Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1140, Dealing with a Language Barrier.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1140.
Transcription by CastingWords.
When you do, you can download a learning guide for this episode that contains a complete transcript of everything we say in this lesson.
This episode is called Dealing With or Handling, Taking Care Of a Language Barrier, When Two People Can't Understand Each Other.
Let's get started.
Send another memo to the gibberee's office.
I think we have our wires crossed again.
Don't you think it would be better to call the office and speak to someone there?
You might be able to get to the bottom of the misunderstanding more quickly.
I don't speak gibberish and we don't have anyone bilingual in the office to act as an interpreter.
Which means there's no one who could translate our correspondence into gibberish, to make things easier.
That's right.
And plus, leaving a paper trail is better.
You mean in case we have to cover our asses?
I wouldn't put it like that, but breakdowns in communication are inevitable and it's always helpful to be able to trace their source.
Right.
Okay, I'll draft a memo and pass it by you before I send it, okay?
Okay.
Sounds good.
What I don't understand is why we don't simply hire people for this office who are fluent in gibberish.
Plenty.
This episode is entitled, Dealing with a Language Barrier.
To deal D-E-A-L with something means to take care of something or to handle a situation that might be difficult.
This dialogue is about dealing with a language barrier B-A-R-R-I-E-R.
A barrier is normally something that separates two people or two groups of people.
A barrier might also separate two different substances that you don't want mixed together.
A language barrier usually refers to when two people speak different languages and can't communicate with each other.
Carol begins by saying, Send another memo to the gibberee's office.
I think we have our wires crossed.
A memo.
M-E-M-O is a short business document, usually just one or two pages, that has information about a specific topic.
Usually a memo is sent to people in your organization or within your company.
Memo is actually short for a longer word, memorandum.
Carol says, send another memo to the gibberee's office.
We are guessing that the gibberee's office is another office perhaps in a different country.
Carol says, I think we have our wires crossed again.
The expression to have your wires W-I-R-E-S crossed means to have a misunderstanding, when two people or two groups of people don't understand each other because one person didn't communicate the message very clearly or the other person misinterpreted or misunderstood the message.
Art says, don't you think it would be better to call the office and speak to someone there?
Art doesn't think it's a good idea just to send a memo, which is well, in the old days, a piece of paper, but nowadays more typically a Word document or a PDF document, I suppose.
Art says you might be able to get to the bottom of the misunderstanding more quickly.
The expression to get to the bottom, B-O-T-T-O-M, of something is a very common one in English.
It means to investigate and find the real reason for something, or to understand the cause of something.
Often we use this expression when we're trying to understand the reason for a problem or the cause of some problem.
When there's a disaster that the government is involved in, sometimes officials for the government will say we're going to get to the bottom of this.
We're going to really find out what caused this.
Of course, they never do, but that's what they say.
Art says that if Carol calls the gibberee's office, that they might be able to get to the bottom of the misunderstanding more quickly.
A misunderstanding, as a noun, means a confusion, something that wasn't understood correctly.
Carol says I don't speak gibberish and we don't have anyone bilingual in the office to act as an interpreter.
Gibberish here is used as a real language, but it's really a joke in the dialogue, because the word gibberish G-I-B-B-E-R-I-S-H means meaningless words, words that you can't understand, that don't have any meaning.
When people don't have an answer for something or they want to confuse you, they might start using real words, but in such a way that the words don't really convey any meaning.
They don't communicate any message.
They are using these words just to confuse you.
Carol says I don't speak gibberish, which here is a real language, and we don't have anyone bilingual in the office.
To be bilingual, B-I-L-I-N-G-U-A-L, means to be able to speak two languages.
There's an old joke, what do you call someone who can speak three languages?
The answer is trilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak two languages?
The answer is bilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak only one language?
The answer is an American.
Well, the actual answer would be someone who is monolingual.
M-O-N-O-L-I-N-G-U-A-L.
But back to our dialogue.
Carol says that she doesn't have anyone in the office to act as or to be an interpreter.
I-N-T-E-R-P-R-E-T-E-R.
An interpreter is someone who translates spoken language.
To translate means to take the meaning of the words in one language, of course, and put them in another language.
A translator, T-R-A-N-S-L-A-T-O-R, is a person who does that translation in writing.
An interpreter is someone who translates spoken language.
It's a difference that is not always observed, that people speaking and writing in English don't always follow.
But technically, an interpreter is someone who translates spoken language.
A translator is someone who translates written language.
Art says, which means there's no one who could translate our correspondence into gibberish, to make things easier.
Here Art uses the verb to translate to mean to take the words in one language in written form and put them in another language.
Carol says that's right, meaning that's correct.
And plus, she says, leaving a paper trail is better.
A paper trail, T-R-A-I-L, is...
When you have written documents that you can show someone to prove what happened or to demonstrate what happened.
A paper trail is very useful if you think you may be in the future investigated or if you need to show what happened in a certain business transaction or business deal.
A paper trail usually would include keeping paper documents or electronic documents emails, for example that show what happened during a certain situation.
For example, if someone hits your car and you need to contact your insurance company, You are going to want to have a paper trail of all the things the insurance company sends you, all the things the other driver sends you.
You need to keep all of that in case there's a problem in the future.
Carol says a paper trail is better than just calling someone on the telephone.
Art says, you mean in case we have to cover our asses.
To cover, C-O-V-E-R, your ass, means to protect yourself from blame.
To protect yourself from future accusations that you did something wrong.
This expression is not one that you would want to use unless you knew the person fairly well.
It's an informal and vulgar expression I wouldn't normally use this expression myself.
I don't like using bad words in English.
But this is an expression that, in fact, you would probably hear in an office, among people who knew each other well.
A lot of people use an abbreviation instead of the actual expression, which is C-Y-A, which means cover your A and then, of course, the rest of the word.
It's not an expression I would recommend you using.
We include it here so you can understand what it actually means.
Continuing on.
Then Carol says I wouldn't put it like that, meaning I wouldn't express it like that.
But breakdowns in communication are inevitable and it's always helpful to be able to trace their source.
A breakdown B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N in communication is when two people or two groups of people misunderstand each other, when the message that one group is trying to communicate to the other is not understood correctly.
Something that is inevitable, I-N-E-V-I-T-A-B-L-E, is something that you cannot avoid.
Something that will happen, even if you don't want it to happen or even if you try to prevent it from happening.
Death is inevitable. you are all going to die, just like I am.
It's something you can't avoid.
There, isn't that a happy thought?
See?
Don't you feel better now?
You're going to die.
Anyway, Carol says, it's always helpful to be able to trace, T-R-A-C-E, their source.
To trace means to follow the path or development of something.
In this case.
Really, it means to identify the source, to find out where the breakdown in communication took place.
That's why Carroll thinks it's better to leave a paper trail.
You can see when there is miscommunication where that happens.
If you just talk to someone on the telephone, unless you are recording the conversation, you can't figure out where the problem was perhaps.
Art says, right, okay, I'll draft a memo and pass it by you before I send it, okay?
To draft D-R-A-F-T something is to write the first version of something, especially something you plan on changing or revising in the future.
Art is going to draft a memo and pass it by Carol.
To pass something by someone means to give it to someone so that that person can look at it and perhaps approve it, say it's okay or revise it, change it so that it's better.
Carol says sounds good, which is an informal way of saying yes, okay, that's a good idea.
Sounds good.
Art says.
What I don't understand is why we don't simply hire people for this office who are fluent in gibberish.
To be fluent F-L-U-E-N-T in a language means to be able to speak the language easily and smoothly, like a native speaker, like someone who grew up speaking the language.
Carol says, do you know anyone who speaks gibberish?
Art responds, plenty, P-L-E-N-T-Y.
Plenty means a lot or many, more than what we need.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Send another memo to the gibberee's office.
I think we have our wires crossed again.
Don't you think it would be better to call the office and speak to someone there?
You might be able to get to the bottom of the misunderstanding more quickly.
I don't speak gibberish, and we don't have anyone bilingual in the office to act as an interpreter.
Which means there's no one who could translate our correspondence into gibberish, to make things easier.
That's right.
And plus, leaving a paper trail is better.
You mean in case we have to cover our asses?
I wouldn't put it like that, but breakdowns in communication are inevitable and it's always helpful to be able to trace their source.
Right.
Okay, I'll draft a memo and pass it by you before I send it, okay?
Sounds good.
What I don't understand is why we don't simply hire people for this office who are fluent in gibberish.
Plenty.
None of our dialogues contain gibberish, because they're written by the finest script writer on the internet, Dr Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time right here on ESL Podcasts.
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.
