Coffee Break English, season three, episode six.
Hi everyone and welcome back to Coffee Break English.
I'm Josie. And I'm Mark and I'm delighted to be back for another episode of Coffee Break English.
Josie, what are we learning about today?
Well, today we're talking about a topic from our own country because we're talking about a famous Scot, a famous person from Scotland.
We are indeed. And is there a grammar point, a language point that we're going to be focusing on?
Yes, there is. We're going to focus on phrasal verbs and specifically phrasal verbs which contain the word up.
Sounds great. Okay, let's begin.
It's time to welcome Monica.
Hi Mark, hi Josie. It's Monica here from Glasgow in Scotland.
And today I'm going to talk about a famous Scottish inventor.
These days you can't go anywhere without seeing a mobile phone.
5 .13 billion people around the world own some kind of mobile device.
The telephone has evolved into an essential part of everyday life and it can now do much more than just make calls.
It's thanks to one Scottish man that we have these devices today.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the world's first telephone.
Born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Bell always loved making things and solving problems.
The first invention he dreamed up, a simple machine to speed up the dehusking of corn and his friend's parents' mill, was used for several years.
In 1870 Bell and his family moved to Canada and the following year Bell moved to Boston, Massachusetts.
Both Bell's mother and wife were deaf so he had always had a fascination with sound in his scientific work.
Telegraph systems were becoming common all over the world and Bell wanted to set up a sound based telegraph system.
After experimenting with different ways to visually represent and interpret sound waves, he came up with a short -range telephone device and quickly patented it.
The story of Bell's first phone call is quite famous.
His assistant, Watson, picked up the phone and Bell said, Watson, come here, I want to see you.
Telephone technology has progressed quickly since Bell's original invention.
Now we use our phones to take photos, look up information on the internet, play music, recognise fingerprints and faces and so much more.
It's probably not what Bell had imagined for the future when he spoke to Watson on the world's first phone call, but he would surely love to see how his invention has ended up today.
Thank you Monica, that was very interesting to learn more about Alexander Graham Bell.
Indeed, let's go back through the text now and we'll talk about some of the interesting vocabulary.
Yes, I think there's quite a lot of difficult technical vocabulary in this text, so let's talk about that.
OK, shall I begin by reading the first sentence?
Yes, go for it. These days you can't go anywhere without seeing a mobile phone.
Yes, these days. So these days just means in the present, in our present times.
OK. Five point one three billion people around the world own some kind of mobile device.
Yes, five point one three billion people, that's a lot of people, and they own some kind, some type of mobile device.
What's a device Mark?
A device is an object that's invented for a specific purpose.
That's right. So usually when we talk about a device, we're talking about something technological, maybe well a mobile phone, a laptop for example, but a device could be something like a vacuum cleaner that you use to clean your house, or a tin opener that you use to open some beans.
Excellent. OK, the telephone has evolved into an essential part of everyday life, and it can now do much more than just make calls.
Yes, so the telephone has evolved, the telephone has changed and improved over time, and it's evolved into an essential part of everyday life.
What does essential mean?
Essential is when something is very important or necessary.
That's right. So it's like we can't live without our phones today.
OK, it's thanks to one Scottish man that we have these devices today.
Yeah, so thanks to one Scottish man, we can say thank you to this Scottish man for these devices.
OK, Alexander Graham Bell invented the world's first telephone.
Born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Bell always loved making things and solving problems.
Yeah, so, Bell, Alexander Graham Bell, he loved making things and he loved solving problems.
What does it mean if you solve a problem, Mark?
Well, when you solve a problem, you find a solution to the problem, an answer to the problem.
Exactly, yes. OK, the first invention he dreamed up, a simple machine to speed up the de -husking of corn in his friend's parents' mill was used for several years.
OK, this this sentence is quite complicated, isn't it?
So let's start from the beginning.
The first invention he dreamed up.
Here we have our first example of a phrasal verb using the word up.
So dream up is the verb.
What does dream up mean, Mark?
To dream up is to invent, is to create something with your mind.
For example, you could dream up a story or dream up an excuse.
Exactly, yes. So if you don't want to go to a party, but you don't have a good excuse, you can invent one, you can dream one up.
OK, so Alexander Graham Bell, he dreamed up a simple machine to speed up the de -husking of corn in his friend's parents' mill.
There are some tricky words in this part of the sentence, de -husking of corn.
Yes, to be honest, de -husking is not a common word that everyone needs to learn.
So don't worry if you don't understand it.
Basically, the husk of corn, so corn is maize, it's a tall plant that we grow to eat, and the husk is the outside of it.
It's like the shell of the corn.
So if you de -husk the corn, you remove the shell, the husk of the corn.
OK, and this machine that he invented was to speed up the de -husking of corn.
That's right. So speed up is again another phrasal verb with up, and it just means to make something faster.
So he wanted to make this process faster.
Good. And all of this was in his friend's parents' mill.
So this is the mill of the parents of his friend.
Yes, and a mill is a building where grain is crushed or ground to make flour.
So the white stuff that we use for making bread and lots of other things, flour.
So this invention of Alexander Graham Bell was used for several years.
Yes. So it was used for some years.
Several means more than two, but not a very, very big amount.
OK. In 1870, Bell and his family moved to Canada, and the following year, Bell moved to Boston, Massachusetts.
Good. Let's take a short break, and we'll be back soon to look at the other part of the text.
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Welcome back to Coffee Break English.
We are talking about Alexander Graham Bell and he has just moved to Boston, Massachusetts.
Let's continue with the text.
Both Bell's mother and wife were deaf.
So he had always had a fascination with sound in his scientific work.
Yes. Both Bell's mother and wife were deaf.
What does deaf mean, Mark?
They were unable to hear or they had very poor hearing.
That's right. So for this reason, he had always had a fascination with sound in his work.
Fascination is an interesting word.
I have a fascination with languages.
Do you have a fascination about anything, Josie?
I do. I would say I have a fascination with languages too, to be honest.
And a fascination is when you are very, very interested in something.
We could also say we are fascinated with learning languages and that would be the adjective.
Okay. So he had a fascination with sound in his scientific work.
Telegraph systems were becoming common all over the world and Bell wanted to set up a sound based telegraph system.
Telegraph systems. What's a long distance?
And this can be done by electricity or by radio signals.
That's right. So Bell, he wanted to set up a sound based telegraph system, basically a telephone, and he wanted to set it up.
He wanted to create it or to arrange it.
That's right. Exactly.
So set up means to create or to establish.
So we could say, Mark, you set up coffee break languages in 2006.
Correct. I did indeed.
Good. After experimenting with different ways to visually represent and interpret sound waves, he came up with a short range telephone device and quickly patented it.
Yes. So he experimented with different ways to visually represent and interpret sound waves.
Now visually means related to sight, related to seeing.
And yeah, he wanted to represent and interpret sound waves.
What are sound waves?
These are the waves of energy that we hear as sound.
Yes. So he wanted to interpret these sound waves.
That's right. He wanted to work out the meaning of these sound waves to understand them.
Absolutely. Yes. So after he experimented with this, he came up with a short range telephone device, came up with to come up with something.
That means to invent.
Exactly. To invent, maybe also to think of or to suggest something.
So if I come up with something to do at the weekend, I think of a plan for the weekend.
Okay. And he came up with a short range telephone device.
So a telephone that worked over short distances, not long distances.
And he quickly patented it.
That's a tricky word to patent something.
What does that mean, Josie?
Yes, it is. So patent means to get the right to be the only person or the only company to make a product.
So for example, if you come up with, if you invent a new product and you think it's really, really good and you don't want anyone else to steal your idea, you can patent your product.
Okay. The story of Bell's first phone call is quite famous.
His assistant Watson picked up the phone and Bell said, Watson, come here.
I want to see you. Yes.
So Watson Bell's assistant, he picked up the phone.
He lifted the phone from the place where it was.
Can you think of another meaning of to pick up?
Yes. Pick up actually has quite a lot of meanings, but another very, very common one is to collect someone.
Usually someone, sometimes something from a place.
For example, if you have children at the end of the day, you pick them up from school.
You go to the school, you take your children and you take them home.
Okay. Or you could pick up your friend from the airport, perhaps.
Exactly. That's a really common use for that phrasal verb.
Okay. Telephone technology has progressed quickly since Bell's original invention.
Yes. So this technology has progressed quickly.
It has improved. It has got better.
So for example, if you are learning a language, you could say, I think I'm progressing with my English.
I think I'm improving.
Thanks to Coffee Break English, of course.
Exactly. Of course.
Now we use our phones to take photos, look up information on the internet, play music, recognise fingerprints and faces, and so much more.
Yes. So of course, we all know these things that we use our phones for and one of them is look up information on the internet.
Another phrasal verb with up and what does it mean?
Mark? When you find information or facts using the internet or indeed you could look up something in a dictionary, a book.
Exactly. So if you don't know a word in English or in a language, you can look it up in a dictionary, as you said.
One of the other things mentioned in this sentence is fingerprints.
Josie, what are fingerprints?
Yes. Fingerprints are the unique marks that are made by people's fingerprints.
So the pattern that you have on your fingers, that's your fingerprint.
Okay. Now, all these things are probably not what Bell had imagined for the future when he spoke to Watson on the world's first phone call, but he would surely love to see how his invention has ended up today.
Yes, he would surely love to see.
He would certainly love to see.
He would definitely love to see how his invention has ended up today.
How his invention has developed today.
That's right. So end up means to become something or to arrive at a place, usually after a long time or a long journey.
Exactly. Okay. Shall we listen to the full recording again?
I think that's a good idea.
Back to Monica. These days, you can't go anywhere without seeing a mobile phone.
5 .13 billion people around the world own some kind of mobile device.
The telephone has evolved into an essential part of everyday life, and it can now do much more than just make calls.
It's thanks to one Scottish man that we have these devices today.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the world's first telephone.
Born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Bell always loved making things and solving problems.
The first invention he dreamed up, a simple machine to speed up the de -husking of corn in his friend's parents' mill, was used for several years.
In 1870, Bell and his family moved to Canada, and the following year, Bell moved to Boston, Massachusetts.
Both Bell's mother and wife were deaf, so he had always had a fascination with sound in his scientific work.
Telegraph systems were becoming common all over the world, and Bell wanted to set up a sound -based telegraph system.
After experimenting with different ways to visually represent and interpret sound waves, he came up with a short -range telephone device and quickly patented it.
The story of Bell's first phone call is quite famous.
His assistant Watson picked up the phone and Bell said, Watson, come here, I want to see you.
Telephone technology has progressed quickly since Bell's original invention.
Now we use our phones to take photos, look up information on the internet, play music, recognise fingerprints and faces, and so much more.
It's probably not what Bell had imagined for the future when he spoke to Watson on the world's first phone call, but he would surely love to see how his invention has ended up today.
Thanks Monica, and thanks everyone for listening to this episode of Coffee Break English.
We'll be back on Friday with the extra episode for this lesson.
Until then, thank you and goodbye.
Bye -bye.
