Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 532, Using an Online Email Program.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 532.
Dr. Jeff McQuillan using an online email program or email service.
It's a dialogue between Luigi and Selma using a lot of common vocabulary that we employ, that we use when we talk about using email online.
Let's get started.
What do you think of this new email program?
I don't know yet.
I just started using it.
The interface is pretty intuitive, but I haven't figured out how to sort my inbox by date.
That's easy.
Let me show you.
All you have to do is hit one of these buttons, and it'll sort automatically.
Oh, I see.
Let me try to compose a message.
I'll CC myself and I'll BCC you to make sure it goes through.
It looks like if I don't want to send it right away, I can save the message as a draft.
If I do send it, does it save a copy?
Yes, it should.
Refresh the page and it should show up in sent mail.
Oh, yeah.
There it is.
Let's see.
I can also archive messages or mark them as junk or send them straight to trash.
How do I add contacts?
You can put contacts into your address book by dragging an email address into your contacts folder, like this
Okay, one more thing.
I want to set up spam filters and some other filters to block unwanted emails.
You can do that in this window.
See?
Whose emails are you blocking?
And deprive you of the fun?
Never.
Never.
Luigi begins by saying, what do you think of this new email program?
A program is a piece of software that is used on a computer for certain purposes, in this case for checking your email.
Selma says, I don't know yet.
I just started using it.
The interface is pretty intuitive.
The interface is what you see on the screen for that program.
It's the way that you interact with the program, the way information is displayed to you on the screen for the program.
She says the interface is pretty intuitive.
Something that is intuitive is easy to understand.
It doesn't require an explanation.
Selma says I haven't figured out how to sort my inbox by date.
To sort means to put something in order, usually so that it's easier to find something later.
You could sort things alphabetically, beginning with A, B, C, and so forth.
You could sort things by date with the most recent email messages first.
Those are both ways of sorting your inbox.
That is what we call a folder in your email program where you see all of your new messages.
You have different folders on a typical email program.
Just like you have a physical folder where you put paper, an email folder is where you have certain kinds of email.
The inbox is where all the new messages arrive on your computer program.
Luigi says that it's easy to sort her inbox by date.
He says, let me show you.
Selma says, Selma says, To compose means to write something, such as a letter, an email, an essay.
We sometimes also use this verb when talking about those that write music.
We call them composers.
They compose symphonies and songs, for example.
Selma says, I'll CC myself and I'll BCC you to make sure they go through.
To CC.
Someone means to send a copy of a message to other people in addition to the primary person you are sending your message to.
So I may be sending a message to my brother, but I'll CC my sister.
She'll also get a copy of the email.
We use the letter CC because they come from an old term, which is carbon copy.
Before the days of photostatic copiers, the only way to make a copy of a document was to put two pieces of paper into a typewriter.
And you would put a piece of black or blue carbon paper in between the two pieces of paper.
And when you typed on the first page, the carbon would also mark the second page and you would have a copy of that particular document.
However, you had to do it when you were typing.
If you typed it without putting the extra piece of paper and the piece of carbon paper, it wouldn't work.
I remember using carbon paper back in the 1970s when I was in high school.
BCC is a adaptation of the old term into a new context.
To bcc someone means to blind, carbon copy someone.
This is a concept that only exists in modern email technology.
A BCC is when you're going to send another copy of your message, but you're not indicating to the primary person that you are sending a copy to this other person.
So, for example, I send a message to my brother, I CC my sister and then I BCC my mother.
That means that my mother gets a copy, but my brother and my sister don't realize it.
That's why we say it's blind.
To be blind means to be unable to see.
So BCC is when you are sending a copy of something that other people who receive the message aren't aware of.
They don't know another copy is going to someone else.
Selma says she wants to make sure the message went through, meaning that it was received, that it actually was sent out.
It looks like if I don't want to send it right away, she says, I can save the message as a draft.
A draft is something that you write, but it needs to be edited.
It needs to be finished.
It's not the final version.
Draft has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Selma says, if I do send it, does it save a copy?
Meaning, does the program, the email program save a copy of the message?
Luigi says, yes, it should.
Refresh the page and it will show up in sent mail.
To refresh a web page means that you make sure the page or the program is displaying the most recent information.
On your web browser, the piece of software you use to look at things on the internet.
There is usually a refresh button.
You hit that button and the page, we say, loads again.
It comes onto your screen again with the most recent version of that page.
Luigi says refresh the page and the message will show up in sent mail.
Sent mail is the folder in your email program where you find copies of all the messages that you sent.
There's a third folder on most email programs called an outbox.
An outbox contains the messages that you are ready to send but haven't actually sent yet.
So your outbox contains messages ready to send.
Your sent mail folder contains messages you've already sent in the past.
Selma says, oh yeah, there it is.
She refreshes the page and she sees her message.
Let's see, I can also archive messages or mark them as junk or send them straight to trash.
To archive your messages means to take your messages out of your inbox, but not delete it.
Save it in another folder for later.
Most people have different folders with different kinds of messages so that you can find your messages easily later on, but you take them out of your inbox.
If a message is spam, if it is an advertisement that you didn't request, or some email from someone you don't know that you don't want, We sometimes call that junk mail.
Junk is garbage, email messages that you don't want and you no longer want to see in your inbox.
You can mark them as junk and then put them in your trash to get rid of them, to delete them.
Soma says, how do I add contacts?
Contact is a person with whom you are communicating.
Usually you have the person's name, their email address, perhaps their phone number, their physical address, meaning where their house or their office is.
This is information you would find in your contacts.
So she wants to add a new contact.
Luigi says you can put contacts in your address book by dragging an email message into your contacts folder, like this
So on Selma's email program, you can take an email address and drag it.
That is, click on something.
Continue to hold down the button on your mouse and you move it to another part of the screen, and then you let your mouse go.
That's to drag things on your computer.
Selma says, okay, one more thing.
I want to set up spam filters and some other filters to block unwanted emails.
A spam filter is a part of a program that blocks the junk, unwanted messages that you get on email.
To block means not to allow something to happen.
In this case, not to allow email messages to come into your inbox.
Luigi says you can do that in this window.
See?
Whose emails are you blocking?
Selma says yours, meaning Luigi's.
If you don't stop forwarding all of those stupid jokes every day, this means that she's going to start blocking Luigi's email address so that emails that he sends her will not appear in her inbox.
Why?
Well, Luigi likes to forward, likes to send an email that he received from one person to another person.
It's very common for people to send an email message that contains something they think is funny to someone else.
Often, however...
The other person doesn't want this email and doesn't think the joke is very funny.
I am one of those people.
Please do not forward me any jokes.
Luigi says, Meaning that if selma blocks his emails, she'll be deprived of the fun the fun from reading the messages.
To deprive d-e-p-r-i-v-e means not to let someone have something or do something that is considered nice, fun or pleasant.
I'm going to deprive you of your coffee today.
You want it, but I'm not going to let you have it.
Since I don't drink coffee anymore, that wouldn't bother me at all.
I only drink tea.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.
What do you think of this new email program?
I don't know yet.
I just started using it.
The interface is pretty intuitive, but I haven't figured out how to sort my inbox by date.
That's easy.
Let me show you.
All you have to do is hit one of these buttons and it'll sort automatically.
Oh, I see.
Let me try to compose a message.
I'll CC myself and I'll BCC you to make sure it goes through.
It looks like if I don't want to send it right away, I can save the message as a draft.
If I do send it, does it save a copy?
Yes, it should.
Refresh the page and it should show up in Sent Mail.
Oh yeah, there it is.
Let's see.
I can also archive messages or mark them as junk, or send them straight to trash.
How do I add contacts?
You can put contacts into your address book by dragging an email message into your Contacts folder, like this
Okay, one more thing.
I want to set up spam filters and some other filters to block unwanted emails.
You can do that in this window.
See?
Whose emails are you blocking? yours if you don't stop forwarding all those stupid jokes every day.
And deprive you of the fun?
Never.
I won't deprive you of the knowledge of who wrote today's wonderful script.
It was Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
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.
