Learning English Podcast - January 04, 2025
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Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English. Coming up, John Russell brings us the programs Ask a Teacher and Everyday Grammar.

We close the show with an American story. We hear the first part of The Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane. But first, this report from Ana Mateo. Every Friday, musician Ines Salman performs the Sevda Linka, an ancient form of love song from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sevdalinka was recently included in UNESCO's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO is the United Nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization. Sevdalinka is often called the Balkan Blues. It is a somewhat sad form of urban love song that dates to the 1500s.

It is a mix of South Slavic spoken poetry and music of the Ottoman Empire. Salman is among only a few musicians keeping the tradition alive. I have been playing and singing Sevdalenka since I was 14, he said before a recent performance. Sevdalenka is often performed a cappella.

That means it is sung without musical instruments. Sometimes the performer sings with traditional instruments, like a lute. This form or genre of music has been carried from generation to generation through performances at family gatherings.

In recent years, younger musicians have brought modern versions of Sevdalenka to audiences around the world. One of them is Damir Imamovic. His father and grandfather were famous Sevdalenka performers. In 2020 and 2021, Imamovic won awards from two world music publications:

songlines, and transglobal for Best European Album. Imamovic supports Sevdalenka internationally through his Sevdalab project. The project helped build support for the music's inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage List. I realized how little the public knows about the Sevdalenka genre.

and wanted to reveal the story behind that music, he said. Zanin Berbitz is a 28-year-old ethnomusicologist. He works as a curator in the music department of Bosnia's Regional Museum in Sarajevo, organizing, protecting, and bringing attention to music everywhere.

He also plays zaz, a long-necked lute used in Ottoman classical music. He said that Savedalenka tells the story of Bosnia's history. Berbić said, Most of my days I spend either singing or playing Savedalenka songs or reading or talking about them. Savedalenka is my life, he said. I'm Anna Mateo.

Imagine you are talking to an American. You are curious to know about what they did during the holidays of Christmas and New Year's. How can you ask about these or other holidays? How can you build a discussion about the holiday season?

In this Everyday Grammar, we will explore how you can form common questions and answers about the holidays. Let's start with some important terms and ideas. The Christmas and New Year's holidays are important in the United States. Common good wishes during the season include Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

But how do you build a discussion around the subject of such holidays? You can start with yes or no questions, which involve the helping verb do. The structure is generally... For example, you might ask... Or...

the person you ask these questions to might answer with a yes or a no both answers can lead to interesting discussions but for the sake of today's report let's assume the answer is yes you can follow up with more detailed questions about what the person did for christmas and new year's

you might need to ask open-ended questions questions that are not asking for a yes or no answer the word what is commonly used to ask open-ended questions about basic actions we combine what with the helping verb do to form the following structure what plus do plus subject plus do plus rest of the sentence

notice that the verb do appears twice in the structure here is how one might use this structure to ask about holiday activities what did you do for christmas or what did you do on new year's eve note that the first example of do is in its past tense form what did this is because we are asking about an event in the past

You could hear answers that go in a few different directions. One of the most common answers will involve the simple past forms of the verbs go, see, or visit. For example, a person might say, I went to my grandparents' house, or we saw our cousins, or we visited my brother.

note that the person could be speaking for themselves and use the subject pronoun i or they could be speaking for their family and use the subject pronoun we now let's work with these ideas ask a yes or no question about the holiday hanukkah it is a jewish holiday around the end of the year pause the audio to consider your answer here is one possible answer

Do you celebrate Hanukkah? For this next question, imagine that you celebrated New Year's Eve in New York City's Times Square. How would you use the verb see if someone asked you about what you did? Pause the audio to consider your answer. Here are a few possible answers. I saw crowds and decorations. Or... I saw the ball drop.

There are, of course, other answers. What is important is that you use the past form saw, as in I saw. The next time you hear Americans discuss the holiday season, pay careful attention to the kinds of questions and answers that they give. Such questions and answers are not only useful for talking about holidays, but for many other activities as well. I'm John Russell.

This week on Ask a Teacher, we consider part of a message from Henry. Here is one of Henry's questions. Greetings, VOA Learning English team. I am a regular listener of your Learning English program.

i would like to ask this question about the correct or proper way to summon some one i e asking some one to come and see you at home school or work in english what expressions are used in summoning some one thank you for your question henry it is an important and useful one

To summon means to call for a person or persons to be present, often for an important meeting. Please note that there are many ways to summon others. In this lesson, we will present a few general ways. When we speak to others directly, we can summon them with the following: "Could you come here, please?"

We might also be more exact about the meeting place. For example, a supervisor or principal might say, Could you come to my office, please? You might also be more exact with what you would like to do. For example, you might ask, Could I talk to you for a moment? These questions are very general, polite, and useful in a lot of situations.

but the way in which we summon others can differ depending on the situation how familiar people are with each other and the rank or status the speakers have for example consider a situation at home or school a parent or teacher might summon a child or student with language like this come over here

generally this kind of summons is followed by scolding or criticism so far we have considered how english speakers might directly summon another person but what do we say if we ask another person to communicate the information for us when an intermediary communicates the information they might use the very general formula

Blank would like to see you or Blank wants to see you. We can use an example to clarify this point. Our examples can be used in a number of situations.

at school a teacher might say the principal would like to see you or the principal wants to see you at home a brother or sister might say mom would like to see you or mom wants to see you english speakers usually consider the structure would like to be a little more polite and formal

For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We want to hear from you. Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com. Please let us know where you are from, too. And that's Ask a Teacher. I'm John Russell. The Blue Hotel, Part 1.

The Palace Hotel at Fort Romper was painted a light blue, a color of blue found on the legs of a certain bird that makes it bright in any surroundings. The Palace Hotel then looked always loud and screaming in a way that made the bright winter scenes of Nebraska seem only a dull gray.

It stood alone, and when the snow was falling, the town 200 yards away could not be seen. When a traveler came from the railroad station, he was obliged to pass the Palace Hotel before he came to the group of low houses, which was Fort Romper.

It was believed that no traveler could pass the Palace Hotel without looking at it. Pat Scully, the hotel owner, had proved himself a master at choosing paints. It is true that on clear days, when the long lines of trains swept through Fort Romper, passengers were surprised at the sight.

Those that knew the brown reds and the dark greens of the eastern part of the country laughingly expressed shame, pity, shock. But to the citizens of this western town and to the people who stopped there, Pat Scully had performed a wonder.

As if the displayed delights of such a blue hotel were not sufficiently inviting, Scully went every morning and evening to meet the trains that stopped at Romper. He would express greetings and welcome to anyone he might see hesitating. One morning when a snow-covered engine dragged its long string of cars to the station,

Scully performed the marvelous trick of catching three men. One was a shaky and quick-eyed Swede with a great shining cheap bag. One was a tall sun-brown cowboy who was on his way to a job near the Dakota border. One was a little silent man from the East Coast who didn't look like it and didn't announce it.

Scully practically made them prisoners. He was so quick and merry and kindly that each probably thought it would be cruel to try to escape. So they followed the eager little man. He wore a heavy fur cap pulled tightly down on his head.

it caused his two red ears to stand out stiffly as if they were made of tin at last scully grandly conducted them through the door of the blue hotel the room which they entered was small it was occupied mostly by a huge stove in the center which was burning with great force

At various points on its surface, the iron had become shiny and glowed yellow from the heat. Beside the stove, Scully's son, Johnny, was playing a game of cards with a farmer. They were quarreling. With loud words, Scully stopped their play and hurried his son upstairs with the bags of the new guests.

he himself led them to three bowls of icy water the cowboy and the easterner washed themselves in this water until they were as red as fire the swede however merely placed his fingers in the bowl it was noticeable throughout these proceedings that the three travelers were made to feel that scully was very kind indeed

He was giving out great favors. Afterward, they returned to the first room. There sitting about the stove, they listened to Scully shouting at his daughters who were preparing the noon meal. They employed the silence of experienced men who move carefully among new people. The Swede was especially silent.

He seemed to be occupied in making secret judgments of each man in the room. One might have thought that he had the sense of foolish fear which accompanies guilt. He looked like a badly frightened man. Later at dinner, he spoke a little, directing his conversation entirely to Scully.

He said that he had come from New York, where he had worked for 10 years as a suit maker. These facts seemed to interest Scully, and afterward, he told that he had lived at Romper for 14 years. The Swede asked about the crops and the price of labor. He seemed hardly to listen to Scully's lengthy replies.

His eyes continued to wander from man to man. Finally, with a laugh, he said that some of these western towns were very dangerous. And after this declaration, he straightened his legs under the table, nodded his head, and laughed again, loudly. It was plain that this had no meaning to the others.

They looked at him, wondering and in silence. After dinner, it was decided to play a game of cards. The cowboy offered to play with Johnny, and they all turned to ask the Swede to play with the little Easterner. The Swede asked some questions about the game.

learning that it wore many names and that he had played it under another name. He accepted the invitation. He came towards the men nervously, as though he expected to be attacked. Finally seated, he looked from face to face and laughed sharply.

This laugh was so strange that the Easterner looked up quickly. The cowboy sat with his mouth open and Johnny paused, holding the cards with still fingers. Afterward, there was a short silence. Then Johnny said, Well, let's begin. Come on now. They pulled their chairs forward until their knees touched under the table.

They began to play, and their interest in the game caused the others to forget the strange ways of the Swede. Suddenly the Swede spoke to Johnny. "I suppose there have been a good many men killed in this room." The mouths of the others dropped open and they looked at him. "What are you talking about?" said Johnny.

The Swede laughed again, his loud laugh full of a kind of false courage. "'Oh, you know what I mean, all right,' he answered. "'I don't,' Johnny protested. The card game stopped, and the men stared at the Swede. Johnny evidently felt that as the son of the hotel owner, he should make a direct inquiry."

"'Now, what are you trying to say?' he asked. The Swede's fingers shook on the edge of the table. "'Oh, maybe you think I haven't been anywhere. Maybe you think I don't have any experience?' "'I don't know anything about you,' answered Johnny. "'And I don't care where you've been. I just don't know what you're trying to say.'

Nobody has ever been killed in this room. The cowboy, who had been steadily gazing at the Swede, then spoke. What's wrong with you, fella? Apparently, it seemed to the Swede that he was powerfully threatened. He trembled and turned pale near the corners of his mouth. He sent an appealing glance in the direction of the little Easterner.

They say they don't know what I mean, he remarked bitterly to the Easterner. The latter answered after long and careful thought. I don't understand you, he said calmly. The Swede made a movement then, which announced that he thought he had met a tag from the only place where he had expected sympathy, if not help. I see that you are all against me.

"I see!" The cowboy felt as though he had lost his senses. "Say!" he cried as he threw the cards fiercely down upon the table. "Say, what are you trying to do?" The Swede jumped up. "I don't want to fight!" he shouted. "I don't want to fight!" The cowboy stretched his long legs slowly and carefully. His hands were in his pockets.

"'Well, who thought you did?' he inquired. The Swede moved rapidly back toward a corner of the room. His hands were out protectingly in front of his chest, but he was making an apparent struggle to control his fright. "'Gentlemen,' he almost whispered, "'I suppose I'm going to be killed before I can leave this house.'

A door opened and Scully himself entered. He paused in surprise as he noted the terror-filled eyes of the Swede. Then he said, What's the matter here? The Swede answered him quickly and eagerly. These men are going to kill me. Kill you? shouted Scully. Kill you? What are you talking about? The Swede put out his hands helplessly.

Scully turned upon his son. "'What is this, Johnny?' The lad had become ill-tempered. "'I don't know,' he answered. "'It doesn't make any sense to me.' He began to pick up the cards, gathering them together angrily. "'He says a good many men have been killed in this room, or something like that. And he says he's going to be killed here, too. I don't know what's wrong with him. He's probably crazy.'

Scully then looked for explanation to the cowboy, but the cowboy simply shook his head. "Kill you?" said Scully again to the Swede. "Kill you? Man, you're crazy." "Oh, I know," burst out the Swede. "I know what will happen. Yes, I'm crazy. Yes, yes, of course, I'm crazy, yes. But I know one thing."

There was suffering and terror upon his face. I know I won't get out of here alive. Scully turned suddenly and faced his son. You've been troubling this man. Johnny's voice was loud with its burden of undeserved blame. Why, good God, I haven't done anything to him.

The Swede broke in. Gentlemen, do not trouble yourselves. I will leave this house. I will go away because... He blamed them with his glance. Because I do not want to be killed. You will not go away, said Scully. You will not go away until I hear the reason of this business. If anybody has troubled you, I will take care of him.

"'This is my house. You are under my roof, and I will not allow any peaceful man to be troubled here.' He looked threateningly at Johnny, the cowboy, and the Easterner. "'Don't, Mr. Scully, don't. I will go away. I do not want to be killed.' The Swede moved towards the door, which opened to the stairs."

It was evidently his intention to go at once for his bag. No, no, shouted Scully commandingly. But the pale-faced man slipped by him and disappeared. Now, Scully angrily to the others, What does this mean? Johnny and the cowboy cried together. Why, we didn't do anything to him.

Scully's eyes were cold. "No," he said. "You didn't?" Johnny repeated his words. "Why, this is the wildest madman I ever saw. We didn't do anything at all. We were just sitting here playing cards and he..." The father suddenly spoke to the Easterner. "What have these boys been doing?" The Easterner thought again.

I didn't see anything wrong at all, he said at last, slowly. Scully began to shout. But what does it mean? He stared fiercely at his son. I ought to beat you for this, my boy. Johnny was wild. Well, what have I done? He screamed at his father.

And that's our show for today. But join us again tomorrow to keep learning English on The Voice of America. I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm Mario Ramos.