Episode 0276

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine, and today we have an elementary level lesson for you.

That's right. Today we're gonna take a look at our mobile phones, but not the physical phone. Now we're gonna talk about services that you can get for your mobile phone.

All right, so in America and many other places, you don't buy that little card with money on it. You actually have to pay every month for a service.

So we're going to learn about this today. Let's check out our dialogue.

Telco Mobile, how can I help you?

Yes, I'd like to activate my voicemail service, please.

Perfect. I also wanted to know if there's any call forwarding service.

I am usually out of town and would like my calls to be forwarded to a local number.

All right, we're back. So now let's take a look at some of these services on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

So Marco, the first word that I wanted to talk about today is this verb to activate.

That's right. We have a verb here, to activate. And this means to make something start to work, to make something begin.

That's right, so to turn on. But you don't say, hey, can you activate the light?

Right, right, right. You wouldn't say that. You'd say, can you turn on the light?

Uh, but to activate means to start a service.

So this is what we want today. We want to activate some services. And uh the first one that we ask for is voicemail service.

Voicemail service.

Now let's think about the words that make up this one word.

Uh, voicemail, voicemail. So it's like a mailbox for your phone.

Mhm, that's right. Where you leave messages, obviously not text messages, but you leave voice messages.

That's right. So, you know, "I'm sorry, I cannot answer the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep."

Beep.

That's my voicemail message.

That's right. So it's actually a very useful thing. We'll talk about that a little bit later.

But, uh, let's take a look at our next service. Uh, we also want to get call waiting.

All right, so this is a very interesting service. I don't know if they have this in other parts of the world, but

in America, if I'm talking on the phone to you, Marco, and we're having a nice conversation, but then my mom calls, when I'm talking, I hear beep, beep, beep. I hear some sounds, and that means someone else is trying to call you.

All right, so you can't hear this, but I can hear this. And that means if I want to talk to my mom, I'll say, "Hey Marco, listen, someone else is calling. Can I call you tomorrow?"

That's right. So actually, call waiting is a very useful service because the person that's calling you will never get a busy signal. You'll always seem available.

But the good thing is that you can switch between calls.

So I could say, "Hey Marco, listen, I think that's my mom. Can you hold? Can you wait? I will be right back."

And then I push a button, and then I can talk to my mom.

And then my mom says, "Okay, I'll talk to you later." I push a button and then Marco, you're there.

Now, let's take a look at our next service that we are also getting as part of this package. We are getting three-way calling.

So, from the name of this, we can think of three people talking. All right?

So, maybe Marco, you want to talk to my mom too.

So we can talk, and then we add another person. So you can call a third phone number. 1, 2, 3, me, you and someone else. And the three of us can talk at the same time.

That's right. So it's kind of a way of of having a small conference between three people.

And, uh, so this is this is what you can do with three-way calling. You can call two people simultaneously and talk to them at the same time.

So, a lot of great services here. I think we've learned a couple of different things. Why don't we review it and listen to the dialogue again?

Telco Mobile, how can I help you?

Yes, I'd like to activate my voicemail service, please.

Perfect. I also wanted to know if there's any call forwarding service.

I am usually out of town and would like my calls to be forwarded to a local number.

All right, we're back. So now let's keep on going here towards the last half of our dialogue. Let's take a look at some more words on Language Takeaway part two.

Language Takeaway.

So this first phrase in Language Takeaway part two is hidden fees, hidden fees. What are these?

The operator guarantees that there are no hidden fees.

So, this is usually what we call the fine print, the small fees that we don't really know about.

So they say, "Oh, it costs $3 a month." But you have small little hidden fees like if you're late on a payment, they'll charge you an extra dollar or if you use the service too much, they'll charge you another extra dollar.

Right, so a fee is something that you pay. All right?

And something that is hidden means you cannot see it.

And so like you're saying with this example, um, there are many, many conditions, many, many different things, rules that we have to follow. And if we don't follow those rules exactly, then maybe this company that provides the phone service will ask us for more and more money.

And actually it has to do a lot with our next word where she said that there are also no surcharges.

Okay, so a surcharge is an extra amount of money that you have to pay.

Mhm.

So, uh, we say that this service has no hidden fees or surcharges.

So, that means that we don't have to pay anything additional to what we already paying.

For example, some companies will say, "Okay, pay us $10 and you get your new cell phone, phone plan."

"But uh, to activate your service is another $5." So the total price is $15 and that's that's a surcharge. That's an extra fee that you have to pay.

Okay, and uh, continuing on the topic of money, she says it is a flat monthly rate, a flat monthly rate.

Well, monthly is an adverb that tells us how often we pay. We pay one time every month.

But this term flat rate is very, very important and it happened we use this term a lot when we're talking about um paying fees.

So a flat rate means it does not change when you, for example, talk more on the phone.

So you pay the same amount every month.

That's right. A clear example is probably your internet service provider. You pay $20 a month, and that's a flat rate. If you use the internet 24 hours a day, nothing happens, you don't pay more. If you use it less, you still pay the same amount of money.

So what if I pay $10 normally, but this month I use the internet a lot and now I have to pay $15? Is that a flat rate?

No, no, that's not a flat rate.

Okay, that's a change that that changes with my use.

Okay. And uh, now let's take a look at one last service that uh this man was also interesting in getting. And uh he says that he wants to get a call forwarding service. He wants to forward his calls to a local number.

Okay, so to forward something means to pass it along.

So call forwarding means that if I'm not available, for example, um, I'm not at home and someone calls my home, there's no one there to talk to the person that's calling, then maybe I could have a call forwarding service that will make the call go to my cellular phone.

Mhm.

All right? So the call forwarding means that the call will travel to another phone.

So, as you said, this is what call forwarding is. And the word to forward, as you said, to pass along.

Maybe many of you have uh done it in your emails when you get maybe a nice message, you forward it to more of your friends. And this is the the the exact same definition.

Exactly. So you have one message and you pass it on to someone else.

And so in call forwarding, you normally have this service if you're often on business trips or traveling, you're out of town. It's very, very helpful for people who are not in one place all the time.

That's right. So, why don't we listen to the dialogue one last time and we'll be back in a bit.

Telco Mobile, how can I help you?

Yes, I'd like to activate my voicemail service, please.

Perfect. I also wanted to know if there's any call forwarding service.

I am usually out of town and would like my calls to be forwarded to a local number.

So talking about all these, uh, services, it's very interesting because many of these services are not really available everywhere in the world, like for example, voicemail.

That's right. So, in China, no one really has voicemail. It's very strange for an American because you think, well, if I'm not home, I want to know why this person called.

But, uh, oftentimes you just have to call back and find out.

And, uh, actually, I really think that, uh, voicemail service is a very good thing, especially if you need to leave a message for someone. You know, "Hey, we're at the restaurant, call me back when you have a chance."

Beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep. And then you know that they're on the telephone, but you don't know when they will stop talking on the phone.

But maybe someone's ordering a lot of food.

So actually, these services are very common in the United States.

And I'm not, I'm sure there are even more services now. I know that you can have a uh a a telephone number, for example, in another country, but it'll ring in the United States.

Yeah, that's right, or you can connect your computer and your messaging service and all these things to your phone.

So it's pretty, pretty technologically advanced.

But I am, I'm very curious to know about, uh, you guys, our listeners, what kind of services for your cell phone or for your landline do you have? Do you have call forwarding or voicemail?

Let us know. Our website is englishpod.com.

Bye.

Bye.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

To cause a device to start working.

To activate.

Something done to make people aware of a product.

Promotion.

Money that be paid in addition to the regular.

Surcharge.

Money that be paid in addition to the regular.

Surcharge.

Let's try that faster.

Money that be paid in addition to the regular.

Surcharge.

To cause a device to start working.

To activate.

Money that be paid in addition to the regular.

Surcharge.

Something done to make people aware of a product.

Promotion.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

To activate.

Once you activate your account, you can begin using the website.

To activate.

The medicine activates when you pour it in water.

To activate.

I can't use my phone because I haven't activated my account yet.

Promotion.

I bought two shirts during the promotion sale.

Promotion.

The new restaurant is having a drinks promotion this entire month.

Promotion.

In order to draw in customers, they had a promotion.

Surcharge.

You need to pay a surcharge to process your visa.

Surcharge.

Nearly every contract comes with a bunch of extra fees and surcharges.

Surcharge.

I was surprised that there were no surcharges to my bill.

Surcharge.

If you use your phone a lot, it's better to pay a flat monthly rate.

Surcharge.

The hotel charges a $100 flat rate.

Surcharge.

You can get internet in your home for a low flat rate.