Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 461, Using a Guidebook.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 461.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, in the golden state of California.
We invite you to visit our website at eslpodcom and download a learning guide for this episode, an 8-10 page guide that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is about using a guidebook, which is a special book for tourists people visiting another city or another country that tells them about that country where they should eat, where they can sleep, where they can stay and so forth.
Let's get started.
Wow!
Did you buy out the bookstore?
Very funny.
I just got a few guidebooks for our trip to Vancouver.
I want to study up on what the must-see sites are and then decide whether we can do some self-guided tours or need to book guided tours.
That's very conscientious of you.
The trip isn't for three months.
I know, but I want to start sketching out an itinerary now.
I'm going to start out by reading the orientation chapters so I get a feel for the city.
Good.
Then at least one of us will know where to go and what to do.
After that, I'm going to read the helpful hints in the accommodation section.
I want to make sure we stay in the heart of the city with plenty of nightlife.
I'll read the section on day trips, too, in case we have some extra time.
It sounds like you've got it covered.
I do.
I also want to spend some time learning some survival phrases so I can talk to the locals.
Survival phrases?
To visit Vancouver?
Yeah, we won't be able to get around without learning some French, you know.
Really?
Hmm, I think you'd better keep reading.
Nicky begins the dialogue by saying, Wow, did you buy out the bookstore?
To buy out means to buy everything in a store.
For example, if you really like chocolate and you go to the grocery store and you buy all of the chocolate, they sell everything.
That would be to buy out the store.
Nicky is asking Tony if he bought out the bookstore because apparently Tony has a lot of books.
Tony says, very funny, which means I don't think you're very funny.
When someone says something to you making a joke and you don't like the joke, you can say very funny.
But you have to say it in a way that shows that you don't think it's very funny.
Tony says, I just got a few guidebooks for our trip to Vancouver.
He says, I want to study up on what the must-see sights are.
To study up on something is a phrasal verb meaning to spend a lot of time learning about something, usually by reading.
Someone might say, I'm going to study up on Greek philosophy.
I'm going to read Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, in order to know more about them.
That's to study up on.
You can also say to read up on.
Tony is studying up on the must-see sites in Vancouver, which is a city in western Canada.
If someone says this is must-see, they mean it is highly recommended.
It is something that you really ought to, you really should see.
Here in the US one of the television networks had a slogan, had an advertising expression Must See TV meaning.
These were shows that everyone had to watch because they were so popular.
Sights, S-I-G-H-T-S, here means interesting or famous things that people would want to visit.
Here in Los Angeles, for example, some of the must-see sites would be Hollywood Boulevard, the Santa Monica Pier and Beach, probably the Getty Museum and the Hollywood sign, which is famous as a symbol of Hollywood.
Tony says he wants to decide whether he and Nikki can do some self-guided tours or or if they need to book guided tours.
Self-guided tours are tours visits, trips to somewhere where you're not with anyone who's a professional tour guide.
You're just using typically a book that tells you about things.
The word self added to the beginning of another word usually means by yourself, without anyone else's help.
Someone could say they are self-taught, meaning they didn't have a teacher, they taught themselves.
So self-guided tours are tours that you go on by yourself.
If you want someone to help you, to go with you, that would be a guided tour.
Nikki says, that's very conscientious of you.
Conscientious means very careful, paying attention to all the little details, doing everything you're supposed to do.
If you say, she's a conscientious worker, you mean she does all of her work.
She's very careful.
I am not very conscientious.
Nikki says the trip isn't for three months, meaning we aren't going to go on this trip for three more months.
Tony says, I know, but I wanted to start sketching out an itinerary now.
To sketch out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to write down some ideas, what we might call rough ideas.
You're not exactly sure, but you want at least to have a beginning plan.
Itinerary is the schedule for your trip, what you're going to do on the first day, the second day, the third day and so forth.
Tony says I'm going to start out.
I'm going to begin by reading the orientation chapters so I get a feel for the city.
An orientation is an overview, something that gives you general knowledge about a thing or a place before you actually begin it or, in this case, before you actually go there.
Tony is going to read the orientation chapters of the book so he can get a feel for the city.
To get a feel for something means to become familiar with something, to understand it very well.
Nikki says, good, then at least one of us will know where to go and what to do.
Tony says after that, after he finishes reading the orientation chapters, I'm going to read the helpful hints in the accommodations section.
Guidebooks normally have lots of information about different things you can do in a city or a place.
A hint is additional or useful information or suggestion.
So helpful hints are useful ideas, useful suggestions.
Accommodations refers to places where you sleep overnight, hotels, for example.
Tony says, I want to make sure we stay in the heart of the city with plenty of nightlife.
The heart of the city is the main business and entertainment area of the city, the center of the city.
In many cities, that's the downtown.
In New York City, Manhattan is the heart of the city.
It's the major main area in the city.
People often complain that Los Angeles is a city that doesn't really have a heart.
That is, there isn't one center place where everything happens.
Tony says that he's looking for some place with lots of nightlife.
Nightlife is entertainment that happens in the evening at night.
It usually refers to bars restaurants, dance clubs, concert halls, places where people would go to enjoy themselves at night.
Tony says, I'll read the section on day trips, too, in case we have some extra time.
A day trip is when you go to say, a large city such as Los Angeles and then you want to visit a smaller city close to there, but you don't want to stay overnight.
You're just going to go in the morning and come back in the afternoon or evening.
So if you come to LA, you might want to take a day trip to Santa Barbara, which is about two hours north of the city, or San Diego, which is two hours south of the city, or Palm Springs, which is two hours east of the city.
These would be day trips from Los Angeles.
Nikki says, it sounds like you've got it covered.
If someone says they've got it covered, they mean they are able to do something.
They are in control of the situation.
They are prepared.
Tony is very prepared.
Tony says, I do.
I also want to spend some time learning some survival phrases so I can talk to the locals.
Survival phrases are basic expressions that you might learn when you are visiting a country that uses a language you don't speak very well.
So if I were to go to Japan, I would have to learn things like, where is the bathroom?
How much does this cost?
Those would be survival phrases.
When Tony says he wants to be able to talk to the locals, he means he wants to talk to the people who live in the city, people who are not tourists, people who are permanent residents, people who live all year round in the particular area.
Local has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Nicky says, survival phrases?
To visit Vancouver?
Tony says, yeah, we won't be able to get around without learning some French, you know.
But of course, this isn't true.
Vancouver is in the western part of Canada.
And although there are people who speak French there, it is mostly an English-speaking city.
Nicky says, really?
Hmm.
I think you'd better keep reading, meaning you obviously don't know very much about Vancouver if you think you have to learn French to visit there.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Wow, did you buy out the bookstore?
Very funny.
I just got a few guidebooks for our trip to Vancouver.
I want to study up on what the must-see sites are and then decide whether we can do some self-guided tours or need to book guided tours.
That's very conscientious of you.
The trip isn't for three months.
I know, but I want to start sketching out an itinerary now.
I'm going to start out by reading the orientation chapters so I get a feel for the city.
Good.
Then at least one of us will know where to go and what to do.
After that, I'm going to read the helpful hints in the accommodation section.
I want to make sure we stay in the heart of the city with plenty of nightlife.
I'll read the section on day trips, too, in case we have some extra time.
It sounds like you've got it covered.
I do.
I also want to spend some time learning some survival phrases so I can talk to the locals.
Survival phrases?
To visit Vancouver?
Yeah.
We won't be able to get around without learning some French, you know.
Really?
Hmm.
I think you'd better keep reading.
The script for this episode was written by the always conscientious Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time, will you?
On ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
