Hello everyone!
Welcome to our first episode of Fluency News! Here, you’ll practice your listening and get informed on all that’s happening in the world; all the major headlines of the week, all in English! During the episode, we make sure to explain the things that we believe need extra attention, so you don’t miss any details!
In this episode we’ll talk about business news! Tesla’s massive increase in production, Egypt is building a vast industrial zone on this reclaimed mudflat and how India’s digital revolution is connecting millions.
We have an Instagram page with English tips, go check it out! @fluencytvenglish
We’ll have a new episode of Fluency News every week, don’t forget to listen! See you!
Episode Transcript
What’s up guys and Welcome to Fluency News! This will be our first Fluency News, the Fluency Academy podcast for listeners who just need a brief rundown of the most important news. I’m your host Chris Schliewe, and it’s great to have you here. When you listen to our Fluency News episodes, you’re staying informed, practicing your listening skills, and learning tons of new vocabulary, all at the same time!
Having frequent contact with the language you are learning is very important to ensure your success. You can do this in different ways, and one of them is by taking an English course! Did you know that Fluency Academy has a complete online course for you to boost your vocabulary and take your English to the next level? To sign up for our waitlist and unlock your English, just click the link in the description of this episode.
Now, how about we get started? In this episode, we’re going to talk about some of the hottest business news of this month, and we’ll get to some explanations too!
We’re starting this episode talking about Tesla, one of the world’s largest electric car producers.
Tesla is reporting a massive increase in production capacity across all its factories. According to the CEO, Elon Musk, Tesla should produce over 1.5 million cars in 2022. Now that’s a lot of electric cars! Musk says that Tesla may also start having some price decreases on its electric vehicles, which have increased 20-30% in the past two years. When Musk was asked about when we can expect Tesla to lower its prices again, he said that Tesla could lower prices when “inflation calms down.”
So, here are two important verbs to remember when you want to talk about business: increase and decrease. The news showed us that Tesla is “increasing” its production in 2022 and that they may also have a “price decrease” on its electric vehicles.
“To decrease” means to lower or go down. For example, if you are driving above the speed limit, you should decrease your speed, or else you’ll risk getting a ticket. Now, the opposite of “decrease” is “increase”, which means to raise or grow. For example, when people smoke, they increase the risk of developing heart disease.
This type of language is very important for you to know because it could be very useful for a work presentation or a meeting when you might have to discuss the information on graphs or calculate percentage changes.
Another way to learn even more words is by listening to our Walk ‘n’ Talk podcasts! You will have the opportunity to “increase” your vocabulary by doing some speaking activities and applying this vocabulary in common everyday situations. The best thing is that it’s all free content for you to expand your knowledge! So go ahead and follow our Walk ‘n’ Talk playlists too!
Our next story is about… Egypt!
Have you ever heard about the Suez Canal? It’s an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The country started building a vast industrial zone on a reclaimed mudflat on the Mediterranean, just east of the Suez Canal. The zone is one of four under construction along the canal, and it’ll produce goods for both the domestic market and export. The Suez Canal is a transit route for about 15% of global shipping traffic, and officials hope that the strategic location of the zones means that they will succeed. The area stretches over 16 million square kilometers, and factories will be able to ship their products to Europe in just 48 hours.
Pretty cool huh? So here are some interesting vocabulary words: sea level, mudflat, canal…Do you know the meaning of all these words? Well, don’t worry, I’ll explain them to you. Sea level is the level of the sea’s surface. Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, so it’s a man-made canal that is on the same level as the sea.
And since we’re talking about the Suez Canal, let me tell you what a canal is. A canal is a channel of water artificially made for boats to travel through. Did you know they have about 50 ships per day passing through the Suez Canal? It is a very busy canal. Now, a mudflat, also known as a tidal flat, is a coastal wetland that forms when mud is left behind by tides or rivers. As we saw on the news, Egypt is building a new industrial zone along the Suez Canal on a mudflat.
Alright! Moving on, we have some news about the digital revolution in India! Seven years ago, only 19% of India’s 1.3 billion people had access to the internet. That figure now stands at nearly 60%. It’s all part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to make India a trillion-dollar digital economy. The point is to try to step up the Indian economy using multiple different technologies and services throughout the country. Have you noticed this impact in your daily life? Amazing, right?
You probably noticed they used some percentages in that story. They said “19% of India’s 1.3 billion people in India had access to the internet” and “that figure now stands at nearly 60%”. Percentages in English are pretty easy. These are quite common in our daily lives and the rule for saying them aloud is simple: say the number and then the word percent. For example:
50% = fifty percent
65% = sixty-five percent
100% = one hundred percent
Easy, right? Whether to spell out percent or use the % symbol is largely a matter of style, as is using numerals versus spelling out the numerical values.
And it’s with that story that we’re ending today’s episode, guys. But don’t worry, we’ll be back next week!
And if you want to increase the percentage of your English understanding, join our waitlist for our English course! Go to en.fluencytv.com and join now! The link is also in the description for this episode.
I’ll see you soon! Take care!
Stories:
Tesla will spend more to increase production at two new factories:
https://nyti.ms/3wdDQQF
Egypt reclaims Suez Canal mudflat for industrial hub:
https://bit.ly/3ppQt7J
Digital India: How India’s digital revolution is connecting millions:
https://bbc.in/3CfOmei
