Elementary ‐Advanced ‐ Investing in Emerging Markets (E0029)
A: Dad, I’d like to borrow some money.
B: Sure, Johnny, how much do you need? five bucks?
A: Come on, Dad, I need thirty thousand. I wanna get into the market. You know, I’m tired of hearing all this news about the economic downturn, the inevitable recession,
people stuffing their money in their mattresses. I look at this as an opportunity. This is a chance for me to get a jump start on building my nest egg.
B: I don’t know about that; with all the uncertainty in the markets right now, it would be a very unwise decision to invest. I don’t know if you’re aware son, but there has been a lot of turmoil in the markets recently. There have already been half a million layoffs in the last few months,
and we have no idea how the proposed stimulus package will impact the economy. There’s just too much instability. I wouldn’t feel comfortable investing in this climate.
A: But look at it this way, every challenge is an opportunity. And anyway, I’m not talking about investing 8 in the domestic market. There are emerging markets that promise great returns. Look at China, for example; they have 1.4 billion people, half a billion of whom have
recently entered the middle class. Here alone, the aggregate demand for consumer goods rePresents an amazing wealth generating opportunity.
B: Come on, son, you’re looking at this too naively, the Chinese market has exhibited a great deal of instability, and their currency has been devalued by almost a whole percentage point.
A: Fine, then! If that’s the way you feel, so be it. But you’re losing out on a great opportunity here. I’m going to go hit up Mum for the cash.
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M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.
E: And I’m Erica.
M: We’re bringing you an advanced lesson today.
E: That’s right, an advanced lesson where we talk about investing in emergingmarkets.
M: Right, so, it’s kind of a business topic, it’s kind of a world topic aswell.
E: Yes.
M: And it’s pretty difficult.
E: Yeah, it is really hard.
M: Right, so, if you’re listening and you don’t understand everything, pleasedon’t get discouraged, don’t, uh, worry about, because we are here to learn.
E: Yes, and we’re here to help you.
M: Right.
E: Uhu.
M: So, let’s get started with this. I’m really excited about this lesson.
E: Yeah, okay, well, Marco, maybe you can tell us a little bit what is anemerging market?
M: An emerging market is a market that is starting to develop.
E: Okay.
M: And it’s growing rapidly.
E: So, you can maybe give some examples of… emerging market?
M: Well, for example, China is an emerging market.
E: Yeah.
M: In the last years it’s been growing rapidly.
E: More and more people are… are moving to the middle class and have money tospend.
M: Right, exactly.
E: Uhu.
M: So, China’s like a really great example of an emerging market.
E: Alright, well, with that let’s listen to the dialogue for the first time.DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME
M: Well, it sounds like the dad has missed out on a really big investmentopportunity, hey?
M: Yeah, his… and his son is pretty smart.
E: Yeah.
M: Hehe. Pretty smart little boy.
E: Aha.
M: Okay, so, we have, uh, some great words that we wanna look at here.
E: Uhu.
M: Why don’t we start with the first one – turmoil.
E: Turmoil.
M: Turmoil.
E: Turmoil.
M: So, we have some great examples of… how turmoil is used in differentsentences, so…
E: Uhu.
M: Let’s listen. Voic
E: Example one. A: With the civil war, a famine and inflation the country hasbeen in turmoil for ten years. Voic
E: Example two. B: There’s been a lot of turmoil in my life recently: I’vemoved to new city, I’ve change my job, I broke up with my girlfriend.
Voic
E: Example three. C: The devaluation of the dollar caused the great deal ofturmoil in the markets.
M: So, turmoil is a state of…
E: Of uncertainty, of change, of difficult times.
M: A little bit of chaos…
E: Yeah.
M: Some sort of, yeah.
E: Yeah, yeah. So, for example when there’s a lot of turmoil in the market thatmeans stock prices are changing drastically from day to day.
M: Right, or the economy is in turmoil, it… there’s a lot of problems going on.
E: Yeah, uncertainty.
M: Uncertainty. Okay.
E: Uhu.
M: Good word. Alright, and we also saw something really interesting in thedialogue…
E: Yes.
M: About a proposed stimulus package.
E: A proposed stimulus package.
M: So, a proposed stimulus package is something that’s going on now.
E: Yes, let’s break this phrase down.
M: Uhu.
E: So, we’ve got stimulus package.
M: A stimulus package, uh, something to stimulate the economy, right?
E: Right. So, money from the government to get the economy moving.
M: To get it moving.
E: Aha.
M: Stimulus package.
E: Proposed.
M: It means that it hasn’t been approved yet.
E: Right, it’s suggested.
M: It’s suggested.
E: Uhu.
M: It’s an idea.
E: Uhu.
M: So, the proposed stimulus package for the US economy, for example, is a hundredand fifty billion dollars.
E: Right, it’s a hundred and fifty billion dollars of American taxpayers moneythat the government wants to put into the economy to keep it moving.
M: To keep it moving, right. So, if it works or not, that’s still a debate, but…
E: Yeah.
M: Hehe. It’s a proposed stimulus package.
E: Let’s move to our third phrase - aggregate demand.
M: Aggregate demand.
E: Aggregate demand.
M: Aggregate demand.
E: So, demand is pretty clear, but this word aggregate, what’s that about?
M: Aggregate is like, uh, combined, added.
E: Yeah.
M: Right?
E: Yeah.
M: Aggregate demand. For example, in a country like China…
E: Uhu.
M: Where cities like in… Shanghai or cities like Beijing…
E: Yeah.
M: Where more and more people are accumulating wealth…
E: Uhu.
M: The aggregate demand is increasing.
E: Right. Right, the combined demand for consumer goods is growing.
M: Right.
E: Uhu.
M: More people more… have more money, so they’re spending more.
E: Yes.
M: Okay.
E: You know, Marco, there’s a ton of excellent language in this dialogue, isn’tthere?
M: Yeah, a lot of good stuff here.
E: Yeah, and we wanna listen to the dialogue one more time, but before we do,we have three words for you that we want you to listen for.
M: Yeah, pay attention to these words: nest egg.
E: Nets egg.
M: Inevitable.
E: Inevitable.
M: And hit up.
E: Hit up.
M: So, from the context of the dialogue try and see if you can figure out whatthey mean, but after listening to it we’ll come back and explain it anyways.DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME
M: So, the kid wants to invest, because he wants to set up his nest egg.
E: That’s right, so, basically, he wants to get a bunch of cash together, sothat he can buy a house or get married or…
M: Uh.
E: Whatever. It’s that… it’s the money you need to start your life, right?
M: To start your life; your nest egg.
E: Uhu.
M: It’s kind of a weird way of referring to this money, right?
E: I guess it is kind of funny.
M: Hehe. And also the little boy talked about an inevitable recession.
E: Yes, inevitable.
M: Inevitable.
E: Inevitable basically means, uh, unavoidable.
M: Right.
E: So, this guy thinks that the recession is unavoidable.
M: It’s gonna happen.
E: Yes, inevitable. You know, this word inevitable. If you apply the root word,you can get a noun, an adjective or an adverb, right?
M: Right.
E: So, we’ve got some examples where you can see this word in action. Voic
E: Example one. A: Jason knew he was going to get laid off, but he was tryingto delay the inevitable. Voic
E: Example two. B: As a new manager, it’s inevitable that you’re going to make mistakes.
Voic
E: Example three. C: Inevitably, we’ll all die at the end of our lives.
M: So, as you can see, the noun and adjective form are the same.
E: Yes, inevitable.
M: Inevitable. When we use it as an adverb though, we add the “-ly” to it.
E: Inevitably.
M: Inevitably.
E: Yes.
M: So, yeah, as you can see, we could use it in many different ways dependingon what we wanna say.
E: Right, well, inevitably, we have to move on to our third word.
M: Hit up.
E: Hit up.
M: So, he says he’s going to hit up Mom for the cash.
E: Ask his Mom.
M: Yeah, hit up.
E: Yeah, this is kind of a slangy term, isn’t it?
M: Yeah, it’s a… it’s more informal…
E: Yeah.
M: Uh, a l… a lot more slangy, yeah.
E: We… we wouldn’t really use it with your boss, would you?
M: No, you’re not gonna go up to your boss and say “hey, I need to hit you upfor some cash”.
E: No.
M: Hehe.
E: So, Marco, I think this word is only applying to money, right?
M: Well, you wouldn’t go up to your boss and say “oh, I need to hit you up for…some vacation time”.
E: No, it’s typically used like…
M: For money.
E: For money.
M: In this context, yeah.
E: Yeah, yeah.
M: Hit ’em up.
E: We’ve got some examples of the phrase hit up. Let’s listen. Voic
E: Example one. A: I’m gonna hit up the boss for a raise. Voic
E: Example two. B: Are you trying to hit me up for money? Voic
E: Example three. C: Oh, I don’t have any cash. Have you tried hitting upSophie? She’s rich.
M: Okay, so, this is our first Advanced lesson. I hope you enjoyed it. It is alot more challenging, I think.
E: Yes.
M: Especially, because it’s said in a business context, so, ??? So, we have alot of specific words and a lot of technical vocabulary.
E: That’s right. Marco, you’re exactly right and I think that our users aregonna have a lot questions about the language in this… in this lesson. So, I’dlike to invite you guys to come to our website at englishpod.com.
M: Exactly, where you can leave all your questions and comments and we’ll bethere to answer them.
E: Yes.
M: But until then it’s…
E: Good bye!
M: Bye!
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