Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 996, Importing Goods to the U.S.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 996.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpod.com.
Become a member of ESL Podcast and download the Learning Guide for this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Muriel and Daniel about importing or bringing into the United States goods, things to sell.
Let's get started.
You look like you're sitting on pins and needles.
I am.
I'm waiting to hear if our goods have cleared customs yet.
We're in big trouble if our 50 crates aren't released soon.
You've filled out the proper paperwork.
What could go wrong?
You have no idea how much red tape there is when importing goods to the U.S.
There are all kinds of rules to follow, and we have to pay the correct tariffs.
But I thought we had a free trade agreement with Nibor Land.
Most things are duty-free, but not everything.
There are tariffs on spirits, and the tax rate varies depending on the type of spirits.
It's all very confusing.
Well, sitting here fretting won't do any good.
If only I had access to those fifty crates of spirits.
Daniel begins our dialogue by saying, Daniel is talking to Muriel.
The expression to be sitting on pins P-I-N-S and needles N-E-E-D-L-E-S means to be very nervous, to be worried, to be anxious, especially while you're waiting for something to happen.
If you've taken an important examination and you're waiting for the results, you could say that you are sitting on pins and needles.
Pins and needles are sharp objects and obviously if you were sitting on a sharp object it would be very painful.
So waiting for news, being worried about something that may happen, can be a little painful.
That's what the expression here means, sitting on pins and needles.
Muriel says, I am.
I am basically anxious or worried.
I'm waiting to hear if our goods have cleared customs yet.
Goods is a general word meaning products, things that you make.
We usually distinguish goods from services, things that you do for people.
So a lawyer provides a service.
And a store may provide a good.
You buy some milk from the grocery store.
That's a good.
You ask a lawyer to help you with some legal issue.
That's a service.
Muriel is waiting to hear, that is, waiting to find out, if our goods have cleared customs yet.
Customs C-U-S-T-O-M-S here means the process that a country has for checking to make sure that things that are brought into the country are legal and, depending on the item, have been assessed a tax.
When you bring things into a country, the country will often have taxes that you have to pay to bring that item into the country, especially if you're going to sell it in the country.
So when you import, when you bring things into a country here in the United States, you may have to pay certain taxes when you bring the items into the country.
And the place where you pay those taxes.
The office that takes care of that for the US government is called customs.
The opposite of import is export, E-X-P-O-R-T.
That means to send things to another country.
But here we're talking about importing goods into the United States.
Muriel says, we're in big trouble if our 50 crates aren't released soon.
A crate, C-R-A-T-E, is a large, usually wooden, container that typically has holes in it.
We often use crates when we are transporting food, such as fruit and vegetables.
To be released means to be let go.
In this case, it means that the crates are with the customs office and you're waiting for the customs office to let you pick them up, take them away.
Daniel says you filled out the proper paperwork.
What could go wrong?
Paperwork is a general term referring to documents that you have to complete, forms that you have to fill out in order to get something done.
The government, all governments, require lots of paperwork.
You have to fill out this form and then you have to give them this document and so forth.
Muriel says...
You have no idea how much red tape there is when importing goods to the US.
The term red tape refers to difficult rules or requirements, usually by the government, that you must follow in order to do something.
Red tape could involve regulations and rules.
It could also involve filling out lots of forms, that is, a lot of paperwork.
You may wonder why we call it red tape.
The answer is that the expression was originally used In England.
The British government, when it had official papers, official documents to send, would tie them up with this red tape.
And you had to untie the tape in order to read the documents and then tie them back up and send them to the next place.
So eventually, this expression became a way of indicating evidence, useless and needless delays, when it took too long for something to happen.
And that's how it is used today to talk about government regulations and rules that take a lot of time but don't seem very necessary.
They don't seem useful.
Muriel says there's a lot of red tape when you are importing or bringing into the country goods.
She says there are all kinds of rules to follow, and we have to pay the correct tariffs.
A tariff.
T-A-R-I-F-F is what we call that special tax.
You have to pay when you bring things into a country.
The tariffs have to be paid before you are allowed to bring things in, before you are allowed to take them and sell them.
Daniel says, but I thought we had a free trade agreement with Nibor land.
Nibor land is not a real place, although I do know someone named Nibor.
Free trade agreements are agreements between countries that allow businesses in each of those countries to sell their products without having to pay tariffs.
Here in North America we have something called NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is supposed to allow businesses in Canada, the US and Mexico to sell to customers in those three countries without having to pay a lot of special tariffs.
Of course, it usually doesn't work out exactly that way.
There are usually exceptions to any sort of free trade agreement, but that's the general idea.
Daniel continues, all goods imported from and exported to Nebor land should be duty-free.
We already talked about the meaning of the verb to export.
The term duty, D-U-T-Y, free, means that you don't have to pay any taxes or tariffs.
In many countries, at the airport, if you are traveling internationally, if you are leaving the country, there will be a duty-free shop, a place where you can buy expensive things watches, alcohol and so forth without paying the local taxes.
That's a duty-free shop.
Well, being able to import and export duty-free means you don't have to pay any special taxes as a business.
You don't have to pay any tariffs.
Muriel says, most things are duty-free, but not everything.
There are tariffs on spirits.
And the tax rate varies depending on the type of spirits.
It's all very confusing.
Spirits, S-P-I-R-I-T-S, here refers to alcohol.
It's sort of an older word, but you will still see it, especially when you're talking about tariffs and taxes.
Muriel says there are tariffs on spirits and the tax rate varies.
The tax rate is the amount or percentage of the price of the good that you have to pay to the government.
Varies means it changes.
In this case, it changes depending on the type of alcohol, the type of spirits.
Daniel says, well, sitting here fretting won't do any good.
To fret F-R-E-T means to worry about something, especially something that you don't have any control over.
Of course, if you can't control something, there's no reason to worry about it, but we all do.
We all fret over things that we can't control.
Muriel says, if only I had access to those 50 crates of spirits.
To have access to means to be able to reach them.
Muriel is making a joke here.
She's saying that if she had access to the alcohol, then she wouldn't have to worry as much, because she could drink the alcohol.
That's the general idea.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I am.
I'm waiting to hear if our goods have cleared customs yet.
We're in big trouble if our 50 crates aren't released soon.
What could go wrong?
You have no idea how much red tape there is when importing goods to the U.S.
There are all kinds of rules to follow, and we have to pay the correct tariffs.
But I thought we had a free trade agreement with Neborland.
All goods imported from and exported to Neborland should be duty-free.
Most things are duty free, but not everything.
There are tariffs on spirits and the tax rate varies depending on the type of spirits.
It's all very confusing.
Well, sitting here fretting won't do any good.
If only I had access to those 50 crates of spirits.
The quality of our scripts never varies.
It's always very high.
Thanks to our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
