Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 710.
Doubting One's Language Use This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 710.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is about doubting one's language use, especially when you're speaking another language which, of course, most of you are.
Let's get started.
Can you help me?
I'm working on this email to Emil, and I'm having trouble coming up with the right words in French.
My French isn't much better than yours, but I'll give it a shot.
Okay, read this sentence for me.
What I want to know is if that is a suitable way to say that I'm sick, but that I'm not seriously ill.
Word choice can be tricky, but I think that's the appropriate word, with the right meaning and the right connotations.
Okay, now read this sentence.
It doesn't sound right to me.
Is this the right usage of the word faire?
I really doubt it.
That's because you're using the wrong form of the verb, I think.
Now if only I can think of the correct form.
My French is really, really rusty.
Now that you've pointed out the problem, I can look it up later.
What about this paragraph?
The last sentence sounds awkward to me.
It sounds okay to me, but then again, I'm not a native speaker.
Oh, this is so frustrating.
It's such a production every time I write him an email.
Maybe Emil will learn English and your troubles will be over.
Yes, and maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
Our dialogue begins with Flora saying to Andy, Can you help me?
I'm working on this email to Emil, and I'm having trouble coming up with the right words in French.
To come up with something is a phrasal verb meaning to think of something, to have an idea for something or an idea about something.
I have to come up with a title for this episode.
I have to invent one.
I have to think of one.
I have to create one.
Flora is having difficulty coming up with or thinking of the right or correct words in French for an email she's writing in French.
And he says my French isn't much better than yours, meaning my knowledge of French or my French fluency or proficiency isn't much better than yours.
He says, I'll give it a shot.
To give something a shot.
S-H-O-T means you'll try something even when you don't think you will be successful, usually because it's very difficult.
I'm not very good at fixing cars, but I'll give it a shot.
I'll try.
I don't expect I will be successful.
Andy is going to give it a shot, going to give helping Flora in her French email a shot.
Flora says, okay, read this sentence for me.
What I want to know is if that is a suitable way to say that I'm sick, but that I'm not seriously ill.
A suitable S-U-I-T-A-B-L-E way is an appropriate way, an acceptable way, something that is okay to do in a particular situation.
Flora wants to know if she's using the right word to say that she's sick, but not seriously sick.
Andy says, word choice can be tricky.
Word choice is picking the right word to say exactly what you want to say.
Tricky T-R-I-C-K-Y here means difficult or challenging, something that is easy to make a mistake at.
So it can be difficult to pick the right word, Andy says.
Word choice can be tricky.
But I think that's the appropriate word with the right meaning and the right connotations.
Appropriate here means the same as suitable.
It's something that is acceptable.
It is right for this situation.
Andy thinks she has the right word.
It has the right meaning, the right definition, if you will, and the right connotations.
A connotation.
C-O-N-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N is an additional meaning to a word or a phrase.
It is the ideas that you think of when you hear that word and phrase, even if it isn't the actual definition that you would find in a dictionary.
We have something called the denotation.
That's the definition that you will see in a dictionary.
The connotation are all the other meanings that are associated with that word or things that you think of when you hear that word.
For example, the word stubborn means the same as strong-willed.
It's someone who doesn't change their mind, someone who will do what they want to do, even if other people disagree with them.
However, the connotations of stubborn are negative.
If you say someone is stubborn, that's a criticism.
If you say someone is strong-willed, that is a compliment, usually.
It means that they are a strong person, a good thing.
So the connotations are different, even though the denotations are similar.
Andy thinks this word that Flora chose is the right word.
I'm not sure what word it is.
Je ne sais pas, as we say in French.
That means, I think, I don't know.
I'm not sure.
I don't know.
Anyway, Flora then says, Okay, now read this sentence.
When we say something doesn't sound right, we mean that it might be grammatically correct, but it isn't the exact meaning you want, or it isn't what people would normally say in this situation.
Flora says, is this the right usage of the word faire?
I really doubt it.
Usage, U-S-A-G-E, is the way that a word or phrase is used.
The correct grammatical way that you use a word, as well as the correct meaning.
That's usage.
Flora is asking about how the verb faire in French is used.
Flora says that she doubts that she is using it correctly.
To doubt means that you are not sure about something.
Andy says, that's because you're using the wrong form of the verb, I think.
Form here refers to the correct conjugation of the verb.
Is it for...
I or you or they, that sort of thing.
Form has many meanings in English, of course.
Some of those can be found in our learning guide for this episode.
Andy says, now, if only I can think of the correct form.
He means he doesn't know what it is, but he's trying to think of it right now.
If only I can think of the correct form.
He says my French is really, really rusty.
R-U-S-T-Y.
Rusty is a way of saying that it isn't as strong as it used to be.
I haven't practiced it.
I haven't used it.
You can say this about anything.
You could say, oh, I used to be a very good tennis player, but now I'm a little rusty.
Rust R-U-S-T is what happens when you have metal changing because of water and air and other things that change the outside of the metal.
Often it becomes a reddish color.
But in the sentence rusty as an adjective is used to mean something that you used to do well but don't do very well anymore.
Flora says now that you've pointed out the problem, now that you've told me what's wrong, I can look it up later.
To look something up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to search for it.
We used to search for it in books, dictionaries, grammar books.
Nowadays, people search for it on the Internet.
They Google it.
That's how we look things up nowadays, how we research, how we investigate something to find an answer.
Flora says, what about this paragraph?
The last sentence sounds awkward to me.
The verb to sound here is normally for something to make a noise like the bell sounds or the alarm sounds.
But here it means seems awkward.
The last sentence seems to me to be awkward.
It appears to me.
That's the way I'm reading it.
That's my interpretation.
It seems to me.
The last sentence sounds awkward Awkward, A-W-K-W-A-R-D, means that it isn't quite right.
It's often used to describe something that's difficult to do or someone who is in a tough position or an uncomfortable position.
Here, when we say it sounds awkward, we mean it doesn't sound correct.
Andy says Then again means.
However, A native speaker is someone who grew up, usually from the time they were a small baby, hearing and speaking the language.
Flora says, Production here means something that requires a lot of work.
Andy says, maybe Emil will learn English and your troubles will be over.
When we say someone's troubles will be over, we mean that sometime in the future we're not sure when they will no longer have this problem.
Flora says yes, and maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
Well, your butt, you probably know.
B-U-T-T is what you sit on.
This is a very informal phrase that comes from a movie in the 1990s called Wayne's World in English.
It was a movie with Mike Myers.
Anyway, in the movie they're talking about something that seems very impossible, something that would be almost impossible to happen.
For example, you might say well, maybe you will become president of the United States, which doesn't seem very likely, and you can reply well yeah, maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
Of course monkeys don't fly, and they certainly don't fly out of your butt, but It's a funny phrase.
The old phrase was, when pigs fly.
When pigs fly is meant to indicate an impossible condition.
Pigs, of course, don't fly, and so it will never happen.
So it's another way of saying, that will never happen.
Do not use this with your boss.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Can you help me?
I'm working on this email to Emil, and I'm having trouble coming up with the right words in French.
My French isn't much better than yours, but I'll give it a shot.
Okay, read this sentence for me.
What I want to know is if that is a suitable way to say that I'm sick, but that I'm not seriously ill.
Word choice can be tricky, but I think that's the appropriate word, with the right meaning and the right connotations.
Okay, now read this sentence.
It doesn't sound right to me.
Is this the right usage of the word faire?
I really doubt it.
That's because you're using the wrong form of the verb, I think.
Now, if only I can think of the correct form.
My French is really, really rusty.
Now that you've pointed out the problem, I can look it up later.
What about this paragraph?
The last sentence sounds awkward to me.
It sounds okay to me, but then again, I'm not a native speaker.
This is so frustrating.
It's such a production every time I write him an e-mail.
Maybe a meal will learn English and your troubles will be over.
Yes, and maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
Our script writer comes up with wonderful scripts each and every week for you here on ESL Podcast.
That's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
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.
