Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 654.
Talking about sound and volume.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 654.
I am 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.
This episode is called Talking About Sound and Volume.
It's a dialogue between Delilah and Josh.
Let's get started.
Could you turn that down?
What?
Could you turn your music down?
Oh, sure.
Is there a problem?
No, there's no problem.
I was just trying to do some reading and the ear-splitting music coming from your room made it hard to concentrate.
Sorry, I didn't think it was that loud.
I didn't turn it up, I swear.
The volume control is in the same place it always is.
Not one decibel higher.
That may be true, but those high-pitched squeals coming out of your speakers are really grating.
And what was that banging sound?
Oh, I was just using this hammer to fix my chair.
I'm done.
And what was that thumping noise?
Thumping noise?
Oh, I was lifting weights and dropping them back down on the floor.
I see.
If you could please keep the volume to a moderate level, I would appreciate it.
No problem.
I'll be as quiet as a mouse, as I always am.
Delilah begins our dialogue by asking Josh a question.
Really, she's making a request.
Could you turn that down?
To turn something down or to turn something up means to decrease turn it down or increase turn it up.
In this case, really, we're talking about the sound, the volume, how loud something is.
You could also turn up the heat if you had, for example, an adjustable heater.
But the phrase is most often used when talking about sound, the loudness, the sound on a television or a computer or a radio, and so forth.
There are actually several different phrasal verbs that come from turn.
You can find some of those in our learning guide.
Josh says, what?
He can't hear Delilah because his music or whatever he's listening to is so loud.
Delilah says again Josh says, Delilah says, And the ear-splitting music coming from your room made it hard to concentrate.
Here Delilah is being sarcastic when she says, no, there's no problem.
In fact, she means, yes, there's a big problem.
She was trying to do some reading, but Josh had ear-splitting music on in his room.
Ear-splitting is something that is so loud it hurts your ears.
It's something that is so high in pitch, perhaps, that it is painful to listen to.
Delilah says that she can't read because she can't concentrate.
To concentrate means to focus your attention on something without worrying about or, we would say, being distracted by other things.
Josh says, sorry, I didn't think it was that loud, meaning as loud as you think it is.
I didn't turn it up, I swear.
To swear S-W-E-A-R means to insist that you are telling the truth, to say very strongly I am telling you the truth or I will do what I say I will do.
Josh swears that he did not turn it up.
He did not increase the volume.
He says the volume control is in the same place it always is, not one decibel higher.
The volume control is.
You can guess, the thing that you use to turn the sound up or down on a radio, a television, an iPod and so forth.
Josh says that the volume control is in the same place it always is, not one decibel higher.
A decibel D-E-C-I-B-E-L is a measurement of how loud something is.
We talk about something being two miles from here.
Miles is a way of measuring something.
Decibel is how we measure how loud something is.
It can also be used to measure the strength of a radio signal, for example, but the more common use is to talk about loudness.
Decibels are... in what we call a logarithmic scale for the mathematicians out there.
If you increase something by three decibels, you've made it twice as loud.
Josh says that the sound is not one decibel higher than it used to be.
Decibels is almost always a comparison between one level versus another.
Delilah says that may be true, but those high-pitched squeals coming out of your speakers are really grating.
High-pitched is a very high sound, like this, like a soprano or someone like me.
A man who sings in a high voice is said to be singing falsetto.
The Bee Gees, for example, often sang in falsetto in the 1970s.
How deep is your love, is your love, how deep is your love, I really mean to love.
Pretty bad, huh?
Yeah, they were.
Delilah is talking about high-pitched squeals.
A squeal, S-Q-U-E-A-L, is a loud, high sound.
Sometimes it can mean that you are very happy or excited.
You can have squeals of laughter.
Or it could be a very unpleasant sound coming out of a radio or a loud speaker.
A speaker, speaking of speakers, is the part of the radio or television or thing you hook up to your computer where the noise comes out.
Delilah says that the high-pitched squeals coming out of Josh's speakers are really grating.
G-R-A-T-I-N-G.
A grating sound is an unpleasant one, an irritating one, something that bothers you a lot.
It might even make you angry.
Delilah also asks Josh, what was that banging sound?
To bang is is to make a very loud, often deep sound that lasts for a short period of time.
When you take two things, two glasses, and you hit them against each other, we would say you bang them against each other.
You make a banging sound.
I have my cup of tea here.
It's English breakfast tea today.
And a glass of water.
And if I bang them together... They make a banging sound.
Josh says, oh, I was just using this hammer to fix my chair.
I'm done.
I'm finished now.
A hammer...
H-A-M-M-E-R is a tool that has typically a wooden handle, something that you grab onto with your hands.
And it has a very heavy piece of metal on the top.
You use it to hit nails, to push nails into the wall.
You use a hammer.
Hammer, of course, was also a 1980s singer, MC Hammer, but we're not going to sing any of his songs today.
Delilah says, and what was that thumping sound?
A thumping, T-H-U-M-P-I-N-G, is a loud sound that but one that you can't hear very clearly.
It's usually something in the distance.
But you can tell by the sound that it is a very loud sound and that if you were next to it it would be very loud in your ears.
Delilah asks what Josh's thumping sound or thumping noise was.
Josh says, thumping noise?
You should know, by the way, that noise is usually a word we use to talk about sound that we don't want to hear or unpleasant sound.
The sound of my neighbor's children yelling and screaming and squealing.
That's noise.
Josh says, oh, I was lifting weights and dropping them back down on the floor.
To lift weights is to try to build your muscles by lifting very heavy objects.
That's what Josh was doing.
And when he put them back down on the ground, what we would call the weights.
Well, that made this thumping sound.
Delilah says, I see.
If you could please keep the volume to a moderate level...
I would appreciate it.
A moderate level is something not too loud, not necessarily soft, something in the middle, not too big, not too small.
Josh says, no problem.
I'll be as quiet as a mouse as I always am.
The expression to be as quiet as a mouse means to be extremely quiet, not to make any noise.
A mouse, of course, is a small little, typically white animal that, because it is so small, you would never hear it or rarely hear it.
That's not always true, however.
Sometimes you actually can hear mice, mice being the plural of mouse, of course.
We're not talking about the mouse sitting in front of your computer that controls the cursor on your computer screen.
That's a different kind of mouse.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Could you turn that down?
What?
Could you turn your music down?
Oh, sure.
Is there a problem?
No, there's no problem.
I was just trying to do some reading and the ear-splitting music coming from your room made it hard to concentrate.
Sorry, I didn't think it was that loud.
I didn't turn it up, I swear.
The volume control is in the same place it always is, not one decibel higher.
That may be true, but those high-pitched squeals coming out of your speakers are really grating.
And what was that banging sound?
Oh, I was just using this hammer to fix my chair.
I'm done.
And what was that thumping noise?
Thumping noise?
Oh, I was lifting weights and dropping them back down on the floor.
I see.
If you could please keep the volume to a moderate level, I would appreciate it.
No problem.
I'll be as quiet as a mouse, as I always am.
We hope you turn up your volume when listening to one of our scripts, written by our very own 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 Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
