Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 521, Describing Speech and Language Ability.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 521.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, for every episode we currently produce, or you can make a donation by going to our website as well.
This episode is called Describing Speech and Language Ability.
It's a dialogue between Blair and Antonio.
They are talking to someone who speaks a different language and they are having difficulty communicating with that person, something I'm sure we all have an experience with.
We're going to look at some vocabulary that we use to describe someone's language ability and the way they speak.
Let's get started.
It's Greek to me.
You're supposed to be the one who's fluent.
Can't you make out what he's saying?
Why don't you try saying something to him?
How about, Could you please speak more slowly?
I don't think speaking more slowly will help my comprehension.
Besides, I only know a few stock phrases, and even those I can only say haltingly if I don't freeze up altogether.
Give me the phrasebook.
I'll see if I can get through to him.
What are you going to say?
I don't know, but we're two fairly articulate people.
We should be able to cobble together a few sentences to get our point across, don't you think?
Okay, I'll follow your lead.
But, um, just don't say anything insulting, like last time.
It's not my fault that the entire town misinterpreted what I said.
I was trying to compliment the women, not insult them.
Tell that to the men who ran you out of town.
Our dialogue between Blair and Antonio begins with Blair asking Do you have any idea what he's saying?
Do you know what this person is saying?
She doesn't understand him.
Antonio says.
This is an old expression that means I don't understand anything that I'm hearing or anything that I'm reading, usually because it's too difficult or it's too technical.
It's Greek to me, Greek being the language of Greece, of course.
The idea is that that would be very difficult for someone to understand.
I'm not sure the exact origin of that expression, but that is the expression we use when something is very difficult to understand and you don't understand any of it.
Antonio says, you're supposed to be the one who's fluent.
To be fluent means that you can listen to, understand, and speak a language very well.
So Antonio is saying to Blair, well, you said you were fluent.
You are supposed to be fluent in this language.
We don't know what language it is.
Antonio says, can't you make out what he's saying?
The verb to make out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to be able to understand or see something that is difficult to understand or see.
So in this case, the language is difficult.
To make out what he's saying would be to understand, even though it is difficult.
To make out also has an informal meaning, very different.
It would mean usually for a romantic couple to express their physical affection, their physical liking of each other some way, by kissing for example.
It's a word that you would probably hear high school students use more than anything.
Although since I didn't have a girlfriend in high school, I never used the word myself that much.
Anyway, back to our dialogue and not my personal history.
Antonio says, can't you make out what he's saying?
And Blair says, I never said I was fluent.
I said I could get by in the language.
To get by means that you are able to survive.
You are able to do something but not very well.
In this case, to get by in the language means you could survive in a country that spoke that language, but you would not do very well in speaking it.
Get is one of those verbs that has dozens of meanings.
For a few of them, take a look at our learning guide for some explanations.
Blair says there's a big difference between getting by and being fluent.
Antonio says, why don't you try saying something to him?
Blair asks, what should I say?
Antonio says, how about, I don't have a good command of the language.
To have a good command of something means to understand something very well, to be an expert in something, to have a lot of knowledge about something.
It could be anything, not just languages.
You could have a good command of computer programming.
You could have a good command of podcasting.
Here it's being used to refer to how good you are, how fluent you are in a language.
Antonio says that Blair should say to the man, Blair says, Actually, it probably will, but...
Comprehension means an understanding of what you are reading or what you are hearing.
Blair says, besides, in addition, I only know a few stock phrases.
A stock S-T-O-C-K phrase is a group of words that you have memorized when you are speaking another language, especially if you can't think of something on your own.
Stock phrases would be things like, That last one is very important in every language.
Blair says that she only knows a few stock phrases, and even those I can only say haltingly.
To speak haltingly.
H-A-L-T-I-N-G-L-Y means very slowly and with hesitation or periods of silence between the words.
This is very common if you are a beginner in a language.
You will speak haltingly.
You'll say something and then you'll stop and you'll think and you'll say something else.
That's to speak haltingly.
Blair says she only speaks haltingly if I don't freeze up altogether.
To freeze up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to be unable to do or say anything, usually because you're very nervous or frightened.
I saw a beautiful woman and I went up to her to ask her name.
And then when I opened my mouth, I froze up.
Froze being the past tense of freeze.
I wasn't able to do anything.
I was too nervous.
Blair is saying that she is too nervous and she doesn't know very much of the language to speak.
So Antonio says, give me the phrase book.
A phrasebook is a small book that has different expressions in a foreign language.
People often have them when they travel to a country where they don't speak the language, so it helps them find the words they need to say what they mean.
Phrasebooks are almost always bilingual.
By definition.
So you have the phrase in your language and then in the language you're trying to speak.
Antonio says, give me the phrasebook.
I'll see if I can get through to him.
To get through to someone means to help someone understand what you are saying, to communicate your ideas to someone.
Antonio is going to try to use the phrasebook to get through to this man.
Blair says.
Antonio says Articulate means to be able to speak clearly and to be understood, to communicate your ideas in a way that other people can understand.
Antonio says.
We should be able to cobble together a few sentences to get our point across, don't you think?
To cobble C-O-B-B-L-E together is a two-word verb meaning to use different pieces of information to create something useful, especially if you don't have a clear plan about what you're doing.
If you have a situation that you didn't expect. you may need to cobble together a solution.
Take a little information from here, take some help from over here and put them together so that you can survive.
You can get through this situation.
Antonio is saying that he and Blair should be able to cobble together a few sentences.
Put together a few sentences to get their point across.
To get your point across means to be able to communicate your ideas so that someone else understands them.
It's similar to the expression to get through to, although to get through to can often mean the person is somehow not very bright or has some difficulty understanding you.
To get your point across is something that we would probably use more in a debate or a discussion or a formal presentation to someone.
Blair says, okay, I'll follow your lead.
To follow someone's lead L-E-A-D means to do what another person is doing, to imitate someone else's behavior, to copy what they're doing, or to let them be the person that Guides the conversation and you're going to listen to what they're saying and then try to say things that would be supportive of that.
Blair says, just don't say anything insulting like last time.
Antonio says, are you bringing that up again?
To bring something up, or to bring up something is another two-word phrasal verb, meaning to talk about something from the past, to introduce a new topic.
It could mean either of those things.
Don't bring that up again means don't talk about that negative or bad situation from the past.
You can also use bring up to mean introduce a new topic of conversation.
I'd like to bring up something we haven't discussed yet.
So it can mean both things.
Well, obviously Antonio did something in the past that Blair is referring to, that Blair is talking about.
He says, it's not my fault that the entire town misinterpreted what I said.
Obviously Antonio had another problem in using a foreign language.
Some negative thing that happened that Blair is bringing up again.
He says, it's not my fault the entire town misinterpreted what I said.
To misinterpret means to misunderstand, to think that someone is saying something different than what they really are.
Antonio says, So apparently, we can only guess, Antonio said something about some women.
He was trying to say something nice about them, something complimentary, but he probably didn't know the language very well and so he instead insulted them, said something negative about the women, wherever they were.
Blair says, Tell that to the men who ran you out of town.
Blair is saying that Antonio thinks that he was misinterpreted, but she says that the people who misinterpreted him would have a different opinion.
So tell that to the men who ran you out of town means tell that to the men who were angry at what he had said about the women in this particular place.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I don't have a good command of the language.
Could you please speak more slowly?
I don't think speaking more slowly will help my comprehension.
Besides, I only know a few stock phrases, and even those I can only say haltingly if I don't freeze up altogether.
Give me the phrasebook.
I'll see if I can get through to him.
What are you going to say?
I don't know, but we're two fairly articulate people.
We should be able to cobble together a few sentences to get our point across, don't you think?
Okay, I'll follow your lead, but just don't say anything insulting, like last time.
Are you bringing that up again?
It's not my fault that the entire town misinterpreted what I said.
I was trying to compliment the women, not insult them.
Tell that to the men who ran you out of town.
The script for this episode was written by the fluent 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.
