Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 476, Taking Chances in Business.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 476.
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 to download a learning guide for this episode.
It will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Taking Chances in Business.
It's a story that uses a lot of common vocabulary business vocabulary in talking about investing and risking your money.
Let's get started.
...to take more risk.
According to Bernie Barring, any significant changes to the current economy.
He has a way to take advantage of the current economic climate.
I should be raking it in before the end of the year.
Bernie isn't someone who shoots from the hip.
So if he says that this investment is going to be profitable, who am I to ask questions?
I'm very tempted to throw caution to the wind and to take a chance.
After all, it's only money, right?
I begin our story by saying that I've always been a pretty cautious investor.
Someone who is cautious is someone who is careful, someone who doesn't take a lot of risks.
An investor is someone who buys some sort of stock or bond or a financial instrument that allows you to make more money.
You can also invest in a business.
You can invest in buying a building.
There are many different ways of being an investor here.
I say that I like my investments to be conservative, and I only invest in sure things.
When we talk about an investment being conservative, we mean it is an investment with very little risk, something that is not risky, something that will not likely lose money.
A sure thing is something that is guaranteed to succeed, something that cannot go wrong, cannot fail.
The word sure has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Recently, though, I say, I've been tempted to take more risk.
To tempt someone is to make someone want to do something because it seems like a good thing.
If you see a very nice apple pie, something that looks good to eat, you might say that pie is very tempting.
It is tempting me.
It makes me want to do something.
I've been tempted recently to take more risks.
A risk is a possibility that something bad might happen.
So it's something that you do that could turn out to be good, it could turn out to be bad.
My friend Bernie is a very successful fund manager.
A fund manager is a person whose job it is to invest money for other people, to find ways of making money for other people.
This friend of mine, Bernie, is willing to let me get in on one of his schemes.
To get in on something is to become involved or to participate in something, especially something that isn't available to everyone and is just beginning.
To get in on the ground floor is another expression similar to this, meaning to be part of something from the very beginning, especially some sort of business venture.
If you were smart and you bought stock in Google when they first went public, when they first started selling stock, you got in on the ground floor.
You got there at the beginning and benefited from their increasing wealth.
To get in has a couple of meanings however, in English, so be sure to take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
A scheme.
S-C-H-E-M-E is a plan to do something, especially a secret plan, a plan that might require a lot of thought and creativity.
It's often used in a negative way, however, but here it's being used as a positive thing.
According to Bernie, he has a way to take advantage of the current economic climate.
To take advantage of is an interesting expression here because it can have two meanings.
One is simply a positive meaning, meaning to use an opportunity to do something.
I'm going to take advantage of the low prices for houses to buy a new home.
You are taking that opportunity and using it.
To take advantage of someone or something can also have a negative meaning, meaning that you are doing something bad to that person or someone who is in a difficult situation, or a situation that makes them weak or open to attack.
You are taking advantage of their weakness.
So it can have both a positive and negative meaning.
Bernie says he has a way to take advantage of the current economic climate.
Climate normally refers to the weather, but it can also be used more generally to describe the current situation, the current condition.
So economic climate here means the economic situation.
Bernie has a way to take advantage of the current the present economic climate and so that he and his investors aren't susceptible to the same market forces affecting other investors.
To be susceptible S-U-S-C-E-P-T-I-B-L-E means to be affected by something in a negative way.
To be vulnerable is another way of saying this.
For example, if you are very old and sick, you are susceptible to the flu.
You might be more damaged by, more hurt by a simple illness.
You are susceptible.
The market refers to the larger economy.
It can also refer specifically to the stock market, which is a special place for buying and selling parts of ownership in companies, what we call stocks.
Forces means influences, things that are affecting other things.
So market forces is the way that...
The market, the economy, interacts and affects prices and sales of things.
Market forces refers to the economic influences.
I say barring any significant changes to the current economy.
I should be raking it in before the end of the year.
Barring... means unless something occurs or happens, unless something is true.
For example, barring rain, they'll have an outdoor wedding.
That means, if it doesn't rain, assuming it doesn't rain.
Barring is followed by whatever situation is going to cause a change, or would cause a change in your plans.
Unless this happens,
Barring any changes in the economy, we are going to have a difficult year this year.
Unless the economy changes, we are going to have a difficult year this year.
I say that barring any significant changes to the current economy, meaning unless some things change significantly, I should be raking it in before the end of the year.
To rake it in is an expression that means to make a lot of money very easily.
A rake as a noun is a tool that you use for example to gather leaves that fall off a tree.
To rake it in however means to make a lot of money.
Bernie isn't someone who shoots from the hip I say.
The expression to shoot from the hip means to be spontaneous, to do something without thinking about it, without planning it.
It's often used to refer to someone who might talk without actually thinking, without knowing the answer, without considering it seriously.
I say that Bernie is not someone who shoots from the hip, meaning he's someone who thinks about it, who doesn't talk about something unless he knows about it.
So if he says that this investment is going to be profitable, who am I to ask questions?
Something that is profitable is something that is going to make money, something that will have a very good economic effect.
I say that Bernie says this investment is going to be profitable, so who am I to ask questions?
Meaning, I should not doubt Bernie because I don't know as much as he does.
Finally, I say, I'm very tempted to throw caution to the wind and take a chance.
The expression to throw caution to the wind means to stop being careful, not to be cautious.
To take a chance means to take a risk, to do something risky.
I am very tempted to throw caution to the wind, to be not cautious and to take a chance with Bernie's scheme.
After all, I say, it's only money, right?
Meaning, it's no big deal if I lose a little money.
Now let's listen to the story this time at a normal speed.
I've always been a pretty cautious investor.
I like my investments to be conservative and I usually invest only in sure things.
Recently, though, I've been tempted to take more risk.
My friend Bernie is a very successful fund manager and he is willing to let me get in on one of his schemes.
According to Bernie, he has a way to take advantage of the current economic climate so that he and his investors aren't susceptible to the same market forces affecting other investors, barring any significant changes to the current economy.
I should be raking it in before the end of the year.
Bernie isn't someone who shoots from the hip, so if he says that this investment is going to be profitable, who am I to ask questions?
I'm very tempted to throw caution to the wind and to take a chance.
After all, it's only money, right?
Getting an excellent script is always a sure thing when it is done by the author of today's script, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
