Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 626, Wiring Money to Another Country.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 626.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode that will help you improve your English even faster than just listening.
This episode is called wiring money or sending money electronically to another country.
It's a dialogue between Mahmoud and Sharon, using a lot of vocabulary you would need to know in sending wires.
Let's get started.
My brother emailed about an emergency situation.
He needs $300 by tomorrow.
But how can I get cash to him within 24 hours if I'm here in Mexico City and he's in New York?
That's easy.
You can wire him the money from here, and he can pick it up immediately there.
You mean wire him money through the bank?
I already checked with my bank, and it'll take at least five days for them to process the wire.
You can just use a private wire service like Western Union, and the money will be available to him immediately.
I wire money all the time using Western Union.
Here is a blank form.
I can help you fill it out if you want me to.
That would be great.
Hey, this form is for a money transfer.
Is that the same thing as a wire?
Yes, it's the same thing.
Fill out the receiver or recipient information here and the sender information there.
Can I pay in local currency?
I don't have that much cash in U.S. dollars.
Sure.
When you go to the Western Union office, they'll calculate how much you'll have to pay according to the current exchange rate.
Is there a fee?
Yeah, there is, and it's a little higher if you want the money to be available immediately.
If you have more time, you could save a little by using the slower service that makes the money available in three business days.
All done?
Yeah, I think so.
Now what?
Now you take this to the nearest Western Union office.
They'll give you a copy of this form with a control number.
Your brother can use that control number to pick up the money from any Western Union office in New York.
Sharon, you're a lifesaver.
So what's the emergency?
For us, it's a matter of life and death.
Our dialogue begins with Mahmoud saying...
My brother emailed about an emergency situation.
Emergencies are unexpected situations or events.
Things that require that you have an immediate response.
You have to take care of them right away because they are very serious or dangerous situations.
Mahmoud says that his brother needs $300 by tomorrow, meaning before the end of tomorrow.
He asks, how can I get cash to him?
So our dialogue today is in Mexico City.
Cash. is money that you put in your wallet or your purse.
It usually consists of either coins, round metal objects or pieces of paper.
We call bills B-I-L-L-S.
The term is used more generally to mean money.
Mahmoud says is wondering how he can get this money to his brother in one day if they are in different cities.
Sharon says that's easy.
You can wire him the money from here, and he can pick it up immediately there.
To wire... as a verb, means to send something, usually money, electronically.
It could also mean sending someone a message.
In the old days we had telegraph messages that were sent electronically.
With the internet and Better phone service.
We don't do that very much.
I don't think they do it at all anymore.
I might be wrong about that.
But nowadays the word is used to refer to sending money electronically, either through a bank directly or through another private company, such as Western Union, which we'll talk about in a minute.
The word wire has several meanings in English, and those can be found in, of course, our learning guide.
So, Sharon says that Mahmoud can wire his brother money.
Mahmoud says, you mean wire him money through the bank?
I already checked with my bank that and it'll take at least five days for them to process the wire.
To process is a general verb meaning to do all the necessary actions, often things that require what we would call paperwork forms to fill out permissions.
To get things To process, for example, an application means that you look at it, you give it to the appropriate people, they review it, they give it back to you, and so forth.
So taking care of the necessary steps is what this verb is meant to convey, is meant to communicate to you.
Mahmoud says that it will take...
That, by the way, is generally true internationally.
It takes a longer time to use your bank to wire money.
A longer time than a private service, and that's what Sharon recommends.
She says you can just use a private wire service like Western Union and the money will be available to him immediately.
Western Union is the name of a company that lets you send money electronically almost anywhere in the world.
And the person you are sending it can pick it up usually within a day, sometimes less.
Sharon says, Here is a blank form.
Boy, Sharon is pretty amazing.
She actually has the form for wiring money to Western Union with her.
I guess she carries those around.
Anyway, she gives him a blank form. form.
A blank form would be an empty form, one that doesn't have anything written on it yet.
So the place where you put your name is empty.
It's blank.
In general, blank means empty.
Blank has a couple of other meanings however, and those are also in our learning guide for this episode.
Sharon says, here is a blank form.
I can help you fill it out if you want me to.
To fill something out or to fill out something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to write or type information out where it is requested on a form.
So when you come to the United States, you have to fill out a form for a visitor.
You need to put your name, the country where you live, where you are going in the US, how long you will be there, and so forth.
That's to fill out something, or to fill something out to put the information onto the document, paper or form.
Mahmoud says that would be great.
Hey, this form is for a money transfer.
Is that the same thing as a wire transfer?
Yes is the answer.
A money transfer is money sent electronically from one person to another.
It is the same as a wire.
Sharon says, yes, it's the same thing.
Fill out the receiver or recipient information here and the sender information there.
She's obviously pointing or indicating on the form where Mahmoud should put this information.
There are two kinds of information.
The first is for the recipient.
A recipient.
R-E-C-I-P-I-E-N-T is someone who receives something, someone who gets something from someone else.
If you give someone a gift, the person you give the gift to is the recipient.
Or you could win, for example, a prize.
We would talk about the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Those are the people who have received the prize.
The recipient of the money is Mahmoud's brother.
Mahmoud is the person sending the money, and so we call him the sender.
Remember, in English we sometimes add an er at the end of a verb to make it the person who does that thing.
To play becomes player when we talk about the person who plays, and so forth.
And that's what is going on here.
Mahmoud says, can I pay in a local currency?
Currency is the type of money that you use in a particular country.
In the United States, we use the dollar.
In most of Europe, Western Europe, they use the euro.
In Japan, they use the yen and so forth.
Local currency, then, is the currency of the place where you are sending your money.
Mahmoud wants to know if he can pay in local currency meaning, can he pay in Mexican pesos, even though the person is going to pick up the money in dollars?
And the answer, of course, is yes.
Sharon says, sure, meaning yes.
When you go to the Western Union office, they'll calculate how much you'll have to pay according to the current exchange rate.
To calculate means to add, subtract, multiply, or divide.
That is, to use mathematics or math to find the answer to something.
The exchange rate is the price of one currency in another currency.
It's what?
For example, if you come to the United States with a euro, one euro and you go to a place, a bank, where they exchange money, they give you the local currency of that country.
They would give you say, 120 or 130, 130.
That's the exchange rate.
That's the price of a dollar in euros or the price of a euro in dollars.
Mahmoud says, is there a fee, F-E-E?
A fee is the amount of money that you pay a business, an organization or the government for a particular purpose.
If you want to, for example, play golf at a public golf course a government-owned golf course in Los Angeles, you have to pay a fee.
That's money that you pay for that particular thing.
This is somewhat different than taxes.
Taxes are usually a percentage of some other amount of money that you either make or spend.
A fee is a particular price of doing something that only that one person would pay.
Sharon says, yes, there is a fee.
And it's a little higher if you want the money to be available immediately.
If you are sending money by Western Union and you want the person to be able to pick up the money today instead of tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, They charge you more money.
They charge you a higher fee.
Notice we use high and low in talking about fees because they represent money which is represented or counted by numbers which can be high or low.
If you had more time.
Sharon said you could save a little by using the slower service that makes the money available in three business days.
A business day is typically Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
The weekends Saturday and Sunday are not considered business days, since many businesses are closed.
So if someone says we will send that to you in five to seven business days and today is Wednesday, they mean that they will send it to you not by Sunday, which is five normal or calendar days, but five business days, which would be next Wednesday or possibly even Friday, if it is seven days.
Sharon says to Mahmoud, all done, meaning all finished.
Are you finished?
Mahmoud says, yeah, I think so.
Now what?
Now what do I do?
Sharon says, now you take this to the nearest Western Union office.
They'll give you a copy of this form with a control number.
When you send a wire with Western Union, they give it an official number that they use to keep track of, to put it into their computer.
And that control number is what you give the other person, the recipient.
They put that control number it's called a money transfer control number on the form that they fill out and that's how they can find it easily in the computer.
So that's a control number specifically for a wire via or using Western Union.
Sharon says your brother can use that control number to pick up the money from any Western Union office in New York.
Western Union will also ask you for your name and your address and your phone number, but the control number is the most important piece of information.
Mahmoud says, Sharon, you're a lifesaver.
When we say someone's a lifesaver, we mean that person has helped us a great deal.
They've saved our life.
They've prevented us from dying.
Of course, that's not literally true.
It's not actually true.
But we say that when someone has helped us a great deal.
You're a lifesaver.
Sharon says, so what's the emergency?
Why do you need to send this money to your brother?
Mahmoud says, tickets go on sale for my favorite baseball team.
They go on sale, meaning they will start selling them tomorrow, Mahmoud says.
My brother and I have to get tickets.
Sharon says, that's the emergency?
She cannot believe that the emergency is the fact that Mahmoud's brother has to buy some baseball tickets.
Mahmoud says, for us, meaning for my brother and me, it's a matter of life and death.
When you say something is a matter of life and death, you mean it is very important.
It is very serious.
Sometimes you mean that literally.
You mean the person could die if something doesn't happen.
Often however, just like the term lifesaver, we use it as an exaggeration really to say it's very important, it's very serious.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
My brother emailed about an emergency situation.
He needs $300 by tomorrow.
But how can I get cash to him within 24 hours if I'm here in Mexico City and he's in New York?
That's easy.
You can wire him the money from here and he can pick it up immediately there.
You mean wire him money through the bank?
I already checked with my bank and it'll take at least five days for them to process the wire.
You can just use a private wire service like Western Union, and the money will be available to him immediately.
I wire money all the time using Western Union.
Here is a blank form.
I can help you fill it out if you want me to.
That would be great.
Hey, this form is for a money transfer.
Is that the same thing as a wire?
Yes, it's the same thing.
Fill out the receiver or recipient information here and the sender information there.
Can I pay in local currency?
I don't have that much cash in U.S. dollars.
Sure.
When you go to the Western Union office, they'll calculate how much you'll have to pay according to the current exchange rate.
Is there a fee?
Yeah, there is, and it's a little higher if you want the money to be available immediately.
If you had more time, you could save a little by using the slower service that makes the money available in three business days.
All done?
Yeah, I think so.
Now what?
Now you take this to the nearest Western Union office.
They'll give you a copy of this form with a control number.
Your brother can use that control number to pick up the money from any Western Union office in New York.
Sharon, you're a lifesaver.
So, what's the emergency?
Tickets go on sale tomorrow for my favorite baseball team.
My brother and I have to get tickets.
That's the emergency?
For us, it's a matter of life and death.
Our scriptwriter is a real lifesaver for us here at ESL Podcast.
We could not do what we do without her.
So thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
