Episode 0263
Summary
Two students discuss their first day of classes. Speaker 1 is enthusiastic about their international class, which includes students from various countries. Speaker 2, however, is in a class where no one speaks English, which she finds challenging for relating to classmates despite the opportunity to improve her Chinese. Speaker 1 encourages her to stay, highlighting the language practice she'll gain and playfully referencing his own advantage with a Chinese-speaking girlfriend.
Transcript (Click timestamp to jump)
Hey, how was your first day of class? I'm in level two and I'm loving my class this semester. It's great being in a class of international students.
Mine was okay. Except that no one in my class speaks English. I guess it will force me to converse in Chinese more in class, so at least I should improve a lot this semester.
That's both fortunate and unfortunate. It's the United Nations in my class. We have people from all over the world.
There are three Germans, a Pole, a Scot, two French, an American, a Brazilian, a Chilean, a New Zealander, though he prefers to call himself a Kiwi.
Who else do we have? Oh, we have a Moroccan, a Togolese, a Pakistani, and two Indonesians.
That's quite the array of nationalities. Everyone in my class is from Asia, except me.
There were a few South Koreans, several Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean, Filipino, Kazakhstani, and one Russian.
Well, I think you're pretty lucky actually. You'll have the opportunity to learn so much about Asian culture.
I guess so. But I think it's going to be hard to relate to my classmates, especially with the language barrier. I think I might change classes.
Don't! Stay the course. Your spoken Chinese will be eternally grateful. I bet you it'll even surpass mine with all that practice.
I highly doubt it.
Your girlfriend is Chinese.
Well, there is that, yes.
Summary
The audio features hosts Marco and Catherine discussing nationalities, transitioning into a dialogue between two students about their international classes. The male student is enthusiastic about the diversity in his class (listing Germans, Poles, Scots, French, Americans, Brazilians, Chileans, New Zealanders, Moroccans, Togolese, Pakistanis, and Indonesians). The female student is concerned about the language barrier in her class, which is predominantly Asian (South Koreans, Japanese, Malaysians, Thais, Singaporeans, Filipinos, Kazakhstani, and Russian), and considers changing classes. The male student encourages her, joking about her Chinese improving and mentioning his Chinese girlfriend. The hosts then provide a detailed breakdown of how to refer to people and things from various countries, including European nations like Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Holland (Dutch), emphasizing correct terminology and pronunciation patterns.
Transcript (Click timestamp to jump)
Hello everyone and welcome to Englishpod.
My name is Marco.
My name is Catherine and today we're talking about where people come from or nationalities.
That's right. Many people come from many different countries just like our listeners, and there are specific words or adjectives or and nouns to describe people, like for example, somebody who is from China.
A Chinese person.
Mm-hm, that's right.
So in your case, Marco, you are an Ecuadorian.
That's right. So I that means I come from the country Ecuador.
I, on the other hand, am an American. I come from America.
That's right. So we have a lot of these examples. Why don't we jump into the dialogue? Let's see where all of the people from this international class are from, and uh we'll be back to talk about it.
Hey, how was your first day of class? I'm in level two and I'm loving my class this semester. It's great being in a class of international students.
Mine was okay, except that no one in my class speaks English. I guess it will force me to converse in Chinese more in class, so at least I should improve a lot this semester.
That's both fortunate and unfortunate. It's the United Nations in my class. We have people from all over the world. There are three Germans, a Pole, a Scot, two French, an American, a Brazilian, a Chilean, a New Zealander, though he prefers to call himself a Kiwi. Who else do we have? Oh, we have a Moroccan, a Togolese, a Pakistani, and two Indonesians.
That's quite the array of nationalities. Everyone in my class is from Asia, except me. There were a few South Koreans, several Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean, Filipino, Kazakhstani, and one Russian.
Well, I think you're pretty lucky actually. You'll have the opportunity to learn so much about Asian culture.
I guess so, but I think it's going to be hard to relate to my classmates, especially with the language barrier. I think I might change classes.
Don't, stay the course. Your spoken Chinese will be eternally grateful. I bet you it'll even surpass mine with all that practice.
I highly doubt it. Your girlfriend is Chinese.
Well, there is that, yes.
So the student jokes that their class is kind of like the United Nations. Uh, so it does sound like it. We have so many different nationalities that we're going to look at them in two groups today. Uh, but the United Nations, as you know, is a political group that has people from all over the world who make decisions about politics and the environment, things like that.
That's right. So why don't we take a look at these nationalities now on Language Takeaway.
The first few are from Europe. So these are some European nationalities. We've got German. Where's a German from?
A German is from Germany.
Okay, so next to Germany, we have another country, Poland. What do we call a person from Poland?
You call that person a Pole.
So is this for a woman and a man, or is this just one gender?
Yeah, it's for both. So a girl that's from Poland would be also a Pole. Now, someone that comes from Scotland on the other hand,
That would be a Scot. Or if it's a man, a Scotsman.
Scotsman, okay. Now, this is interesting because we are mentioning the nouns of these nationalities, like, uh, for example, German. Now, when we took a look at Pole from Poland, what would be the adjective? Do I say I am Pole?
I am Polish.
Okay.
Or if you want to use the noun, I am a Pole. But the adjective can be used for things as well. I love to eat Polish sausages.
Okay, or for example, some or something from Scotland, you can say, I love Scottish whisky.
Or I love Scottish kilts. Those skirts. All right, so that's the adjective. But in the case of France, the country France, we have to say as a noun, he is a Frenchman.
Okay, and if it's a woman, a Frenchwoman.
That's right. Or in the case of an adjective, I love to eat French bread.
Okay. Now moving on to South America, we took a look at a Brazilian and a Chilean.
Okay, so Brazil, Brazilian. In this country, there are many Brazilians. And Chile or Chile, as many Americans say, um, has people called Chileans.
Mm-hm. Some people say Chilean. So I don't know, I guess some it the accent varies a little bit. Now, why don't we move back to the other side of the world? We have a New Zealander.
All right, so many of you have heard of Australia. Maybe New Zealand is not as famous. It's a small country near Australia, and the people who come from there are called New Zealanders. It's very hard to to say those sometimes, especially when we have to use the adjective New Zealand.
That's right. So the student said he prefers to call himself a Kiwi.
All right, so Kiwi was a special kind of bird that could only be found in New Zealand, and so this became a very popular symbol for Kiwi for New Zealand. And now people from New Zealand call themselves Kiwis. So I could say, I have many Kiwi friends.
That's right. Okay. Kiwis. So now if we go to the African continent, we have Moroccan and Togolese.
So Morocco is in North Africa, and a person who comes from there is Moroccan. You can also say I like to eat Moroccan food, which is very popular. Um, but when we talk about the country Togo,
What do we call a person from that country? Togolese.
Togolese.
Okay, so it's Togo. That's the way you pronounce it. Because if you look at it, I would say to go. Right? But it's not to go, it's Togo.
Or as my French-speaking friends would say, Togo.
That's right.
All right, so that's our first set of nationalities. Let's listen to today's dialogue one more time and we'll be back in a moment to discuss the other nationalities.
Hey, how was your first day of class? I'm in level two and I'm loving my class this semester. It's great being in a class of international students.
Mine was okay, except that no one in my class speaks English. I guess it will force me to converse in Chinese more in class, so at least I should improve a lot this semester.
That's both fortunate and unfortunate. It's the United Nations in my class. We have people from all over the world. There are three Germans, a Pole, a Scot, two French, an American, a Brazilian, a Chilean, a New Zealander, though he prefers to call himself a Kiwi. Who else do we have? Oh, we have a Moroccan, a Togolese, a Pakistani, and two Indonesians.
That's quite the array of nationalities. Everyone in my class is from Asia, except me. There were a few South Koreans, several Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean, Filipino, Kazakhstani, and one Russian.
Well, I think you're pretty lucky actually. You'll have the opportunity to learn so much about Asian culture.
I guess so, but I think it's going to be hard to relate to my classmates, especially with the language barrier. I think I might change classes.
Don't, stay the course. Your spoken Chinese will be eternally grateful. I bet you it'll even surpass mine with all that practice.
I highly doubt it. Your girlfriend is Chinese.
Well, there is that, yes.
All right, we're back. So now we have more nationalities prepared for you, so let's take a look at those now on Language Takeaway part two.
We're in Asia for this part of today's lesson. So we're going to start with a country called Pakistan. What do we call the people from Pakistan?
We say they are Pakistani.
Okay, so in in Chicago, for example, there are many Pakistanis.
Mm-hm, okay. And uh moving on to Southeast Asia, we have Indonesians.
All right, Indonesia is the country, and people who come from there are Indonesian.
Okay, very good. Now if we go back to the north part of Asia, we have South Koreans.
So we have North and South Korea on our maps. A person from North Korea is North Korean, and a person from South Korea is South Korean. It's kind of like that same structure, American, Brazilian, Korean.
Very good. And moving to the island of Japan, we have Japanese.
So this is an adjective. We're talking about, uh, a Japanese person, he is Japanese. Or we can also talk about the food like sushi is Japanese food.
That's right.
Okay, moving back to Southeast Asia again, we have Malaysia. So people from Malaysia are called Malaysian.
Okay, again with this pattern. Mm. Malaysian, Korean.
That's right. And I think, uh, you say Malaysian food, or you say Malay? I've heard some people say Malay.
Uh, I've I've said Malaysian food generally, but, um, Malay, I think is one of the languages, and I think it's an ethnic group as well, so you can have Malay people in Singapore, for example.
Okay. And actually, we have Thai people and Singaporean. So we have two countries there, Thailand and Singapore.
So Thai is the adjective is the adjective to describe things that come from Thailand. Uh, it's kind of unusual, it doesn't fit that pattern that I mentioned, but, uh, it's a very important one to remember if you like to eat food from this country, Thai food.
Yeah, excellent food. And Singaporean food is also pretty good, and people from Singapore are also called Singaporean.
Mm-hm. Here we've got a very tricky one. We've got the country, the Philippines. What do you call a person from the Philippines?
So the Philippine is actually spelled P H I, like Philippines, right? Um, but if somebody is from the Philippines, we say Filipino with an F.
All right, Filipino. This is interesting, especially for people who are native Spanish speakers because, uh, the Philippines was a Spanish colony for a very long time, and so you might hear someone refer to himself as a Filipino, he's a man, or if she is a woman, a Filipina.
So this is very similar to the Spanish structure of having a gender on the end of the word.
That's right.
And well, now we're moving on to Kazakhstan and Russia. We have people that are from Kazakhstan and Russia, and we say they are Kazakhstani.
Mm. So this is very common in that part of the world, um, to end the adjective in an I. Like Afghanistan, Afghani, Pakistan, Pakistani, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstani. And so these are the stans, the former USSR. Um, so this is a very important structure to remember, but Russia is pretty easy.
Yeah, people from Russia, you say they are Russian. Or you have Russian food.
Mm, really good. I love Russian food.
All right, so we have a lot of different nationalities there. And obviously, we didn't cover all of them, I think, I don't know, maybe 200 nationalities. So, why don't we listen to the dialogue again, and we'll be back to talk a little bit more about this really interesting topic.
Hey, how was your first day of class? I'm in level two and I'm loving my class this semester. It's great being in a class of international students.
Mine was okay, except that no one in my class speaks English. I guess it will force me to converse in Chinese more in class, so at least I should improve a lot this semester.
That's both fortunate and unfortunate. It's the United Nations in my class. We have people from all over the world. There are three Germans, a Pole, a Scot, two French, an American, a Brazilian, a Chilean, a New Zealander, though he prefers to call himself a Kiwi. Who else do we have? Oh, we have a Moroccan, a Togolese, a Pakistani, and two Indonesians.
That's quite the array of nationalities. Everyone in my class is from Asia, except me. There were a few South Koreans, several Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean, Filipino, Kazakhstani, and one Russian.
Well, I think you're pretty lucky actually. You'll have the opportunity to learn so much about Asian culture.
I guess so, but I think it's going to be hard to relate to my classmates, especially with the language barrier. I think I might change classes.
Don't, stay the course. Your spoken Chinese will be eternally grateful. I bet you it'll even surpass mine with all that practice.
I highly doubt it. Your girlfriend is Chinese.
Well, there is that, yes.
All right, we're back. So, um, talking about nationalities, I think there's one that we didn't mention that's very, very popular. People from Ireland.
Okay, so people from Ireland are called Irish.
Irish.
The Irish or Irishman. This is a similar structure to a lot of those countries in Northern Europe like Sweden and Finland.
That's right. So somebody from Sweden would be called Swedish.
Yes, or a Swede is the noun. So, I love to eat Swedish food like salmon.
Um, but the similar a similar structure applies to Finland. In Finland, they're very famous for their Finnish bread.
Finnish. So that's the way that you say Finnish with N, right?
That's right. It's not like I finished my homework. It's like F I N N I S H, Finnish.
Finnish. And now what about people from Denmark?
They are Danish.
Danish. And what about people from Norway?
They are Norwegian. So that's one that does not fit the pattern.
And this is a very interesting one that also doesn't fit the pattern at all. People from Holland.
Okay, so Holland as a country has two names. We sometimes say Holland, we sometimes say the Netherlands. But a person who comes from Holland is called Dutch. He is Dutch.
That's right. So it doesn't have to do with neither Holland, you don't say a Holander or Netherlands, you don't say Netherlander, it's Dutch.
Dutch. You're also, you'll also read this on like cookie tins, you know, boxes for cookies, Dutch-style cookies.
That's right. So that's a very important one when it comes to food.
Um, but we're very curious to hear about where you come from. You should try some of the new vocabulary words that we have introduced here, talk about your friends or your family. But also, tell us if we didn't include your nationality.
That's right. All right, so we'll see you guys there.
Englishpod.com. Bye.
Summary
This audio is an English vocabulary review session. A male speaker introduces sections, and a female speaker defines words, pronounces them, and uses them in example sentences. The vocabulary covered includes 'United Nations', 'Array', 'Chance', 'Opportunity', 'Language Barrier', and 'Stay the course'.
Transcript (Click timestamp to jump)
The English Pod audio review.
Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.
An international political organization.
United Nations.
A large group or quantity of people or things.
Array.
Chance.
Opportunity.
Trouble communicating because speak different languages.
Language barrier.
Remain or persevere to the end.
Stay the course.
Let's try that faster.
Trouble communicating because speak different languages.
Language barrier.
A large group or quantity of people or things.
Array.
An international political organization.
United Nations.
Chance.
Opportunity.
Remain or persevere to the end.
Stay the course.
Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.
United Nations.
She has friends of all different nationalities, and they teach her a lot about different cultures.
United Nations.
This city has cuisine from many different countries. You could say it's the United Nations of dining.
United Nations.
Our office is like the United Nations. We have employees from all over the world.
Array.
Erica has an array of dolls she collected from all her travels.
Array.
There was a large array of people at the party, and I had a lot of fun getting to know everybody.
Array.
She has an array of accessories to choose from every morning.
Opportunity.
If I make a good impression today, he might give me the opportunity to work for his office full time.
Opportunity.
I am moving to the city where there are more opportunities for me.
Opportunity.
Even though you messed up, I will give you an opportunity to fix the problem.
Language barrier.
At first, it was hard to relate to my Chinese roommate because of the language barrier.
Language barrier.
Even though they seem to really like each other, the language barrier makes it hard for them to have a deeper relationship.
Language barrier.
There are some expressions that are universal, regardless of the language barrier.
Stay the course.
Even though it might seem impossible, I'm sure that if you stay the course, you'll definitely find a solution.
Stay the course.
We will meet some challenges, but we will succeed if we stay the course.
Stay the course.
Even though the war is going badly, the president has decided to stay the course.