Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 179.
Shopping for a cell phone.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 179.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
For a learning guide of this podcast, a 8-10 page guide with a complete transcript and additional information, go to our website at wwweslpodcom.
Today's podcast is called Shopping for a Cell Phone.
Let's go.
I needed a new cell phone, and my friend recommended the company he used.
I went into the store to take a look.
Hi, have you been helped?
No, I haven't.
I'm looking for a new phone.
Are you with our company right now?
No, I'm thinking about switching.
Okay, let me show you our most popular phone.
This one has a lot of good features.
It's got a camera phone, a video recorder, instant messaging and you can download music or ringtones.
I'm really looking for a flip phone.
Oh, in that case, this is the one you want.
Let me tell you a little about our plans.
With our 5999 plan, you get 400 minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes and free mobile-to-mobile.
Do the minutes roll over if I don't use them all in one month?
And do I need to sign an agreement?
We don't have rollover minutes, but if you think 400 isn't enough, we have higher plans for 700, 1000 and unlimited minutes.
The $59.99 plan requires a one-year agreement.
OK.
Let me think about it.
No problem.
Just let me know if you have other questions.
We're looking today to buy a new cell phone or cellular phone.
Cell, C-E-L-L, is short for cellular, C-E-L-L-U-L-A-R.
These are often called mobile phones as well, but most people now call them a cell phone or simply a cell.
Someone says, I don't have my cell with me.
They mean their cell phone.
Well in the story, the person in the story, Greg.
He needs a new cell phone and his friend recommended the company he was using.
In the United States there are probably four or five big companies that you can get cell phone service from.
And so in this case, in this story, he goes to the store where that company has their phones.
Many of the companies have their own stores.
There are some stores that sell for different companies.
So you can look at two or three different companies in one store.
It depends on the company that you are interested in.
Well, the salesman begins by saying, hi, have you been helped?
So the salesperson walks up.
It's a salesperson here, not a salesman because it's a woman.
So it's a saleswoman.
The saleswoman walks up to Greg and says, have you been helped?
Meaning, is anyone helping you?
Has someone come up to you already and asked to help you?
The other expression you might hear when you walk into a store is, may I help you?
May I help you?
Do you need any help?
You may also hear someone say, a salesperson say, can I help you find anything?
Can I help you find anything?
And you either say, yes, I'm looking for this, or you say, no, thanks, I'm just looking.
You can also say, no, thank you, I'm just browsing.
To browse, B-R-O-W-S-E, means to be looking, but at a very relaxed rate, not in a hurry.
Greg says that he hasn't been helped, that he's looking for a new phone, which is a good thing, because he's in a cell phone store.
Greg's a smart person.
The salesperson says, are you with our company right now?
What she means is do you have a cell phone right now that's connected with our company, that you get telephone service with our company?
So she says, are you with our company?
Meaning, do you have a contract?
Do you have a plan right now for your phone with our company?
Greg says, no, I'm thinking about switching.
To switch as a verb, S-W-I-T-C-H, means to change, to change one thing for another thing.
So if you own a personal Windows PC, a Windows computer with Microsoft Windows operating system, and you decide to switch to a Mac, like I did, that would be a use of that verb to switch, to take one thing and to put something else there instead.
So Greg is thinking of moving or switching to this company.
The saleswoman says, okay, let me show you our most popular phone.
This one has a lot of good features.
A feature is something about the thing that you want to buy, some good thing about the item or the thing that you are buying.
Almost anything can have features.
A computer can have different features.
It could have.
One of its features is it has a small screen, or it has a good keyboard or it has lots of memory.
Those would all be features of a computer.
The features of a cell phone, of course, are different.
The saleswoman says I've got a camera phone, or rather the phone she is showing him has a camera phone.
She says, it's got a camera phone.
That's a somewhat informal use for it has a camera phone, but it's very common.
It's got a camera phone.
A camera phone, you probably know, is a little camera inside the cell phone.
You can take a picture.
A video recorder.
And here is, again, with a little camera, you can record a small movie, a video recorder.
Instant messaging.
So you can use your phone to talk to somebody else.
Usually instant messaging is on a phone.
It is with what we call text, T-E-X-T, or text messaging.
And text messaging is when you send a message to someone else's phone. by using the the letters that are on the what we would call the pad or the keypad of the phone PAD the pad or the keypad of the phone is is the numbers that you press and of course the numbers have letters connected to them that you can send a message you can also download music or ringtones with this phone Well, to download, all one word, D-O-W-N-L-O-A-D, you know from the Internet means to take something from one computer and put it on another computer.
So you can download things onto this phone.
In this case, you can download music.
Some of the phones now you can download music directly from iTunes, for example.
Or you could download ringtones.
R-I-N-G-T-O-N-E-S.
Two words.
Ringtones is the sound that the phone makes when it rings.
And many people have special ringtones that are songs or different kinds of music.
I don't have any of this.
I just have...
Whatever the ringtone that was in the phone when I bought it, that's my ringtone.
Greg says, I'm looking for a flip phone.
FLIP, a flip phone, is a phone that opens up.
Some phones, you just have a little phone and you don't have to open anything.
A flip phone is one that you flip open or you open up.
I have a flip phone, for example.
The saleswoman says, oh, in that case, this is the one you want.
In that case, meaning in that situation.
Oh, for your situation, for what you want, this is the phone for you.
So in that case, this is the one you want.
Let me tell you a little about our plans, she says.
Their plans for a cell phone mean the amount of minutes that you get and the kinds of things you get with your cell phone.
In the story.
The plan has 400 minutes, unlimited weekend and night minutes.
Unlimited U-N-L-I-M-I-T-E-D means, of course, that there is no limit, that you can use as many as you want.
So you get 400 minutes during the day, unlimited night and weekend minutes and free mobile-to-mobile.
Mobile-to-mobile or cell-to-cell means that you can call another cell phone that has the same company and they won't charge you any money.
All of this is for $59.99.
$59.99.
Sounds like a great deal.
Many times.
The cell phones in the United States now will also come.
The newer phones will come with a voice plan and a data plan.
The voice plan is for using your phone as a regular phone to talk to people.
The data plan is when you use your phone to connect your computer to the internet, for example.
And those phones are more expensive and the plans are more expensive.
I think the typical phone with the internet connection on it would probably be about 80 a month or so.
One thing you need to understand if you don't live in the United States is that the United States, in terms of its cell phones, is not as advanced as other countries, especially in Europe and Japan.
We are just this year really getting good phones that you can connect to the Internet.
Many of the best cell phones that are in Europe and Japan are not here in the United States.
Well, Greg asks the saleswoman if the 400 minutes that he gets will roll over.
To roll over as a verb R-O-L-L-O-V-E-R means that let's say, you have 400 minutes in July and you only use 200 minutes.
If the minutes roll over in August, you would have 600 minutes, 400 for August and then 200 that roll over from July.
So Greg is asking if the minutes roll over from month to month.
He also wants to know if he has to sign an agreement.
An agreement here means the same as a contract saying I will be a customer for one year or two years or 25 years.
Probably not 25 years, but at least a couple of years.
The saleswoman says we don't have rollover minutes.
But if 400 minutes a month isn't enough, they have plans that you can buy more minutes with.
Greg says, okay, let me think about it.
And the saleswoman says, no problem.
It means it's okay, no problem.
We use that expression no problem a lot.
It's something that you would say to someone who, for example, thanks you for something.
Thank you for helping me.
You might say no problem.
Here, no problem means don't worry.
Go ahead and take your time to think about it.
The saleswoman ends by saying, just let me know if you have any other questions.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
I needed a new cell phone, and my friend recommended the company he used.
I went into the store to take a look.
Hi, have you been helped?
No, I haven't.
I'm looking for a new phone.
Are you with our company right now?
No, I'm thinking about switching.
Okay, let me show you our most popular phone.
This one has a lot of good features.
It's got a camera phone, a video recorder, instant messaging and you can download music or ringtones.
I'm really looking for a flip phone.
Oh, in that case, this is the one you want.
Let me tell you a little about our plans.
With our 5999 plan you get 400 minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes and free mobile to mobile.
Do the minutes roll over if I don't use them all in one month?
And do I need to sign an agreement?
We don't have rollover minutes, but if you think 400 isn't enough, we have higher plans for 700, 1000 and unlimited minutes.
The $59.99 plan requires a one-year agreement.
Okay, let me think about it.
No problem.
Just let me know if you have other questions.
The script for today's podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
Remember, if you have ideas or questions about our podcast, you can email us.
Our email address is eslpod at eslpod.com.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
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.
