Pronunciation ChallengeThe surprisingly long history of electric cars - Daniel Sperling and Gil Tal

Intro:
Hi, VoiceTubers! This is Jeff Chiao. With concerns of internal combustion engine cars, which burn fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel, being the major contributor to glasshouse gas emissions, electric vehicles have become more and more popular in the automotive industry in recent years. Especially with governments around the world all aiming to reduce or even eliminate all oil guzzling cars on the road, it seems like we may not be too far away from hearing kids describing the sound of cars as “ennnn”(electric motor noises) instead of “vroom-vroom”(gas engine noises).

At first glance, practical electric cars for the masses seem like a relatively new idea. However, as we dig deeper into the history of automobiles, electric vehicles not only actually came before gasoline ones, but also had dominated the market for a period of time. To learn more about the intriguing history of electric cars, check out today’s video. As for now, let’s take a look at our featured sentence first.

Featured Sentence:
“But other companies were developing increasingly efficient batteries to power a new wave of portable electronics.”

Okay, let me repeat it one more time, just a little bit slower.

“But other companies were developing increasingly efficient batteries to power a new wave of portable electronics.”

With that out of the way, let’s head to the pronunciation tips.

Pronunciation tips:
As always, let’s start with the connection between successive words.
Our first example comes right from the beginning of the sentence: “but other”. We could connect the /t/ in “but” with “other”, and pronounce it as “but-other.” But-other.
The other example is “wave of”. We could connect the /v/ sound in “wave” with “of”. However while doing this, the of /ɒv/ should be transferred to a weaker /əv/ sound. So, it’s wav-of. Wav-of.

There are also two other words that need our extra attention. The first is “develop.” The first “e” sounds like /ɪ/, and the second one sounds like /e/. The “o” in the last syllable is not /o/, but a short /ə/. With stress put on the second syllable, the whole word sounds like: develop. Develop.
The second and last word is “portable”. The “or” sounds like /ɔr/, the “a” sounds like /ə/, and the “le” sounds like /əl/. With stress put on the first syllable, the whole word sounds like: portable. Portable.

All right, with the tips sorted, let’s get to the vocabulary.

Vocabulary:

develop (v.) KK [dɪˋvɛləp] IPA /dɪˈvel.əp/
to invent something or bring something into existence

The company has developed a whole new process for producing its flagship product that reduces production costs significantly.

efficient (adj.) KK [ɪˋfɪʃənt] IPA /ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/
working or operating quickly and effectively in an organized way

We need to come up with an efficient way to deliver our product to customers, or we will be overpassed by competitors.

portable (adj.) KK [ˋportəb!] IPA /ˈpɔːr.t̬ə.bəl/
light and small enough to be easily carried or moved

The release of the new generation of portable gaming devices had brought this nearly bankrupted company back to the stage.

Outro:

So that wraps up today’s episode!

Turning electric is undoubtedly the most prominent trend that is happening in the auto industry. And undeniably, it is necessary for us to finally get rid of fossil fuels, and embrace the cleaner and more efficient transportation method. However, it doesn’t mean EV, at least for now, is the perfect solution for our degrading environment. While EVs are much more environmentally friendly when they are on the road, the production of batteries they use is still an energy-intensive process with pollutive byproducts, not to mention batteries were made of rare materials that we are desperately running out of.
Safety is also under grave concern. Although EV’s overall probability of fire is lower than traditional engine cars, while the batteries catch fire, it is much harder to put out. Some reported it takes 40 times more water to contain an EV’s blaze. Considering they are often parked close to each other near charging posts, the possibility of a mass-scale fire may be something we really should pay attention to.

As a petrolhead, a person that loves car-related stuff, it does leave me a bitter-sweet feeling whenever I see car manufacturers pushing for new EVs and discontinuing old internal combustion engine models. I love EVs, I love their neck-breaking acceleration and ridiculously silent cabin, but there is just something special about speeding in a vibrating machine which is powered by explosions of fuels we distilled from liquefied dinosaurs which died millions of years ago. But in order to have a better future, or just not to screw up our planet even more, maybe it is time to say goodbye to these roaring beasts.

This is Jeff Chiao from VoiceTube. Hope y’all have a good one! Until next time, goodbye.

But other companies were developing increasingly efficient batteries to power a new wave of portable electronics.

el

But other companies were developing increasingly efficient batteries to power a new wave of portable electronics