Episode 0167

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod. My name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine and today we're going on a little driving lesson.

That's right, we're going to learn how to drive, but not only how to drive, but all the vocabulary and words associated to this activity. So, uh, why don't we listen to this dialogue for the first time and we'll be back to explain it.

Hold on there, Fiddy Pady. First, let's go over things one more time. Now, before you even think of starting the car, make sure your seat is at a comfortable position and you can grip the steering wheel firmly. Next, check your rear-view mirrors to make sure you can see properly.

Fine. Start the car.

Okay. Now gently step on the clutch and shift to first gear.

Good. Now accelerate gently, let go of the clutch as you do it.

Keep your eyes on the road. No music. We are coming up to a red light. Step on the brakes.

Exactly. Well, hopefully not like video games. We don't want to hurt anyone. Uh, but that comes a little bit later. First let's check out some of these very important phrases in today's language takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

All right, so in Language Takeaway we have five words for you today. Starting with the first one, the steering wheel.

Okay, steering wheel. So, this comes from the fact that we have a wheel that we use to turn the car left and right. And so that's called to steer, to change the direction of something.

So the verb to steer is to take it left or right.

Exactly. So steering wheel is the instrument that we use to change the car's direction.

Very good. And uh, well, apart from this instrument, also in order to look to other cars that are behind you, you would look at your rear-view mirror.

Great. So rearview mirror. This is a mirror that you have in front of you in the middle of the car and you look at this mirror to find out if there are cars behind you. So it's a rearview. That means you're looking at the back. Rear means back or behind.

What about the mirrors that are on the side of the car, on the doors?

Those are those are called side view mirrors. Side view mirrors. Very literal.

Okay, very good. And well, moving on, he was instructing her on how to drive and he said, step on the clutch.

Well, this is an important word for those of you who are driving manual cars. That means um that you have to control the way that the gas goes into the engine by yourself. And so a clutch is a pedal, it's the third pedal on the left and you push this pedal to change gears. Okay, so some cars they don't have this. For those of you who don't, don't worry about it, but if you do, a clutch is on the far left. It's the third pedal.

Okay, so this is for a manual car, manual transmission car because many people have automatics where you just accelerate and the car automatically changes gears.

Exactly. And so a lot of Europeans drive manual cars and have this clutch.

Okay. So you step on the clutch and in order to change gear, you say to shift into first gear.

That's right, because if you're driving, you know that you can't go from first to fifth gear, right? There's four or five gears, and so you have to go one, two, three, four, five. You have to go in order. So we're shifting. We're moving up, or we're moving down. So that's called to shift.

All right, to shift. And now in the dialogue we heard to shift into first gear. So that's what it's called.

Exactly. And so normally the car starts in neutral, that was when you're at a brake, you're at a stop. And if you want to start the car, you have to shift to first gear and that's the lowest, that's going to help the car go.

That's right. And it's especially useful if you're trying to teach someone how to drive. Yeah, because not everyone knows how to drive manual.

Exactly. So why don't we listen to the dialogue again and we'll be back to explain fluency builder.

Hold on there, Fiddy Pady. First, let's go over things one more time. Now, before you even think of starting the car, make sure your seat is at a comfortable position and you can grip the steering wheel firmly. Next, check your rear-view mirrors to make sure you can see properly.

Fine. Start the car.

Okay. Now gently step on the clutch and shift to first gear.

Good. Now accelerate gently, let go of the clutch as you do it.

Keep your eyes on the road. No music. We are coming up to a red light. Step on the brakes.

All right, we're back. So now, why don't we take a look at four key phrases in fluency builder?

Fluency Builder.

Well, the first phrase is maybe the most important when driving. It's the first thing you do. You start the car.

All right, so you don't say you turn on the car, right?

No. So you put the key in the ignition and you start the car. That means you, you know, you turn it on.

What about to, uh, when you want to turn off the car, turn the car off?

You say stop the engine. Stop the car.

Stop the car. Stop the Stop the engine, right?

Stop the engine.

All right, very good. Moving on, our next phrase is a million times. Why is this a phrase a million times? It's pretty literal, right?

We've been through this a million times. Well, no, it's not literal, otherwise, I think I might kill the person. Because a million times mean means that we've had this same conversation many, many, many, many times. But you can't actually have it a million times. That's, that's way too many.

So it's an exaggeration.

Yeah, it's a way to say a lot. So, um, I've heard him say this a million times.

I've heard this story a million times.

Or I've done this. I've turned the car on a million times.

Okay. Awesome. And now, well, they were driving and they heard a police siren and the guy told her to pull over.

Okay, so this is a very common car phrase again, especially when you're dealing with the police. So to pull over means to slow the car down and to stop it on the side of the road. So you could hear a policeman say, pull over. So pull over your car. That means slow down and stop the car on the side of the road. Cause obviously you can't stop in the middle of the road.

Right. So sometimes your mobile phone will ring as well and you don't have a hands-free, so you have to pull over to the side so you can pick up the phone, usually, right?

Exactly. Or you could say, hey mom, could you pull over? I have to use the restroom.

Exactly. Awesome. All right, and our last phrase for today is to take me alive, to take someone alive.

So he's saying either I run free or I die.

All right, so to take someone alive is basically that. But is it literal, would you say?

No, this is not literal. He's saying, they'll never catch me.

Okay, very good. All right, so that's all the phrases we have for today. Why don't we listen to this dialogue for the last time and we'll be back.

Hold on there, Fiddy Pady. First, let's go over things one more time. Now, before you even think of starting the car, make sure your seat is at a comfortable position and you can grip the steering wheel firmly. Next, check your rear-view mirrors to make sure you can see properly.

Fine. Start the car.

Okay. Now gently step on the clutch and shift to first gear.

Good. Now accelerate gently, let go of the clutch as you do it.

Keep your eyes on the road. No music. We are coming up to a red light. Step on the brakes.

All right, we're back. So driving. Now, uh, this is interesting because as you mentioned, a lot of people in America usually have automatic transmissions, whereas in Europe, maybe they have manual transmissions.

Exactly.

Is there a reason for that, do you think?

Um, I'm not sure what the reason would be. I think a lot of American car makers manufacture more automatic cars in general. Um, some people say that it's because um, people in America are less concerned with gas, but um, if you have a manual transmission, you can actually conserve a bit of gas. And so because gas prices in Europe are higher generally, uh, more people are interested in having manual transmissions.

Also, I remember when I was younger, my dad always bought cars that had a manual transmission because he said that if ever they break down, it's much easier and cheaper to fix a car that has a manual transmission than it is to fix an automatic one.

That's right. Well, and I personally think that it's better to to learn how to drive on a manual transmission car because you can drive any car afterwards. But if you learn an automatic, you'll never know how to drive a manual.

There was also a case on television recently about a small child that, actually the dialogue is based on it, is uh, he took his dad's car and he was like seven years old and he was driving and was being chased by the police.

No way.

And then he pulled into his house and got out of the car and ran into the house. So obviously he was an underage driver, but he didn't get into much trouble, but it was interesting because he drove very, very well. And uh, basically almost learned it by game simulators, by video games on how you drive on a video game.

Right. So, uh, if you have any questions, any comments or any other suggestions for lessons, please come to our website, Englishpod.com and we'll see you guys there. Bye everyone.

Bye.

The English audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Hold, reach.

Grip.

The pedal that you press before you change gear.

Clutch.

The part of the road where people walk.

Sidewalk.

The wheel which the driver holds in a car.

Steering wheel.

To move a car to the side of the road and stop.

Pull over.

Let's try that faster.

Hold, reach.

Grip.

The wheel which the driver holds in a car.

Steering wheel.

The pedal that you press before you change gear.

Clutch.

The part of the road where people walk.

Sidewalk.

To move a car to the side of the road and stop.

Pull over.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Grip.

I have a bad grip when it comes to holding on to things.

Grip.

Grip the steering wheel firmly and make sure your hands have free space.

Grip.

Clutch.

Clutch.

Remove your foot from the clutch very slowly as you accelerate.

Clutch.

Remember to clutch when you want to change gears.

Sidewalk.

Sidewalk.

Some sidewalks in this city are too crowded.

Sidewalk.

Steering wheel.

I'm thinking of buying a new steering wheel for my car.

Steering wheel.

Steering wheel.

Pull over.

He should have pulled over, but he didn't.

Pull over.

Pull over near the next exit.

Pull over.