Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 785, Consulting a Pharmacist.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 785.
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 and take a look at some of our ESL podcast special courses in Business and Daily English, read our ESL podcast blog and, of course, become a member of ESL Podcast and get the learning guides for these episodes.
In this dialogue, we go to the pharmacy or the drugstore to buy some drugs.
Sounds fun.
Let's get started.
Can I help you?
Yes, I had some questions for the pharmacist.
Can I fill these prescriptions here?
Yes, you can.
Just give those to the pharmacy technician and she'll take care of you.
The reason I ask is that I'm hoping there's a home remedy for my problems so I don't have to pay for prescription medication.
If you've already seen a doctor, then I would follow his or her instructions on what to do, including taking these medications.
All right, but I have some other problems.
Like what?
I have a rash on my arm.
See?
Is there an over-the-counter medication I can use?
That doesn't look too serious.
You can find medications for rashes on aisle three.
I would recommend a cream made by McHugh Pharmaceuticals.
Use it for a few days and monitor it to see if it improves.
If not, you may want to see your doctor about it.
Okay, thanks.
I also have allergies.
There are several drugstore medications for allergies.
I already take those.
What I want to know is if there is something I can do about the headaches I get from the allergies.
Pain relievers are on aisle four.
Let me show you where they are.
Oh, thank you.
On the way there, I'll tell you about my other health problems.
I need eye drops for my dry eyes, pills for my insomnia, something for my back pain.
If we begin with the pharmacist saying to Sanaz, Can I help you?
Sanaz says, Yes, I have some questions for the pharmacist.
The pharmacist is the person who is in charge of or runs the pharmacy or drugstore.
A pharmacist has to go to school to get a degree and must have a license in the particular state to be a pharmacist.
They are the ones who prepare medicines and make sure that you're getting the right medicine.
The pharmacist says, I'm the pharmacist.
How can I help you?
Sanaz says, can I fill these prescriptions here?
A prescription.
P-R-E-S-C-R-I-P-T-I-O-N is the doctor's written, usually permission for you to receive a certain drug.
It used to be that in order to get a drug from a pharmacist a special drug, a drug that required permission you had to have a written note from the doctor that would give you that permission and you would take that note to the pharmacy.
Now much of this is done on the computer electronically, but it's.
They still have paper prescriptions.
The prescription is the piece of paper that has the doctor's signature on it.
Notice that Sanaz uses the verb fill.
Filling a prescription means getting the drug that the prescription says you can have.
The pharmacist says, yes, you can.
You can fill these prescriptions here.
She says, just give those to the pharmacy technician and she'll take care of you.
The pharmacy technician is someone who works for the pharmacist, who is not a pharmacist themselves.
They are the people who do the actual taking of the prescription, putting it into the computer, looking for the drug, and so forth.
Technician here really means assistant.
Sanaz says.
The reason I ask is that I'm hoping there's a home remedy for my problems so I don't have to pay for prescription medication.
A home remedy.
R-E-M-E-D-Y is when you have some sort of medical problem.
You're sick and you want to cure your problem.
You want to get yourself better, not by taking some sort of drug from the pharmacy, but perhaps drinking some kind of tea or taking some other sort of vitamin that might help you.
These would all be home remedies.
In the United States.
Traditionally, if you have a cold, we would say the home remedy would be chicken soup.
If you eat chicken soup, you will feel better.
I don't think it'll actually help your cold, but maybe.
That's an example of a home remedy.
Medication is usually something that is from a pharmacy.
It is a drug.
That's another word for medication or simply medicine.
All of those mean the same thing.
Medicine, medication, drug.
Sanaz doesn't want to pay for the prescription medication, the drugs that the doctor told him to take.
The pharmacist says if you've already seen a doctor, notice again.
The verb to see a doctor means to go to and be examined by and talk to a doctor.
Then she says I would follow his or her instructions on what to do, including taking these medications.
In the United States, the pharmacist isn't going to change the orders of the doctor or probably won't say something to you that would be different than what your doctor would say.
That's not their job.
Sanaz says, all right, but I have some other problems.
The pharmacist asks, like what?
And here the pharmacist might be able to help you with things that you did not discuss with your doctor.
Although, again, it depends on what you ask him or her.
If your problem is that you're ugly and you want a new face well, the pharmacist probably can't help you with that.
Well, that's not exactly what Sanaz is talking about here, although he might be ugly.
I don't know.
I've never met him.
Sanaz says, I have some other problems.
And the pharmacist asks, like what?
What are they?
Sanaz says, I have a rash on my arm.
See?
See?
A rash, R-A-S-H, is a red bump or a bunch of little red bumps on your skin.
They often itch.
They often give you this sensation that makes you want to scratch them with your fingers, for example.
That's a rash.
A rash can be caused by many different things.
Sanaz says, is there an over-the-counter medication I can use?
The term over-the-counter C-O-U-N-T-E-R refers to drugs that you can buy in the pharmacy without a prescription.
You don't need the doctor's approval to buy this drug.
So if you want aspirin, for example, you don't need a prescription.
You can just go to the pharmacy and buy aspirin.
That's an example of an over-the-counter medication.
Sometimes you'll see the initials OTC.
OTC stands for over-the-counter.
The pharmacist says that the rash that Sanaz has doesn't look too serious.
She says, you can find medications, again medicine, for rashes on aisle three.
Aisle, A-I-S-L-E, is just a section in the store.
Most stores put their products the things they're selling on shelves and you walk in between the shelves up and down to find what you need.
Well, those spaces between the shelves are called aisles, or I guess the whole thing could be called an aisle.
In any case, the pharmacist tells Sanaz he can go to aisle number three.
She says, A cream here means... a lotion, that is, a thick substance that you rub on your skin.
Creams can be for lots of different things.
Women often put creams on their faces to make them more beautiful.
I don't know.
I'm pretty ugly.
I don't think there are any creams I could use.
But Sanaz could get a cream for his rash to help it.
The pharmacist recommends getting a cream made by a certain company, a certain pharmaceutical company.
The word pharmaceutical sounds like pharmacy or pharmacist.
It comes from the same root, we would say, the same basic word.
It just means a company that makes drugs, that makes medicines.
The pharmacist says, use it for a few days and monitor it to see if it improves.
Monitor here means to observe, to watch.
Monitor has some other meanings in English as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for those.
So the pharmacist tells Sanaz to monitor his rash, to keep looking at it to see if it gets any better.
If not, she says, you may want to see your doctor about it.
Sana says, okay, thanks.
Then he says, I also have allergies.
Allergies, A-L-L-E-R-G-I-E-S, the singular is allergy with a Y at the end. is when your body reacts to certain substances.
It could be something in the air.
It could be something you eat.
It could be something you touch with your skin.
I have allergies, for example, which cause my nose to get stuffed up.
That is, it gets a certain liquid and then I find it hard to talk.
That's why my voice sometimes sounds a little weird when I record these podcasts, because sometimes I have allergies.
The pharmacist says there are several drugstore medications for allergies.
Drugstore is just another word for pharmacy.
Here the pharmacist is really saying there are other over-the-counter medications for that.
Then Sanaz says, I already take those.
What I want to know is if there is something I can do about the headaches I get from the allergies.
A headache is when you have a pain in your head or wherever your brain is.
Some people's brain is in the opposite part of their body.
But Sanaz has a headache.
The pharmacist recommends pain relievers.
Pain relievers are medicines that you guessed.
It can reduce or relieve your pain so that it doesn't hurt as much.
Aspirin is an example of a pain reliever.
The pharmacist says, let me show you where they are.
Sana says, oh, thank you.
On the way there, meaning as we're walking to that part of the store, I'll tell you about my other health problems.
I need eye drops for my dry eyes, pills for my insomnia, something for my back pain.
And And there the dialogue ends
We assume that Senaz has many other health problems.
When you have dry eyes, you have eyes that feel itchy, that need some liquid.
Eye drops is the liquid that you put in your eyes when they're dry.
Insomnia, I-N-S-O-M-N-I-A is when you can't fall asleep at night.
You're not able to fall asleep easily.
Usually a pill is a small round thing that you take.
Notice again the verb, you take a pill.
You put it in your mouth and you swallow it.
That's one way of getting medicine into your body through a pill.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Can I help you?
Yes, I had some questions for the pharmacist.
I'm the pharmacist.
How can I help you?
Can I fill these prescriptions here?
Yes, you can.
Just give those to the pharmacy technician and she'll take care of you.
The reason I ask is that I'm hoping there's a home remedy for my problem so I don't have to pay for prescription medication.
If you've already seen a doctor, then I would follow his or her instructions on what to do, including taking these medications.
All right, but I have some other problems.
Like what?
I have a rash on my arm.
See?
Is there an over-the-counter medication I can use?
That doesn't look too serious.
You can find medications for rashes on aisle three.
I would recommend a cream made by McHugh Pharmaceuticals.
Use it for a few days and monitor it to see if it improves.
If not, you may want to see your doctor about it.
Okay, thanks.
I also have allergies.
There are several drugstore medications for allergies.
Well, I already take those.
What I want to know is if there's something I can do about the headaches I get from the allergies.
Pain relievers are on aisle four.
Let me show you where they are.
Oh, thank you.
On the way there, I'll tell you about my other health problems.
I need eye drops for my dry eyes, pills for my insomnia, something for my back pain.
The best medicine for improving your English is not a pill, but a dialogue by 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 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
