SESSION 16: A VIDEO

SESSION 16: A VIDEO

LITTLE BRITAIN ABROAD: CAROL IN SPAIN

DESCRIPTION:

"Little Britain" is a humour TV series. In this chapter, Carol Beer is working in Spain as a travel agent representative in the Balearic Islands for a group of British tourists. But she doesn't seem to be too interested in her job, as usual.

TRANSCRIPT:

Along with France and Germany, Spain is one of Europe's third world countries. Here in Majorca, Carol Beer is the friendly face of "Sunsearchers Holydays".

- Sunsearchers. Ah, this must be us, dear.

- Morning!

- 'kyou. Morning

- Hello, my name is Carol, I'm your rep, welcome to Spain! If you look to your left, you'll see Spain. If you look to your right, you'll see Spain. Now, I'm here to make sure your holiday is fun, fun, fun... fun. Any questions or problems, come to me.

- Excuse me. Excuse me.

- Yes, old man

- Sorry, sorry. My wife's feeling rather nauseous, do you think it would be possible just to... stop the coach for a moment so she can get out and get some air?

- González ¿puede parar el bus?

- Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Excuse me. Ok? All right.

- González, ¡vamos!

- Ok. Yea? Must be something you had on the plane or.... Hey! hey, hey, hey, hey, hey... It's alright.

After a Continental breakfast to fizzy fruit, sweaty cheese and some other stuff you don't know what it is, Jerry and Evelyn are off to see their holyday rep.

- Good morning. Now we're...

- It's not nine o'clock yet, I haven't started work.

- Sorry... Right. Uh, well, we thought it might be rather nice to book an excursion

- You're a bit late. Most people booked theirs last night

- Well, if you hadn't driven off without us...

- Are there any tickets available for the concert in the square tonight?

- Computer says No...

- What about the boat trip, any places left on the boat trip?

- There's one place left. Would you be prepared to swim alongside?

- I'm not a very strong swimmer

- Naaaah...

- What about the monastery?

- There's a lot of steps

- Oh, well

- You're quite old. I don't want you dropping down dead on me

- Well, that's very thoughtful of you

- Are there any trips still available?

- Legoland Winsor

- Is there anyone you could call?

- I could try the Spanish rep, see if there's any cancellations

- She must be busy

- ¿Si?

- ¿Tuvo alguna cancellation por una de las excursions?

- La camputadore dice que no

- It's half past four, Xxxx's on the piano, and Carol Beer is on the war path

- I had a call from the head office this morning

- Yes?

- Apparently you've made a complaint about me

- That's right

- Saying that I've been rude and unhelpful

- Well, we have been...

- A little disappointed

- A little disappointed with your attitude so far

- I'm trying so hard to make you people have a good holiday. That's all I want. And yes, I want to say that I've been rude and unhelpful. It's like a dagger through my heart. I could never forgive myself. I'd rather die!

- Look. We certainly didn't mean to upset you like this

- We'll withdraw the complaint

- Good... Dirty sh*****s

EXPLANATION:

The Spanish you can hear on this video is actually Spanglish, a mixture of Spanish and English. Carol has a very colloquial London pronunciation, and the most noticeable feature is the pronunciation of the diphthong /eɪ/, which sounds almost like /aɪ/ (like when she says "Spain", "late" or "place").

ALONG WITH: Along with France and Germany, Spain is...  Spain, France and Germany are...
SUNSEARCHERS: It's the name of the travel agency and it means "people who look for the sun".
MORNING!= (coll.) good morning
'KYOU= (coll.) Thank you.
NOW: It is very common in English to start a sentence with the word NOW or SO, and they mean nothing, it is just a way of indicating that you're going to start a sentence.
REP: The travel agency representative (the person from the agency that goes along with the group and makes sure everything's ok)
- ¿puede parar el bus? (Spanish) = Can you stop the bus?
- ¡vamos! (Spanish) = let's go!
MUST BE: It must be
ON THE PLANE: With public (collective) transportation we always use the preposition ON (on the bus, on the plane, on the train, on the boat...) But we say: in the taxi, in the car.
CONTINENTAL: (UK English) Related to the countries in mainland Europe (not the islands). Continental is often used to mean European (excluding the British). CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST is a light breakfast, usually just milk and cereals, maybe with a croissant, juice and fruit. BRITISH BREAKFAST is much stronger and usually consists of bacon and eggs, sausages, tea and maybe more things. Contrary to popular belief, today most people in England have Continental breakfast.
FIZZY FRUIT: This is a trademark (like Coca-Cola, etc.). It's a beverage with bubbles.
SWEATY CHEESE: A kind of cheese that looks oily (like when you sweat).
STUFF: Things.
ARE OFF TO...: Go to...
AVAILABLE: If something is available you can still use it.
ALONGSIDE: To the side, by the side.
NAAAAH: (coll.) No.
STEPS: Every little part making up a flight of stairs.
DROPPING DOWN DEAD: If you drop down dead you suddenly die (and fall down). To DROP is to collapse, to fall down, to let fall.
THAT'S VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU: You show a great respect with what you say (here it is ironic).
LEGOLAND WINSOR: A Lego theme park in the city of Winsor, England.
La computadore dice que no : (Spanglish) : The computer says no
ON THE WAR PATH: Ready to have a confrontation, to create a conflict.
THE HEAD OFFICE: The central part of the company.
APPARENTLY: In appearance, but not necessarily true. This word is very often used in BrE to soften what you're going to say even when you are positive that it is true.
DISAPPOINTED: Sad because things were not as you expected them to be.
Here we can see a very British way of saying things in a soft way. A British person would say "I'm a little disappointed" when an American person would probably say "I'm totally mad (angry) at you".
SO FAR: Until now.
I'M TRYING SO HARD: If you try hard, you make a big effort.
DAGGER: A kind of knife used to kill people or animals, etc.
I'D RATHER...: I prefer to...
WE... DIDN'T MEAN TO...: We had no intention to... (we didn't want that)
UPSET: Get angry.
WITHDRAW: Remove, take away.

Taken and adapted from 'Multimedia English Classroom'