Complete Transcript
You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 210.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 210. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
On this Café, we’re going to continue our series on American cities, but this time we’re going to focus on a “territory,” which is an area of land that is governed by the United States but is not part of a state. We’re going to talk about the territory of Puerto Rico. We’re also going to talk about the people who work for celebrities in places like Los Angeles. “Celebrities” are famous people like actors, musicians, podcasters – that sort of thing. And, as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.
This Café begins with a continuation of our series on American cities and states, although today we’re going to talk about Puerto Rico, which is not a city or a state, but rather a territory. Puerto Rico is a group of islands in the northeastern Caribbean. It is southeast of the main part of the United States – southeast of Florida, for example. The United States “invaded,” or went into Puerto Rico with its military in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. At the time, Puerto Rico was part of Spain. After the United States won the war they were given possession (ownership) of Puerto Rico.
At first, the President of the United States appointed the “governor,” the political leader of Puerto Rico. To “appoint” someone means to say who will be in a particular position. Someone who is appointed is chosen by another political leader, not elected directly by the people. For many years, the United States President would appoint the governor of Puerto Rico, but beginning in 1947, Puerto Ricans (people who live in Puerto Rico) have been able to elect their own governor.
In 1917, the United States made all of the residents (people living in Puerto Rico) United States citizens. However, they do not have the same voting rights as other U.S. citizens. Puerto Ricans who live in Puerto Rico cannot vote in the U.S. presidential elections. They also do not have an elected senator. However, if they become residents of a state, for example if they move from Puerto Rico to, say, New York, then they can vote for the U.S. president as a resident of New York. So, Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico cannot vote for the U.S. president, but if they move to another part of the United States that is a state or the District of Columbia, which is our capital, then they can vote for the president. A “resident,” is simply someone who is officially living in that state, so when we say Puerto Rican residents of states can vote, that’s what we’re talking about – they live there. However, even though you move to a different state in the U.S., each state has its own requirements about what it means to be a resident. Usually, it requires living there for a certain number of years.
This is especially important in the United States for college students, because at public universities, the “tuition,” the amount of money paid to study at the university, is less if you are a resident of that state than if you are a student from another state. So for example, if I am a resident of the state of Minnesota and then I decide I’m going to study in California, I would have to pay what is called “non-resident tuition.” I would have to pay more money than someone who lived and was a resident already of California. The reason for this is pretty clear; the public universities are supported by the taxes that are paid by people who live in California. So it makes sense that if you live in California, because you are paying California taxes, and the government is giving some of that tax money to the universities, your tuition should be less than someone from another state who isn’t paying taxes to support the universities. I was a resident of Minnesota; I went to the University of Minnesota and I paid what is called “in-state” tuition, that is, tuition for someone who’s a resident. The opposite would be “out-of-state” tuition.
Okay, let’s get back to Puerto Rico! If you are a U.S. citizen of, say, California, and then you move to Puerto Rico, you still cannot vote for U.S. president. In other words, anyone who is a resident of Puerto Rico cannot vote for the U.S. presidency as long as they are a resident there – as long as they are living there.
Puerto Ricans, as I mentioned, do not have a U.S. senator either. They do have a member of the United States House of Representatives, however it is a non-voting member. In other words, the member can go and listen and be part of committees, but that member cannot vote. So, it’s really just someone who is there to express the interest of people who live in Puerto Rico, but cannot actually vote. This is true also, by the way, for Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia), our nation’s capital. People who live there, although they can vote for the U.S. president do not have a vote for a senator, and their representative cannot vote in the House of Representatives. You must be a member of a U.S. state in order to have the vote for a senator and for a voting congressperson. By the way, this is true for all the U.S. territories. Puerto Rico is not the only U.S. territory, there are several others, and the situation there is the same. They have a non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives, they do not have a senator, and they cannot vote for the president of the United States, even though, in most cases, they are U.S. citizens.
As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans can travel to and from the mainland without a passport. The “mainland,” sometimes called the “continental” United States, includes all of the states except Alaska and Hawaii, which are separated by great distances. Alaska is separated from the U.S. by Canada, and Hawaii by the Pacific Ocean. However, when we talk about the mainland, usually we are talking about what are also referred to as “the lower 48,” the 48 states that are part of the continent of North America. Puerto Ricans can travel to any state, not just the mainland, without a passport. They are, as I said, U.S. citizens. They only need a government-issued identification card like a driver’s license in order to come to the U.S., just like Americans who are traveling to other states, if they go on an airplane, they have to have some official identification.
Many Puerto Ricans have “emigrated” from Puerto Rico, meaning they have left Puerto Rico to live permanently somewhere else. Especially after World War II, in the mid-1940s, many Puerto Ricans emigrated to New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and of course to beautiful Los Angeles, California. However, New York City has the largest Puerto Rican Diaspora. A “diaspora” (diaspora) is a group of people from one country who leave that country and live in a shared community in another country, they kind of stay together even though they have left their home country. We often talk about diaspora in reference, for example, to the Jews in Europe – the Jewish Diaspora. Here, we’re talking about the Puerto Rican Diaspora, people who left Puerto Rico usually seeking better jobs, more money in other places, especially in New York City. In fact, New York City has about 800,000 Puerto Ricans; about three-and-a-half million Puerto Ricans live in the United States away from Puerto Rico. In fact, they make up about 10 percent of the entire Latino/Hispanic population in the United States. In New York and in the state of Connecticut, more than 5 percent of the population is Puerto Rican. By the way, the current population of Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico is about four million, so as you can see, there are almost as many Puerto Ricans outside of the island (off the island) as there are on the island.
We were talking about government representation in Puerto Rico; there are actually three Puerto Ricans who live in the United States and represent different areas in the U.S. House of Representatives right now. They are in New York and Connecticut, which I mentioned has a large Puerto Rican population. There also have been several Puerto Ricans that have been elected as “mayors,” the political leader of the city; these include the mayors of Miami, Florida and Hartford, Connecticut.
Perhaps one of the biggest political issues in Puerto Rico in the last 50 years has been whether Puerto Rico should become a state, whether it should remain as a territory, or whether it should be given its independence (separating itself from the United States). There has been a lot of talk about this issue on the island and in the United States, and there have been several votes where the people of Puerto Rico have voted for their preference: Do they want to be independent, do they want to stay as a territory as they are right now, or do they want to become a state? And in almost every election, the people have voted to stay a territory, not to become a state. Technically, the word that is used is a “commonwealth.” The legal name for Puerto Rico is The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. However, the number of people who wanted to become a state versus those that wanted to keep the current commonwealth status is very close – the two numbers are very close, around 45-48 percent for each side, with independence being only a very small percentage. So, most Puerto Ricans do not want to become independent; it’s just a matter of whether they will become a state or whether they will stay a commonwealth. However, this is a complicated issue, and I’m sure Puerto Ricans would have lots to say about this. I don’t want to go into the issue; if you’re interested, you can look up more on the Internet about the Puerto Rican statehood versus commonwealth debate.
There are several famous Puerto Rican, in terms of celebrities, artists, writers, poets, government officials, and so forth. If you’re interested in fashion, you may have heard of Oscar de la Renta, who is a famous clothing designer. He was born in the Dominican Republic, but his father was Puerto Rican. There are some famous Puerto Rican singers you may have heard of: Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Ricky Martin are all Puerto Rican. Perhaps the most famous Puerto Rican today in the United States is the newest justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest, most important court in the United States. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was appointed and confirmed as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, one of nine judges (or justices). She is the first Hispanic/Latina member of the Supreme Court. She is Puerto Rican, although she grew up in New York.
I’ve been to Puerto Rico myself once, about, oh, maybe seven or eight years ago. I enjoyed it. I stayed for a week on vacation, stayed near area called Old San Juan (Viejo San Juan in Spanish) that is a nice area and I had a good time. One thing that surprised me about Puerto Rico is that Spanish is still definitely the dominant language, the language that you will hear almost everyone using. Many Puerto Ricans are bilingual, but there are also many that have English skills that are probably not as high as you might expect, at least as high as you would find on the mainland. But, Puerto Rico has some wonderful food, a wonderful culture, and if you ever have a chance to visit there I think you would enjoy it.
Next we’re going to talk about famous people. We mentioned Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin as famous singers who are Puerto Rican. Both of these would be considered celebrities. A “celebrity” is someone who’s very famous, usually because of their acting, their singing, sports, perhaps art. Celebrities are people that are in the spotlight. A “spotlight” is a very powerful light that is normally used in a theater to focus light on a certain thing or person, so that you focus people’s attention on that thing or person. However, when we say someone is in the spotlight, we mean that someone is getting a lot of attention, that everyone is watching him or her.
A lot of people, however, have to work behind the scenes to help celebrities while they are in the spotlight and to make sure they stay in the spotlight. The phrase “to work behind the scenes” (scenes) is also taken from theater; it’s used to talk about people who support the production of the play or a musical, but are not actually seen by the audience. They might be the people operating the lights, making the costumes, painting the stage, and that sort of thing. When I was in high school, it’s the tradition in the United States for high schools to have plays every spring, and these are often musicals (plays with a lot of singing). I was on the lighting crew, the people who are responsible for the lighting, because I couldn’t act and I couldn’t sing – as you probably know! So, I worked on the lighting crew, and that was working behind the scenes.
Well, celebrities have people working behind the scenes for them. One of the most important people is someone called the agent or the manager. The “agent” for a celebrity is always looking for new jobs, new work, new films, and so forth – new opportunities. An agent for an actor tries to find the actor find a new movie or a new TV show. The agent works with the actor to decide which offers of work (when someone’s interested in hiring them) are good enough, and the agent usually negotiates for the artist or the actor. That is to say, the agent is one who does the business dealing: takes care of the money, that sort of thing. When the celebrity is a child, it’s often the parents of the child, especially the mother. Some people call these mothers “momagers,” from the word “mom” (meaning mother) and “manager.” It’s not that common, and of course that would only be for a child actor or a child celebrity.
Celebrities have other people who work for them, and you will find all of these people here Los Angeles. Celebrities have publicists. A “publicist” (publicist) is someone whose job it is to try to control how the media treats the celebrity – how the celebrity is perceived (seen by the public). Some publicists have more difficult jobs than others. If a publicist is working for an actor who, for example, gets drunk and has a car accident, well, the publicist is going to have to try to make sure that the image of this celebrity is not damaged too much, so they may be working very hard. Often, publicists work for more than one star – more than one celebrity.
Celebrities also have stylists (stylists). A “stylist” is someone whose job it is to make sure the celebrity looks his or her best. They’re responsible for the celebrity’s clothing, jewelry, make-up (what they, perhaps, put on their face and lips), their hairstyle. In fact, you may have a different person working on each of these different things. The idea is that these stylists help the celebrity look good, because, of course, in all countries, especially here in the U.S. and here in Los Angeles, physical attraction – physical beauty is a very important thing for actors and actresses and artists; people pay attention to that sort of thing. That’s why I have a podcast and not a television show!
Finally, personal assistants also work for celebrities, although they can work for other people as well, presidents of companies for example. A “personal assistant” is someone who doesn’t take care of the business activities, but instead takes care of the personal things such as phone calls, emails, perhaps scheduling appointments, making travel plans, that sort of thing. The agent or manager is involved with most of the important business aspects; a personal assistant does everything else. They may go and buy food at the grocery store; they may find a good place for the celebrity to eat. They help celebrities with the little things in their life that they may be too busy to take care of. Usually personal assistants are people who live here in Los Angeles or New York who may or may not have a college education. They want to be by famous people. They have to be very organized. Many times they are college graduates, but perhaps in an area that they couldn’t find a job in. I’m not sure, I don’t know any personal assistants, I don’t have a personal assistant.
These are some of the few people that make up a celebrity’s entourage (entourage). An “entourage” is a group of people who travel with important celebrities and help the celebrity. You almost never see a celebrity by themselves, especially if they’re at a formal event, because there are other people who are with him or her, helping them. This is what we would call their entourage. In fact, there’s a famous television show in the U.S. called Entourage about young male actors in Hollywood, people who work for what we say here in Los Angeles is “the industry.” “Industry” is business. We here talk about “the industry,” because it’s the most important one, and that would be the entertainment industry.
I think we need an entourage here at ESL Podcast. I’ll have to talk to Lucy about that!
Now let’s answer a few of your questions.
Our first question comes from Poland, from (Maciej) – I’m sure I’ll mispronounce that, so I’ll to spell it for you. The question has to do with the difference between the words “cooperation” and “collaboration.”
“Cooperation” is the act of two or more people working together to benefit everyone: “Building a house requires the cooperation of all the workers.” Or, “The teacher wants the students to cooperate,” which is the verb from “cooperation.” She wants them to work together.
“Collaboration” also means working together, usually on a particular task – a particular job, and usually it involves two people, although it could involve a group project. Lucy and I collaborate in recording the dialogues; we work together on that particular task. “Collaboration” could also be a group of people working together. “Collaboration” also has a very different meaning in wartime – when there’s a war going on in your country. “To collaborate” means to work with one of the enemies of your country, especially if, for example, they are occupying your country – if the army is in your country. In World War II, when the Germans occupied France – when they took over France, there were “collaborators” in France, people who worked with the Nazis. That would be an example of collaboration with a very negative meaning.
“Cooperation” is a general term; it usually implies that everyone is getting along with each other, and one has a common goal for the group. “Collaboration” usually, as I said, refers to a particular task. When two people, for example, work on a song together, one writes the music and the other one writes the lyrics (the words to the song). That would be a collaboration, more like a partnership. But many times you will hear the two words used to mean the same thing.
Our next question comes from Yuan Jun (Yuan Jun) in Germany. The question has to do with the meanings of the words “instant,” “instance,” and “instantaneous.” Well, these words are all related. Let’s start with “instance” (instance).
An “instance” is a situation or an example of something. For example you could say, “If you are traveling during the summertime, for instance, it’s best to buy your tickets in advance.” “For instance” is a quite common expression – quite common phrase; it means the same as for example. “Instance” can also mean a situation, something that happened, an event. If your girlfriend asks you if the dress she is wearing makes her look fat, and you say yes, that would be an instance of you being pretty stupid. So, it’s an example of.
“Instantaneous” means immediate, something that happens right away; it requires no time at all: “Growing flowers takes time, it doesn’t happen instantaneously.” Notice I made it into an adverb by adding an “ly” at the end. So, “instantaneous” means immediate.
“Instant” is usually a very small amount of time – a very short amount of time, often used in the expression “in an instant”: “She was gone in an instant.” She left in a very short amount of time; suddenly she wasn’t there. “Instant” can also mean immediately. If you buy instant coffee, the idea is that you pour hot water into a cup and you put this instant coffee powder in there, and it becomes coffee right away – immediately.
Both “instantaneous” and “instant” can mean immediately, and you will often hear people say one word for the other. “Instant” is probably more common as a noun/noun adjective: “Her instant smile made me happy.” “Instantaneous” is probably more commonly used with a verb or verb phrase: “The result was instantaneous,” it happened right away.
Finally, we have a quick question from, I believe, Ahmed (Ahmed); not sure what country he is from. He wants to know how we pronounce the words (won’t) and (want). (Won’t) is “won’t,” it means will not. (Want) is “want.” “Won’t” – “want.” It’s a similar pronunciation, so sometimes it may be difficult to distinguish.
From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us next time on the English Café.
ESL Podcast’s English Café is written and produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and
Dr. Lucy Tse, copyright 2009, by the Center for Educational Development.
Glossary
appointed – having been given an important job or position; having had someone in authority give one an important position, often in government
* Sienna was appointed to the school’s board last year and has done a lot to help the school raise money.
resident – a person who officially lives in an area or state; a person who has a permanent address in an area
* The residents of this neighborhood want more parks and fewer business buildings.
mainland – the large piece of land that is the greater part of a country, without any islands or other lands owned by the country located further away
* On our tour of China, we’ll be visiting five cities on the mainland.
diaspora – a group of people from one country who live in a shared community in another country; a group of people from one country living outside of that country
* This new book is about the Jewish Diaspora in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
celebrity – a person who is very famous, especially for acting, art, music, or sports
* Do you think we’ll see any celebrities at the award ceremony tonight?
in the spotlight – getting a lot of attention; having many people watching and interested in what is occurring
* Ginger is shy and prefers to stay out of the spotlight.
to work behind the scenes – to work without being known to other people; to work without getting any attention
* A large of group of people worked hard behind the scenes to make this event possible.
agent – a person whose job is to manage the career of an actor, artist, writer, sports figure, or other person; a person whose job is to look for new work opportunities for a celebrity
* Eric wants to publish his book, but first, he has to find an agent to represent him.
publicist – a person whose job is to try to control how the celebrity is seen by the public
* The publicist told her client that he should try not to be seen in public with a woman who is not his wife.
stylist – a person whose job is to make sure the celebrity looks his or her best, including helping to choose his or her clothing, jewelry, make-up, and hairstyles
* For the award show, my stylist selected a dress, some jewelry, and a hairstyle that he thought would look good on me.
personal assistant – a person whose job is to help a celebrity or another important person with all the little things that need to be done, such as responding to messages and letters, making travel plans, and scheduling appointments
* Personal assistants can do anything from walking the dog to accompanying a celebrity to important events.
entourage – the group of people who travel with an important person and help him or her
* Look at that basketball player! He has an entourage of nearly 20 people!
cooperation – the act of working together well in a way to benefit everyone
* With the cooperation of parents and teachers, the school raised enough money to start a music program.
collaboration – the act of working together on a particular task; work or project put together by more than one person; a group project
* The new piece of software is the result of a collaboration between the university and our company.
instance – an example or situation meant to show or give details about a point; a particular case
* Do you think this is an instance of corruption or do you think she was just trying to help a friend in need?
instantaneous – immediate; taking no time at all
* Her change in mood was instantaneous when she heard that her daughter would be coming for a long visit.
instant – a moment; a very small period in time; immediate
* For an instant, their eyes met across the room and they knew what the other person was thinking.
What Insiders Know
The Tabloid Press
“Tabloids” are newspapers and news magazines that focus on the personal lives of “celebrities” (famous people) and “sensational” (causing a lot of excitement) crime stories. Often, tabloids print “gossip” (casual talk about other people) that is “unsubstantiated” (without facts or proof) about celebrities, sports stars, and other people in the news. These stories often “center around” (are focused on) the dating experiences of a celebrity, their alcohol or drug use, and other things that may cause a sensation.
In additional to stories about celebrities, tabloids also publish pictures of celebrities caught “off guard” (surprised; unprepared), in “unflattering” (unattractive) “poses” (ways of holding one’s body), and doing unexpected things. These pictures are usually taken by “paparazzi,” who are “freelance” (working for different companies at different times instead of working for one company permanently) photographers who follow celebrities around, “staking out” (waiting for long periods of time without leaving) their homes, hoping to get a picture of them that will “cause a sensation” (get a lot of attention).
While most celebrities ignore untrue tabloid reports, some who have felt that the stories are “defamatory” (damaging to one’s good reputation) and who can prove that the story is untrue, have sued tabloids in court. Celebrities may win “damages” (money paid by the tabloid for the damage they caused the celebrity) and the court may “order” (tell someone they must do something) that the tabloid print a “retraction,” a story in the newspaper or news magazine saying that what they printed earlier was untrue and apologize for their mistake.