Well, again, when you are asking about something. So for example, is it okay? Let's see. Why don't you share that one, Michelle? Why don't you dive into that? Okay. Let's say, sorry. Okay. So maybe you're going to start asking about something. You show your report you've been working on to your colleague.

Okay. So they're looking for a while. So you get a little worried. So you might say, is it okay? So you can say, is it okay? If we know what the, it is where everyone's looking at the report, we know what the, it is. You could have also said, right. You could have also said, is everything okay to me? Um, you could use either one in those situations. Yeah. And that situation, um, yeah, every is every,

So again, someone is reading your report, their eyes are on the page and you're watching them. You're getting more and more nervous, right? Ooh, did I do something wrong? Is the fundamental premise of this paper wrong? So again, you could say in that case, is it okay? Meaning the paper, is the paper okay? You could also say, is everything okay? Um, and that becomes a little more broad, uh, right. But, and so that's a little bit different, but it's, it's saying, are you okay reading this?

Is the paper okay? Yes. Right, right, right. Exactly. And then here's another way, which Lindsay, you touched on this one before. This is very common. Is it okay if blank? Yes. So like, what could you say? So for example, is it okay if I send you the numbers tomorrow? Right. So you're kind of asking permission here.

and you could ask permission, is it okay if I do something? Is it okay if we do something? Is it okay if we delay our recording next week? Things like that. - Right, right, right, exactly. So more commonly you would hear, is everything okay or is everything all right?

those ones more, they assume that something might be wrong, right? Somebody's acting in an odd way. Something seems wrong. It's a little more general, right? So for example, is everything okay? I know you're overwhelmed. Can I help you? Yes. I love that. That sounds great though, to ask someone that really caring and considerate to build the relationship, right? Yeah, definitely.

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okay Michelle so there are other things you might hear or you might want to use that our listener could use here to check on some someone right so what's the first one are you okay so you can add in that subject you can say are you okay uh is she okay right I love that um are you adding you could add something else in so for example is everything okay you seem a little off

And when we say off, that means what? It means something's not right. Something's not right. Yeah. They seem distracted or upset or something's not as it normally is.

- Yes, yes. And we can do a follow up on different things you can say in this type of situation. So, 'cause you know, it's interesting at work, you know, you don't wanna push too hard, you wanna show that you care, but it's always tricky to know what to do. - Yeah, that's true. And there's another thing we could say, Michelle, right? What is it? Are you okay with that?

okay so um i'm leaving it too are you okay with that yes perfect so for a listener you do have a lot of other options but just saying is it okay just is confusing it's not correct okay unless you know what you're looking at but even so i mean

Yeah, that's one special context where you can really use it. Yeah. Right. Different from the context that our listener asked about, right? Because the listener is asking about checking in on a person and that's totally different from looking at a paper and then the it becomes the paper, right? Yes. Right.

just to be very explicit yeah i mean lindsay for you do you like when people check on you when you're upset or do you prefer to be kind of left alone um probably prefer to be left alone i mean because then it's kind of awkward well so it depends on how close the person is and because then if things aren't okay then how much do you share it gets a little awkward but i do think it's a good idea to always just have your eye out for your co-workers

in a collaborative office environment.

Right? Right. Yeah. We have to think about right at work, how, what's our relationship? Think about who you're asking. Think about also how it might sound because if maybe you might embarrass the person, right? If you show that you realize maybe they were hoping that, oh gosh. And have you ever had somebody, let's say you are upset about something. Uh huh. Yeah. Had somebody asks you and then you start to cry. That's how. Oh yeah.

Yeah, if it's that bad, you know, so we do want to be very tricky about how we kind of... There may be other ways. Maybe we do another episode about this because it does require some special language work to kind of ask the question but not ask it too explicitly. These are very explicitly asking, are you okay? Is everything okay? Right. So it's not...

you know, there's a question as to is it is it okay to ask, is it okay? Right. And I think also Americans have a very, have a value for privacy, for sure. And you know, if you're at the workplace, and someone is visibly upset, they may not want to talk about it, they may want to keep that to themselves. So and I think that's a higher cultural value here than other parts of the world. Mm hmm.

That's something else to think about. Yeah. Yeah. So lots, lots of layers here. So let's just do a role play. So in this role play, we are coworkers who we are really close friends here. So think about that one. Okay. That's different, right? That's different. All right. Here we go. Hey, Lindsay, is everything okay? I feel like you've been avoiding me. Oh, not at all. I'm so sorry. Everything is fine. I'm just a little busy with these new projects. Is it okay if I text you about it later? Oh, of course.

Are you okay? I thought you seemed a little off today. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I'm going to borrow your printer paper. Are you okay with that? Oh, yeah, that's fine. Yeah. So we're close friends. So sometimes you do have a close friend at work. That becomes very different, right? We need to make sure we check in on our close friends for sure. Yes.

Exactly. So you can feel more comfortable using one of these. Is everything okay? It's, it's not, you know, but if, but if I didn't, if I barely knew you, I might not say it. So yeah, completely interesting. Interesting. Lots of layers here. All right. So I said, Hey, Lindsay, is everything okay? I feel like you've been avoiding me. Hmm.

And then I said, oh, everything's fine. I'm a little busy. Is it okay if I text you about it later? So here's where we said at the top of the episode, we can't just say, is it okay? We have to say something else probably, right? Is it okay if something, right? Is it okay if I text you later? Okay. Right. And then you've also noticed that I'm acting a little weird. So you said, are you okay?

I thought you seemed a little off today and remember off means different than usual and not in a good way. Right, exactly. And then you said, "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I'm going to borrow your printer paper. Are you okay with that?" Meaning, do you give me permission to borrow your printer paper? Yes.

And then he said, yes, that's fine. So yeah, I mean, lots to really think about here. I also think that another good episode you guys should check out is episode 397 of the Business English Podcast. That was how to talk about your work stress with your colleagues. So nicely here.

- Mm-hmm, that's another scenario where we need to kind of mitigate our language based on who we're talking to, pull it back, add more. Very complex topics here on the Business English Podcast, Michelle. - Yes, it really is, it really is. Okay, well, great question. Thank you so much to Maya for asking that great question. A lot to think about, a lot to talk about.

Yep. And Lindsay, I hope everything is okay with you. All right. Sounds good, Michelle. We'll see you back here very soon as well. And I also hope everything is okay on your end. That's another one we can share. Everything's okay on your end. Yeah, that's a good one. All right. Bye, guys. Talk to you, Michelle. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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