Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 904, Working Overseas.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 904.
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 a dialogue about someone who will be taking a job in another country.
Let's get started.
I can't wait to live abroad and work as an expat.
I remember my first overseas assignment.
It was interesting, but the adjustment took some time.
I won't have any problems.
I didn't think I'd have any problems either, but when I got to McQuillan Land, I was I was in culture shock.
I wasn't thinking so much about the expense of living abroad.
I was referring to a different pace of life and the many cultural differences that affect every facet of life.
I'm glad you're in euphoria right now, but...
No problem.
To me, smooth sailing would be boring.
Our dialogue begins with Danielle saying to Angus, I'm so excited.
The word posting P-O-S-T-I-N-G is used for people who work in jobs that frequently require moving from one place to another.
A large company, for example, might have offices in many different countries.
So a manager might have a posting in one country and then a posting in another country.
It's not normally used for jobs that don't require you to move to different places, either within a country or to another country.
So, for example, a school teacher probably wouldn't refer to his or her new job as a posting because it doesn't involve traveling to different parts of the world or of the country.
But Danielle obviously works for a company that requires her to move frequently and her new posting is overseas.
Overseas, O-V-E-R-S-E-A-S, means in another country.
A sea, S-E-A, is an ocean.
Overseas would be over or across an ocean.
Now, technically, a job would be overseas if you lived in the United States.
If that job were in Europe, Asia, China.
Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and so forth.
Anything that would require you to travel over an ocean in order to get there.
Hawaii is part of the United States, so you wouldn't be traveling overseas if you were working in Hawaii.
Overseas always refers to a foreign country, another country not your own.
Now, Many people use overseas to mean the same as the next word in our dialogue, which is abroad.
Danielle says, I can't wait to live abroad.
Abroad always means in another country.
Overseas means in another country, or it can mean specifically in another country that is not connected to, in this case the United States.
So if you are working in Canada or Mexico, you might not say that I'm working overseas.
You might say I'm working abroad, but it's perfectly acceptable to use overseas even when you don't actually have to travel over an ocean.
Danielle says that she can't wait to live abroad, meaning she's very excited about living abroad.
She's also excited about working as an expat.
An expat, E-X-P-A-T, is short for expatriate, E-X-P-A-T-R-I-A-T-E.
An expatriate is a person who lives in a foreign country, who lives in another country, not his own.
So if you move to the United States from another country and work here, you would be considered an expat.
If I go to Mexico to teach English, I would be called an expat.
Angus says, I remember my first overseas assignment.
An assignment is the same as a posting assignment.
It was interesting, but the adjustment took some time.
Adjustment is when you have to change your behavior to adapt to a new situation or a new environment.
When you move to a different country, there are many things that are new, and so there is a period or a time of adjustment.
Danielle says, I won't have any problems.
I already have my work permit, her permission from the government of this foreign country to work there, and vaccinations.
Vaccinations are injections that you get from the doctor to protect you against some disease that might be present in a foreign country that is not present in your own country.
Danielle says, I speak the language fairly well, meaning pretty well, very well, but not perfectly.
And remember, she says, I don't have any family to relocate.
To relocate means to move from one place to another, to leave your home or apartment and move to a completely different, usually town or state or, in this case, country.
You may know that the prefix re, R-E, means again.
So relocate means in a way, to find yourself again in another place, to move yourself to another place.
Angus says, I didn't think I'd, I would, have any problems either.
But when I got to McQuillanland... the new country, I was in culture shock.
Culture shock is a feeling of confusion, of unhappiness that often happens when you move to a new place, when you move to a new country.
Usually, when you move to somewhere for the first time and you want to go there, you're very happy during the first maybe month, two months, maybe even six months that you're there.
We sometimes call that situation, that condition, euphoria, E-U-P-H-O-R-I-A.
After this period of euphoria however, usually you go through another part of your adjustment, which is culture shock.
Culture shock is when you feel like you're confused or you're angry, or you don't really understand and like the new place that you're living.
This happens to everyone that I've ever met who's lived in another country, including myself.
At first, everything is great, but then you go through a period where things are very difficult.
You look around and you say, I'm not like these people here.
This happens even when you move to a different part of your country.
When I moved to Los Angeles, I went through culture shock after the first year or so of living here.
If you are able to survive that stage, that period of culture shock, things will get better and you'll have a more realistic, balanced view of the place where you live after perhaps a year or two.
But sometimes culture shock can be so serious that it causes people to move back to where they came from.
Angus says he went through culture shock when he moved to McQuillan land.
Danielle says, I'm ready for the differences in the cost of living.
The cost of living is how much it costs you to live in a certain place, how much the food is, how much the rent is, and so forth.
All of those are part of the cost of living.
In some countries, the cost of living is much higher than in other countries.
In some cities, like Los Angeles, the cost of living is much higher than in other cities.
Danielle says that she'll be getting a housing allowance.
A housing allowance is money that a company gives you to pay for the rent of your house or apartment when you are working in a different city or a different country.
Danielle says the housing allowance will offset the increase in living expenses.
To offset, O-F-F-S-E-T, means to have the opposite effect.
In this case, even though the cost of living will be higher, the housing allowance will pay for that.
It will... counteract, we might say, that it will offset it.
It will balance it.
She says the housing allowance will offset the increase in living expenses.
Living expenses is basically the same as cost of living what it costs you to rent your apartment, to drive your car, to buy your food and so forth.
Angus says I wasn't thinking so much about the expense, the money required of living abroad.
I was referring to a different pace of life.
Pace, P-A-C-E, is like speed.
Pace of life would be how rushed people are, how relaxed people are.
The pace of life in New York and Los Angeles is much faster than the pace of life in Honolulu Hawaii, or in a small town in Minnesota.
That's pace of life.
Angus says there are many cultural differences that affect every facet of life.
Facet, F-A-C-E-T, means part or feature.
Danielle says, that's what I'm looking forward to.
It'll all be so exciting.
It will all be very exciting.
Angus says, I'm glad you're in euphoria right now.
We explained euphoria a few minutes ago.
But be prepared for some bumps in the road.
Bumps in the road is an expression meaning difficulties or challenges that you will have to face on your way to reaching your goal, on the way to your destination.
There'll be bumps in the road.
Literally, bumps are where the...
Earth or the road goes up a little higher and it causes your car to bounce a little bit as you go over the bump.
Bumps in the road however, is an expression meaning difficulties in obtaining or achieving your goal.
Danielle says, no problem.
To me, smooth sailing would be boring.
Danielle is not worried about difficulties or bumps in the road.
She thinks that the opposite of that would be boring.
The opposite expression for bumps in the road is, in a way, smooth sailing.
Smooth sailing means you don't have any problems.
You are able to reach your goal without having any problems. difficulties.
Sailing is when you go out in a boat and you let the power of the wind move the boat back and forth.
Smooth is the opposite of rough or, in this case, difficult.
Smooth sailing is not having any difficulties.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm so excited.
I just got my new posting overseas.
I can't wait to live abroad and work as an expat.
I remember my first overseas assignment.
It was interesting, but the adjustment took some time.
I won't have any problems.
I already have my work permit and vaccinations and I speak the language fairly well.
And remember, I don't have any family to relocate.
I didn't think I'd have any problems either, but when I got to McQuillan Land I was in culture shock.
I'm ready for the differences in the cost of living.
I'll be getting a housing allowance, which will offset the increase in living expenses.
I wasn't thinking so much about the expense of living abroad.
I was referring to a different pace of life and the many cultural differences that affect every facet of life.
That's what I'm looking forward to.
It'll all be so exciting.
I'm glad you're in euphoria right now, but be prepared for some bumps in the road.
No problem.
To me, smooth sailing would be boring.
We hope our scriptwriter never gets a posting overseas.
We want her right here in Los Angeles, writing our wonderful scripts.
I speak, of course, of our own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
Thank you.
