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Meeting an Out of Town Friend

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 137: Meeting an Out of Town Friend.

You’re listening to English as a Second Language Podcast episode 137. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this podcast, we’re going to meet an old friend. Let’s get started!

[start of dialog]

Lucy: Hey Jeff, have you met my friend?

Jeff: No, I don’t think I have.

Lucy: Well, this is my oldest and best friend, Marlene. She’s visiting from out of town.

Jeff: Hi, I’m Jeff.

Marlene: Hi, it’s nice meeting you.

Jeff: How long do you plan to be in town?

Marlene: I’m here for the long weekend, staying with Lucy. We’re doing some catching up and I’m getting a break from work.

Jeff: Oh, what line of work are you in? Are you in the same field as Lucy?

Marlene: No, I’m in medicine. I’m a doctor, actually, a pediatrician. I enjoy the work, but it’s nice to get away for a few days. What kind of work do you do?

Jeff: I work in the education field, but what I really want to do is to become a professional singer.

Lucy: Jeff has a great voice. He sounds exactly like Frank Sinatra.

Marlene: Really?

Jeff: No, she’s just kidding and Lucy knows that I can’t sing. We went to a karaoke bar once and people actually offered me money NOT to sing.

Lucy: That was a lot of fun. We should do that again sometime.

Jeff: Sure, anytime. Oh, I’d better go. It was nice meeting you Marlene, and Lucy, I’ll talk to you next week.

Marlene: Nice to meet you, too.

Lucy: Okay, later.

[end of dialog]

In this podcast, we are meeting an out-of-town friend. When we say someone is “out of town” (town) we mean they are from somewhere other than where you live. So, if you live in Los Angeles, an out of town friend could be from San Francisco or New York City, or Houston, Texas – those would all be out of town friends, if they were coming to visit you. The dialog begins with Lucy saying to Jeff, “Have you met my friend?” “Have you met” (met) – of course, that’s the past tense of “to meet” – so, is this someone that you have met? You met them last week or two years ago. And I say, “No, I haven’t. I don’t think I have.” And Lucy says that this is her “oldest and best friend, Marlene.” When we use the term “oldest” when we’re talking about friends, we don’t normally mean older in terms of age like I’m 29 and my friend is 50. And he’s my oldest friend in age. That’s not what we normally mean. We normally mean this is one of the friends that I have known for the longest time – period of time – 10 years, 20 years, and so forth.

Well, Lucy says that she is visiting from out of town and then I introduce myself and I say, “Hi. I’m Jeff.” And she responds by saying, “Hi. It’s nice meeting you.” It’s nice meeting you is the same as “It’s nice to meet you.” It’s what we would say to someone the first time we meet them, but only the first time. And I say to Marlene – her friend – “How long do you plan to be in town?” meaning how many days or how many weeks will you be visiting this place. Notice the expression “in town.” When we say someone is “in town,” again, we mean they’re in the city or the place where you live. So, they would respond by saying, “I’m in town for three weeks” –means I will be here for three weeks – so, “out of town” and “in town.” Well, Marlene says that she’s here for a long weekend and when we say a “long (long) weekend,” we mean, usually, three or four days and that could be Friday, Saturday and Sunday or Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday – possibly even Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Remember in the United States we like to have our national holidays on Mondays so we can have a long weekend.

Well, she’s staying – Marlene is staying with Lucy. And “to stay with someone” means that they are sleeping at their house or their apartment. She says that she wants to do some “catching up” and get a break from work. “To do some catching up” here means that she wants to talk to some of her friends that she hasn’t talked to in a long time, find out how they are doing. She wants to get a “break (break) from work” which means the same as – basically a vacation from work. A time when I don’t have to work would be a break.

I asked Marlene, “What line of work are you in?” “What line (line) of work are you in?” And that means what do you do for a living? What is your profession? What is your job, your occupation? You could be a lawyer, for example. You could be a truck driver – that would be your line of work. So, when we ask someone, “What is your line of work?” or “What line of work are you in?” – that is what we’re asking and I ask Marlene also, “Are you in the same field (field) as Lucy?” A “field” is just another way of saying the same profession, the same type of work. It does not mean the same company necessarily – just means the same kind of work or the same type of work. And Marlene says that she’s not in the same field as Lucy. She’s “in medicine.” “I’m in medicine” means I work in the medical field. I do my job – my job is related to medicine. You can say, “Well, I’m in the legal profession,” or “My job is in law (law)” – that would be someone who was a lawyer, for example. And she, in this case, is in medicine and says that she’s a “pediatrician.” And “pediatrician” is a long word – pediatrician) is someone who works with children and usually, in the United States, a pediatrician works with babies, children – usually up to the age of about 17 or so. So, they could work with children and teenagers – that would be a pediatrician.

She says she enjoys her work but “it’s nice to get away for a few days.” “To get away” means to take a short vacation somewhere else, somewhere not in your home town. To go to say, Las Vegas, and lose all of your money by gambling, because, of course, in Las Vegas, it’s a famous place to gamble your money in the United States and, what a great way to spend your time, losing all of your money.

Anyway, Marlene doesn’t go to Vegas, she goes – comes to Los Angeles. Marlene asked me, “What kind of work do you do?” – meaning very much the same as what line of work are you in – what kind of work do you do. And I say that I’m in the education field but, of course, my real goal is to become a professional singer. Lucy then says that I have a great voice – that I sound just like Frank Sinatra. Frank Sinatra, you probably know, is a famous American singer from the 1940’s and 50’s and 60’s, who has a very beautiful voice. Of course, Lucy is joking and I say, “She’s just kidding,” meaning Lucy is just kidding (kidding) – means she’s just joking. She’s just making a joke. I then say that once, we went to a karaoke bar. A “karaoke bar” is a place, you probably know, that you can sing songs and they put the lyrics, the words to the song. And you stand up in front of everyone else and you have a couple of beers – very important – and then you start singing. And usually, it’s pretty bad. And it was originally – very popular in Japan and then became popular in the United States and other countries as well. And I’m sure that’s not the pronunciation in Japan, but in English we say “karaoke.” Well, Lucy says, “We should go to a karaoke bar again.” And I say, “Sure, anytime.” But, of course, I don’t want to go back. Then I say, “It was nice meeting you Marlene” – which is again the same with “It’s nice to meet you.” But when you first meet someone, in the United States, when you’re leaving, when you’re about to leave that person that you just met, you would say, “It was nice to meet you.” And she says, “Nice to meet you too,” meaning it was also nice for me to meet you. Lucy ends the dialog by saying, “Okay. Later.” And this is an informal expression you hear, especially among younger speakers. Somebody says, “Later” – means I’ll see you later – will talk to you later.”

Now let’s listen to the dialogue again, this time at a native rate of speech.

[start of dialog]

Lucy: Hey Jeff, have you met my friend?

Jeff: No, I don’t think I have.

Lucy: Well, this is my oldest and best friend, Marlene. She’s visiting from out of town.

Jeff: Hi, I’m Jeff.

Marlene: Hi, it’s nice meeting you.

Jeff: How long do you plan to be in town?

Marlene: I’m here for the long weekend, staying with Lucy. We’re doing some catching up and I’m getting a break from work.

Jeff: Oh, what line of work are you in? Are you in the same field as Lucy?

Marlene: No, I’m in medicine. I’m a doctor, actually, a pediatrician. I enjoy the work, but it’s nice to get away for a few days. What kind of work do you do?

Jeff: I work in the education field, but what I really want to do is to become a professional singer.

Lucy: Jeff has a great voice. He sounds exactly like Frank Sinatra.

Marlene: Really?

Jeff: No, she’s just kidding and Lucy knows that I can’t sing. We went to a karaoke bar once and people actually offered me money NOT to sing.

Lucy: That was a lot of fun. We should do that again sometime.

Jeff: Sure, anytime. Oh, I’d better go. It was nice meeting you Marlene, and Lucy, I’ll talk to you next week.

Marlene: Nice to meet you, too.

Lucy: Okay, later.

[end of dialog]

The script for today’s podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse. And we want to thank Dr. Marlene Rodriguez, who really is a doctor. Unlike me, she’s a real doctor and she was nice enough to help us with today’s dialog.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.