Six weeks estimated, ten needed: an IT team lead corrects his estimate before the steering group — openly, precisely, without excuses.
B2 · Monologue · 4 Min. · free
Tip: listen to the episode twice before you start the test. · Worksheet (PDF)
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Transcript
Key phrases
Language notes
In this episode an IT team lead corrects his too optimistic estimate before the steering group: message first, then facts, three reasons, the new conservative number and the consequences. You learn the language of professional admission — and why "I calculated with two weeks" is wrong in English (level B2).
Michael opens with the hardest sentence: "My estimate … was too optimistic." No backstory, no softening — "I will get straight to the point". The phrase "too optimistic" is deliberate: it names the error clearly but sounds more professional than "wrong" or "a mistake". His addition "before the numbers correct it for me" shows the principle behind it: report a misestimate yourself and you control the story; wait, and the story controls you.
German "mit zwei Wochen rechnen" tempts a word-for-word "to calculate with two weeks" — but in English "calculate" describes the arithmetic itself, not the planning. The correct verbs are "to allow for two weeks", "to plan for" or "to expect". Michael corrects himself mid-sentence and even labels the trap ("as we would say in German") — an elegant technique when a Germanism slips out in a meeting.
After the admission, Michael gives three precise reasons and explicitly owns the third ("this one is entirely on me"). Only that makes the new number credible: it is "conservative", contains a named buffer and rests on corrected assumptions. The close — three process changes and a weekly report — answers the question every steering group asks: why should we trust this estimate more than the last one?
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Frequently asked questions
Level B2 (CEFR). The monologue uses precise project English (estimate, buffer, conservative, legacy data); all eight key terms are explained bilingually.
In five steps: admission first ("my estimate was too optimistic"), state the facts, explain the reasons, present a conservative new number with a buffer, and say what you will change ("every estimate gets a second pair of eyes").
For planning: "to allow for" or "to plan for" ("We allowed for two weeks of testing"). For expectations: "to expect". The word-for-word "to calculate with" is a typical German error.
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Yes, the full transcript with German support notes is on this page — listen first, then take the test, then read along.
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