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##Dolphins – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation called Dolphins. I have the text here, as always, and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that I thought you might have had some difficulty understanding. So I’ll be giving you the meanings as they relate to this conversation.

And I’d like to mention three words, as I always do, that you see and hear a lot in our conversations. The first one is “yeah.” The word yeah is just a slang word for yes. And the next one is actually two words combined together, “y’know.” So when we speak it sounds like y’know. And it’s actually the two words, you and know combined together so that when we’re speaking and we’re saying you know, if we’re speaking fast, it sounds like y’know.

And the third word is “like.” So as you probably know, like means to have positive feelings for someone or something but you also hear it a lot when native English speakers are speaking, native American English speakers anyway, they can say like a lot. And so many times it doesn’t have a meaning. It’s just a filler word. Alright, let’s begin now.

So “dolphins,” if you don’t know what a dolphin is, it’s an animal, a pretty big animal that lives in water.

So it could be the ocean but there are actually some dolphins that live in rivers so that would be fresh water whereas the ocean would be saltwater. Mostly I think they live in the ocean though.

They live in saltwater. They can be gray and white colored. They can have dots or specks or dots on them, like black and white. And they have a fin on their back so a fin is a part of them that comes up on their back like a shark, if you know what a shark looks like. And they…the ones actually, or some that live in fresh water, live in rivers, can actually be a pink color. They’re very intelligent, very sociable animals, dolphins. And that’s what this conversation is about so let’s go ahead and start.

At the beginning, I say, “I actually just read an article recently.” So recently means not so long ago.

And then I say, “Rereleased back into the wild from captivity.” So released means freed. Now I say rereleased which would actually mean they were freed a second time or they were freed again. I actually should not have said rereleased, I don’t know why I did, because they were only released one time. So it should just be released. Wild: so wild means original home or natural home. Most likely the ocean. And captivity: captivity is an environment where an animal is kept that is not their natural environment.

Alright then I say, “They took two dolphins that were struggling.” So struggling means not doing well.

They were not healthy. They were not adapting well to their environment, their captivity, their captive environment.

And then I say, “Thanks to movies like Blackfish.” So Blackfish is actually a documentary. A documentary is a movie that is real. So there aren’t people who are acting out a story. It’s the real people in the real story that are actually filmed. So Blackfish is a documentary about an orca in captivity.

Now an orca is also a dolphin but it’s black and white and they’re much bigger than the normal dolphins.

And this particular movie about one orca, a real orca named Tilikum, is about how he kills three different people, three different trainers because he’s actually living in captivity. And it’s also just a movie about the effects of captivity on orcas, in general.

Then next I say, “More people are getting upset about dolphins, orcas, orcas or killer whales. So a killer whale is another name for an orca.

Then I say, “Being in captivity and thinking it’s cruel.” So cruel means willfully causing pain and/or suffering.

Okay, then I say, “They’re looking for commands from people.” So commands means instructions.

And then I say, “They’re looking for applause.” So applause is approval or praise shown by clapping your hands together.

And then I say, “They’re interacting with humans.” So interacting means communicating.

Okay, then I say, “Foraging for fish.” For foraging means looking or hunting, looking for fish or hunting for fish.

And then I say, “Interacting with their pod.” So a pod is the name for a group of dolphins.

And then I say, “They have to be retrained.” So retrained means taught again.

Okay, then Joe says, “A large swimming pool at Sea World.” So Sea World is the name of three different water parks here in the United States that have orcas, dolphins, other animals that…other water animals I should say. These animals are held there so this is an example of captivity. They’re usually kept in big swimming pools and they are trained to perform for people who come and watch shows that they perform in them.

Then I say, “It’s a sterile environment.” So what I mean by sterile here is it’s an environment that is not like their natural environment because it is missing things like rocks and plants and fish and other…other animals that would be living in the water with these…if these dolphins and orcas were in their natural environment. So because they’re in swimming pools, there’s nothing in the swimming pools. It’s just the concrete that the pools are made out of and water. So it’s sterile. It’s missing all those things that they would have in their natural environment.

Then I say, “To really cover a lot of ground.” So when I say cover a lot of ground what I mean is to swim long distances.

And then AJ says, “They hunt in packs.” So packs is another word for groups.

And then AJ says, “Some people I know, like John Lilly.” So John Lilly is an American scientist who studied the nature of awareness. And he studied this by researching…researching dolphin communication.

Then AJ says, “They might have some form of language.” So form means type, some type of language or some kind of language.

And then AJ says, “A fairly complex language.” So fairly here means somewhat. And complex means complicated, not simple.

And then AJ says, “It does kind of point to what you’re saying.” So when he says it points to he’s saying it does show, or it does prove what you’re saying.

And then AJ says, “Animals that intelligent caged up.” So caged up means kept in an environment that is not their natural environment, the same as captivity.

And then AJ says, “In an aquarium.” So an aquarium is another type of captivity and it’s a clear tank that has water in it and then it can have, unlike a swimming pool that is missing things from a water animal’s natural environment, an aquarium, someone may put in an aquarium the things that are missing like plants, rocks, sand, other water animals. And aquariums can be very small, that you could have one in your home on your desk. And then they can be very, very big to where you go to a place and there’s many big ones inside a building. They’re so big they can hold dolphins and orcas and seals, y’know, other…other water animals. It can hold many, many.

They’re just really big. So aquariums can be all sizes. So an aquarium, that’s another type…that’s another kind of captivity.

And then Joe says, “They’re probably just in groups of one or two, I would imagine.” So imagine means think. He’s saying I would imagine, I would think.

And then I say, “They may not even get along.” So get along means they may not even like each other.

And then I say, “The two that were being reintroduced into the wild.” So reintroduced means introduced again.

And then I say, “They weren’t even bonded.” So bonded means close with each other.

And then I say, “They tolerated each other but…” So tolerated means they were okay with each other but they weren’t very close. Y’know, they weren’t enemies but they weren’t friends. They were just okay with each other.

And then Joe says, “They would really need to relearn how to assimilate.” So relearn means to learn again. And assimilate means to become part of a group.

And then I say, “Rereleased off of Jeju Island.” So rereleased: this is the second time I used this word incorrectly. I should have just said released because they were only freed back into the wild one time, not more than one time, which is what rereleased would mean, freed more than once.

Jeju Island is an island off of the southernmost part of South Korea.

And then I say, “So it’s a trend now.” And what I mean by trend here is that it’s happening more and more. It’s becoming more common.

And then I say, “We saw that movie Keiko.” Okay, so Keiko, this is the name of a documentary actually.

So remember, a documentary is a movie or…it’s a movie about a real story with the real people from the story in it. So they’re not acting. And Keiko is the name of a real orca. And this orca, Keiko, was actually in a Hollywood movie called Free Willy. So he was performing in the movie Free Willy and then after they made a documentary about him and about releasing him or freeing him back into the wild, back into the ocean.

And then I say, “He was rereleased.” Again, for the third time, I used this word incorrectly, so it should have been released. He was only freed back into the ocean one time, not many times.

And then I say, “He still sought out human contact.” So sought out means he looked for. He still looked for human contact. He wanted that contact with humans so he looked for humans that he could, that he could communicate with, interact with.

And then I say, “He never really acclimated back into the wild.” So acclimated means adjusted.

He never adjusted back into the wild. He never got used to living in the wild again.

And then Joe says, “They’re really communal in that sense.” So communal means here a sharing group.

So they share the responsibilities of hunting and then they share the fish that they hunt. They share their food together. So they’re a communal group. They share.

And then Joe says, “A group of dolphins may circle a school of fish.” So a school of fish is a group of fish.

And then Joe says, “They kind of huddle together.” So huddle together means they bunch up together or they all come together.

And then Joe says, “They have a really acute sense of hearing.” So acute means sharp or strong.

They have a strong sense of hearing.

And then Joe says, “Where to find food essentially.” So essentially means basically. Where to find food basically.

And then Joe says, “They may not even know how to detect when that communication’s going on.” So detect means figure out. They may not even be able to figure out that…when that communication is going on.

And then at the very end of the conversation, AJ says, “But it’s fascinating. It’s just fascinating what they’re using those big brains for.” So fascinating means very interesting.

Alright, so that is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Dolphins and I will be right back with the commentary.