Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1196, Checking Facts and Figures.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1196.
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 dialogue is about making sure you have your facts correct, as well as numbers that are part of your report or whatever it is you are working on.
Let's get started.
Before we disseminate this report, I need you to fact-check it.
I don't want a repeat of what happened last year.
What happened last year?
I wasn't working here then.
Last year's report had a lot of small inaccuracies.
Okay, but I thought it had already been signed off on by the department heads.
It has.
But those are the same department heads who skimmed the report last year and didn't catch all those problems.
I want you to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
Everything.
I want you to verify the facts and figures and to flag anything that is outright wrong or even a little suspect.
Okay, I'll do that, but this will take some time.
Nothing now.
The Kaji begins our dialogue by saying to Ellie before we disseminate this report, I need you to fact check it.
I don't want a repeat of what happened last year.
To disseminate D-I-S-S-E-M-I-N-A-T-E means to distribute, to give to a number of different people, to share information or copies of something with many different people.
It's a word you will hear sometimes in business English.
It basically just means to give to a number of different people a piece of information or, in this case, a report, a written document that describes or explains something.
To fact check, F-A-C-T hyphen C-H-E-C-K, means to look at the specific information in a report, the details of something, to make sure that everything is correct, that everything is accurate, that all of the information you are giving is true.
The verb to fact-check has become popular in recent years, especially in some American newspapers and websites that report on politics.
When a politician says something, when someone involved in public life or policy says something, the newspapers or websites will try to make sure that what the person said is correct.
They will fact-check it.
Unfortunately, most newspapers and websites have their own political biases, so to fact-check for them usually means to see if it agrees with their own political views, and if it doesn't, they'll find some reason to say that it was wrong.
I don't really rely very much on newspapers and websites that fact-check what politicians say.
I don't normally think they are telling the complete truth, but maybe that's just me.
Takagi isn't talking about politics.
He's talking about a report of information that he wants Ellie to fact check, to look at carefully to make sure it is all correct.
He says, I don't want a repeat of what happened last year.
A repeat would be when something happens again.
In this case, it sounds like something bad happened last year and Takaji doesn't want that to happen again.
Ellie asks, what happened last year?
I wasn't working here then.
Takagi answers, last year's report had a lot of small inaccuracies and a few major errors.
Inaccuracies, I-N-A-C-C-U-R-A-C-I-E-S, are things that are not correct, things that are wrong.
To be accurate means to be correct.
To be inaccurate means to be not correct or wrong.
So inaccuracies are things that are wrong.
Takaji says these were small inaccuracies, meaning not very important.
However, there were also some major or important or big errors, E-R-R-O-R-S.
An error is something that is wrong, a mistake.
Takaji says we ended up meaning we had to.
As a result, we ended up having to issue a second version of the report.
To issue, I-S-S-U-E, here means to publish or to officially present something to a group of people.
Takaji had to issue a second version, V-E-R-S-I-O-N.
Let's say I have a web page.
The first time I put up the web page, I'm happy with it.
But a week later, I decide I want to make some changes.
So I go in and I change the website.
Maybe I change the color or I add some photographs to the website.
The original web page is my first version.
After I make the changes, that's my second version.
Version then refers to the form of something.
You could write a report and then a month later decide you want to change the report.
So you make the changes and then you give the report to your boss again.
You say this is the second version of this report.
Version is used a lot in software, in computer applications.
We talk about 1.0, 2.0, 3.0.
These are different versions of a computer application or an app that has improvements or changes to it.
Takaji is talking about issuing a second version of the report, an update, a report that has been changed and corrected.
Ellie says, okay, but I thought it had already been signed off on by the department heads.
To sign S-I-G-N off on something means means to approve of something, to say something is okay.
A department, D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T, is a part or section or division inside of a company.
A department head, H-E-A-D is the person who is the boss of that section or division of the company.
Ellie is saying that she thought this report had already been approved by signed off on by the department heads.
Takagi says it has, but those are the same department heads who skimmed the report last year and didn't catch all those problems.
Takagi is saying that yes, the department has approved of this report, but they only skimmed the report last year.
To skim S-K-I-M means to read through something very quickly, not looking at every word in the report.
Because the department heads only skimmed the report last year.
The report had a bunch of mistakes, a bunch of errors.
That's why they didn't catch, C-A-T-C-H, all those problems.
To catch here means to find or to identify a mistake or an error.
Takaji says, I want you to go through it with a fine tooth comb.
The expression to go through something with a fine, F-I-N-E, hyphen, tooth, T-O-O-T-H, comb, C-O-M-B, means to look through something very carefully to make sure that everything is correct.
A comb is something you use to straighten your hair or to put your hair back into place.
Hair on the top of your head, that is.
We call the little parts of a comb teeth, just like teeth in your mouth.
Fine tooth combs are combs where the teeth are very close together.
The idea then, is that you are looking at very small issues, very small details to make sure that everything is correct.
Ellie says, what should I check?
Takaji says, everything.
I want you to verify the facts and figures and to flag anything that is outright wrong or even a little suspect.
To verify means, to make sure that it is correct, to look at it closely and make sure it is true.
Make sure it is accurate.
Verify comes from the Latin word veritas, V-E-R-I-T-A-S, meaning truth.
Takaji wants Ellie to verify the facts, that is, the information. and figures, F-I-G-U-R-E-S.
Figures refer to numbers.
The title of this episode Facts and Figures contains an expression we often use in talking about information that has both words and numbers to describe it.
So the figures here would be the numbers in the report.
Takagi wants Ellie to flag, F-L-A-G, anything that is outright wrong.
To flag means to draw attention to something.
In this case it probably means to mark it with a pen or a pencil so that Takagi can find that information easily when he looks through the report.
To flag something in general means to call attention to it, to say hey, look at this, there might be a problem with this.
Something that is outright O-U-T-R-I-G-H-T wrong is something that is obviously wrong, something that you don't even have to go and investigate.
It is clearly wrong.
Something that is a little suspect, S-U-S-P-E-C-T, is something that doesn't seem right.
It might be right, it might be wrong, you're not exactly sure, but it looks like it might be incorrect.
If you say something looks a little suspect, you're saying it looks wrong, but you're not exactly sure.
Ellie says, okay, I'll do that, but this will take some time.
Takaji says, what are you doing this weekend?
He, of course, is implying that Ellie should work on this over the weekend.
Ellie replies nothing now, meaning well, she won't be able to do anything this weekend for fun on her own, because now she's going to be working on this report instead of relaxing as you should on the weekends.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Before we disseminate this report, I need you to fact check it.
I don't want a repeat of what happened last year.
What happened last year?
I wasn't working here then.
Last year's report had a lot of small inaccuracies and a few major errors.
We ended up having to issue a second version of the report.
Okay, but I thought it had already been signed off on by the department heads.
It has.
But those are the same department heads who skimmed the report last year and didn't catch all those problems.
I want you to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
What should I check?
Everything.
I want you to verify the facts and figures and to flag anything that is outright wrong or even a little suspect.
Okay, I'll do that, but this will take some time.
What are you doing this weekend?
Nothing.
Now.
Our dialogues don't have any inaccuracies or major errors because they're written by the wonderful Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm the not-so-wonderful Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
