Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 806, Essential and Optional Things.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 806.
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.
You can go there and download a learning guide for this episode.
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And while you're there, take a look at our ESL podcast blog.
This episode is about essential or necessary things and things that aren't necessary.
Let's get started.
It's so exciting that you'll be spending a month studying in McQuillan land this summer.
When do you start packing?
I've already started.
The organizers of the program gave me a list of things I need to bring.
That's really helpful.
Yeah, they say that it's essential that I bring both warm weather and cold weather clothes.
The weather in McQuillan land is really unpredictable.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
And they say that it's advisable that I bring medications for every malady I can think of, because there are a lot of health dangers.
Wow, I never knew that about McQuillanland.
Me neither.
And while it's optional, it's also suggested that I leave all of my valuables at home.
McQuillanland has a very high crime rate and visitors are often targeted.
Jeez, that's a lot to take in.
You're telling me.
And the list says that it is absolutely required that I take a self-defense course before going.
You never know what to expect in McQuillan land.
You're not having second thoughts about going, are you?
No, why?
Ella begins our dialogue by saying to Marty, it's so exciting that you'll be spending a month studying in McQuillan land this summer.
McQuillan land is one of those difficult to find countries on a map.
Ella says, when do you start packing?
To pack P-A-C-K here means to prepare for a trip by putting all of your things into a suitcase or a piece of luggage or baggage.
Pack has a Almost all of them, well, some of them, are in the learning guide.
Marty says, I've already started.
I already have begun.
The organizers of the program, the people who are in charge of the program, gave me a list of things I need to bring.
Ella says that's really helpful.
Marty says yeah, our informal way of saying yes.
Marty says they say that it's essential that I bring both warm weather and and cold weather clothes.
It's essential, it's necessary, it's important that I bring warm weather and cold weather clothes.
Warm weather clothes would be clothing you would wear when it's hot out and obviously, cold weather clothes would be clothing you would wear when it's cold out.
Marty says the weather in McQuillan land is really unpredictable.
Un-U-N as a prefix that goes before a word. means not.
So unpredictable means not predictable.
Something that is predictable is something you can know in advance before it happens.
You know what's going to happen.
But unpredictable is when you don't know what is going to happen.
And that's the way the weather is in McQuillan land.
Here in Los Angeles, it's much more predictable.
Ella says, oh, I didn't know that.
Marty says, yeah.
He likes to say yeah a lot.
Yeah, and they say that it's advisable that I bring medications for every malady I can think of.
And advisable comes from the verb to advise, A-D-V-I-S-E.
It means it's recommended.
It's a good thing to do.
You don't have to do it, but it's a good thing.
It will help.
If you want to improve your English, it's good to listen to these audio MP3 files, but it's advisable to get the learning guide, of course.
What else would I say?
Marty says it's advisable that he bring medications, that is medicines, things that you take, drugs that you take for your health, for every malady.
A malady, M-A-L-A-D-Y means an illness or a sickness.
Marty is supposed to bring medications for every malady he can think of, because there are a lot of health dangers in McQuillanland, which I don't think is really true.
I don't know where the script writer is getting her information.
Anyway, health dangers would be things that may make you sick, things that are dangerous to your health.
Ella says, wow, I never knew that about McQuillanland.
Yeah, of course you didn't, because it isn't true, Ella.
Marty says me neither meaning, neither did I.
And while it's optional, Marty says it's also suggested that I leave all of my valuables at home.
Something that's optional means something that is not required.
It's a good idea, but you don't have to do it.
Sort of like advisable.
While it's optional, he says, it's also suggested that I leave all of my valuables at home.
To suggest means to recommend, to say it's a good idea.
Here's something you might want to do.
That's to suggest.
It's suggested that Marty leave all of his valuables at home.
A valuable is anything that is worth a lot of money.
It could be jewelry like a ring.
It could be your cell phone.
It could be, I don't know, one of our learning guides, something you wouldn't want anyone to steal.
Those would all be valuables.
Marty is saying that he's been told.
Basically it's dangerous in McQuillan land because that's why you would not want to bring your valuables.
In fact, in the next sentence he says McQuillan land has a very high crime rate and visitors are often targeted.
A crime rate target. refers to the number of crimes that happen in a population.
Crimes are illegal things, things that are done typically against other people or other people's property.
So killing someone would be a crime.
Stealing from someone would be a crime.
What Marty is saying is that there is a lot of crime in McQuillan land.
And visitors, people who are visiting McQuillan land, are often targeted.
Targeted comes from the verb to target, T-A-R-G-E-T.
To target means to do something that affects a particular group of people, to intentionally affect a group of people.
You want to just go after a certain group.
So on Saturday morning, if you watch television, a lot of the commercials, a lot of the advertisements are targeted toward children.
That's their audience.
That's who they are making the commercial for.
Well, you can use targeted either in a positive or negative sense.
Here it's used in a negative sense.
What Marty is saying is that these criminals, these people who commit or do crimes, look for visitors and they are the ones that they rob or do something bad to.
Ella says, geez, that's a lot to take in.
To take in is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to get some new information and to really understand it, to accept it, to think about it and say yes, I understand everything that is being told me.
In this case, Ella's obviously surprised to hear these lies, and they are lies, about McQuillanland.
Marty says, you're telling me.
This is a pretty common informal phrase.
We use it to show that you completely agree with what another person has said.
It's often used when you have just heard someone say something critical or negative.
Often you are communicating to them that you have had a similar experience or that you think the same way.
You're telling me is a way really of saying you don't need to tell me.
I already know that.
I have personal experience with that, for example.
Marty says, the list says that it is absolutely required that I take a self-defense course before going.
To require means to say it is necessary, it is something you must do.
Other words we would use would be obligatory or mandatory.
Marty says it is required that he take a self-defense course.
Self-defense is learning how to protect yourself against someone who might hurt you, someone who might attack you.
Marty says, you never know what to expect in McQuillanland.
Now, this is absolute nonsense, of course.
McQuillanland is a very safe place.
There are no crimes.
I don't know what's going on in this dialogue.
These people are crazy.
I'm going to have to talk to the script writer about this.
I'm not happy.
I'm not happy.
McQuillanland, trust me, it's a very nice place.
Ella says, you're not having second thoughts about going, are you?
To have second thoughts means to have doubts, to question whether one is doing the right thing.
Marty says, no, why?
Meaning, why should I have second thoughts?
Well, you shouldn't have second thoughts Marty, because McQuillanland is one of the best places to go.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
That's really helpful.
Yeah.
They say that it's essential that I bring both warm weather and cold weather clothes.
The weather in McQuillanland is really unpredictable.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, and they say that it's advisable that I bring medications for every malady I can think of, because there are a lot of health dangers.
Wow, I never knew that about McQuillanland.
Me neither.
And while it's optional, it's also suggested that I leave all of my valuables at home.
McQuillanland has a very high crime rate and visitors are often targeted.
Jeez, that's a lot to take in.
You're telling me.
And the list says that it is absolutely required that I take a self-defense course before going.
You never know what to expect in McQuillanland.
You're not having second thoughts about going, are you?
No.
Why?
Why?
It's advisable that you don't believe everything our scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say says, even though she does a wonderful job.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
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.
