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  • Hi there! My name is Emma, and today's lesson is a very important one. It's on vocabulary

  • that has to do with technology. So in this lesson, we will be covering 13 new vocabulary

  • words that you probably don't know. We'll also talk a little bit about whether or not

  • to use "the" with technology.

  • This lesson is especially good if you are planning on taking the TOEFL or the IELTS,

  • or any other test like that, because they often have questions that have to do with

  • technology on those types of tests.

  • So you may get an essay question asking, "How has technology improved our lives?" or "Think

  • of a technology that you couldn't live without". For these tests vocabulary plays a very important

  • role in your mark. So you really want to score high on vocabulary. These words will help

  • you to do that, okay? So let's get started.

  • First of all, we have "technology" written here. As you can see, it's a noun, and in

  • general, it's uncountable. So I'll talk a little bit about that in a second. We also

  • have "technological", which is the adjective form of "technology", okay?

  • So what is "technology?" It's a very, very general term which encompasses many things.

  • So oftentimes, "technology" refers to tools, machines, information, which make tasks or

  • jobs easier, and which improve our lives -- so a very broad definition for technology.

  • Okay, so here I have a sentence: "The technology has made our lives better." You'll notice

  • this big red X. This is one of the most common mistakes I see ESL students make. They love

  • to put "the" with "technology", but this is incorrect. So this sentence should really

  • be, "Technology has made our lives better." And the reason is, because technology is uncountable

  • and this is a general technology. We're talking about technology generally, here. We're not

  • talking about a specific type of technology. We're talking very generally, so you don't

  • need "the", okay? So when you write your IELTS or TOEFL essay, don't write "the technology",

  • unless... our second sentence: "I saw a lecture on the technology of storytelling." So this

  • is actually a lecture I did see. It was a TED Talk I watched and it was called "The

  • Technology of Storytelling". In this case, we do have "the", "the technology". This is

  • okay, because we're talking about a specific technology. What type of technology is it?

  • "The technology of" -- this is usually a clue - storytelling. So if - let me write "specific"...

  • If you're just saying "technology" and the next thing is a verb, don't use "the". If

  • you are saying "technology of (something)", use "the", okay? So now let's look at some

  • of the words we're going to learn in this lesson.

  • Okay, we have three words here first of all, that have to do with people, okay? So, these

  • are our people words. We have our positive words, and you see the big smiley face meaning

  • this refers to positive things about people, and then we have negative words or a sad face.

  • So let's look at the positive words first. The first one we have is "technophile". Okay,

  • a "technophile". So what is a technophile? Well "-phile", anytime you see "phile", this

  • means love, okay? We have a lot of words... "cinephile" is someone who loves films, for

  • example. "-phile" is a key part of this word, and it means love. Can you guess what this

  • means: "technophile"? A "technophile" is a noun, so it's a person and it's someone who

  • loves technology, okay? Someone who loves technology is a technophile.

  • Now we have the opposite of a "technophile", a "technophobe". So, just like "phile" means

  • love, "phobe" adds a very important meaning to this word. "Phobe" is similar to "phobia",

  • and a "phobia" is a fear of something. So if you are a "technophobe", you have a fear

  • of technology. You're afraid of technology, so someone afraid of technology.

  • So for me, between being a "technophile" and a "technophobe", I'd probably consider myself

  • a "technophobe". I know I make these online videos, so it's a little bit... I guess ironic,

  • but I don't have an iPad. I don't have an iPhone. All these modern gadgets, they actually

  • make me feel stressed out and anxious.

  • So I'm a "technophobe". But presumably, if you're watching our videos online, maybe you're

  • a technophile, and this is very good if you want to learn English. If you like technology

  • there's a lot of technology to help you learn English better.

  • Okay, so our next word is "tech-savvy". Now this is an adjective that has to do with people

  • and someone who is tech-savvy is someone who knows a lot about computers or technology.

  • I put computers here, but it can be technology in general. So, those people who are extremely

  • good when they touch a computer. You know, it does the right thing automatically. Those

  • people are very tech-savvy.

  • They don't run into a lot of the same problems I do when I use a computer. So I am not tech-savvy.

  • But an example: "He is tech-savvy." Okay, so now let's look at some other words that

  • refer more to the actual technology.

  • The words to my side are words that can be used to describe different technology. Okay,

  • different types of technology. The first word we have, again we have positive words, so

  • these are what you want when you buy a piece of equipment or some form of technology. And

  • then we have negative words, so this is what you don't want, okay?

  • So first of all, the first word is "cutting-edge". So this can be either a noun or an adjective

  • and "cutting-edge" means it's the leader. It's at the forefront. It's in the lead of technology.

  • So for example, I hear in South Korea they have robotic teachers, so robotic ESL teachers

  • and teachers teaching classrooms. I don't know if this is true, but I've seen some news

  • clips about it, and so I would say that that is definitely cutting-edge technology, robotic

  • teachers, okay?

  • Now, "state-of-the-art" has a very similar meaning. It means the most recent and the

  • best. Okay, so state-of-the-art is the most recent and the best. It's also an adjective.

  • So an example is: at the time of this filming, I think the iPad 3 has come out, and I would

  • say this is "state-of-the-art" technology, the iPad 3.

  • Maybe in a few years there'll be an iPad 9 or 10 and things will be different, but right

  • now that's the state-of-the-art technology, okay? We can also use "the latest", when we

  • describe technology. This is an adjective and it just means "the newest". "Have you bought

  • the latest iPhone", for example.

  • Our next word is "obsolete". This is a negative word. This whole section is negative. "Obsolete"

  • is an adjective, and it means "no longer used". So what's an example of something that's "obsolete"?

  • I have a huge collection of VHS tapes at my house. My VCR doesn't work and now we use

  • DVDs, or Blu-Ray discs, so VHSs are "obsolete". They're no longer used.

  • Another word very similar to "obsolete" is "outdated". "Outdated" is an adjective, and

  • again, it means "very old", or it's also a synonym of "obsolete". So what is outdated?

  • Well, if you bought a computer from the 1980s today -- so you bought a 1980s personal computer

  • -- that would probably be considered "outdated," because we have all these newer models, which

  • work a lot better. So that's "outdated", okay?

  • Now we are just going to switch back to our positive side and we have the word "compact".

  • "Compact" is an adjective, and what does it mean? It means small, easy to carry. This

  • is my cellphone, very small. It's compact. It fits in my pocket. It's not clumsy. It's not bulky.

  • "Bulky" is the opposite of "compact". "Bulky" is an adjective, and it's when something is

  • very massive, and kind of a little bit clumsy. It's hard to... you can't put it in your pocket.

  • So, I don't know if you remember if you were born in the early 1990s, cellphones used to

  • look like walkie-talkies. You could say that they were bulky. You couldn't put them in

  • your pocket. They were big. Now they've gotten a lot smaller and they are more compact.

  • So now let's look at a couple of other words that have to do with technology.

  • These are our last three words. Sorry, our last two words. "User-friendly". This again, is

  • a very good thing. If something is user-friendly -- it's an adjective and it means it's easy

  • to use.

  • So for someone like a technophobe like me, I really want something that's "user-friendly".

  • So here is an example sentence, and some of you may disagree with this, but some people

  • would say, "Facebook is very user-friendly."

  • I don't know where I stand on that. With the latest Facebook edition, I don't know if it's

  • so user-friendly or not, but some people would say Facebook is very user-friendly, okay?

  • Now our final word for today is "glitch." "Glitch" is a noun and it means a defect,

  • problem, or error. Oftentimes, we talk about glitches when we're talking about computers,

  • okay?

  • And so plural, this is "glitches" with an "-es", okay? So here's our example sentence.

  • Some of you may have been on EngVid trying to do some of our quizzes the other day. "The

  • quizzes on EngVid had some glitches a couple of days ago." But they're fixed now, so I

  • invite you to come practice our vocabulary and try our quizzes at www.engvid.com. Until next time!

  • Learn English for free www.engvid.com

Hi there! My name is Emma, and today's lesson is a very important one. It's on vocabulary

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