College Life

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we're talking about American education and college life.

That's right.

This is actually a user suggestion that they wanted to know more or less what it would

be like a dialogue between friends on a typical day in college.

Alright so this is an advanced level lesson.

We're going to be talking in a normal conversational speed.

We're going to listen to the dialogue and when we come back we'll talk about some of

these key phrases and words that might help you understand the dialogue better.

Hey Jordan, is that you?

Long time no see.

Oh hey, no kidding.

I haven't seen you since orientation three months ago.

So how you been?

Settling into college life okay?

Yeah, I think so.

I pledged Phi Iota Alpha so I'm living at the frat house now.

Oh, so you're a frat boy now, huh?

Yeah, yeah, I know.

That's totally cliche, but really I think it's been a good decision.

Got a lot of support and good suggestions from the guys.

What about you?

What have you been up to?

Well, not much.

I'm still living at home and commuting to school.

I ended up dropping that metalworking class I was so excited about.

It just wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped.

The guidance counselor suggested that I focus on my prerequisite courses so that I can make

sure the credits count.

That sounds smart, but kind of boring.

Yeah, it is a little bit.

I joined the Great Outdoors Club though, which has been a lot of fun.

We've gone on two camping trips already and I've made some good friends.

That's cool.

Hey, so have you decided on your major yet?

Definitely pre-med.

What about you?

I still have no clue, but we don't have to declare a major until our sophomore year,

so I've got time.

Oops, I'm late for class.

I've got to run.

Okay, take care.

Hey, nice running into you.

Yeah, you too.

All right, we're back.

So now let's start with all these words and phrases on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

So hey Jordan, is that you?

Long time no see.

I love this phrase.

Right, this phrase, long time no see, which if you look at it, it doesn't really make

sense.

It looks like we're missing a couple of words.

It looks like an incomplete sentence.

Yeah, like the subject, who?

Right.

I haven't seen you, you haven't seen you.

So really the meaning of this is I haven't seen you in a long time.

That's right.

And actually I've heard that this phrase was taken from Chinese.

I've also heard that, so it's kind of like pigeon English.

And now it's very, very common in English to say this.

You say this with your friends.

It's very casual.

And yeah, long time no see.

Because if you translate this literally to Chinese, it makes sense, right?

Yes, it does.

So it's interesting.

All right, so we haven't seen our friend in a long time.

And he's like, yeah, no kidding.

You know what?

I think it's been since orientation.

So what is this orientation that he's talking about?

Now this is an important part of the average American college experience.

Orientation is a special time, maybe for one week or a couple of days, at the very beginning

of your first year of university.

All right, so my first week of school, I didn't have any classes, but I went to school and

with all of the other first year students, we're called freshmen, I had to do activities

and meet people and sign up for classes.

And basically, orientation is a time when you learn about a new system or a new program.

So how it works, because maybe you don't really know yet how to pick your classes or where

the dorms are or how the meals work if you have to go to the cafeteria, etc., right?

Exactly.

And it comes from the verb to orient.

So I orient myself by facing the right direction.

So orientation is really about teaching you how to start in a new system.

Okay, very good.

So well, that was three months ago and a lot has happened.

Our speaker says that he pledged Phi Iota Alpha.

So what is this to pledge in this?

Now this is Greek as well.

Phi Iota Alpha is Greek and this means that we're talking about a fraternity.

So fraternity is a group of boys, a sorority is a group of girls, and these are communities,

so social societies that you have to apply to be a member of.

But we don't say apply.

Right, you pledge.

So it's like I pledge allegiance.

You say I want to be in your group, I want to be in your fraternity, and so you will

have to do special things to become a member.

So the verb to pledge would be to basically to promise something honorably or faithfully,

right?

Exactly.

And that's the nice way of putting it.

But generally when you talk about sororities and fraternities, these upperclassmen, so

third, fourth year students, they make the students who are pledging do very weird things.

So as you said, this is for these two guys, this is for a fraternity.

But if it's this type of club for girls, it's called a?

Sorority.

Okay, so it's different.

So I'm pledging this sorority, that means I'm trying to become a member of this sorority.

So I think it's worthwhile mentioning many of you have probably seen it in movies, these

fraternities or sororities, and they all have names based on the Greek alphabet.

Right, so the letters, Phi, Iota, Alpha, or Kappa, Kappa, Gamma, these are the letters

that basically represent the name of the fraternity.

And what's interesting is that maybe I am in Kappa Kappa Gamma at my school, there's

another school with another Kappa Kappa Gamma, we're all related.

It's the same social community.

So they sometimes do events together, things like that.

So actually these fraternities or sororities, it's not independent to a school, it's actually

like a wide network of people that belong to this club.

Exactly, it's a national network usually.

So it's kind of like being in the Boy Scouts.

Yeah, similar except the activities are much different.

That's right.

So these people, they may live at the frat house, like in this dialogue, he's living

at the frat house.

Now remember here, fraternity, that becomes frat if we're talking colloquially.

So the frat house is the fraternity house, it's where those boys live, but only the Phi,

Iota, Alpha boys.

Right, so no one, if I have a friend and he's not Phi, Iota, Alpha, then he can't live there.

Exactly, and we have a similar thing for girls, that's the sorority house.

Okay, very good.

So a frat house is the fraternity house, basically like their club house.

Where they live though, yeah.

And so sometimes guys that belong to fraternities, they're referred to as frat boys.

Hey, frat boy, yeah, so fraternity boy, this is not always the nicest thing to say, it's

got a negative meaning, because a lot of the activities that frat boys do stereotypically

involve lots of drinking and maybe being loud.

So frat boy is someone who's in a fraternity and it's usually a critical way of talking

about those guys.

So this whole fraternity, sorority thing, as he said, is a little bit cliche, right?

Yeah, this is a great word, I use this a lot actually.

So something that's cliche would be almost what's expected, but in a bad way, right?

And so...

So you joining a fraternity is a little bit cliche, because it's kind of like...

It's what everyone does in the movies and on TV, like, oh, I'm going to college, I'm

going to join a fraternity.

It's almost like boring, it's so normal.

But you could also say that like that movie, at the end of the movie, the man and the woman,

they fought, but then they got back together, it's so cliche.

So it's something that's overused, expected, very typical.

Uninteresting.

Uninteresting, okay.

So we have a cliche, we're saying that a fraternity is cliche.

Now, the other guy on the other hand is living off campus, he lives at home, but he said

he commutes to school every day.

So he says, I'm commuting to school.

This is interesting.

Now in America, there's usually two options.

One is to live on campus, that means to live at your university in a dormitory or an apartment.

But many people commute, and this means they drive to school every day, and then they drive

home at night, they don't live on the campus.

So you can also commute to work every day, right?

This is what people do, you don't live at the office.

Exactly.

I hope not.

No, this is a common thing, people will drive to work, and you might ask them, how long

is your commute?

So you say, oh, one hour, that means I drive one hour to work.

So if I take the bus or the train, the subway, is that also commuting?

It is, it doesn't matter how you do it, it just means you don't live where you work or

where you study, so you have to travel there by some means of transportation.

Okay.

So, well, now going back to the academic aspect of this dialogue, he said that he ended up

dropping a class.

Okay, so to drop means to stop attending a class.

Maybe you don't have enough time, maybe you don't like it, but to drop a class means you

will no longer study, you will not take the tests, you will not get a grade.

It's the opposite of to sign up for a class or to register for a class.

So the difference between dropping a class and failing a class is that basically you're

making the decision to not go there anymore.

Exactly.

So usually there's a time you can do this, so for the first two weeks you can attend

classes and if you don't have enough time or you don't like a class, you can drop the

class.

But if you stay in the class, you just don't come or you do very poorly on your tests,

that's called failing.

So there are some classes, because I don't know, can you drop any class or do you have

to take them at some point?

That's a good question.

That's our next phrase, that's a prerequisite course, right?

So usually the university in America will tell you, you have to study math, you have

to study one semester of science, you have to study English for one semester.

So these are called prerequisites.

It's when the university tells you, you have to study something.

And I think you also have some courses that you can't take until you've passed some other

course, right?

So for example, you can't take economy unless you've passed calculus.

Exactly.

So that's another prerequisite.

So we'd say, the prerequisite for economics is calculus one.

Or the prerequisite for Spanish 200 is Spanish 100.

Means you have to take something before you take something else.

So there's two meanings of the word, but they're both related to requirements, what you have

to do.

Okay, you need a requirement.

Now moving on and talking about the major, he said, well, if you decided on a major and

he said, well, pre-med.

All right, so major, first of all, is what you choose to study, right?

The focus of your study.

Exactly, the focus.

You might study other classes, but your focus, your main interest area is one thing.

And in his case, he's talking about pre-med.

Now what does pre-med stand for?

Because it is a short version of a longer word.

So it's pre-medicine.

Yeah, okay.

So medicine is something you study if you want to be a doctor.

Because in America, you don't become a doctor after four years.

You have to go get your BA, your bachelor's degree, and then you have to get your PhD,

your doctorate.

So people who want to go to graduate school first have to study many required courses.

That's the pre-med focus.

Okay, so that's what he's talking about.

He's definitely going to focus on pre-med.

He wants to be a doctor.

He's not going to be a doctor soon, but he wants to start studying to be a doctor.

So he will become a pre-med, a pre-med major.

And what about for lawyers?

I know that there are also something that you focus on before.

There is, yeah.

That's called pre-law.

Same idea.

Pre means before.

So obviously, a lawyer needs to study for a long time as well.

And with your undergrad degree, so your first four years, you would study pre-law.

So this is what you focus on for your four years, and then you go into grad school and

become an attorney or a specific type of lawyer.

But a lawyer doesn't have to study for a PhD.

A lawyer studies for a JD.

That's called a Juris Doctorate.

That's the law degree.

Interesting.

Okay.

So, well, he's going into pre-med, but the other guy is like, well, I don't have a clue

yet.

And he doesn't have to declare a major until the sophomore year.

Okay, a couple of things going on here.

First of all, there are different names for each year.

So freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior.

One, two, three, four.

So sophomore year is the second year.

So if you say I'm a sophomore student at XY University, that means you're in your second

year.

Exactly.

And he says that he doesn't have to declare a major until his second year, until his sophomore

year.

And this phrase, to declare a major, is very important.

It means that you will tell the university what your focus will be.

Right.

And you have to do this.

You can't just go to school and then graduate.

You have to say, I will focus on this because every major has what we just talked about,

prerequisites.

Right.

So, but in this first year, you don't have to tell the university yet what you want to

study.

Maybe you just, you take a variety of courses and then you tell them, okay, now I'm going

to focus on this.

Right.

Exactly.

That's what I did.

And that's very common for liberal art schools.

Maybe if you're in a specific trade school or you're in a certain track, you would have

a different situation.

But for me, liberal arts, I studied history, I studied philosophy, I studied language and

literature.

And then my sophomore year, my second year, I decided, oh, I will study philosophy.

And that's.

So you're going to focus on that.

Yes.

One thing.

So it's, it's interesting because, uh, in many other countries, the education system

requires you to declare your major before you start studying, right?

You say, well, I'm going to study business.

And then your, your four years are around that.

Whereas in some, in some places in the United States or for some majors, you don't have

to do that.

That's true.

In England, for example, you have one area of study, one major, and that's all you study,

right?

Because in, in, in the U S you can get a major in history with a minor in philosophy, right?

Exactly.

I was the opposite.

I had a major in philosophy and a minor in history.

So major means something bigger, more important and minor is smaller or less important.

And a minor is, uh, is your second field of study.

So you take fewer classes, but you still know something about that.

But do they always have to be related because like, for example, can you be a major of philosophy

with a minor in, I don't know, astronomy or something like that?

Absolutely.

Something like pre-med.

So medicine, it's hard because there's so many requirements, right?

But I had a number of friends who are major in computer science and a minor in, um, literature,

for example.

So you can, you can mix it up at certain schools.

So what would be the advantage of that, uh, of doing something like that?

You know, because most places or most education systems say that you or teach that, you know,

you should specialize, you should be focused on one area.

So if you're in computer science, then you should be focused on that.

So why, why would somebody specialize in computer science in their major, but then take a minor

in like literature or something?

Well, let's use that example.

I think one of the benefits for the liberal arts degree, and this is something they talk

about a lot in education, is that you have a broad area of knowledge.

So yes, you know a lot about computer science.

You have to, to graduate, but maybe in your future you will write articles about computer

science or you want a blog or you want a job that has a public relations aspect.

You need to know how to write, and you're not going to learn how to write in all of

your computer science classes, but you will by reading a lot and writing a lot in your

literature classes.

So some people like to say that it's very good to mix up business and languages or computer

science and literature because it's a way to be well-rounded.

That's right.

That's actually interesting because in most places, specifically in the exact sciences

fields, they focus more on that, like engineers.

It's all about engineering, math, and all this, but the human aspect, like you said,

or the liberal arts aspect, like literature or history, they don't get much of that.

So when you actually have to become a manager or write or manage people, you don't really

have the skills to do that because you never really took a class.

That's right, and it can be very hard to learn how to write well and to speak well all of

a sudden.

Right, right.

And I think that's where people struggle also when they're applying for jobs.

So I don't know.

I believe in being a well-rounded individual.

Obviously there's some benefits to being very, very knowledgeable about one thing.

So I guess we could ask you guys, our users, do you believe that it's better to be knowledgeable

about one thing or maybe more well-rounded and to be an expert in many different things?

That's right.

Yeah, you should let us know.

Let's jump into our dialogue one last time.

Let's take a look at what everyone was saying and we'll be back in a bit.

Hey, Jordan, is that you?

Long time no see.

Oh, hey, no kidding.

I haven't seen you since orientation three months ago.

So how you been?

Settling into college life okay?

Yeah, I think so.

I pledged Phi Iota Alpha, so I'm living at the frat house now.

Oh, so you're a frat boy now, huh?

Yeah, yeah, I know.

It's totally cliche, but really I think it's been a good decision.

Got a lot of support and good suggestions from the guys.

What about you?

What have you been up to?

Well, not much.

I'm still living at home and commuting to school.

I ended up dropping that metalworking class I was so excited about.

It just wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped.

The guidance counselor suggested that I focus on my prerequisite courses so that I can make

sure the credits count.

That sounds smart, but kind of boring.

Yeah, it is a little bit.

I joined the Great Outdoors Club, though, which has been a lot of fun.

We've gone on two camping trips already and I've made some good friends.

That's cool.

Hey, so have you decided on your major yet?

Definitely pre-med.

What about you?

I still have no clue, but we don't have to declare a major until our sophomore year,

so I've got time.

Oops, I'm late for class.

I've got to run.

Okay, take care.

Hey, nice running into you.

Yeah, you too.

Alright, so it's a very interesting topic.

Education systems are so different around the world.

The way that you go to college, how many years.

I know that in England you can do a master's in a year, I think.

One year.

Whereas in the States it's two.

Or three.

I think even a bachelor's in England is three years.

I believe so, yeah.

But they also have an extra year of high school.

An extra year of high school.

Fifth year, yeah.

Oh, okay.

So every system is a bit different.

In America, generally, it's either two or four years for your college degree.

And then, yeah, it's graduate school for two, three, or four years.

Now one of the interesting things that I found is kind of unique to the Latin American education

system is that people can actually go to college for five years for majors like in business.

And what they do is they call it a commercial engineer.

So it's like an engineering major, but it's not really engineering because it's business.

So it's interesting because you go to school for five years to be a business major.

Interesting.

Well, we have something called a joint program, J-O-I-N-T, joint meaning coming together.

And you could do that.

You could be, for example, a chemistry major, but also a business major.

And then maybe go into oil refinery or some kind of very specialized business where you

do need to know something about chemistry.

And that's called a joint degree.

That's really smart as well.

Yeah, I think so.

Well, it's interesting.

Let us know what you studied.

Maybe you went to school for two years.

I think you can get a technical degree in two years?

Yeah, associate's degree or a technical degree for two years.

And then you can get a bachelor's, a master's, a PhD.

Let us know what your education background is like and how it works in your country.

Our website is EnglishPod.com.

We hope to see you there.

All right, guys.

Bye.

All right.