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Merry Christmas! What are you doing for Christmas this year? Reza’s going to Belfast to spend Christmas with his family. Craig is really looking forward to Christmas. Reza’s still waiting for a dulce de leche recipe. He will send you his mum’s recipe for cranberry sauce.
A question from Mara from Valencia: “What’s the difference between other and another?” (singular/plural)
Gramática: other, another, others
This is another episode. There are 9 others. There are 9 other episodes.
another + single countable noun (Can I have another beer?)
other + plural countable nouns (There are other episodes)
There are 9 others (no noun)
Craig also does other work (other + uncountable noun) – He has other jobs
Vocabulary Corner:
December 24th – Christmas Eve
December 25th – Christmas Day
Boxing Day = el 26 de diciembre, día festivo en Gran Bretaña
January 1st – New Year’s Day
December 31st – New Year’s Eve
January 6th – The day of the (three) Kings, or “Epiphany”
wrapping paper = papel de envolver/papel de regalo
¡Feliz Navidad! – Happy Christmas! / Merry Christmas!
¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo! – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
¡Felices fiestas! – Season’s greetings! Happy holidays!
Salud! – Cheers! (“Slancha” in Ireland)
Phrasal verb: wrap up (not RAP!)
to wrap up presents (envolver, empaquetar). People wrap up presents at Christmas time.
To wrap up a deal (to complete, conclude a deal etc). This podcast wraps up the year.
Don’t get too wrapped up in work (absorbed, involved)
Wrap up warm, it’s cold outside (abrigarse). Wrap up well in the winter when it’s cold.
Para estudiar los phrasal verbs, recomendamos el cd de Mike Hardinge Get Ahead with Phrasal Verbs
Pronunciación: In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (car, hotel, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.
For example: photograph, photographer and photographic.
Do they sound the same? How many syllables do they have? Where’s the stress in each word?
photograph (DA de de)
photographer (de DA de de)
photographic (de de DA de)
Hay más practica con el estres de las palabras aquí
Reza’s Top Tip: Watch DVDs in English
1) Watch in English with English subtitles (original version). Pause and take notes.
2) Watch again with English sound and with Spanish subtitles.
3) Watch again with English sound and English subtitles but don’t stop it.
Let’s wrap up this episode Reza! Give us a Christmas gift – go to iTunes and give us some stars (estrellas) y un corto resumen en iTunes.
The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called See You Later – licensed by creative commons under a by-nc license at ccmixter.org.
Si quieres mandarnos un comentario sobre este podcast o una pregunta sobre el inglés, puedes ponerse en contacto con Reza a [email protected] y a con Craig a [email protected].
FULL TRANSCRIPTION (kindly contributed by Patricia Alonso)
C: Hello, and welcome to episodio 10, episode 10, of Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig, Merry Christmas!
R: Merry Christmas Craig! How are you?
C: I’m full of Christmas spirit, I’m fantastically excited about Christmas. What are you doing this year?
R: Well, I’m going to visit my mum in Ireland, it’ll be cold there, it may even snow. Never snows in Valencia, listeners, that’s a pity, I love snow, do you?
C: I do, I love white Christmas. Do you have a family Christmas then, usually?
R: Yes, it’ll be me and my brothers and sister, my mum and the turkey, of course, you have to have the turkey.
C: You have to have your turkey, and your cranberry sauce and your stuffing. Does your mum do the cooking?
R: She does and she makes her cranberry sauce. By the way, do you remember in the last lesson I asked for a recipe for dulce de leche?
C: Yes.
R: If someone sends me one, I’m still waiting, eh, I’m very patient, I’m still waiting, I might send you my mum’s homemade cranberry sauce recipe, it’s the best cranberry sauce you’ve ever tried. We’ll do a swap but first I want the dulce de leche recipe.
C: From, all the way from Argentina.
R: Yeah.
C: We have a question this week from Mara, from Valencia, and Mara asks “What’s the difference between other and another?” I think you’re going to explain that, aren’t you? In your grammar section, so over to you.
R: Oki doki, so here we are with another grammar section. Another, eh? Tricky words, another, other and indeed others, three words which are often confused.
C: Other, another, others.
R: Others, yeah, so this is episode 10, it’s another episode of Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig. There are nine other episodes, that’s a lot, nine others, and here we are doing yet another. Listeners, have you notices there that I said another episode, I said nine other episodes, I said nine others.
C: I can start to see…
R: So, these words are similar but they’re not all the same. Let’s go back to what I said. Here we are doing another episode of Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig, another episode. The word another can go with a countable noun; one episode, two episodes, three episodes… This is episode 10, another plus a countable noun.
C: Or another beer.
R: Another beer, otra cerveza, another episode, otro episodio. I also said there are nine other episodes, so don’t confuse another episode, that’s singular, otro episodio, with nine other episodes, nueve episodios más or otros nueve episodios. So, the word other can go with a plural countable noun, another is always with a singular countable. Think about it, an-other, is gotta be singular, right? But other episodes, other plus a plural countable noun, other episodes.
C: So, when do you use others?
R: Aha, so I said there are other nine episodes, and then I said that’s a lot, nine others, nine others, with “s” at the end, because I didn’t add the plural countable noun episodes, but it’s understood nine others. So, if I don’t use a noun, nine others equals nine other episodes.
C: So, for example, if you ask me if these books come In different colours and I say, well, yes, there’s red, there’s black, there’s orange, and then you could say, are there others?
R: Are there others?
C: So, I understand the question is are there other colours?
R: Yes, both are possible. Are there others equals are there other colours. So, others go with a no noun, whereas other goes with a noun, other plus a plural countable noun, other colours. Or another can go with a singular noun.
C: Would you like another cup of tea?
R: I will, after the podcast, thanks. But I have a little bit more to say about that. You can also use the word other with uncountable nouns, for example, Craig, you do The Mansión del Inglés, right? But you also do other work, don’t you?
C: I do, I teach in a school.
R: Ok.
C: I have another job.
R: Aha, does other work. As Craig explained very well in the last episode, that’s episode 9, the word work is uncountable, so I said Craig does other work. I cannot say another because work is uncountable, Craig does other work. So, you can use other with an uncountable noun.
C: I see.
R: So, we say Craig does other work or Craig does other jobs. Jobs is countable plural, it can also go with other, so other can go with a countable plural or other can go with an uncountable.
C: Mm, that’s very clear. Do you have other examples?
R: Yes…
C: That wasn’t a serious question, I just wanted to use the word other.
R: Yes, I do have other examples.
C: Do you have any other examples?
R: Yes.
C: Or another example?
R: Yes, indeed I do. You know we’ve started up now the possibility, I hope, of exchanging my mum’s homemade cranberry recipe for dulce de leche porteño. I apologise for that accent, any Argentinian listeners, I know it’s terrible.
C: It’s terrible.
R: Ok, but the dulce de leche recipe. Well, you know, Craig and I we both enjoy good food, o if there are any other recipes please sent them in, we’ll be only too happy, but on one condition, they must be in English, they must be in English, good practise for you. So, send in others, if you got another recipe send it in please.
C: And you can send them in by email to [email protected].
R: Craig, is that the only way to contact you? Or is there another way?
C: At the moment we’re working on a system in the new year where you can send sound files through the web but if you want to send us an mp3 file, with a question or a comment or a recipe, you can just record your voice on your computer and send the mp3 file as an attachment, adjuntado, to the email, and send it to mansion ingles, sorry, [email protected].
R: Ok, Craig, we’d better get on, because we have other material to cover.
C: We have another section…
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C: WE have another section, and the next section is the vocabulary corner and because it’s Christmas or nearly Christmas, I thought we could look at some Christmas words and Christmas vocabulary, for example, Reza, December the 24th, what do you call December the 24th in English?
R: In English, Christmas Eve.
C: Christmas Eve, so you will be in Ireland with your family on Christmas Eve?
R: Indeed I will, yes.
C: And presumably, I presume, I guess, you will also be there on December the 25th, which is of course…
R: Christmas Day.
C: Christmas Day. Now, listeners may not know, the word for the 26th of December in English. 26th of December es un día festivo en Gran Bretaña, and it’s called…
R: Boxing Day.
C: Boxing Day.
R: Craig, let me tell you something that you may not have heard before, there’s no reason that you would have. Boxing Day, 26th of December. However, in the Republic of Ireland, officially, the 26th of December is known as St. Steven’s Day.
C: I heard that, St. Steven.
R: St. Steven’s Day, it’s also a holiday but it’s called St. Steven’s Day in the Republic of Ireland.
C: Is the 26th of December a holiday in Spain?
R: I don’t know, certainly not a big deal, o sea, no es gran cosa, it’s not a big deal, but…
C: It is a national holiday, isn’t it?
R: I don’t think it is.
C: Only if it falls on a weekend, que se cae en fin de semana.
R: Whereas in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland it’s always a public holiday.
C: That’s right. Do you know why it’s called Boxing Day? There are a couple of theories.
R: Em… do people punch each other?
C: That’s the first theory, I always though it’s because they had boxing, it’s a big day of sports in the UK, they have football matches, horseracing I think and… but no, that’s not, I don’t think that’s the original… I think it’s because the rich people use to give their servants a present to appreciate their help during the year, and especially to appreciate the work they did over Christmas during the Christmas period, so they gave them a box of maybe food or a box as a gift, as a present, on the day after Christmas, on Boxing Day, so that’s one explanation.
R: Ok, I haven’t heard that but I had heard another explanation, I had heard that it’s maybe because on the 26th of December when people were feeling all Christmassy, if you add a “y” to the end of Christmas, Christmassy is like sentido o sensación de Navidad, that people in church would put money in the collection box.
C: I heard that.
R: Boxing Day collection box.
C: I heard that too, so yeah, it could be that also.
January the 1st, the 1st of January, is called…
R: New Year’s Day.
C: New Year’s Day, and the 31st of December, the day before New Year’s Day, is called…
R: I would call it New Year’s Eve, but, Craig, you know, my mum’s a bit odd, I told you and the listeners, now, they’re getting a picture of how odd she can be…
C: How strange, odd means strange.
R: Rara. She’s old school, es vieja escuela, and like some people in Ireland, and I believe some people in Scotland as well, my mum insists on calling the 31st of December Old Year’s Night.
C: Really?
R: Yes.
C: I’ve never heard that before.
R: It’s quite common in Ireland among older people, it’s an old fashion of saying New Year’s Eve, Old Year’s Night.
C: Well, that’s interesting because of course in Spain it’s Nochevieja.
R: Exactly, it’s more like in Spanish, isn’t it?
C: Interesting. Ok, what do you say somebody at Christmas in English if you want to say Felices Fiestas?
R: Felices Fiestas, well, you could say Merry Christmas, or you could say, if you don’t want to mention Christmas because they might not be religious, you could say something like Season’s Greetings.
C: Season’s Greetings, Happy Holiday is very politically correct. Or Happy Christmas, just Happy Christmas, Merry Christmas, and how do you say Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo?
R: Happy Christmas or Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, or a Prosperous New Year.
C: Happy New Year and a Merry Merry Christmas. Be careful with merry because I had a couple of emails last year, sorry, last week, wishing us, La mansion del inglés, Merry Christmas spelled “marry”.
R: “Marry” Christmas.
C: Merry Christmas, not marry, it’s merry, merry.
R: Hold on, it was “mary” or “marry”?
C: It was “marry”.
R: “Marry” Christmas.
C: “Marry” Christmas.
R: If it was one “r” it would be “Mary” Christmas, whoever she is.
C: And finally, when you drink at Christmas and when you have a glass of beer, a glass of champagne or wine and you do this, and you touch your glass with another glass, you say Salud In Spanish or…
R: Cheers!
C: Cheers! So, that’s another useful expression, if you’re drinking with English people or Irish people, say Cheers.
R: Well, with Irish people you might say Slonche.
C: Slonche? That’s cheers in gaelic?
R: Yes.
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C: Moving on to our phrasal verb of the episode, what’s our phrasal verb this week?
R: What’s our phrasal verb this week, Craig? What’s it gonna be in Christmas? It’s wrap up, of course it is.
C: Not like rap, as in music like Eminem, as in rapping..
R: “You man, I’m the teacher of the season…”. No!
C: Christmas rapping.
R: How embarrassing! Let’s cut that out, we’re not rappers of that sense, are we listeners? But we’re Christmas wrappers in the sense that we put paper around presents, yes. So, a very common meaning and for Christmas it’s really important, to wrap up a present and that means to put wrapping paper, papel para envolver, round the present, so envolver, empaquetar.
C: Have you wrapped your presents yet to your family?
R: Not yet, I am a last minute man, I normally do mine on Christmas Eve.
C: Have you bought them yet?
R: I have actually, I’ve bought a couple of things, but I don’t want to say it cause, you know, my mum might be listening to this.
C: Your mum might be listening?
R: Yes, she might.
C: You don’t want to… No spoilers.
R: No, I don’t want her to know what I bought.
C: Don’t give anything away .
R: Yeah, but yes I have, but I haven’t wrapped it. Another meaning of wrap up, though, which is not necessarily Christmassy, is to wrap up a deal, to wrap up a deal, to complete. Imagine we said, for example, two businessman, the buyer and the seller, negotiated until eventually they agreed so they wrapped up a deal, they agreed the price, they wrapped up the deal, they completed it, finished.
C: Let’s wrap this up.
R: So, it has that meaning, or just generally to conclude, for example, this podcast is the last one of 2013, it wraps it up for 2013.
C: It wraps up the year.
R: Wraps up the year, it ends it, it completes it, it concludes it. For the year, listeners, don’t cry, the next one will be 2014, there will be more.
And let’s… You know we should all relax at the holiday time, the festive season. Let’s not get too wrapped up in work, Craig, let you and I just forget about the podcast for a couple of weeks, yeah, let’s not get too absorbed, obsessed… for a week or two, we need to forget about our English teaching work, let’s not get totally wrapped up in our work. Wrapped up, absorbed, involved, obsessed. You don’t wanna be wrapped up in things.
C: But you can’t say we should unwrap, it’s not relax.
R: No, to unwrap just means to take the wrapping paper, it doesn’t have an abstract meaning.
One last meaning of wrap up, and It’s kind of a tip for listeners as well, do wrap up well, listeners, if you’re in the Northern hemisphere. If you are in the Southern hemisphere I appreciate it’s your summer, but if you’re in the Northern, so those of you who are lucky to be frequent eaters of the dulce de leche, in Argentina, in the Southern hemisphere, it does not apply to you because it’s your summer, in the Northern hemisphere do wrap up well, because at Christmas time it’s cold. Wear your scarfs, your gloves… WE don0t want you to catch cold, wrap up well, that means put on lots of clothes, don’t expose your skin.
C: Abrigarse. As my mother used to say, “Wrap up warm, Craig, it’s cold outside”.
R: She was wise.
C: Wrap up warm.
R: That’s it, that’s y phrasal verb, wrap up for today.
C: One las thing, please remember with wrap there’s a silent “W”, so it’s wrap, to wrap up.
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C: Moving on to pronunciation, in English we do not say each syllable with the same stress, con la misma fuerza, the same strength. In one word, we usually accentuate or stress one syllable, so we would say one syllable more loudly, más fuerte que las demás. Car has one syllable, so there’s no problem, my car, but an example of a word with two syllables is hotel. Now, some Spanish speakers might pronounce that hotel, but we know the stress is on the second syllable, so it’s hotel. A work like important, how many syllables does that have?
R: Three syllables.
C: Three syllables, which one is stressed, which one is strong?
R: The middle, the second one.
C: The second syllable, so important. It might help to use the words “de DA de”, “de DA” is the strong syllable so hotel would be “de DA”, hotel, important “de DA de”. What about… let’s look at one route word that has three different stress patterns or stress forms: photograph, but a person who takes photographs is called a…
R: Photographer.
C: How many syllables?
R: Four syllables.
C: Four syllables. Which one is stressed?
R: This time it’s the second syllable.
C: Absolutely, so “de DA de de”, photographer. And the adjective?
R: Photographic.
C: Photographic, four syllables, but this time the third syllable is stressed, “de de DA de”, photographic. So listen again for stresses, “DA de de”, photograph, “de DA de de”, photographer, and “de de DA de”, photographic. So it’s important when you learn new vocabulary, listeners, it’s important to mark the stress. If you look in a good dictionary, you’ll see a small, very small line before the stressed syllable, like a small coma above the word to show where to stress the word, and in some course books, in some English books, you may see a small box, you may see a circle, a small circle, a big circle where you stress the syllable, or a big box where you stress the syllable. So, pay attention to that and when you’re writing new words, in your vocabulary books, make sure you mark the correct stress.
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C: Reza, do you have a top tip for us this episode?
R: I do, a very quick tip, I thought I would try and relate it to Christmas. The festive season is a time when you should be relaxing, enjoying yourself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t practise your English a little bit. You can study a little bit, but let’s do it in a nice way. My tip for you is spend the holiday season watching films in English.
C: That’s a good idea.
R: In English though, yeah? So, what I recommend you do is this: first of all watch the film in English sound and English subtitles.
C: In original version?
R: Original version English, sound ad subtitles, los subtítulos, what’s written below. Pause whenever you like, take notes, any new vocabulary, stop, repeat the words, try to copy the intonation and the stress, the pronunciation… Fine, do that. Then, watch it a second time, a little bit more, a little bit easier this time, in English sound but the Spanish subtitles, so now you can be sure, if you’re a Spanish speaker, that with the Spanish subtitles you definitely understand what they’re saying, because with English subtitles you still might not have understood, but now with the Spanish subtitles and the English sound you definitely, hopefully, gonna understand. Again, pause, take notes if you like, write translations in Spanish if you really think it’s helpful. Then listen a third time with English sound and English subtitles, but don’t stop, just watch the film, enjoy it, there may still be one or two words you don’t quite understand, don’t worry about that, don’t interrupt it, watch it the whole way through, English subtitles and English sound the third time. It sounds like hard work but believe me, you’ll get a lot out of it and by the time you get to the third listening you’ll be really happy with yourself that you understand an entire film. That’s my main tip for today, and my other tip, what we said earlier, Craig’s mum’s right, it’s wrap up well.
C: Wrap up warm.
R: Don’t be getting a cold, that’s our most important tip.
C: We don’t want to start 2014 with a cold or in bed with the flu, so wrap up warm and take care of yourselves this Christmas time. So, Reza, shall we wrap up this episode?
R: Yes, it’s a wrap.
C: It’s a warp.
R: That’s with the “w”, we’re not gonna sing. Rap with an “r” no, wrap with a wrap, it’s a wrap.
C: There will be no Christmas rapping on this show. Remember, please give us a Christmas gift, go to itunes and give us some stars, some estrellas, on our itunes page so that more people can find this podcast. And also, if you have time you could write un corto resumen, a small, a summary small… review, a review, a short review on itunes.
R: Una crítica.
C: Una crítica, resumen, yeah.
R: No, review, review es crítica. And resumen is review. Oh, but you mean a review in the sense of what your opinion is.
C: What your opinion is, yes.
R: Ah, I would write una opinion.
C: Ok, please write your opinion on itunes about this podcast, so Happy Christmas, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.
R: Same for me, bye bye!
Thanks.