Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, Episode 80, Asking for Directions.
You are listening to English as a Second Language podcast, number 80.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This podcast is about listening, or rather asking, for directions, so let's get started.
On the way over, though, I got a little lost.
I knew I was in the right area, but I was turned around.
He lived in an apartment over an old bakery, and I couldn't find it.
I stopped a man who was walking by to ask for directions.
Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the Cross Bakery building?
The Cross Bakery building.
Oh, sure.
You're actually walking in the opposite direction.
Oh, you're kidding.
I thought I was heading east.
No, east is the other direction.
To get to the bakery, you need to turn around and go three blocks to Broadway.
When you get to the intersection of Broadway and Elm, you hang a left.
Go straight down that street for a half a block, and then you'll see the building on your left.
Okay, let me see if I've got that.
I need to go down M until I hit Broadway.
Then I make a left, and the building is on my left-hand side.
Is that right?
Yeah, you've got it.
Do you want me to show you the way?
Thanks for the offer, but I think I've got it.
Hopefully, I won't get lost again on my way there.
This podcast is about asking for directions how to get somewhere when you are lost or don't know where to go.
This story begins with Lucy going to Vancouver and she says she likes Vancouver, but on top of that her cousin Dominic just moved there.
The expression on top of that means in addition to.
It could be a good thing.
It could be a bad thing.
This case, it's a good thing.
I'm going to Hawaii, and on top of that, I'm going to take a cruise around the islands.
Something additional, something better.
Lucy says that she got in touch with her cousin.
To get in touch with someone means to contact them.
We often say to people, stay in touch, meaning keep in contact with me.
Call me every few weeks or few months, whatever it happens to be.
But when Lucy says she got in touch, that means that she called or communicated, maybe emailed, her cousin.
He invited her over to see his new place.
To invite someone over, one of those two-word verbs we talk a lot about.
To invite over means you're inviting someone to come to your location.
If someone says I want to invite you over to dinner, they mean I want you to come to my house for dinner.
But if someone says I want to invite you to dinner, usually that means you're going to go to a restaurant.
The new place that Lucy is visiting is just another word for the new house or the new apartment.
People refer to where they live sometimes as their place.
My place is located near Santa Monica, California.
It can be anywhere you're living.
Lucy said that she got a little lost.
To get lost here means that you couldn't find your way.
You didn't know where you were.
The expression get lost, when you say that to someone as a command, you get lost.
We are saying we want you to leave.
It's kind of something you would say to someone you don't like, and you want them to leave.
Get lost.
Lucy said that she was turned around when she was trying to find her cousin's apartment.
To be turned around or to be all turned around means that you're not sure which direction you are traveling in.
I went to downtown Los Angeles and there were many one-way streets, streets where you can only move in one direction, and I got all turned around.
I didn't know where I was.
Lucy says, Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the Cross Bakery building?
She begins in asking for directions by saying excuse me, which is a common way of getting someone's attention, particularly someone that you don't know.
It's a polite way of getting their attention.
The expression.
Could you tell me how to get to means?
Can you give me directions on how to arrive to this particular place?
So she asks for directions to a bakery.
And the man says, sure, I can tell you, but you're walking in the opposite direction.
He means here that she is going, for example north, when she should be going towards the south, the other direction, opposite of what she is traveling.
So east would be west, west would be east.
Lucy says, oh, you're kidding.
The expression you're kidding K-I-D-D-I-N-G means here that she is surprised by the response that she gets.
To kid someone K-I-D.
To kid as a verb means to joke with them, not to tell them the truth, but in a sort of fun or joking manner.
So when Lucy says, you're kidding, she's saying, wow, are you sure?
I didn't realize.
That surprises me.
The other expression is I'm kidding.
And when someone says I'm kidding or just kidding, they mean they're joking.
They're not telling the truth.
Lucy says that she thought she was heading east.
To head in a direction east west north, south means that you are traveling or going walking driving, etc.
In that direction.
You can also head to a particular place.
I'm heading to the store means I'm going to the store.
The man tells Lucy that east is the other direction, meaning pretty much the same here as the opposite direction.
He gives her instructions by telling her that she needs to turn around and go three blocks to Broadway.
When you tell someone to turn around, you mean to go in the opposite direction.
He says that she needs to go three blocks.
A block in a city is the distance between two streets, is one block.
She needs to go three blocks and when she gets to the intersection of Broadway and Elm she should hang a left.
The intersection is the place where two streets cross and the expression to hang a left is informal.
It means to take a left or to go left.
Notice the expression is hang a left or take a left.
You can also say make a left.
All those are the same.
You can, of course, also hang a right or make a right or take a right.
The expression using the verb turn however, doesn't take the article a or a.
So you turn right, not turn a right.
You turn right, you turn left.
That means the same as to make a right, to take a right, or to hang a right.
Hang is very informal, however.
The man then tells her to go straight down the street.
To go straight means don't go left, don't go right, go in the direction you are walking.
And the building she is looking for will be on your left, meaning on the left-hand side.
Lucy repeats the directions back.
She says, okay, I need to go down Elm until I hit Broadway.
To go down a street just means to travel, or to move down a street in your car or by walking to go down to Elm until she hits Broadway.
When we say you should go in this direction until you hit a street or a freeway or a road, we mean until you arrive there.
Go until you hit 5th Street, then hang.
A right means drive until you reach or arrive at 5th Street and turn right.
Lucy said then that she needs to make a left.
Again, we've talked about that expression.
And the building will be on her left-hand side.
Left-hand side is the same as on your left.
At the end, the man says, do you want me to show you the way?
To show someone the way means you're going to take them or they are going to follow you.
I'm going to show you the way, the route, or how you get there.
The man may be interested in more than just helping Lucy here, we might guess.
And Lucy says, thanks for the offer.
Means, thank you for offering or for volunteering to help me.
Anything that you offer or say that you will do for another person, you could use this expression.
Thanks for the offer of taking my car to the mechanic.
Notice with offer.
In this expression we use the preposition of and then we use the verb in the ing form.
Thanks for the offer of going to the store for me.
But Lucy turns down the offer, and that's the verb we use to turn down an offer, to say no.
The opposite would be to accept an offer, to say yes.
Lucy says that I've got it, and what she means here is she understands.
When someone says I've got it, it means yes, I understand, I don't need any more help.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
I went to Vancouver for a meeting this week.
I've always liked Vancouver.
And on top of that, my cousin Dominic just moved there.
I got in touch with him and he invited me over to see his new place.
On the way over, though, I got a little lost.
I knew I was in the right area, but I was turned around.
He lived in an apartment over an old bakery, and I couldn't find it.
I stopped a man who was walking by to ask for directions.
Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the cross bakery building?
The cross bakery building?
Oh, sure.
You're actually walking in the opposite direction.
Oh, you're kidding.
I thought I was heading east.
No, east is the other direction.
To get to the bakery, you need to turn around and go three blocks to Broadway.
When you get to the intersection of Broadway and Elm, you hang a left.
Go straight down the street for a half a block, and then you'll see the building on your left.
Okay, let me see if I've got that.
I need to go down Elm until I hit Broadway.
Then I make a left and the building is on my left-hand side.
Is that right?
Yeah, you've got it.
Do you want me to show you the way?
Thanks for the offer, but I think I've got it.
Hopefully, I won't get lost again on the way there.
We hope you won't get lost in going to our website at www.eslpod.com.
You can find our scripts there and other information about our podcast.
That's going to do it for today.
I'm Jeff McQuillan from Los Angeles.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
