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Business English Power, Episode 49. Aloha

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and welcome to another episode of

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Business English Power, the show for

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ambitious English students who want to

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level up their business English skills,

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become global communicators and international business

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leaders. My name is

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Al, also known as Al Sensei

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here online and well,

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during my time spent in Japan, has

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been 18 years over there teaching English

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and also teaching at a very

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prestigious university and also at Fortune

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500 companies around Tokyo. Thank

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you so much for joining me today. I've

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got a great businessy episode today. Yeah,

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that's a good word there, businessy. We're

0:46

getting back to our business English

0:48

stuff here. We're going to talk about

0:50

pronunciation today. We're going to practice pronouncing

0:53

things related to investing

0:56

and the investment world. We're going to do

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some basics. We're going to do some general

1:01

terms. I think these are going to be good

1:03

because sometimes these terms, you're going to

1:05

hear them in the news, you're going to

1:07

hear them from colleagues and

1:09

you may have not really learned what they mean.

1:12

So we're going to go over the basic definitions

1:14

as well, but we're also going to learn how

1:16

to pronounce them. So get ready for a great

1:18

episode. Let's get right into it. Before

1:21

we do, just make sure to please

1:23

subscribe to Business

1:25

English Power. If you're

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listening to Business English Power, please

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share this episode if you think someone

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could get some benefit and value from it as

1:49

well. All

1:52

right, so we're going to get into some investing

1:54

today. Now investing,

1:57

you know, most people typically think about...

2:00

The stock market, things like that rates let's we're

2:02

gonna kind of focus on here. And

2:05

we're going to do some basic

2:07

terms. When I

2:10

can do a whole lot of

2:12

them, burgundy some good ones here

2:14

that you probably will have heard

2:16

before or. You may

2:18

you have become familiar with in

2:20

the upcoming. Weeks. Or

2:22

years or months. So

2:25

the first thing is worth investing. What

2:27

does it mean? Okay, of course, investing

2:30

simply means when you. Spend

2:33

or put in Will say some money

2:35

typically own. We did talk about investing

2:37

energy and time but we're going to

2:39

about money today. Ah,

2:42

invest, You're putting in money into

2:44

something. That. Hopefully gives you

2:46

more back. In. Return

2:49

after sits all was

2:51

not. Reliable. So

2:53

there could be too. That's why it's a risk. You

2:55

know you could end up losing money. That.

2:59

Is for you to decide and for

3:01

you to research. But we're going to

3:03

go over the terms that we need

3:06

to know and how to pronounce them.

3:08

So first thing we want to know

3:10

of course is well, what can we

3:13

invest in. While

3:15

the first basic thing that

3:17

you can best invest in

3:19

his stocks. Okay,

3:22

so let's practice that one

3:24

stocks. Are

3:27

it's of course we ever be sick

3:29

as t sound to begin now. Stock.

3:32

Cave know we have if you'd

3:34

look at the spelling of at

3:36

it and again I highly encourage

3:38

you as you do or pronunciation

3:40

lessons here on the podcast and

3:42

in general is to not. Get

3:45

used to reading so much

3:47

with your eyes of more

3:49

focus on listening with your

3:51

ears. Gonna do yoga. Much

3:53

better service as you continue

3:55

to level up your pronunciation

3:57

skills. But since we are.

4:00

Getting familiar with the terms here,

4:02

I can stock as S T

4:04

O C K S. Now the

4:06

reason why I say don't get

4:08

so used to seeing your reading

4:10

the words of their eyes is

4:12

because in Japan for example the

4:14

oh automatically will be kind of.

4:18

To have. Translated: Into an

4:20

o' sound right? So it

4:22

be intention or the ah

4:24

of. Be. I'm with the

4:27

word I'm looking for here. the

4:29

natural I guess natural feeling would

4:31

be to be stock rather than

4:33

stock as so in native English

4:35

with deathly want to open up

4:37

your mouth and not have an

4:39

o sound but mormon ah case

4:42

for that kind of what I

4:44

call the tall a sounder you

4:46

want open your mouth or a

4:48

flat oh sound. I

4:50

just in at a to introduce all these

4:52

terms but some of you may know what

4:54

as a short oh sounds so it's gonna

4:56

be ah. Ah,

5:01

And then of course the last

5:03

Ck stock. And then

5:05

if they are doing more than one that the

5:08

s at the in stocks. Guess

5:10

A please repeat after me. Okay,

5:20

let's do a sentence. A please

5:22

repeat after me I like investing

5:25

in stocks. A

5:30

one were time. I like investing

5:32

in stocks. Okay,

5:37

excellent, Very good though of course

5:39

stock. I didn't really going to

5:41

the definition. I think the most

5:43

of you know what a stock

5:45

is, but our stock basically means when

5:47

a company like with a stews

5:49

up some examples Amazon or Apple

5:51

or. Any

5:53

your major company out there

5:56

ah of goes public and

5:58

so they want to. Have.

6:01

People. Buy into rare and

6:04

invest into their company. Giving

6:06

them. Money. To work with

6:08

Well that's how they do it for

6:11

the release shares of the by the

6:13

call it a share of the company

6:15

and those are called stocks and now

6:17

you can buy them in shares in

6:19

a one share to share in. That's

6:22

what we see the stock price when

6:24

we see the number of how much

6:26

the stock costs that is called the

6:28

stock price of one share. Our

6:31

it. So that's when you started messing up

6:34

what's another thing that we can invest in

6:36

while another thing we can. Invest

6:38

in is mutual funds.

6:42

Mutual Funds. Now.

6:44

What is a mutual fund was a

6:46

mutual fund basically is a think of

6:49

a collection. Or. A basket

6:51

of stocks? There could be other things

6:53

in there as well. Thumb can be

6:55

bonds as well on bonds or another

6:57

thing we can invest in more. Get

6:59

to that in the next flaccid. Okay

7:01

with when we do bonds first him

7:03

so change my to the order to

7:05

it's to bond them so they will

7:07

come back to Mutual fund is a

7:09

bond. What

7:11

is a bomb to get Bond

7:13

is basically Det K. So usually

7:15

ah, Bond. Is typically from

7:17

the government ah abuse within it's they

7:20

call it a treasury bill or Theo.

7:22

There are different types of bonds he

7:24

can get engine from banks. Now a

7:27

bond basically means you're just buying someone

7:29

elses debt and the going to pay

7:31

you back. A. Percentage

7:34

Point: syrupy of percentage

7:36

a set percentage higher.

7:39

Then once you borrow, you bought

7:41

it for it. So that's how

7:43

you make money that of more

7:45

stable investment so to speak. However,

7:47

it's kept at a percentage that

7:50

you've agreed to at the beginning.

7:53

so bond fund in the space good as

7:55

helping a company or a bank or of

7:57

the government get money up front and they're

7:59

gonna pay you back later. Okay

8:02

so let's practice that. So the B sound, remember with

8:04

the B we put

8:06

our you know we just put our top lips

8:09

to our bottom lips or top lip to

8:11

our bottom lip. Bond,

8:14

can we just make the B sound.

8:16

Bond. And

8:18

again we're gonna have that short

8:21

O sound or tall A is

8:23

what I call it. Baa. Okay

8:25

so baa. Nnn. Duh.

8:27

Okay so putting the N D at

8:29

the end. Nnn. Bond.

8:32

Okay please repeat after me.

8:34

Bond. Bond.

8:40

Okay good job. Let's put it together

8:43

with stocks. Let's say I like investing

8:45

in stocks and bonds. Okay

8:51

one more time please repeat. I like

8:53

investing in stocks and bonds. Okay

9:00

excellent very good. So that's

9:03

stocks and bonds. Now let's move on to mutual funds.

9:05

Now it's a little bit a

9:07

little bit longer term here. Now

9:09

the reason why I should have

9:11

put this third is because yes

9:13

mutual fund can include different

9:15

stocks and bonds things like that. So it's

9:18

a kind of a basket of investments that

9:21

you buy the whole thing. It's

9:23

a pool of money from other

9:25

investors and there's usually a fund

9:27

manager who's in charge of

9:30

buying and selling the individual

9:33

investments within the mutual

9:35

fund. So it's a way to buy

9:38

many things at one time. So

9:41

that's something that people like to do.

9:44

So let's talk or let's pronounce

9:46

mutual fund. Okay so let's start

9:48

with mutual. Okay so

9:50

again we have our M sound at

9:52

the beginning and we're gonna have the

9:54

U sound but it's not moo but

9:56

mew. Okay so more of the thing

9:59

of it picture. sure why you there

10:02

but more importantly listen okay

10:04

mew mew

10:07

chew okay so now

10:09

instead of thinking of a T we're thinking about

10:11

more of a CH sound mew chew mew

10:16

chew now if you

10:18

see the a there after the U it's

10:20

not all but more all it's because

10:23

it's not emphasized that's mutual so

10:27

please repeat after me listen carefully and

10:30

repeat mutual mutual

10:37

okay very

10:40

good now the second part of

10:42

that of course is fun guess

10:44

we have our F sound now remember

10:47

fun there the F sound we

10:49

want to put our bottom lip

10:52

under our two top front teeth

10:55

fun and then make the F sound coming

10:57

out okay so this

10:59

is really really important because

11:02

I know for our Japanese listeners

11:04

out there the F sound

11:06

is not highly emphasized

11:10

right so we need to really make a

11:12

point to separate the F

11:14

sound and

11:16

the H sound so we want to definitely

11:18

put our bottom

11:21

lip under our two front teeth and say ah

11:23

okay and we're gonna

11:25

that use gonna be a flat you

11:27

or the schwa sound so it's system ah

11:30

sound yeah so

11:33

like you're saying Vietnamese noodles pho but

11:36

we're gonna continue with and so like the

11:38

bond fund guess

11:42

please you'd be after me fund

11:45

and just

11:47

like if you can say the word

11:50

fun just add the D to the

11:52

end fund okay so let's put it together

11:54

please repeat mutual fund

12:00

time, mutual fund. OK,

12:05

great job. So let's

12:09

do a sentence with that. I

12:12

have invested in a lot of mutual

12:14

funds. OK,

12:21

very good. One more time. I have

12:23

invested in a lot of mutual funds. OK,

12:31

excellent job. Very good, very good. We've

12:33

got a few down. Now,

12:36

let's move on to the next

12:38

one. What is

12:40

another type of thing we can invest in? Well, this is

12:42

going to be our final one today. I

12:44

think we're going to split this up into two parts. I think that'd

12:46

be good because we want to get some other terms as well. We

12:49

don't want to get too much in too long here.

12:52

So let's go to our last one today. What

12:55

can we invest in? Well, we can invest in ETFs. You

13:00

might have heard that term before, an

13:02

ETF, otherwise known as an

13:04

exchange traded fund. But

13:07

a lot of people these days just call it an

13:09

ETF. An exchange

13:12

traded fund, basically similar to a

13:14

mutual fund in that it

13:16

is a collection or a basket of different investments

13:19

or stocks and bonds, things like that. However,

13:22

it is just different in the way that it

13:24

is bought and sold. So

13:27

whereas a mutual fund, I believe, only is

13:29

priced once per day, an ETF

13:32

is kind of like a stock. So the

13:34

price can change throughout the day. And

13:36

you can purchase it when the stock market is open. You

13:39

can buy it right on the stock market. So

13:41

a few differences, but these are

13:43

becoming very, very common. So

13:46

you need to know what that means, but also how to

13:48

say it. So of course,

13:50

you can say exchange traded fund.

13:53

But let's do the more common way of

13:55

saying it, ETF. This is the letters. So

13:59

of course, E. T

14:01

and just like the character ET and

14:03

then add F. So

14:06

when you put them all together you want it to flow

14:08

so please pronounce it or say it after me. ETF. ETF.

14:20

Okay very good. Let's

14:22

make a sentence. I'd

14:25

like to buy an ETF. Very

14:30

good. One more time. I'd like to

14:32

buy an ETF. Okay

14:38

and you can of course pluralize

14:41

it as well. So

14:43

you can say I

14:46

own a few ETFs.

14:48

Okay very good. One more time. I

14:50

own a few ETFs. Alright

14:56

excellent. So that

14:58

is going to be our terms

15:00

today. Let's do or repeat

15:02

them or review. Let's review. That's

15:05

the word I'm looking for. So the first

15:07

thing we had was stocks. Then

15:10

we had bonds. Then

15:14

we had mutual funds and

15:17

lastly ETFs. Alright

15:21

very good. So a lot of good terms today.

15:23

How to pronounce them. We're gonna get into some

15:25

more investing on the next episode. We're gonna split

15:27

up into two because there's a few more terms

15:30

that I do want to go over related

15:33

to investing in stocks. Things like that.

15:36

But that's gonna be it for today. Thanks so

15:38

much for listening and joining.

15:40

If you found this helpful please share it

15:42

with a friend, a classmate, a colleague and

15:44

leave a review in iTunes or Apple podcasts.

15:47

I would love to hear from you there

15:49

and leave a five-star rating. It

15:51

just takes a few seconds and

15:53

I would really appreciate that if you can just take a few

15:56

seconds or minutes out of your day to do that and

15:59

that would be greatly appreciated. appreciated by

16:01

me, Alsente. So thanks so much. We're

16:03

going to end it there for today. We're going to come

16:05

up with another episode very shortly. Thank

16:08

you so much, and I will see you next

16:10

time on Business English Power. Until then, remember to

16:12

always level up your learning hand, level

16:15

up your life.