Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 801, Reading Online Reviews.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 801.
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 episode is a dialogue about reading other people's opinions on a website about something you may want to buy or something you may want to try.
Let's get started.
When we go to our favorite vacation spot in two months, let's stay at a different hotel.
I like the hotel we always stay at.
It's in a convenient location and we're already familiar with it.
That's just it.
It's tried and true, but there's no novelty and excitement in staying in the same place year after year.
I don't need novelty.
Let's just consider some of these other hotels I've been reading about.
They are very highly ranked and their ratings are very good.
You're putting strangers' reviews above our own experience?
Of course not.
But just look at this hotel.
It received three stars out of four, and it has a lot of pros.
Let me see that.
It also has some cons, such as being noisy and pricey.
Okay, maybe that isn't the best example.
I didn't notice that they got dinged on those things, but let's look at a few others.
I'll keep an open mind, but I'm dubious about online reviews.
I'll just find a hotel that everyone loves.
Right.
Marissa begins our dialogue by saying to Oscar Marissa talks about their favorite vacation spot, the place they like to go.
It could be Hawaii.
It could be New York City.
It could be Disneyland.
Spot has a number of different meanings in English, however.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those.
Oscar doesn't want to stay at a different hotel.
He says, I like the hotel we always stay at.
That is, we always go to and sleep at.
He says the hotel is in a convenient location.
Convenient means easy to get to, very comfortable, doesn't cause any problems.
It's in a convenient location, and we're already familiar with it.
We already know it.
Marissa says that's just it.
That expression, that's just it, means that's exactly what the problem is.
It's tried and true, she says, but there's no novelty and excitement in staying in the same place year after year.
It's tried and true is an expression meaning nothing.
But Marissa says Novelty is something that is new, something that you have not done or seen or experienced before.
Marissa says that there's no novelty and excitement in staying in the same place year after year, meaning every year.
Oscar says, I don't need novelty.
I don't need a new experience.
Marissa says, let's just consider some of these other hotels I've been reading about.
They are very highly ranked, and their ratings are very good.
To rank, R-A-N-K something, means to put... things in order based on usually how good they are.
So in a class, for example, a teacher may decide well, she's the best student, he's the second best, she's the third best, he's the fourth best, and so forth.
The teacher is ranking the students.
You're first, you're second, you're third, you're fourth.
I was usually like...
35th out of 36 students.
That was usually my rank.
Ratings are values that you give something based on how good it is.
It could be a number 1 to 10, where 10 is the best and 1 is the worst.
I would rate...
Notice we can use it as a verb also.
I would rate this movie a 5 out of 10, meaning it's not great, but it's not terrible either.
It's somewhere in between.
Or I would give this restaurant three stars.
A star usually is used in school by a teacher to indicate that you did a good job.
We use it in rating things like restaurants.
The more stars it gets, the better it is.
We do this for movies, too.
Well, that's what ratings are.
Ratings are numbers, usually numbers that you give something to indicate how good it is.
Rankings is when you take a group of things and you put them in a certain order first, second or third.
Oscar says, you're putting strangers' reviews above our own experience?
A review is a written opinion, usually a written opinion, about how good or how bad something is.
And on the websites nowadays on many of them that sell things you can read reviews what people think about the things that they bought.
Sometimes they like them, sometimes they don't.
And when they give a review, usually they give a rating.
They say how many points they would give it, from one to five, how many stars they would give this particular product.
Oscar is asking Marissa if she's putting the opinions, the reviews of other people above their own experience, meaning she's saying that other people's experience is somehow more more important in making the decision than their own experience.
Marissa says, of course not, but just look at this hotel.
It received three stars out of four, and it has a lot of pros.
To receive three stars, as I mentioned earlier, for a hotel or a restaurant is a way of saying how good it is.
It could just be three as a number.
We use stars for reasons I explained, because that's what has traditionally been used to indicate how good something is.
So if the ratings go from one being the worst to four being the best, then getting three out of four stars is pretty good.
Marissa says the hotel has a lot of pros.
Pros means positive things, good things, advantages.
Pro has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those.
Often when we're talking about the good and bad qualities of something, we'll use the expression pros and cons, C-O-N-S.
A con, in this case, means a disadvantage, a negative or an undesirable thing.
So pros are good, cons are bad.
Oscar says, let me see that.
He's apparently looking at a piece of paper that has the reviews of the hotel on it.
He says, the hotel has some cons, such as being noisy and pricey.
Pricey, P-R-I-C-Y, means expensive.
It costs a lot of money.
It's not cheap.
Marissa says, okay, maybe that isn't the best example.
I didn't notice that they, the hotel, got dinged on those things.
But let's look at a few others.
To get dinged, D-I-N-G-E-D.
The verb is to ding D-I-N-G-E means to get a lower rating on something, a negative comment or a negative review, a negative rating about something that you didn't do very well.
So if we look at the reviews of a hotel and we see that everyone complains about how noisy it is, how much noise there is in the hotel, We could say the hotel got dinged by people for all of the noise it has.
It got criticized.
Marissa suggests looking at some other hotels.
Oscar says I'll keep an open mind, meaning I'll be willing to consider and think about other things, other hotels.
But I'm dubious about online reviews.
To be dubious, D-U-B-I-O-U-S, means to be skeptical, to be doubting, to question whether something is really true, whether you can really believe something.
Oscar is dubious about online reviews when people put their opinions on a website.
He says, I take everything I read with a grain of salt.
To take things with a grain of salt means to question everything.
And doubt everything that you are told.
Don't believe it just because somebody told you or just because you read it.
Although you can believe everything we say here on ESL Podcasts, so no need to doubt anything.
But for everything else, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
The expression means to question it, to wonder whether it's really true.
Why do we say a grain of salt?
Well, it's a very old idea, at least as old as the ancient Romans, that it's easier to eat food, or difficult things to eat, with a little bit of salt.
It makes it taste a little better, and so you're going to be able to eat it.
A Similarly, you can accept something someone says, perhaps a little more easily if you remember that maybe it's not all completely true.
That's the grain of salt that you eat, if you will, to accept something that someone tells you.
Oscar says that he'll take everything he reads with a grain of salt.
The only people who post reviews, he says, who put their opinions on these websites, are those who love it or hate it.
In other words, you get people who really like something or really hate something.
And so in some ways you don't get an average opinion because you only get the extremes people who love or hate a certain thing.
Marissa says, I'll just find a hotel that everyone loves.
Oscar then says, and that doesn't break the bank?
Marissa says, right.
To break the bank means to cost a lot of money.
So much money that you don't have any money left in your bank.
You had to spend it all on this thing that you are buying.
In this case, the hotel that you are staying at.
Oscar doesn't want a hotel that's going to break the bank.
That's going to be very expensive.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I like the hotel we always stay at.
It's in a convenient location and we're already familiar with it.
That's just it.
It's tried and true, but there's no novelty and excitement in staying in the same place year after year.
I don't need novelty.
Let's just consider some of these other hotels I've been reading about.
They are very highly ranked, and their ratings are very good.
You're putting strangers' reviews above our own experience?
Of course not.
But just look at this hotel.
It received three stars out of four, and it has a lot of pros.
Let me see that.
It also has some cons, such as being noisy and pricey.
Okay, maybe that isn't the best example.
I didn't notice that they got dinged on those things.
But let's look at a few others.
I'll keep an open mind, but I'm dubious about online reviews.
I take everything I read with a grain of salt.
The only people who post reviews are those who love it or hate it.
I'll just find a hotel that everyone loves.
And that doesn't break the bank?
Right.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
