Hello and welcome to the vocabulary lesson for the conversation “Chile.”  This is a conversation between Joe and a friend of ours named Will.  Will had lived and worked in Chile for a year.  

Okay, let’s begin.

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 At the beginning of the conversation Joe says, “Hey, you know what dawned on me?”  

Dawned on me.  Dawned on me means to realize, to remember.  Dawned on me.  For example:  After leaving the grocery store, it dawned on me that I forgot to buy a cucumber.  Dawned on me. 

Then Will says, “What’s that?”  Joe says, ”The last time I saw you, you told, you mentioned

something and, I didn’t even realize it until we had already gone our separate ways.  And that was that you had lived in Chile before.”

 Gone our separate ways.  This means when people who were together leave one another.  Gone our separate ways.  For example:  When the bar closed, it was time for us to go our separate ways.  So, in this case, go our separate ways.  

So then Joe goes on to say, “I didn’t even remember that.  It’s like I don’t know...”  Will says, “Yeah,

I...”  And Joe says, “know if you ever told me that.”  And then Will says, “Yeah, I lived in Chile, uh, for

a year not long after college.” 

Yeah.  Yeah is just slang or casual or informal for yes.  Not long after.  Not long after is a short amount of time.  For example:  Phillip started a summer job working at the bank not long after he finished school for the year.  Not long after. 

Okay, then moving on in the conversation Joe says, “Wait, what year was this?”  And Will says, “That

was in 1992.”  And Joe says, “Oh, man.  So, did you, pretty much right after you graduated, you just

decided to travel, or...” 

When Joe says, "Oh man…”  That’s just an expression, like, oh wow, oh gee, oh man.  Pretty much right after.  Now this means right around the time of or close to the time of.  Pretty much right after. 

Then Will says, “It took me a year to save up the money and then I went travelin'.  Yeah, I planned on

goin’ right away.  But it took me a little while and, uh, I made it.”

 Travelin’, goin’… these are just shortened for...  Travelin’ is shortened for traveling.  Goin’ is shortened for going.

Then Joe says, “Did you know Spanish at the time, or...”

What Joe’s saying here is, did you know how to speak Spanish at the time you were in Chile?  Did you know Spanish at the time. 

And then Will says, “I thought I did.”  And Joe laughs.  And Will says, “When I got to Chile I realized I

had no idea what anybody was talking about.” 

Had no idea.  That means did not know.  For example:  I had no idea what I wanted to do when I finished high school.  Had no idea.

 And then Joe says, “Was it because they were speaking too fast, or...”  And Will says, “It was

because I didn’t really know Spanish.”  So then Joe laughs and says, “Wait, how much, how much

Spanish did you have before that?”

 How much Spanish did you have before that?  So what he’s saying is, how many Spanish classes did you have before going to Chile?

 “Did you take some in college?  Or was it just from living in San Francisco and living in The Mission

or something?”

 The Mission.  This is short for the Mission District.  District is like an area.  The Mission District is a

neighborhood in San Francisco.  For example:  When Joe first moved to San Francisco, he found an apartment in The Mission.  The Mission.

 So then Will says, “Oh, I had taken Spanish since I was twelve years old.  And I was, and I took it, uh, for about three years in college as well.  And when I got to Chile, it was really difficult, um, uh. 

However I was able to get by.  And I was able to make friends.”

 I had taken Spanish.  So what Will is saying is I had taken Spanish classes since I was twelve years old.  I had taken Spanish.  Get by.  Get by means to do okay by using only what you have.  For example:  Although I did not speak Spanish very well, I was able to get by when I went to Mexico.  Get by.

 Then Joe says, “Right.”  And Will goes on to say, “And I met some really nice people who were

patient with the language and everything, uh...  It was a group of, uh, people who liked to, uh, um,

hang out and play guitar and go dancing...” 

So he met some really nice people who were patient.  Patient means people… these were people who were willing to take their time with him.  For example, they spoke slowly when they were talking to him.  Patient.

Hang out.  Hang out means to casually pass time.  For example:  My friends and I like to hang out at the café near my house.  Hang out.  

So then Joe says, “Oh that’s good.”  And Will says, “and there were a lot of, a lot of people, a lot of

foreigners, like travelers, in the group.  But not like tourists.  But people who were kind of my age and who were living there.”

Kind of.  Kind of means sort of.  For example:  When I first visited Chicago, I thought it was kind of like New York.  Kind of.

Then Joe says, “Yeah.”  And Will says, “And they, uh, uh.  There were these Chilean people who, uh,

basically were my friends the whole time I was there.”

Basically is almost used as a filler here.  Filler meaning it’s not even really needed.  But it can mean just.  For example:  The people were just my friends.  The people were basically my friends.  

Okay then Will goes on to say, “I was only there for a year.  But still I met a lot of really good people,

uh, very early on.  And by the time I left I spoke a lot of Spanish.”

Early on.  Early on means in the beginning.  For example:  Early on when I moved to San Francisco I would get lost a lot.  Now that I have lived here for three years I never get lost.  Early on.

And Joe says, “A year, that’s a good amount of time.”

A good amount.  That means a lot.  For example:  I spent a good amount of money buying a plane ticket to Thailand.  A good amount.

Then Will goes on to say, “Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to learn so much Spanish as I did in a year though if I hadn’t been in school for so long.  Even though it wasn’t, uh, um, even though it wasn’t super fa-...a super fast way to learn Spanish, uh...  I mean I learned so much more a year in Chile than I did in all the school that I ever had.”

Super fast.  That just means very fast.  Super fast way to learn Spanish.

Then Will goes on to say, “Uh, it still gave me a really good foundation.”

So good foundation means a good amount of information to start with.  For example:  I learned to speak a little Spanish as a child.  It was a good foundation for studying Spanish in college.  Good foundation.

So Will goes on to say, “So when I went to, uh, Chile I was able to, uh, to make friends there and, uh, speak the language almost all the time.  And by the time I came back I knew a lot of Spanish.”

By the time I came back I knew a lot of Spanish.  What he’s saying here is by the time I came back to America, by the time I returned to America, I knew a lot of Spanish.

And then he goes on to say, “That was fun, but, uh, the trip itself was the best part.  The experience

of, uh, living and traveling and working in Chile was something I’ll never forget.  That was one of the

best years of my life.” And then Joe says, “Was that the first time that you’d done any sort of, like,

y’know, traveling like that?  Or had you, had you gone on a trip like this, y’know, while you were in

college during summer?  Or...”

Y’know is used a lot in conversation and it’s just short for “you know.”

Then Will says, “I had gone on, uh, uh many trips to Mexico...”  And Joe says, “Uh-huh.”  And Will

then goes on to say, “when I was in college.  Every chance I could, of course, I would go to Mexico. 

Ah, I love Mexico.”  And Joe says, “Yeah, it’s...”  And Will says, “When I...”  And Joe says, “so close.”

And Will says, “when I was in Chile, that was the first time though that I took a trip hitchhiking.”

Hitchhiking.  This means to travel by getting a free ride in a car with someone you do not know.  For example:  In Hawaii I did not have to rent a car because hitchhiking is very easy.  Hitchhiking.

Then Will goes on to say, “In the summer I went to the south of Chile and, uh, that was a really good

time.  Uh, when I first got there we had, uh, I had no idea what I was doin’.”

Had no idea what I was doin’.  So he’s saying he didn’t know what he was doing.  Doin’ is just short for doing. 

And Will goes on to say, “And I just thought, I’m just gonna wing it...”

Gonna is short for going to.  Wing it.  Wing it means to do something without any planning.  For example:  We planned to eat at the restaurant but when we arrived it was closed.  So we had to wing it.  Wing it.

So then Will goes on to say, “uh...  I’m never gonna be able to get a job here and, uh...  I just, uh, went on this fantastic trip.  And when I got back to the city, uh, realizing that since I wasn’t able to get a job I was probably gonna have to go home...”

Fantastic trip.  Fantastic just means great trip.  This really good trip.

So he goes on to say, “One of the people that I met, um, in the first week that I was there offered me a job.  Or told me about a job that I later got at the school that she worked at.  So I was able to live there a whole year.”