Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1108.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rates.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1108.
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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On this episode, we have a dialogue between Sidney and Isaac about exchanging money when you travel.
Let's get started.
Where should we go on our honeymoon?
I thought Rome would be nice.
Let me check.
No, that wouldn't be a good idea.
Okay, how about Tokyo?
I've always wanted to visit Japan.
No, I'm afraid not.
I'm checking to see if the U.S. dollar has a favorable exchange rate with those currencies.
We want our dollars to go as far as they can.
You mean you want to pick our honeymoon destination according to the currency market?
I'm just saying that we should take advantage of falling currencies or ones that have already depreciated significantly.
A strong dollar means we can get more bang for the buck.
So you're saying that you want us to make plans at the whim of the Federal Reserve and central banks?
Well, I wouldn't go that far.
I'm only saying that it would make financial sense.
That doesn't seem like a very romantic way of picking a honeymoon destination.
I'd rather be solvent and sentimental.
Sydney asks Isaac, where should we go on our honeymoon?
Your honeymoon, H-O-N-E-Y-M-O-O-N, is the vacation you take after you get married.
Usually, but not always, it's immediately after the wedding.
Sometimes people take their honeymoon later.
The honeymoon is supposed to be, of course, a wonderful time for the married couple, and often the last wonderful time they have.
I'm just kidding, of course.
Marriage has happiness beyond the honeymoon.
It often lasts another month or two.
Sydney suggests they go to Rome.
Rome, Italy, of course.
Isaac says, let me check, let me investigate.
No, he says, that wouldn't be a good idea.
Now, we're not sure what Isaac is checking when he says, let me check.
We're not sure what he's investigating in order to say yes or no.
Sidney then gives him another suggestion.
She says, Okay, how about Tokyo?
Tokyo, Japan, of course.
I've always wanted to visit Japan, she says.
Isaac says, No, I'm afraid not.
I'm afraid not is just another way of saying no.
It's a little more polite.
Sydney then says, How are you making these determinations?
Which is, of course, a very good question.
A determination is a decision or an assessment, how you decide one way or another.
Isaac says, So Isaac is making this determination based upon...
The exchange rate.
The exchange rate is basically the amount of money that you get When you, in effect, buy another country's money.
Another country's currency currency C-U-R-R-E-N-C-Y refers to the system of money that is used in a particular country.
In the United States, we use dollars.
But if I'm going to go to Europe...
I would in many countries need to exchange my dollars for euros.
I would need basically to buy euros.
A favorable exchange rate is when you can get a lot of money in the other country for the money in your country.
So a favorable exchange rate between say, the US dollar and the euro would mean that I could get a lot of euros for my dollar.
And as we record this in 2015, that is true.
Isaac then is making his decision about where he and...
Sydney should go on their honeymoon by looking at the exchange rates.
He says, Meaning, we want to get as much for our money as possible.
Sydney is not very happy when she learns this.
She says, you mean you want to pick our honeymoon destination according to the currency market.
Sydney is saying that Isaac wants to pick P-I-C-K or select the honeymoon location based on the currency market, the price of different currencies.
A market is usually a word we use to describe the system or the mechanism for people to buy and sell things.
So the currency market would be buying and selling of currencies, of different kinds of money.
Isaac says.
I'm just saying that we should take advantage of falling currencies or ones that have depreciated significantly.
For a currency to fall means that it has become less expensive or less valuable.
Falling here refers to decreasing, becoming smaller or lower.
We could talk about the stock market falling.
That would mean that the price of stocks was going down.
Isaacs thinks that they should select their honeymoon location based on the state of the currency in that country.
He also mentions depreciated currencies.
The verb to depreciate D-E-P-R-E-C-I-A-T-E means to lessen in value or worth, to be worth less money.
At least that's what Isaac means here.
He says a strong dollar means we can get more bang for the buck.
A strong dollar would be a dollar that keeps its value, that is expensive relative to other currencies.
The phrase bang, B-A-N-G, for the buck, B-U-C-K, refers to getting a lot for your money.
Buck refers to money here, American money.
We refer to one dollar as a buck.
To get a lot of bang for your buck means to get a lot for your money, to get a very good value.
Sidney says.
So you're saying that you want us to make plans at the whim of the Federal Reserve and central banks.
The expression at the whim W-H-I-M of means based on some rather unpredictable idea of another person or organization.
We have a related expression on a whim, which means to do something without thinking about it closely or carefully.
So to be at the whim of someone means that your future things that are important to you depend on someone else's decision.
Someone else who may not make a decision very rationally, or might make a decision arbitrarily, without any good reason for it.
Sydney is saying that their plans depend on the decisions of the Federal Reserve and central banks.
The Federal Reserve is the national bank of the United States, a central bank of a country or country.
In the case of the European Union, of the EU is the bank that helps determine and regulate the monetary system for that country or that area or region.
The central bank typically decides how much money it's going to print.
Here in the US, that would mean how many dollars will be available in the economy.
Isaac disagrees with Sidney's description of his approach to planning their honeymoon.
He says well, I wouldn't go that far, meaning that's partially true, but not as much as you are saying.
He says, I'm only saying that it would make financial sense.
It would make economic sense for the two of them.
Sidney, however, says that doesn't seem like a very romantic way to pick a honeymoon destination.
Something that is romantic.
R-O-M-A-N-T-I-C is something related to feelings of love toward another person, an expression of that love.
Then Isaac says something very stupid, very foolish, and He says, romance is overrated.
To say something is overrated.
O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D means that people think it's more important than it really is, more significant than it actually is.
You would never want to say that to your girlfriend, wife or, in this case fiance, the woman who is going to marry you.
Isaac says, wouldn't you rather be solvent than sentimental?
To be solvent, S-O-L-V-E-N-T, means that you have enough money to pay for your expenses.
You have enough money to live on.
You have enough money to pay your bills.
Sentimental S-E-N-T-I-M-E-N-T-A-L refers to a person who is strongly influenced by feelings and perhaps is basing their decisions more on feelings than on reason, than on an intellect.
Isaac says, wouldn't you rather be solvent than sentimental?
He's saying that there is this choice.
Either you can be solvent, either you can spend money wisely, or you can be sentimental.
You can be guided by your feelings.
Sidney doesn't think you have to choose between these two options.
She says, I'd rather be solvent and sentimental, which I think is true.
Of course, you can pay your bills and still follow your heart.
Now that's romantic.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Where should we go on our honeymoon?
I thought Rome would be nice.
Let me check.
No, that wouldn't be a good idea.
Okay.
How about Tokyo?
I've always wanted to visit Japan.
No, I'm afraid not.
How are you making these determinations?
I'm checking to see if the U.S. dollar has a favorable exchange rate with those currencies.
We want our dollars to go as far as they can.
You mean you want to pick our honeymoon destination according to the currency market?
I'm just saying that we should take advantage of falling currencies or ones that have already depreciated significantly.
A strong dollar means we can get more bang for the buck.
So you're saying that you want us to make plans at the whim of the Federal Reserve and central banks?
Well, I wouldn't go that far.
I'm only saying that it would make financial sense.
That doesn't seem like a very romantic way of picking a honeymoon destination.
Romance is overrated.
Wouldn't you rather be solvent than sentimental?
I'd rather be solvent and sentimental.
There's nothing overrated about Our Wonderful Scripts written by our wonderful scriptwriter.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
