Do You Find This Accent Tricky? - Practice Listening to Native Speech & Build Vocab

[@NaturalEnglishListening]

Thank you Fouad 🇩🇪 for taking part in today's video! Full Transcript: So today we're going back into a business/work-related topic, and our speaker is from Germany. He's a bilingual English and German speaker, so there's a bit of an accent there, but I think that's great practice for listening to different people out in the wild. We have a question here, something sensitive. What does the speaker say? Which one of these? These can all be used, by the way, with sensitive having a variety of different meanings, but which one does he use? Let's take a listen and do not look at the subtitles the first time. ----------------------------------------- We clearly have too many projects due by the end of this month. It's pretty clear that some things need to be set to one side for a bit, so let's figure out what's urgent first. Our branch manager informed us on Tuesday that our inspection is on the 27th. Now that's locked in for sure. We need to start the preparations ASAP. We also need to have all of our computers backed up by the end of this week so that the IT can perform their security updates. That's a must. I'll talk to the team, see if there's anything else that's time-sensitive, and get back to you this afternoon. ----------------------------------------- Okay, he used the compound word time-sensitive. Good job if you caught that. These are all of the other questions we're going to answer at the end of the video, but pause now quickly if you want to have a look first. Okay, he said, We clearly have too many projects due by the end of this month. It's pretty clear that some things need to be set to one side for a bit, so let's figure out what's urgent first. So, to set something to one side means to postpone it or just give it less of a priority compared to other things. Put money to one side and think about what you really want. So maybe this person's thinking about the cost of something. They're saying, "No, put that to one side and think about what you really want." Forget about money for a second, or let's set that aside and worry about the bigger problem. So he's saying what's urgent. We need to decide what cannot be set to one side so then we can find the other things that can be set to one side. I hope that makes sense. Our branch manager informed us on Tuesday that our inspection is on the 27th. Now that's locked in for sure. So he's saying it's locked in, which means to be made certain. Could be for an event, time, place, reservation. Let's lock that in as soon as we know who's coming. You can also say to set it in stone. If something is set in stone, it is made certain. It's not going to change. So he's saying that this inspection is locked in. We need to make preparations for that, so this is something that cannot be set to one side because it's definitely going to happen. By the way, ASAP, I assume a lot of you watching probably already know, means as soon as possible, but perhaps you don't know that we can say it in all these different ways. We can say as soon as possible, we can say ASAP, we can also say A.S.A.P. Let's listen again to how he used it. We need to start the preparations ASAP. Yeah, so he used this one here, ASAP. So just listen out for all these different variations. Please respond ASAP, ASAP, as soon as possible. All right, I think we're good so far. Let's go on to the second page. Stay hydrated. More important than studying, I shouldn't say that. Second page: We also need to have all of our computers backed up, means to make a copy, to keep it safe, by the end of this week so that IT can perform their security updates. So I think the reason he said the IT instead of just it is it's short for the IT department. That's a must. Well, if something's a must, it's essential. It's necessary. So that's saying that it cannot be set to one side. A large garden is a must somebody might say if they're looking for a house. If it's a thing that you can buy, by the way, we can also call it a must-have. This new smartphone is a must-have. It's something that's essential for me to have. But backing up the computers, that is a must. I'll talk to the team and see if there's anything else that's time-sensitive and get back to you this afternoon. Okay, so that was from the warm-up. Time-sensitive-something that cannot wait or needs to be done soon. These reports are time-sensitive, but the customer reviews can wait until next week. Please don't confuse it with a sense of time, which means to just have a good idea of how long something will take. Time-sensitive means it cannot wait, needs to be done soon. So with that second page finished, let's look back at these comprehension questions. Which projects will be set to one side? Well, he said that at the beginning, but after that, he kind of switched it around and talked about what can't be set to one side. So he didn't actually say anything. It's what they're trying to find out, but they haven't gotten that far yet. Question two: Is the company's inspection date likely to change? Well, he said it was locked in. If we remember what locked in means, then the answer is no, it's not going to change, or not likely to change. And the last question: Who will the speaker talk to next and why? Well, he says, I'll talk to the team. So presumably, this is all of the other staff members. If this is a smaller company, if this is bigger, maybe it's just to a department, and see if there's anything else that's time-sensitive. So just like he did at the beginning, he started discussing all of the things that cannot be set to one side, and then anything that's left, we can put that to one side. So he's talking to the team to find out if there are other projects that cannot be set to one side, then they're going to decide. He says, I'll get back to you. They're going to decide later. All right, good job for not setting your studying to one side for today. But good job, keep it going if you like and see you again.

[@ayakao-t]

This is a good length of time to study when I have a break at work! Very helpful,thank you 🙏

[@NaturalEnglishListening]

@@ayakao-t Glad it was useful, keep it up! 🙂👍

[@aur3liom]

The idea of having different accents in the videos is interesting and challenging to the learners, like me 😂.

[@NaturalEnglishListening]

Are there any particular accents that you find difficult?

[@aur3liom]

@NaturalEnglishListening since I'm used to the American sounds, if the accent is a little off from what I'm used to listen, it can be a little tricky. For this, I always try to consume a variety of English videos and podcasts.

[@NaturalEnglishListening]

@@aur3liom Nice one! 👍 I definitely think variety is best in the long run. I’ll try to include more accents!