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English LingQ Podcast 1.0, One hundred and six: Drinking and Driving

One hundred and six: Drinking and Driving

Steve: Hi, Jill.

Jill: Hi, Steve.

Steve: Do you know what I want to talk about today?

Jill: I can't wait to hear.

Steve: I'm going to talk about language learning and drunken driving.

Jill: Alright, interesting.

Steve: It's pretty obvious how the two are connected, right?

Jill: Ah?

Steve: No?

Jill: No.

Steve: I'll tell you why, because yesterday in the newspaper here I read in the Canadian paper that a person was stopped by the police for drunken driving just north of Toronto and so he was charged by the police. He appeared before a judge and the judge dismissed the charges, because this particular driver was a Spanish speaker and the police did not bring in an interpreter to explain to this driver what was happening.

Jill: Wow!

Steve: Wow.

Jill: So, you're allowed to break the law? As long you are not explained in your language what you've done wrong you can break the law?

Steve: I mean I was just absolutely floored. Often we joke, like if I'm in another country and I'm stopped for speeding, all I have to do is say “me no speaka' the language” and somehow I'll get off. Well, in most cases, you don't get off.

Jill: No, not at all.

Steve: It's just extraordinary and what strikes me here is, you know, you shouldn't be able to get a license to drive if you don't understand (A) that you're not supposed to drink and drive and (B) if a policeman approaches you, you should be able to communicate with the policeman.

Jill: At least a little bit.

Steve: At least a little bit. That's extraordinary and, of course, here in Canada we bend over backwards…there's a good English expression “bend over backwards”.

Jill: Go out of our way.

Steve: You can take your “Oh, you don't speak English? What do you speak?” Some obscure dialect from gosh knows where. Oh well then, we'll try and help you take your driver's license and pass the test in your language. At what point is the responsibility on the individual? I better learn enough English so that I can understand the road signs so that if I'm lost I can ask, you know, for directions.

Jill: I mean I don't know this for sure and you might know more than I do, but I would suspect in countries like Japan and many other countries in the world that's how it is. You need to probably learn about…

Steve: I mean I don't know, I'm sure in many countries you can get a driver's license without speaking the local language. However, if I've been drinking and let's say I'm in – it doesn't matter – Japan, China, Malaysia, Bolivia and a policeman stops me and shows me a breathalyzer I know what he's talking about, right?

Jill: Right.

Steve: To introduce this idea that I was not explained my rights in my language is just a silly technicality. The reality is that that person is doing something that is not only against the law, but it's extremely dangerous.

Jill: He's putting other people's lives at risk.

Steve: At risk.

Jill: So why are his rights more important than all of those people that he's putting at risk?

Steve: And what is a right? Where are his responsibilities in this thing? He is being irresponsible by drinking and driving. He is being irresponsible by not knowing enough and, of course, he, undoubtedly, knew enough English. I mean this is his lawyer jumping in there and saying poor Juan here didn't quite understand. He thought the policeman was asking him, you know, whether he had halitosis or something. Come on, he knew.

Jill: Yeah.

Steve: And, of course, in the case of driving under the influence of alcohol, by the time the policeman finds an interpreter and brings them there, perhaps the alcohol content and so forth will be less and it gives them a sobering-off period.

Jill: Of course.

Steve: I mean the whole thing is completely ridiculous. Now, we at LingQ are going to approach the police departments across Canada and see if we can teach them every possible language that they're likely to encounter. But, in fact, we should be teaching the immigrants to speak English. It's just so typical of what goes on in our society. Basically, what it boils down to is the lawyers looking to make money, period. I personally don't think that judges should be chosen from amongst lawyers, because there's a conflict of interest. They're all interested in creating more work for their brethren, sisters and brothers, in the legal community.

Jill: Because in Canada I believe all judges are former lawyers.

Steve: Exactly.

Jill: And they are appointed, we don't vote.

Steve: No.

Jill: In the states the public, I think, votes for judges, but not here.

Steve: Well, exactly, we should. I mean the technicalities of the law; all of these laws have been written by lawyers and they're all complicated and so forth -- it's a bit like grammar and language learning – and may have nothing to do with common sense.

Jill: Exactly.

Steve: And so, really, it's nice. Like I think if we wanted to get a detailed legal opinion, we should outsource that to India with lots of people to speak English. They'd be delighted to learn Canadian law and they would give us an interpretation based on the technicalities of the law. We could hire 10 of them for the price of one Canadian lawyer and then the judge should be someone with common sense who need not be a lawyer. It could be an electrician, it could be a housewife, it could be, you know, a doctor or somebody who runs a gas station, it doesn't matter, somebody with some common sense, because this judge, obviously, had no common sense.

Jill: No. Steve: So then I go back and I see another situation with drunken driving where there was a very popular Canadian hockey player, former professional hockey player, who lives in the states, because that's where he had his career. He was in Canada driving with his very good friend, he had had too much to drink, he had an accident and he killed his friend; tragic story. Obviously, the driver was very irresponsible to drive when drunk. His friend was also irresponsible to get in the car with him.

Jill: Exactly. Steve: It's one thing when you hit someone else, but if you get in a car with someone who's drunk you're also responsible at some level. Jill: Of course. Steve: And, of course, in nine cases out of ten a person who drives while under the influence doesn't have an accident, but there's a greater likelihood of having an accident. Jill: Of course, yeah.

Steve: And, of course, there was a tragic accident. Now, this person got four years in jail and the judge says we're going to make an example of this. I mean I see cases where you have repeat offenders for driving under the influence and who have even caused accidents and death who don't get four years in prison.

Jill: I know people. The baby-boomer generation, that of my parents, is full of people who at least used to drink and drive. A lot of my step-dad's friends drank and drove a lot and received tickets on numerous occasions and received 24-hour suspensions and never even went to court, never went to jail, lots of the time never even had their license suspended and that was after several times.

Steve: Now, it all becomes much worse if you hit someone and cause an accident and, even worse, cause a death.

Jill: But why do you have to wait until the person kills somebody?

Steve: Absolutely, so I think there's just this tremendous lack of proportion here. One person has his…granted, he killed his friend and the family of the friend were very forgiving. They said this is the nicest man and a very good citizen and it's his first offense. It's a tremendous tragedy, but we don't want him to suffer anymore than he has suffered. That's the family of the person who died. But the judge says no, I'm going to make an example of this person to teach everybody, okay. This other person -- we're told can't speak English; I don't believe it -- he gets off scot-free.

Jill: Yeah. Steve: There's just absolutely no… Jill: Not even a suspension or a fine or anything.

Steve: Exactly. Jill: That's ridiculous. Steve: That's why I say that today's discussion is about the relationship between language learning and drunken driving. If you are going to drive drunk, which we don't recommend at all, don't let on that you speak the local language. That's not even funny, you know; that's not even funny.

Jill: No, we shouldn't joke about that.

Steve: I think that people who drive under the influence of alcohol are…if it's only their own lives, fine. I mean not fine, but whatever, but they are risking the lives of other people. Whenever I drive on the highway I think wow, if there's somebody coming at me at an intersection or whatever that's drunk and doesn't know what they're doing and slams into me I'm defenseless.

Jill: Yeah. Steve: I'm helpless, so. Jill: Especially when it's later at night I have those thoughts more often. If it's 11:00 or 12:00 at night you just assume that people who are out later have maybe been drinking more. I do the same thing; I just look at everybody coming towards me and wonder.

Steve: Exactly. Alright, well not a very happy subject, but it does have a language learning angle. Jill: You'll always find one anyway.

Steve: We always find one, okay.

Jill: Thank you.

Steve: Bye, Jill.

Jill: Bye-bye.

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One hundred and six: Drinking and Driving Einhundertsechs: Alkohol am Steuer Ciento seis Beber y conducir 100と6飲酒運転 백 여섯: 음주 및 운전 Sto sześć: Prowadzenie pojazdów pod wpływem alkoholu Cento e seis: Beber e Conduzir Сто шесть: Пьянство и вождение Yüz altı: Alkollü Araç Kullanma 第一百零六:酒后驾驶 第一百零六:酒後駕駛

Steve: Hi, Jill.

Jill: Hi, Steve.

Steve: Do you know what I want to talk about today?

Jill: I can't wait to hear.

Steve: I'm going to talk about language learning and drunken driving. |||||||||embriagada| Steve: Ich werde über Sprachenlernen und betrunkenes Fahren sprechen. Steve: Voy a hablar sobre el aprendizaje de idiomas y la conducción bajo los efectos del alcohol.

Jill: Alright, interesting.

Steve: It's pretty obvious how the two are connected, right? Steve: Es ist ziemlich offensichtlich, wie die beiden miteinander verbunden sind, oder?

Jill: Ah?

Steve: No?

Jill: No.

Steve: I'll tell you why, because yesterday in the newspaper here I read in the Canadian paper that a person was stopped by the police for drunken driving just north of Toronto and so he was charged by the police. Steve: Ich sage dir warum, weil ich gestern in der Zeitung hier in der kanadischen Zeitung gelesen habe, dass eine Person von der Polizei wegen Trunkenheit am Steuer nördlich von Toronto angehalten wurde und deshalb von der Polizei angeklagt wurde. Steve: Te diré por qué, porque ayer en el periódico de aquí leí en el periódico canadiense que una persona fue detenida por la policía por conducir ebria justo al norte de Toronto y por lo que fue acusado por la policía. He appeared before a judge and the judge dismissed the charges, because this particular driver was a Spanish speaker and the police did not bring in an interpreter to explain to this driver what was happening. ||||||||dropped||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||despediu||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Er erschien vor einem Richter und der Richter wies die Anklage ab, da dieser bestimmte Fahrer spanisch sprach und die Polizei keinen Dolmetscher hinzuzog, um diesem Fahrer zu erklären, was geschah. Compareció ante un juez y el juez desestimó los cargos, porque este conductor en concreto era hispanohablante y la policía no trajo a un intérprete para explicarle lo que estaba ocurriendo. この特定の運転手はスペイン語を話し、警察はこの運転手に何が起こっているのかを説明する通訳を連れてこなかったので、彼は裁判官の前に現れ、裁判官は起訴を却下しました。

Jill: Wow!

Steve: Wow.

Jill: So, you're allowed to break the law? Jill: Also darfst du das Gesetz brechen? Jill: Por lo tanto, se le permite romper la ley? As long you are not explained in your language what you've done wrong you can break the law? Solange Ihnen in Ihrer Sprache nicht erklärt wird, was Sie falsch gemacht haben, können Sie gegen das Gesetz verstoßen?

Steve: I mean I was just absolutely floored. |||||||驚いた |||||||surpreendido Steve: Ich meine, ich war absolut bodenständig. Quiero decir que me quedé absolutamente anonadado. Often we joke, like if I'm in another country and I'm stopped for speeding, all I have to do is say “me no speaka' the language” and somehow I'll get off. |||||||||||||||||||||||話せない||||||| Oft scherzen wir, als ob ich in einem anderen Land bin und wegen Geschwindigkeitsüberschreitung angehalten werde. Alles, was ich tun muss, ist zu sagen, dass ich die Sprache nicht spreche, und irgendwie steige ich aus. A menudo bromeamos diciendo que si estoy en otro país y me paran por exceso de velocidad, sólo tengo que decir "no hablo el idioma" y de alguna manera me libraré. Часто мы шутим, что если я нахожусь в другой стране и меня останавливают за превышение скорости, то мне достаточно сказать "я не знаю языка", и меня как-то отпустят. Well, in most cases, you don't get off.

Jill: No, not at all.

Steve: It's just extraordinary and what strikes me here is, you know, you shouldn't be able to get a license to drive if you don't understand (A) that you're not supposed to drink and drive and (B) if a policeman approaches you, you should be able to communicate with the policeman. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||警官

Jill: At least a little bit.

Steve: At least a little bit. That's extraordinary and, of course, here in Canada we bend over backwards…there's a good English expression “bend over backwards”. |||||||||||para trás|||||||| Es extraordinario y, por supuesto, aquí en Canadá hacemos todo lo posible... hay una buena expresión inglesa "bend over backwards".

Jill: Go out of our way. Jill: Salir de nuestro camino. Джилл: Уйти с дороги.

Steve: You can take your “Oh, you don't speak English? What do you speak?” Some obscure dialect from gosh knows where. |||||unknown||||| Was sprichst du? " Ein obskurer Dialekt von Gott weiß wo. Oh well then, we'll try and help you take your driver's license and pass the test in your language. Na dann, wir werden versuchen, Ihnen zu helfen, Ihren Führerschein zu nehmen und den Test in Ihrer Sprache zu bestehen. At what point is the responsibility on the individual? Ab wann liegt die Verantwortung beim Einzelnen? I better learn enough English so that I can understand the road signs so that if I'm lost I can ask, you know, for directions. Ich lerne besser genug Englisch, damit ich die Verkehrszeichen verstehen kann, damit ich, wenn ich mich verlaufen habe, nach dem Weg fragen kann.

Jill: I mean I don't know this for sure and you might know more than I do, but I would suspect in countries like Japan and many other countries in the world that's how it is. You need to probably learn about…

Steve: I mean I don't know, I'm sure in many countries you can get a driver's license without speaking the local language. However, if I've been drinking and let's say I'm in – it doesn't matter – Japan, China, Malaysia, Bolivia and a policeman stops me and shows me a breathalyzer I know what he's talking about, right? Wenn ich jedoch getrunken habe und sagen wir, ich bin in - egal - Japan, China, Malaysia, Bolivien und ein Polizist hält mich auf und zeigt mir einen Alkoholtester, von dem ich weiß, wovon er spricht, oder?

Jill: Right. Jill: Richtig.

Steve: To introduce this idea that I was not explained my rights in my language is just a silly technicality. |||||||||||||||||||minor detail Steve: Diese Idee einzuführen, dass mir meine Rechte in meiner Sprache nicht erklärt wurden, ist nur eine dumme Technik. The reality is that that person is doing something that is not only against the law, but it's extremely dangerous.

Jill: He's putting other people's lives at risk.

Steve: At risk. Steve: In Gefahr.

Jill: So why are his rights more important than all of those people that he's putting at risk? Jill: Warum sind seine Rechte wichtiger als all die Menschen, die er gefährdet?

Steve: And what is a right? Steve: Und was ist ein Recht? Where are his responsibilities in this thing? Wo liegt seine Verantwortung in dieser Sache? He is being irresponsible by drinking and driving. He is being irresponsible by not knowing enough and, of course, he, undoubtedly, knew enough English. I mean this is his lawyer jumping in there and saying poor Juan here didn't quite understand. ||||||||||||フアン|||| He thought the policeman was asking him, you know, whether he had halitosis or something. ||||||||||||口臭|| Er dachte, der Polizist würde ihn fragen, ob er Mundgeruch hatte oder so. Pensó que el policía le estaba preguntando si tenía halitosis o algo así. Come on, he knew.

Jill: Yeah.

Steve: And, of course, in the case of driving under the influence of alcohol, by the time the policeman finds an interpreter and brings them there, perhaps the alcohol content and so forth will be less and it gives them a sobering-off period. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||sobering|| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||冷静にさせ|| Steve: Und natürlich, wenn der Polizist unter Alkoholeinfluss fährt und einen Dolmetscher findet und dorthin bringt, ist der Alkoholgehalt usw. möglicherweise geringer und es gibt eine ernüchternde Zeit . Steve: Y, por supuesto, en el caso de conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol, para cuando el policía encuentre un intérprete y los lleve allí, quizá la tasa de alcoholemia y demás sea menor y les dé un periodo de sobriedad.

Jill: Of course. Jill: Natürlich.

Steve: I mean the whole thing is completely ridiculous. Steve: Ich meine, das Ganze ist völlig lächerlich. Now, we at LingQ are going to approach the police departments across Canada and see if we can teach them every possible language that they're likely to encounter. Jetzt werden wir bei LingQ uns an die Polizeibehörden in ganz Kanada wenden und prüfen, ob wir ihnen jede mögliche Sprache beibringen können, die ihnen wahrscheinlich begegnet. But, in fact, we should be teaching the immigrants to speak English. It's just so typical of what goes on in our society. Basically, what it boils down to is the lawyers looking to make money, period. Im Grunde läuft es darauf hinaus, dass die Anwälte Geld verdienen wollen, Punkt. Básicamente, a lo que se reduce es a que los abogados buscan ganar dinero, y punto. I personally don't think that judges should be chosen from amongst lawyers, because there's a conflict of interest. Ich persönlich denke nicht, dass Richter unter Anwälten ausgewählt werden sollten, da es einen Interessenkonflikt gibt. They're all interested in creating more work for their brethren, sisters and brothers, in the legal community. |||||||||peers||||||| |||||||||irmãos||||||| Todos están interesados en crear más trabajo para sus hermanos y hermanas de la comunidad jurídica. 彼らは皆、法曹界の同胞、姉弟のために仕事を増やすことに興味があるのです。

Jill: Because in Canada I believe all judges are former lawyers. Jill: Porque en Canadá creo que todos los jueces son ex abogados.

Steve: Exactly.

Jill: And they are appointed, we don't vote. ||||designated||| Jill: Y son nombrados, no votamos.

Steve: No.

Jill: In the states the public, I think, votes for judges, but not here.

Steve: Well, exactly, we should. I mean the technicalities of the law; all of these laws have been written by lawyers and they're all complicated and so forth -- it's a bit like grammar and language learning – and may have nothing to do with common sense.

Jill: Exactly.

Steve: And so, really, it's nice. Like I think if we wanted to get a detailed legal opinion, we should outsource that to India with lots of people to speak English. ||||||||||||||外注する|||||||||| Sanırım ayrıntılı bir hukuki görüş almak istiyorsak, bunu İngilizce bilen çok sayıda insanın bulunduğu Hindistan'a yaptırmalıyız. They'd be delighted to learn Canadian law and they would give us an interpretation based on the technicalities of the law. ||encantados|||||||||||||||||| Kanada hukukunu öğrenmekten memnun olacaklar ve bize hukukun teknik özelliklerine dayalı bir yorum getireceklerdi. We could hire 10 of them for the price of one Canadian lawyer and then the judge should be someone with common sense who need not be a lawyer. ||contratar||||||||||||||||||||||||| Bir Kanadalı avukat fiyatına bunlardan 10 tane kiralayabiliriz ve o zaman yargıç, avukat olması gerekmeyen sağduyulu biri olmalıdır. It could be an electrician, it could be a housewife, it could be, you know, a doctor or somebody who runs a gas station, it doesn't matter, somebody with some common sense, because this judge, obviously, had no common sense.

Jill: No. Steve: So then I go back and I see another situation with drunken driving where there was a very popular Canadian hockey player, former professional hockey player, who lives in the states, because that's where he had his career. He was in Canada driving with his very good friend, he had had too much to drink, he had an accident and he killed his friend; tragic story. Obviously, the driver was very irresponsible to drive when drunk. His friend was also irresponsible to get in the car with him.

Jill: Exactly. Steve: It's one thing when you hit someone else, but if you get in a car with someone who's drunk you're also responsible at some level. Jill: Of course. Steve: And, of course, in nine cases out of ten a person who drives while under the influence doesn't have an accident, but there's a greater likelihood of having an accident. Jill: Of course, yeah.

Steve: And, of course, there was a tragic accident. Now, this person got four years in jail and the judge says we're going to make an example of this. Ahora, esta persona tiene cuatro años de cárcel y el juez dice que vamos a hacer un ejemplo de esto. I mean I see cases where you have repeat offenders for driving under the influence and who have even caused accidents and death who don't get four years in prison. |||||||||常習犯|||||||||||||||||||| Quiero decir que veo casos en los que hay reincidentes por conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol y que incluso han causado accidentes y muertes a los que no les caen cuatro años de cárcel. Demek istediğim, alkollü araç kullanmaktan tekrar tekrar suç işleyen ve hatta kazalara ve ölümlere neden olan ve dört yıl hapis cezası almayan vakalar görüyorum.

Jill: I know people. The baby-boomer generation, that of my parents, is full of people who at least used to drink and drive. La generación del baby-boom, la de mis padres, está llena de gente que al menos solía beber y conducir. A lot of my step-dad's friends drank and drove a lot and received tickets on numerous occasions and received 24-hour suspensions and never even went to court, never went to jail, lots of the time never even had their license suspended and that was after several times. |||||||||||||||||||||24時間の停止|||||||||||||||||||||||||| Muchos de los amigos de mi padrastro bebían y conducían mucho y recibieron multas en numerosas ocasiones y recibieron suspensiones de 24 horas y nunca fueron a juicio, nunca fueron a la cárcel, muchas veces ni siquiera les suspendieron el carnet y eso después de varias veces.

Steve: Now, it all becomes much worse if you hit someone and cause an accident and, even worse, cause a death.

Jill: But why do you have to wait until the person kills somebody?

Steve: Absolutely, so I think there's just this tremendous lack of proportion here. |||||||||falta||| Steve: Absolutamente, así que creo que hay una tremenda falta de proporción aquí. One person has his…granted, he killed his friend and the family of the friend were very forgiving. Una persona tiene su... de acuerdo, mató a su amigo y la familia del amigo fue muy indulgente. They said this is the nicest man and a very good citizen and it's his first offense. It's a tremendous tragedy, but we don't want him to suffer anymore than he has suffered. That's the family of the person who died. But the judge says no, I'm going to make an example of this person to teach everybody, okay. This other person -- we're told can't speak English; I don't believe it -- he gets off scot-free. |||||||||||||||無罪| |||||||||||||||de graça|livre Esta otra persona -nos dicen que no habla inglés; no me lo creo- sale impune.

Jill: Yeah. Steve: There's just absolutely no… Jill: Not even a suspension or a fine or anything. Jill: Ni siquiera una suspensión o una multa o algo así. Джилл: Даже не отстранение от работы, не штраф или что-то еще.

Steve: Exactly. Jill: That's ridiculous. Steve: That's why I say that today's discussion is about the relationship between language learning and drunken driving. If you are going to drive drunk, which we don't recommend at all, don't let on that you speak the local language. Si vas a conducir borracho, cosa que no te recomendamos en absoluto, no dejes entrever que hablas el idioma local. That's not even funny, you know; that's not even funny.

Jill: No, we shouldn't joke about that.

Steve: I think that people who drive under the influence of alcohol are…if it's only their own lives, fine. I mean not fine, but whatever, but they are risking the lives of other people. |||||||||putting at risk||||| Whenever I drive on the highway I think wow, if there's somebody coming at me at an intersection or whatever that's drunk and doesn't know what they're doing and slams into me I'm defenseless. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||衝突する|||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||bate||||desprotegido Siempre que conduzco por la autopista pienso, vaya, si viene alguien borracho y sin saber lo que hace en un cruce o lo que sea y me embiste, estoy indefenso.

Jill: Yeah. Steve: I'm helpless, so. Jill: Sí. Steve: Estoy indefenso, así que. Jill: Especially when it's later at night I have those thoughts more often. If it's 11:00 or 12:00 at night you just assume that people who are out later have maybe been drinking more. I do the same thing; I just look at everybody coming towards me and wonder.

Steve: Exactly. Alright, well not a very happy subject, but it does have a language learning angle. Jill: You'll always find one anyway.

Steve: We always find one, okay.

Jill: Thank you.

Steve: Bye, Jill.

Jill: Bye-bye.