Real English Conversations Episode 44
[Music]
welcome to speak English with Tiffany I
am teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in
I’m always going on nothing today I’m
here I was taking a nap yeah and so I
said well since I’m home alone let me
take advantage of this time and take
advantage of take advantage of now this
is an expression that means to make good
use of the opportunities offered by
something so let’s look at two examples
to get a better understanding so in our
first example it says this I have to
work tomorrow so I need to take
advantage of the time I have today so
the opportunity is referring to the time
that we have today okay that’s the
opportunity to use that so take
advantage of the time now let’s look our
second example it says subscribers to
the magazine can take advantage of this
special offer ok so again the
opportunity being referred to is the
special offer maybe it’s a discount or
something else related to the magazine
ok special offer so take advantage of I
didn’t Milan so it you know three too
long I was calling you because I saw in
the program last year at church that you
were trying to start the sign language
group at our church then you’re gonna
try to teach people sign language yeah
devil today that’s all see me ask the
boss why would they want to learn sign
language sign language now sign language
is an official language and it’s the
language that is used by individuals who
may be deaf or hearing impaired and it’s
a language that mainly
utilizes one’s hands to express a
message or convey a message to another
person so we call it sign language class
like a lot of people nowadays are
starting to learn sign language but even
learning a second language to how hard
it is for some people I wanted to ask
like what was your experience like why
did you decide to learn sign language
and how was it for you
well so far as young I’ve always been
like fascinated with it just to see
people signing like our street and stuff
like if I’m at a restaurant and I saw
some ice always be fascinated and so I
would try to learn that just like when
I’m trying to learn Spanish I just never
really committed to doing it fascinated
fascinated okay
this word means to draw irresistible the
attention and interest of someone
irresistible means you cannot resist so
without you realizing it you are drawn
to something so let’s look at the
examples using this word first one is
I’ve always been fascinated by other
cultures so cultures are what fascinate
this person right now the second example
the kids were fascinated with their new
toys so when a child gets a new toy
they’re usually fascinated or amazed by
it and they want to play with it for a
long time and the last example is we
were fascinated by the new technology
okay maybe it was a new computer a new
cellphone or a new technology that was
applied to something else but it was
fascinating and gripped their attention
so again fascinated so it just so
happened I was working at this drug
treatment center and one of the social
workers came in and she had an
interpreter with her and I think that’s
about all we wanted to do a bother
my language and so I started taking a
class interpreter interpreter now an
interpreter is a person whose job is to
translate what someone is saying into
another language okay so here are some
examples of this word okay speaking
through an interpreter the man told us
his opinion so in this example let’s say
there is a group of people okay
and there’s one group of people standing
on this side right here okay and this
man right here is the focus and he wants
to get a message to these individuals
but they don’t speak the same language
so this man uses an interpreter to speak
for him so the interpreter actually
takes the message from him and transfers
it to these individuals okay an
interpreter all right okay next example
sentence he was a great interpreter very
simple sentence and our final sentence
is they paid for the students to have an
interpreter okay all right let’s keep
going and taking the car it was at a
library for free class so I just felt
like I wasn’t it was like that same
situation where you’re on in Spanish he
was running the base day and you never
go any further and I felt like that’s
how it was gonna be like a plan and one
of the people dishes that if you really
want to learn the real smiling she
should go to Gallaudet University I said
how about University one right and so
she told me it was like a death
University and defeats our contact again
and found out they had my father
they had night classes and so from there
I started taking night classes oh I fell
in love from the very first class like
the teachers were all death
they were native signers she should I
instead of like beautify instead of like
somebody who learned the language
ability to us it was like there’s native
France though that he really really grew
all good teachers and then I realized so
I want to become an interpreter where
our interpret works you know like
conversations that people have for each
other factor that’s what I want to do so
yeah so the it’s like the boss thought
it was me taking classes and I you know
cracked through that feeling where it
wasn’t just a basic class where I’m just
learning and taking that class over and
over again like I did vanish okay now
there are two expressions that we’re
going to look at in a little bit more
detail the first one was start or get
the ball rolling now the meaning of this
expression is to set an activity in
motion or to make a start okay so my
friend is talking about starting a
learning process starting to learn how
to do sign language so let’s look at an
example using this expression here we go
right here it says in order to get the
ball started the government was asked to
contribute a million dollars to the fund
so there was some project that needed to
be done but in order to start the
project or get the ball rolling they
needed a million dollars that was the
starting point okay all right let’s move
on to the second expression crack
through crack through now this means
figuratively to overcome some difficulty
or restriction in order to enter into
some place or situation now here’s the
example for this expression after three
years in the law firm sally finally
cracked through the glass ceiling and
was made a partner okay so it’s
expressing that while sally was working
at her law firm it was very difficult to
move up or to
get a better position but finally after
three years she became a partner so she
cracked through the difficulty okay so
again start or get the ball rolling and
crack through it was actually me
learning something and then I joined a
family which Club and then I joined like
different groups that socialize and
actually used the language I will go to
silent weekends where you couldn’t talk
the whole weekend and if you get caught
talking you’d have to pay money and so
it was like full immersion and it would
give us different than there of
immersion immersion okay now this word
means a method of teaching foreign
language by the exclusive use of that
language usually at a special school now
the key word here is exclusive so you’re
only allowed to use that language okay
all right so here are some examples
using the word immersion okay
last year I enrolled in an immersion
course in conversational English it
means the course only allowed English to
be spoken during the time that the
person was there okay all right the next
example full immersion programs can be
expensive but beneficial so it is true
if you go to a full immersion program
they may be expensive but they’re very
beneficial because your English will
improve very quickly alright and the
last example my daughter wants to enroll
in an immersion program in Spain means
his daughter wants to speak Spanish but
she wants to be fully immersed only
speaking that language
okay so again immersion so that we could
use the language and that used to be
really fun and I think the activities
like the silent silent rooms a silent
silent weekend like you couldn’t talk
the whole weekend yeah I think I
remember when I was studying Korean like
when we first started in level one
that was kind of the easy level like he
was learning the basics like you
mentioned to expand and she learned the
basics but then you start moving to the
next levels and then the teachers start
getting really creative with doing ways
of actually putting into practice what
you’re learning so yeah that made a big
difference for me too so it was really
enjoyable as well did you when did you
feel like you really had a good grasp of
what you had learned you know okay I can
actually speak sign language now huh
that’s interesting so that I don’t
really remember I remember feeling
frustrated like I’m not gonna be able to
have a good grasp one more time have a
good grasp of all right now this means
to have a firm clear understanding or
determination of something okay have a
grasp of have a good grasp of so let’s
look at two examples the first example
says do you have a solid grasp of the
material we learned in class so in this
example the focus is the material that
was learned in class and the person is
asking do you understand clearly what
was discussed in class okay all right
and our second example says the students
had a good grasp of the lesson that the
teacher was teaching so again is talking
about material in class but this time
the lesson that the teacher was teaching
okay
did you understand do you know what she
was saying okay so again understanding
so having a good grasp of it started
with ABCs and the ABCs I may do this
twice it’s better if there’s no way I’m
gonna memorize these places you know I
had to commit the time in the study and
just socialize and be around people I’m
thinking like doing those Fallon
tweaking they will try
you know you put a drop in a Becket and
each drop you know you start at first
and you don’t notice like they want
water accumulating and then all the time
is right
oh there’s actually some water up in
here accumulate accumulate now this
means to gather together or acquire an
increasing number or quantity of okay so
let’s see some examples of how this word
is used the first one is the snow was
accumulating on the ground it means
coming up into a pile on the ground
alright next journals are accumulating
in my office it means there are more
journals each and every day okay and he
accumulated a fortune in the music
business he earned a lot more money now
my friend is talking about accumulating
more knowledge of sign language more
words more expressions and more ways of
how to use it properly so again
accumulate like events about that I
actually know what I’m talking about but
you know what family is because it’s a
visual language and you kind of
incorporate not acting but like not mine
either cuz they hate that
yeah it’s more like what is it like when
you take on the personality it’s right
because of all of that and I’m Tabitha
anyway like when I talk to people if I’m
telling you what somebody said I’m going
to become that person know in family
which that is a part of the language so
that really helped me but there’s still
some areas I struggle with every time I
work you know this is what I do as a
professional I learned something new and
I always ask myself what can I learn new
with this language and that’s another
drop in that bucket of water that’s
accumulating every job and just trying
to learn those I think that’s the
best piece of advice for anybody
learning another language because a lot
of times even when I was teaching my
students when I lived in Korea there was
this feeling of wanting to know
everything possible about English when
they were talking to me I want to know
everything and the reality is you’re
constantly learning even as Americans
like even though we speak English
exactly
we’re always learning something new some
new slang or a new word or some new
expression that comes out so I think the
fact that you actually know that when
you’re even though it’s your profession
like you are an amazing interpreter you
still with us every day you’re learning
something new so advice great advice I
hope you enjoyed this real English
conversation it’s the last in a
four-part series of conversations with
real native English speakers please
continue to study English by clicking on
the video on the left or the right of
your screen to continue studying with me
and remember as always to speak English