Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 936, Working with the IT Department.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 936.
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.
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Our topic today is working with an IT or information technology department.
Those are the people in your company who know how your computer is supposed to work.
Whenever I have a technology problem at work, I try to solve it myself.
It's not that I know a lot about technology.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Why do I bother?
The answer is the IT department in my company.
Every time I consult one of the IT specialists, they make me feel like an idiot, but this time I had no choice but to call in the experts.
What seems to be the problem here?
My computer is acting up, and I can't get this file to open.
Move.
Let me take a look.
Ha!
Of course your computer is acting up.
I'm not sure how I could have done that.
And the reason you can't open this file is because it's encrypted.
Did that occur to you?
No, I guess it didn't.
I'll fix everything, but try not to screw it up again.
I'll do my best.
See what I mean.
Our story begins with Steve describing his situation at work.
He says Technology refers to anything really that is made by humans that helps you accomplish some goal or task.
Normally nowadays we associate technology with things like computers and phones and other electronic devices.
Steve is saying that if he has a problem at work with technology, He tries to solve it himself, to find the answer himself.
He says, it's not that I know a lot about technology.
In fact, the opposite is true.
If, for example, the water is cold and your friend says, oh, the water is hot.
You can say, no, the opposite is true.
The opposite of hot would be cold.
In our story.
It's a little confusing because Steve says it's not that I know a lot about technology.
We know that Steve does not know a lot about technology because he's saying it's not that, which means it is not true that.
The statement that is not true is, I know a lot about technology.
Then Steve says the opposite is true.
The opposite of that statement, I know a lot about technology, is true.
In other words, Steve does not know very much about technology.
He says, I'm pretty much a computer illiterate, but I try.
Pretty much means primarily, mostly, for the most part.
Literate, L-I-T-E-R-A-T-E, usually refers to your ability to read and write in a given language.
Illiterate, I-L-L-I-T-E-R-A-T-E, means that you cannot read or write.
However, we use illiterate nowadays sometimes to mean skilled, to have knowledge about something.
Computer illiterate means he doesn't know very much about computers.
Steve says, why do I bother?
Why do I bother means why do I trouble myself?
Why do I make an effort to do something that may not be successful?
The answer is the IT department in my company, Steve says.
The IT department is the information technology department, the part of a company that is responsible for computers and other electronic devices.
Steve says, every time I consult one of the IT specialists, they make me feel like an idiot.
To consult, C-O-N-S-U-L-T, can mean a couple of different things.
Here it means to ask for someone's assistance, to ask for someone's help.
We often use that in a professional or business context, when we are asking for assistance from, in this case, another person in our company.
Consult can also be used as a verb to refer to the act of you providing additional services to another company.
I'm consulting for the textbook company.
I'm working for a company that makes books for students.
The verb consult has those two meanings one which means to provide assistance, usually for some small issue within your company, in this case, and it can mean to work for another company temporarily to help them with some larger problem.
The company where Steve works has IT specialists.
A specialist, S-P-E-C-I-A-L-I-S-T, is anyone who knows a lot about a certain topic.
You could have a specialist in ancient archaeology.
You could have a specialist in Renaissance poetry.
You could have a specialist in neurosurgery.
All of those are Here we're talking about someone who knows a lot about computers.
These IT specialists at Steve's company make Steve feel like an idiot.
They make him feel stupid.
Maybe that's because Steve is stupid.
I don't know.
I've never met Steve.
Steve says...
But this time, I had no choice but to call in the experts.
When you say you have no choice but to, that means you have no other options.
You have to do a certain thing.
I have no choice but to eat this piece of chocolate cake.
If I don't eat it, it will be wasted.
I'll have to throw it out.
I have no choice but to eat it.
Steve has no choice but to call in the experts.
To call someone in is a phrasal verb meaning to ask someone to come in and help you, in this case with your problem.
So then we begin our dialogue.
Leah says, what seems to be the problem here?
Leah is one of the IT specialists.
Steve says, my computer is acting up, and I can't get this file to open.
The phrasal verb to act up here means to cause problems, to not work or function properly.
Steve cannot get a file to open on his computer.
A file is just a general term for any sort of electronic document.
It could be a Microsoft Word file.
It could be a PDF file.
It could be an MP3 file.
There are lots of different electronic files.
Steve cannot get this file to open.
He wants to look at it or listen to it, and he's unable to do that.
Leah says, move.
Move means move over.
Leave your seat.
There was actually a very funny comedy show a few years ago about an IT specialist.
And the IT specialist was very rude, was very condescending, meaning he would talk to people as though they were idiots, as though he were the only person who knew anything about computers.
That's what Leah is doing here.
She's saying, move, let me take a look.
Let me examine this situation.
She says, ha, of course your computer is acting up.
I don't know what you did to it, but it's really screwed up.
To be screwed up means to have a lot of problems, to have a major problem.
Steve says, I'm not sure how I could have done that.
Leah says, me neither.
Notice that in informal English we usually don't say, I neither.
That would sound very strange to most native speakers of English.
We say, me neither, even though it's not technically grammatically correct.
Leah is saying, I don't know either.
She says, this is configured all wrong.
To configure C-O-N-F-I-G-U-R-E means to establish the settings for a computer device or a piece of software to go in and determine how it's supposed to operate normally.
This is configured all wrong, Leah says.
We're not sure what this is.
Perhaps the software program that Steve is trying to use.
If it's configured all wrong, it is configured incorrectly.
Leah says, and the reason you can't open this file is because it's encrypted.
Encrypted is E-N-C-R-Y-P-T-E-D comes from the verb to encrypt.
To encrypt means to protect something with a special code so that no one can understand what it is, or no one, in this case, can open the file, because you put some sort of special protection on it.
You can have encrypted messages, where you're sending messages to someone and perhaps you're changing the letters in the words so that no one can understand what you're saying except the person who knows how to decrypt the code.
To decrypt means to figure out what the message is trying to say, because you know how it was encrypted.
You know the way that they tried to protect it.
Sometimes for security purposes, files are encrypted so that They are protected.
No one can read them unless they know how to decrypt them.
Leah says, did that occur to you?
Did you think about that as being a possibility?
Steve says, no, I guess I didn't.
Leah says, I'll fix everything, but try not to screw it up again.
Leah's saying try not to break it again or try not to do something that would cause it to act up again.
Steve says, I'll do my best, meaning I'll try not to.
Then at the end of the story, we hear Steve say, see what I mean?
That expression see what I mean as a question is is used to indicate that you have just shown an example or given evidence for some statement that you made previously.
At the beginning of the story, Steve was saying that he didn't like to call someone from the IT department because the people who work there were not very nice to him.
They made him feel like an idiot.
Then he gives us an example of this in his dialogue with Leah.
So at the end of the story he can say see what I mean meaning.
I was right.
I showed you.
Here is the evidence, and you should therefore agree with my statement.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Whenever I have a technology problem at work, I try to solve it myself.
It's not that I know a lot about technology.
In fact, the opposite is true.
I'm pretty much a computer illiterate, but I still try.
Why do I bother?
The answer is the IT department in my company.
Every time I consult one of the IT specialists, they make me feel like an idiot.
But this time I had no choice but to call in the experts.
What seems to be the problem here?
My computer's acting up, and I can't get this file to open.
Move.
Let me take a look.
Ha!
Of course your computer is acting up.
I don't know what you did to it, but it's really screwed up.
I'm not sure how I could have done that.
Me neither.
This is configured all wrong.
And the reason you can't open this file is because it's encrypted.
Did that occur to you?
No, I guess it didn't.
I'll fix everything, but try not to screw it up again.
I'll do my best.
See what I mean?
Our scriptwriter is not illiterate.
The opposite is true.
She's one of the best scriptwriters on the Internet.
Thank you, 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.
