24. How To Talk About The Coronavirus In English: Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Example Sentences

Welcome to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar and this is episode number 24. Today we're going to talk about vocabulary and how to pronounce words related to coronavirus. Okay, the thing about podcasts is that when I record it, whatever I'm talking about is very relevant to me today and maybe to you as well on the day of the recording. But this is evergreen content. That means it's going to stay there for good until I take it off.

Take it off the shelves.

So you may be listening to this when this is no longer relevant whatsoever.

Or, or where I'm just like all.

Optimistic and talking about what's gonna happen next and things are going to really go downhill.

I hope not.

But when I'm recording this episode, I don't know what's going to happen with everything related to coronavirus. I can only tell you that right now things are really crazy.

First of all, social media crazy.

And nod your head with me if you feel the same way.

People are going crazy over this.

Now, granted, it is kind of crazy. Like this contagious disease is something that we haven't seen before. Now, I'm speaking to a lot of people here, so you listening? The person listening might be the person who has been in quarantine for 31 days. You might have contracted the virus and I hope you are well and healthy right now. But you might have suffered through a horrible experience. And everything that I say right now, you're like, this is horrible. It's the worst. It's worse than actually, than what people actually think. On the other hand, you might be sitting at home watching the news, thinking it's all one big conspiracy. You haven't seen anything related to the coronavirus around you and you're like, what's the big deal? So I know I'm speaking to both ends of the spectrum and I'm going.

To share with you my experience.

And I don't know if it's going to be still relevant to when you're actually listening to it. But for now, as of today, a few days before this episode is going to be published, I can tell you that there is a huge scare. I'm talking about here in Israel, where I live. There are about 100,000 people in self quarantine at home. We're going to talk about how to pronounce that in just a little bit. And flights are canceled left and right. People are not allowed to come into Israel. People who are not Israelis. Now, Israelis are not very obedient and a lot of people that are supposed to stay in quarantine don't and then.

They get sick and more people as.

A result need to go into self quarantine. And I personally am not that afraid of the disease. I told my partner the other day.

I just want to get it and.

And get it over with, right? Like I don't like that ambiguous feeling of what's gonna happen or being afraid of it. Just like to lock myself up for two weeks just broadcast from my solitude. Thankfully I have an online business. I can do that and move on with my life, right? But that's just a silly thought at the moment.

I have a flight coming up at.

The end of the month. I'm supposed to go give a workshop at Google New York and then I have to go and participate in a retreat of a business program that I'm a part of in la. And I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to happen if I'm going to go, if I'm not going to go. So I decided to wait it out and decide the day before. Anyway, this is a busy month for me because we just closed registration to English Teachers Academy. And next up I have we open doors to Accent Makeover and we have a challenge coming up and a bunch of webinars.

So it's going to be a really.

Busy month and I decided not to deal with all with being scared. I'm just going to get down and get busy and decide when it's time if I'm going to go or not. And if I don't go, then so be it. That's what's meant to happen. I know that a lot of people have lost a lot of money from canceled trips and flights and I have friends that were supposed to relocate and they canceled it because of that, because of the coronavirus. They just want to wait to see what happens. And if that has happened to you, I just want to say I'm sorry, I'm sorry and try to make the best out of it. Like there must be a reason why you need to stay or maybe go and go on vacation somewhere where you live or a staycation where you just take some time off. I don't know. It's easy for me to say but you know, like sometimes things happen that is beyond our control and then we just have to surrender and say okay, so let's see what I can do to make the best out of this situation. Turn those lemons into lemonade.

Right?

In this video I Just wanted to give you the vocabulary required to talk about it. After all, coronavirus is the talk of the day. Literally the other day I was walking down the street and every single group of people that I was passing by was talking about the coronavirus. It was so funny.

And since it's the talk of the.

Day and you might need to do it in English with your colleagues and friends, or if you live in an English speaking country, I wanted to provide you with the vocabulary and how to pronounce it. I'm sure you've heard these words, but I want to give you the confidence to use them properly as you're speaking and interacting with people. Okay, so let's listen to the recording of my video about how to pronounce and how to use words related to the coronavirus. Let's listen. Hey there.

It's Hadara. And this is the accent Sway.

Welcome to my channel.

Today we're going to talk about the coronavirus. What is up with the world? What is up with the world? Climate change, political craziness, fires in Australia, financial crises in South America, and now this. The coronavirus. As if that's just one more thing.

That we need to deal with.

By the way, I hope that by the time you're watching this, this is no more than a distant memory. But if you happen to be watching this as I release this video, then you know this is on today's agenda. It's all around the news. The entire world is taking precautions and there are a lot of restrictions and people are talking about it. And the reason why I'm making this video is because I want you to get into this conversation and know how to pronounce some of the key keywords in this topic and also how you can use them in a sentence.

Okay?

Because at the end of the day the corona shall pass too, but will always have English. And for those of you who are in self quarantine watching this, I hope that it will pass really quickly and you'll be back into your normal life soon. So let's get started. Okay, so what we're going to do today is we're going to learn how to pronounce a few key words in this topic. For first of all coronavirus. And then we're going to talk about how to use them in a sentence. Okay, so the name of the virus and the beer is Corona. We start with a K sound, then it's a schwa. K Ro O is in go Koro and then N N Corona. Then we add to it virus. We have A schwa here. If you can hear Vai Eisenhower my. And then R round your lips for the R. A schwa sound and an S. Coronavirus. Coronavirus. When we talk about corona, we talk about the outbreak of corona. An outbreak is when something starts like a disease or a fight in a certain area. It starts all of a sudden. Outbreak. Outbreak. And here you can say something like have you heard about the corona outbreak in Washington state? Okay, so that is actually what is happening. The thing about the virus is that it's very contagious. Contagious is that it is passed from one person to another rather easily. Contagious. Here you pronounce it with a k sound at the beginning. A schwa and an n. Kin. Kin. There is no O. Then tay. That's the primary stress. Contay. And then jus. Jus A J sound, A schwa and an S. Contagious. Contagious. The coronavirus is really contagious. When people get the coronavirus, when they get infected, they contract the virus to contract the virus. Contract sound and then a schwa and an N. Just like contagious. It's the same beginning. Contagious. Kin and then tract tr which turns into a ch sound and then the as in cat Contract. You end with a k sound and a T. Contract. Make sure that you don't add any vowels between the K and the T. Contract. If it's hard for you to connect consonants at the end. And don't drop that t either.

Contract.

Contract. I know that some people hold that T so you'll hear something like contract. But if you're a non native speaker and you tend to drop consonants at the end, go ahead and release that T. Like there is no tomorrow. Contract.

Maybe there is no tomorrow with everything.

That is going on.

I don't know.

Now there are a lot of restrictions in many different countries. Restrictions. Let's talk about this word. Ris. An R sound around your lips. It's a relaxed I. Ris Tri. Another TR sound. Restrictions. A sh sound, an N and a Z. Now there are a lot of restrictions that health departments or governments put on their citizens. Like you can't travel from one place to another. If you've come from this or that country, you need to go into self quarantine. You no foreigners are allowed into the country. So there's a lot going on. Right? And there are a lot of restrictions, but it's only because they're taking precautions. Precautions are measures that people or governments take in order to prevent something dangerous from happening. Right. So it's just making sure it doesn't happen by doing this, this and that, putting all these restrictions on people or countries or airlines.

Okay?

Precautions. Pr. That's a p and an r and a schwa. Pr Pr round your lips for the r, ca, a k sound. Then the oz in father, precau, tion or shins. In plural, it's a sh sound, an n and a Z. Precautions. Precautions. And whether you agree with it or not, you still have to follow it. Now, if you're in self quarantine, you are probably waiting to see if there are symptoms of the disease, right? Symptoms. That means that you start sneezing or coughing or you get fever or you feel sick and you have body aches, right? All of these things happen to you when you get sick and those are the symptoms. Symptoms. Well, there is a P there, but you don't have to pronounce it. So let's talk about how to pronounce this word. Sim. It's an S sound relaxed. And then an M. Sim, a silent P. And then tums. Sim, tums. Technically you could say symptoms. Symptoms. But English is a lazy language. So when they're a chunk of consonants, a consonant cluster where there is a sequence of consonants and then the middle there is a stop sound, like a p. In this case you can drop it. Symptoms. If it's easier for you, if it's harder for you and you want to keep the P, keep the P. Okay, Symptoms or symptoms. But make it subtle, small, tiny.

So just like the coronavirus.

Symptoms. Now, the way to deal with the outbreak is by keeping the virus contained. Contained. A lot of words beginning with congratulations, another word with contained. That means kept in an enclosed place. Right? So it's not passing between countries. Contained. Contained. I think that's a little too late. But people want to keep it contained. Kin. And then tain a t sound. A as in day and then N. You end it with a D. Contained. If you talk about it in the past, form or passive form. Contained. Now, coronavirus doesn't have a cure, but people and companies are working on a vaccine, developing a vaccine. To pronounce vaccine, you start with a V sound, then the as in cat va k vac a C sound. And then seen, as I've seen you before, seen a high E vaccine. Now, another problem of this whole coronavirus business is that a part of it being a. It also triggers xenophobia. Xenophobia or xenophobia is fear of the other or hatred towards the other. Obviously it started somewhere in Asia, but the thing is that it could have happened anywhere. Throughout histories we had diseases and epidemics starting in different places around the world. Europe and Africa and Asia and South America. So it's not like the world is safe as long as you isolate yourself. This time it started in Asia.

And a lot of people, from what.

I hear from my community, have experienced racism and fear of the other because of their descent, because they come from an Asian descent. So this is just an opportunity for me to first introduce you to this term and, and second, to pay attention and to pay attention to how you behave and how you talk about people who are of different culture. And let's not play the blame game because this could have happened anywhere. It happened now in Asia. Next time it will happen where you are from.

Okay?

So I'm just saying that come from love and let's focus on sending healing energies to the entire world and all of the people who are sick rather than playing the anger game and blaming each other because it doesn't help and it definitely won't serve you on a personal level and on a universal level or an energetic level or any level.

You might want to level it with.

Okay, that's it. Now I want you to share with us in the comments below. How are you affected by the coronavirus? Let us know. Did you have to cancel a trip? Did you have to go into self quarantine? Did you get sick? Sick? Did they shut down the school system in your country? Let's share it and listen to each other and support each other in the comments below. And I want you to see that you are not alone, but also to hear from real people and not just from social media and the news. Thank you so much for watching. Again, I send you wishes of health and love. Have a beautiful week and I'll see you hopefully without a mask in the next video.