Coffee Break English, season three, episode two.
Hello and welcome to Coffee Break English.
I'm Josie. And I'm Mark.
And we're delighted to be back with you for another episode of our podcast.
Josie, what are we talking about today?
Well, today, we're off to Australia and we're talking about the history of the indigenous peoples of Australia.
There are some difficult words in there.
The indigenous peoples of Australia.
What does indigenous mean?
Well, indigenous refers to something that originates in the country which we're talking about.
So for example, we often talk about animals or plants, which are indigenous to a country.
They originated there.
They were not brought there or taken there.
Okay. And what about peoples?
Yes. So usually, we just say people and people is the plural of person.
It's already a plural word.
But here, this is a kind of set phrase.
We always say the indigenous peoples.
But we wouldn't say there are many peoples in the cafe, for example.
Okay. I think we should get on and listen to the text.
So it's time to hear from Matthew in Australia.
Hi, Matthew. Hey, Josie.
Hey, Mark. I'm Matthew.
And I'm really pleased to be joining you again for another text about Australia.
The indigenous peoples of Australia are believed to be the oldest civilization in the world that still exist today.
The phrase indigenous peoples refers to two main groups in Australia, Aboriginal Australians and inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands.
In 2016, the indigenous community made up about 2 .8 % of Australia's population.
And there are still many different indigenous communities all across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.
Even though they have always represented a big part of the population, until 1962, the indigenous peoples did not have the right to vote.
Fortunately, things have improved for the indigenous peoples, and they are now more integrated in Australian culture.
One of the most important parts of indigenous culture is Dreamtime.
This is the Aboriginal belief of how the universe was created, and Dreamtime stories have been passed down through many generations.
The story is that during the Dreamtime, there was nothing, and the ancestor beings travelled across the land, creating the landscape as they went.
They did not create the earth itself, it was a blank canvas, and they simply made it into what it looks like now.
Big, impressive features such as Uluru or Es Rock are considered sacred by the indigenous peoples.
Dreamtime has always been celebrated in Aboriginal culture through music, dance and art.
And these celebrations have always been a key part of the spiritual lives of the indigenous peoples.
This is a tradition that has lasted for 75 ,000 years, showing the strength of the indigenous peoples' community and belief.
OK, thank you Matthew.
Let's go back through the text, and today we're going to be focusing on the difference between the past simple and the present perfect tense.
We've already looked at the present perfect tense before on the podcast, but it has a lot of uses, so we're looking at it again today.
OK, I'll begin reading the text.
The indigenous peoples of Australia are believed to be the oldest civilisation in the world that still exists today.
Yes, so they're a very, very old civilisation, and what's a civilisation, Mark?
A civilisation would be a group of people.
That's right, it's like a group of people, a society which is organised and has their own culture.
Yes, now it says they are believed to be the oldest civilisation in the world.
What does believed to be mean, Josie?
Yes, so this phrase, they are believed to be, this is in the passive voice, and this means that people think they are the oldest civilisation.
People believe that this is true, but because they're so old, maybe we're not sure.
OK, let's continue.
The phrase indigenous peoples refers to two main groups in Australia, Aboriginal Australians and inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands.
Yes, so Aboriginal Australians, this refers to the people who are indigenous to Australia, not people who have immigrated or moved there.
OK, in 2016, the indigenous community made up about 2 .8 % of Australia's population, and there are still many different indigenous communities all across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.
Yes, so the indigenous community made up about 2 .8 % of the population.
Made up, this is a phrasal verb, the infinitive is make up.
What does make up mean, Mark?
To make up means to form.
That's right, exactly.
So the indigenous community formed 2 .8 % of the population.
But make up actually has quite a lot of meanings, doesn't it?
Yeah, when you make up a story, for example, you invent a story, you write a story.
Yes, and as a noun, make up can refer to something that you put on your face to make yourself look different.
So maybe mascara or powder or lipstick.
Excellent. OK, let's continue.
Even though they have always represented a big part of the population, until 1962, the indigenous peoples did not have the right to vote.
Yes, so in this phrase, we can see an example of the present perfect and the past simple tense.
Even though they have always represented a big part of the population, this is in the present perfect tense.
So can you remind us how to reform the present perfect tense first, Mark?
We need a part of to have.
So here they have and then represented is our past participle.
And we form the past participle very often by adding ED to the end.
That's right. If it's a regular verb, very often we have irregular verbs, of course.
But yes, here we're using the present perfect and we're using the present perfect here because the indigenous peoples represented a big part of the population in the past and in the present.
And they will in the future as well.
So the present perfect here is used for an action which started in the past.
It's continuing now and it will continue in the present.
It's a sort of link between the past and the present.
But then until 1962, the indigenous peoples did not have the right to vote.
That's right. So here we're using the past simple.
And that's because the thing that we're talking about, the fact that the indigenous peoples did not have the right to vote.
They were not allowed to vote.
This is finished because we know this finished in 1962.
So when we're talking about an action which happened in the past and it's finished, we use the past simple and not the present perfect.
Great. Okay, fortunately, things have improved for the indigenous peoples and they are no more integrated in Australian culture.
Yes, so here again, we're using the present perfect.
Things have improved for the indigenous peoples.
That means that in the past, they improved and this action is continuing.
Things are still improving today and hopefully they will in the future.
Okay, and there's another interesting word in this sentence, Josie, integrated.
The indigenous peoples are now more integrated in Australian culture.
That's right. So if you integrate into a certain culture or a group, it means that you become part of this group or of this culture.
So, for example, if you go to live in another country, you may try to integrate.
You may try to become part of this country and its culture.
Okay, we are going to take a short break now and we'll be back in a moment to find out more about the indigenous peoples of Australia.
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Welcome back. Today we are talking about the indigenous peoples of Australia.
And we're also talking about the difference between the present perfect and the past simple.
Let's continue. One of the most important parts of indigenous culture is dream time.
This is the aboriginal belief of how the universe was created and dream time stories have been passed down through many generations.
Yes, so in this sentence we can see again an example of the past simple for a finished action in the past and the present perfect for an action which is still continuing.
So dream time is the aboriginal belief of how the universe was created.
This is the past simple, isn't it Mark?
Yes, that's right. And it's the passive voice, the universe was created.
Yes, and we're using the past simple here because well, we know the universe was created and that's finished.
Now the universe exists.
This is an action it happened in the past and it's finished.
However, dream time stories have been passed down through many generations.
That's another present perfect example.
That's right. There's quite a lot of parts to this present perfect.
I think we should talk first about what the verb pass down means, to pass something down.
So that's when you give something to people younger than you.
For example, you could pass down clothes to your younger brother or sister.
That's right. So we've got the meaning of this verb pass down and these dream time stories, they have been passed down through many generations.
So this means that in the past, older generations told these stories to their children and to their grandchildren and in the present, they still do this today.
So this is an action which is true in the past and is continuing in the present.
Now, this is another example of the passive.
The dream time stories have been passed down.
So what's going on here?
Yes. So because this is a passive voice, it means that we have two past participles.
So we've got been and passed.
That's a little bit confusing.
If you want to know more about the structure of the passive, you can listen to Coffee Break English, season two, episode one, where we talk a lot about the passive.
Great. The story is that during the dream time, there was nothing and the ancestor beings traveled across the land, creating the landscape as they went.
Yes. So here in all of these verbs, we're using the past simple because we're talking about the dream time, which is the creation of the universe.
So that's finished.
There was nothing past simple.
The ancestor beings traveled across the land past simple again.
And another past simple in the negative in the next sentence, they did not create the earth itself.
It was a blank canvas and they simply made it into what it looks like now.
So again, all of these verbs are in the past simple.
The dream time is finished.
The universe is created.
Also in this phrase, we have the earth was a blank canvas.
What does a blank canvas mean?
Well, let's think of, first of all, what a canvas is.
A canvas is like a strong cloth that can be used for tents.
And also for painting on, you can paint on a canvas.
And if something is blank, then there's nothing on it.
It's cleanness. It's untouched.
Exactly. That's right.
That's right. So if you imagine you have a big blank canvas that is ready to be painted on, you can paint whatever you want on it.
So if we say something is a blank canvas, it means that nothing is planned or decided.
You can choose what to do.
Okay. Big impressive features such as Uluru or ears rock are considered secret by the indigenous peoples.
Yes, so these ancestor beings during the dream time, they created these big features like Uluru that we can see now in Australia.
And these are impressive features.
They are very special, very amazing to look at.
And they're also considered sacred.
What does secret mean, Josie?
Yes. Sacred is like spiritually important.
It has a spiritual significance.
Dream time has always been celebrated in Aboriginal culture through music, dance and art.
And these celebrations have always been a key part of the spiritual lives of the indigenous peoples.
Yes. So here we have two more verbs in the present perfect form.
Dream time has always been celebrated in Aboriginal culture.
That means that dream time was celebrated in the past.
It's celebrated today and it will be celebrated in the future.
The use of this word always that emphasizes that this action is continuing and that this will continue in the future.
Okay. This is a tradition that has lasted for 75 ,000 years, showing the strength of the indigenous peoples community and belief.
Yes. So it's a tradition that has lasted for 75 ,000 years.
So this means the tradition started 75 ,000 years ago and it's still continuing today.
We also have an interesting word in here.
It's strength. That's right.
So showing the strength of the indigenous peoples community.
Strength is a noun which is related to the adjective strong.
So it's quite different to strong though, isn't it?
It is strength strong.
Are there other adjectives like that?
There are. So for example, the adjective long, to make the noun, we say length.
So that's quite similar.
And also the adjective wide, we also add th to talk about the noun, which is width.
Okay. Let's listen again to the full text.
The indigenous peoples of Australia are believed to be the oldest civilization in the world that still exists today.
The phrase indigenous peoples refers to two main groups in Australia, Aboriginal Australians and inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands.
In 2016, the indigenous community made up about 2 .8 % of Australia's population.
And there are still many different indigenous communities all across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.
Even though they have always represented a big part of the population, until 1962, the indigenous peoples did not have the right to vote.
Fortunately, things have improved for the indigenous peoples and they are now more integrated in Australian culture.
One of the most important parts of indigenous culture is dream time.
This is the Aboriginal belief of how the universe was created and dream time stories have been passed down through many generations.
The story is that during the dream time, there was nothing.
And the ancestor beings traveled across the land, creating the landscape as they went.
They did not create the earth itself, it was a blank canvas, and they simply made it into what it looks like now.
Big, impressive features such as Uluru or Es Rock are considered sacred by the indigenous peoples.
Dream time has always been celebrated in Aboriginal culture through music, dance and art.
And these celebrations have always been a key part of the spiritual lives of the indigenous peoples.
This is a tradition that has lasted for 75 ,000 years, showing the strength of the indigenous peoples' community and belief.
Thank you very much for listening to this episode of Coffee Break English.
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That's all for today, but we'll see you next time when we're returning to the USA and we're talking about a very famous musician.
Excellent. Until then, thank you and goodbye.
See you soon.
