Cram in 억지로 쑤셔 넣다. Get a Feel for 감을 잡다 (0827 폴란드 여행: 그단스크, 파워 잉글리쉬 스크립트)
Power Warm-up: The Best of Poland: Gdansk
Gdansk is Poland’s port city on the Baltic Sea. Kayla and Maxwell are happy they spent more time in fewer cities instead of visiting more cities for only a few days each.
Kristen:
I’m Kristen Cho.
Cameron:
And I’m Cameron Word.
Kristen:
I just would like to remind everyone, it is the 27th. It is the almost we’re closing in on this month. And the new Power English book is out.
Cameron:
It is out in bookstores.
Kristen:
It is waiting for you to be purchased.
Cameron:
Got that new book smell.
Kristen:
It has a new book smell. And if you’re interested in subscribing annually,
Cameron:
Yes.
Kristen:
That’s a good deal because I believe you get 20% off.
Cameron:
A good discount if you buy in bulk.
Kristen:
Yes, and you don’t have to go to the bookstore. They send it to your home every month. It’s so convenient. I know. Okay. But first you got to get the book and then in the back of the book, it will show you how to do that. Okay. All right. We are in Poland.
Cameron:
Yes, we are.
Power Expressions
Kristen:
The Best of Poland and we’re going to a port city on the Baltic Sea. And it’s spelled g-d-a-n-s-k. Okay. How do you think it’s pronounced?
Cameron:
Gdansk?
Kristen:
Gdansk. Gdansk. Gdansk. Gdansk. But it’s Gdansk. So, I think that’s what it is. So…
Cameron:
I’ve never heard of this city.
Kristen:
I haven’t either, but it’s a very famous city. And I would imagine I’ve never been, but that it’s a beautiful city as well because it’s a port city. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay, here are some of the expressions that we’re going to be covering today. To cram in something.
Cameron:
This means you’re trying to do a lot of things in a very small amount of time.
Kristen:
Okay. How about to get a feel for something?
Cameron:
So this is whenever you are trying to gain some understanding for something. You’re going to do something and try and figure out how it works or how it is.
Kristen:
Okay. On the one hand or on the other hand,
Cameron:
This is when you are introducing a different point of view, a different perspective.
Kristen:
Okay, very good. Let’s go ahead and listen to our travel dialog.
Power Dialog
Kayla: Gdansk is such a beautiful port. I never thought the Baltic Sea could be so warm and sunny.
Maxwell: It’s so nice to go from the mountains to the sea.
Kayla: I’m just glad we didn’t try to cram in too much on this trip.
Maxwell: Yeah. It was nice to get a feel for each city instead of spending all our precious time on trains and buses.
Kayla: On the one hand, it’s great to visit more places.
Maxwell: But on the other hand, you don’t really get the full experience of the place.
Kristen:
Okay, please join us on page 140. You can check out our power dialog there. Let’s begin. Kyla says, Gdansk is such a beautiful port. I never thought the Baltic Sea could be so warm and sunny. Yeah. So it’s a beautiful port and many of us know about the mediterranean sea. Yes. But I never thought the Baltic Sea could be so warm and sunny. So, our power pattern is I never thought, and then A, could be so.
Cameron:
Yes, this is a very commonly used pattern. It’s used whenever there is a surprise or something is different from expectations, often in a good way, but it can be in a bad way.
Cameron:
The thing that is surprising is the Baltic Sea and how it is warm and sunny. So this is kind of in the negative. I never thought something could be so. So, you’re using the negative to say, wow, it really is this way. Yeah.
Kristen:
It’s quite a surprise.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
Sometimes it could be even shocking.
Cameron:
Yeah, it could be shocking.
Kristen:
Gosh, I never thought the countryside would be so beautiful, could be so beautiful.
Cameron:
But it is so beautiful.
Kristen:
But it is. And that’s the point that we’re making. Okay. Maxwell says, it’s so nice to go from the mountains to the sea. Okay. Yes. True.
Cameron:
Kayla continues with, I’m just glad we didn’t try to cram in too much on the strip.
Kristen:
Okay. So when you’re on a trip and you want to cram things in. Okay. The idea of cramming, C-R-A-M, and we use this term for studying. Yeah.
Cameron:
Yes.
Kristen:
Like last-minute, you know, to cram we say (벼락치기하다). But what does it mean here it’s like to kind of stuff it in like to really stuff all the information in our heads right.
Cameron:
It means you have a small amount of space and you’re trying to put a large amount of something in there. So in this kind of travel itinerary, maybe you have two hours to do something, but you want to go to four places. That’s trying to cram in a lot of stuff. And going back to the studying, it’s when you have a small amount of time to study and you’re trying to learn a whole lot.
Kristen:
Mm-hmm.
Cameron:
In fact, even things like the word, the Korean word학원, I have seen it translated as a cram school.
Kristen:
Oh! Okay.
Cameron:
In some cases where you’re trying to study for the test, the college entrance exams, and put as much knowledge into your brain as possible. You’re cramming in the information.
Kristen:
And does that work for you, cramming in information? Is that how you studied?
Cameron:
Yeah, I think I’m a crammer. (벼락치기하는 사람)
Kristen:
You’re a crammer, so am I.
Cameron:
Yeah, for subjects that I enjoyed, for example, I enjoyed foreign language classes. So I studied those every day pretty much. But, oh, gosh, other stuff. you just cram it in. Just cram it in at the end. Of course. History, English, math, science.
Kristen:
Yeah, you need a deadline.
Cameron:
The night before I just cram in all the stuff.
Kristen:
Oh my gosh. Okay, so when you’re traveling and you try to cram in too much, it means that you want to see too many things, right? All the tourist attractions. Or, you know, eat too many, you know, do a lot of things.
Cameron:
Honestly, food is probably the most difficult one because you go to somewhere and you want to eat all the food, but there’s so many choices. You end up having like six meals a day.
Kristen:
I mean, you, I mean, really? you can? Six meals? Oh my gosh.
Cameron:
’cause there’s so much in cafes. Things you want to try.
Kristen:
That is true. Cafes and this dessert and this dish. True. Okay, so Maxwell says, yeah, it was nice to get a feel for each city instead of spending all our precious time on trains and buses. Okay, it was nice to get a feel for each city. Okay, so if you get a feel for a city, what does this mean.
Cameron:
You kind of get an understanding of the city, how it moves, how the people are, what it smells like, how you travel through it, what sounds you will hear. Right. To get a feel for the city is you’re not lost in it anymore. You’re starting to understand quite a bit about it.
Kristen:
Okay. So if you get a feel for not a city, but get a feel for the language or get a feel for a certain, I don’t know, office, like the social culture in the office, what does this mean?
Cameron:
You don’t feel that it’s weird anymore. Maybe you’ve adapted to it a little bit. There’s a certain amount of comfort.
Cameron:
That you have with it you know how things work so you’re not just constantly saying “Oh I don’t know what to do.” There’s a little bit more knowledge into how it functions.
Kristen:
Right. So you just kind of, you know, see the atmosphere. You get a feel of what it’s like, the people, the food, all of those things. You don’t know it in detail, but you know enough to see, oh, the city is like this.
Cameron:
Yeah, and it doesn’t have to just be cities. You know, when I was watching the Olympics, the, for example, archery. They have to get a feel for the bow. Like, because each bow is kind of different, right? So, they have to shoot the arrows a few times to know, oh, this string needs to be pulled this way. Oh, it needs to go to a little to the left. Like those types of things, you get literally a feel for. Like you can feel in your hands how to operate the bow.
Kristen:
Yes, very good. So then what does Kayla say?
Cameron:
Kayla says, On the one hand, it’s great to visit more places.
Kristen:
But on the other hand, you don’t really get the full experience of the place. So, these two expressions go together. On the one hand, it’s this. On the other hand, it’s that. What is it doing here?
Cameron:
So you are comparing or actually technically you’re contrasting. Often what you’re doing is looking at two different viewpoints and how they are different, not how they’re similar. So on the one hand, it’s great to visit a lot of places. So, cramming in a lot can be good. So you’re given a good perspective. On the other hand, you don’t really get the full experience. So you’re giving the opposite viewpoint.
Kristen:
Okay, very good. Let’s go ahead and listen to that one more time.
Power Dialog
Kayla: Gdansk is such a beautiful port. I never thought the Baltic Sea could be so warm and sunny.
Maxwell: It’s so nice to go from the mountains to the sea.
Kayla: I’m just glad we didn’t try to cram in too much on this trip.
Maxwell: Yeah. It was nice to get a feel for each city instead of spending all our precious time on trains and buses.
Kayla: On the one hand, it’s great to visit more places.
Maxwell: But on the other hand, you don’t really get the full experience of the place.
Power Note
1. Cram in something: 억지로 쑤셔 넣다. 짧은 시간에 많은 것을 해치우다. 벼락치기를 하다.
Kristen:
Okay, turn your pages to 142 and 143. It’s time for Power Note. We’re going to do a quick review, give you some example sentences. Now to cram in something means that you don’t have a lot of time or space. And you just put everything as much as you can in there.
1)
A: I think I can cram in another game before school.
B: You don’t have time! Your games take hours to finish.
Cameron:
So, this could be, the games here could be a video game, or, you know people who play like chess? Or even like, like, 바둑. Those types of things. Like, you play online, you play one, you wanna play another, you wanna play another. It’s like, Oh, I have 15 minutes!
Kristen:
I can cram in.
Cameron:
I can cram in another game. I can try and do that game really quickly.
Kristen:
Yes.
2) With only four hours in the city, we tried to cram in three museums and lunch.
Cameron:
Four hours to go to three museums.
Kristen:
That’s too much.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
That’s impossible. Because if you only have four hours in the city, especially if it’s a layover, you usually have to go into the city and then back.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
Which is like two hours.
Cameron:
Not a lot of time. It’s true. When you travel, do you try to cram in a lot when you travel? Like do as much as you can?
Kristen:
No. Not as much as I can. I don’t know. I have not been to a country where I guess if it’s kind of far away, I would probably want to cram in some things. A lot of things because there’s so much to see. But I have not been on a trip like that recently in the last decade. So, yeah, I don’t know. But I think that I would, depending on where I go, would like to cram in activities. But I’m not usually one to do it. How about you?
Cameron:
You know, I’m not either. I think I had one experience in high school. I went on a school trip to the UK. And there were like travel days where we try to cram in all of the tourists. Like we went to London and saw everything in one day. I hated it so much.
Kristen:
Yeah, those travel packages, they cram in so many things. It’s like nine days, ten nights in Europe. In Europe, that’s a lot to see, right?
Cameron:
I can’t do it. I try to see one thing. One thing a day. That’s my limit.
Kristen:
That’s good.
2. Get a feel for: -에 대한 감을 잡다.
Kristen:
Get a feel for something means to kind of get an understanding or knowledge or just kind of the vibe the atmosphere of a certain thing.
일단 바 뒤에서 일하는 것에 감을 잡으면 수월해질 거에요.
Once you get a feel for working behind the bar, it will get easy.
1)
A: Once you get a feel for the subway system, you’ll find your way around easily.
B: I hope so. I’m getting tired of getting lost every day.
Cameron:
Ah, the subway system. I mean, to be honest, the Korean subway system is pretty good.
Kristen:
It is.
Cameron:
Yeah, like obviously from like the quality of like it’s clean, it’s on time, but just as far as navigating it, going from one like transfer or all those. That’s also very easy. I went to New York like a couple of summers ago.
Kristen:
How was it?
Cameron:
It is so confusing. I was in New York for six days. I never got a feel for this.
Kristen:
Really? I’m surprised.
Cameron:
It was because sometimes the trains don’t stop at a station. And then, like, they’re always changing the route, and then the trains are late. And then, like, there is, like, it’s really, it’s a weird system. Because I think it was, like, built slowly. And it was, like, different companies built different lines. So they’re not connected. So it’s sometimes hard to get a feel for the subway system of other older cities.
Kristen:
But in Korea, I think for tourists, they can get a feel for the subway system right away. For sure. Okay.
2) After a month, I’d gotten a feel for teaching and was enjoying it more.
Cameron:
Yeah, you know when you start a new job, it takes you a while to get a feel for it.
Kristen:
Yeah, not just as a teacher, but a company or any job.
Cameron:
A radio host?
Kristen:
It took me a couple of years to get a feel for it.
Cameron:
That’s true. It is one of those things when you’re in a new environment, you are just, what we would say, hyper aware, hyper alert. Because it’s new, you’re thinking about everything. But once you get a feel for that new environment, you learn, for example, the things that you can ignore and you learn the things you need to pay extra attention to. So it often lowers your stress level.
Kristen:
Right, right. In the beginning, you have to absorb everything.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
Right? And after a while you realize, oh, this is okay. I don’t need to learn this.
Cameron:
It’s like when you were driving a car, when you first start and you do not have a feel for the car, you’re thinking about everything. But now, I mean, people can, like, not think about anything and drive a car for three hours. Because you’ve gotten a feel for how to drive.
3. On the one hand A, on the other hand B: 한편으로는 A, 다른 한편으로는 B
Kristen:
Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. On the one hand, on the other hand, okay? So it’s like you’re introducing two opposites. Yes.
1)
A: Should I apply for school in the US?
B: Well, on the one hand, it’s a great opportunity, but on the other hand, you’ll be far away from your family.
Okay. Also, it’s expensive. Ha ha!
Kristen:
Very expensive. Great opportunity, but you will be far away from your family.
2) On the one hand, he’s a great actor, but on the other hand, he’s too old for action movies.
Really? I mean, Tom Cruise is going strong still.
Cameron:
True. I mean, I think that there are certain actors and actresses like no matter their age, like Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, like those types of… It doesn’t matter.
Kristen:
They just stay the same. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Okay, so when you’re taking, contrasting two things. Yes. Showing opposites. Okay,
4. I never thought A could be so B: A가 B 할 수 있다고는 생각도 못 했어.
I never thought is there a power pattern. Yes. Blah, blah, blah. Could be so.
Cameron:
Yes.
1) I never thought running could be so relaxing.
Cameron:
But it is.
2) I never thought sailing could be so exhilarating.
Kristen:
But it is.
Cameron:
Cheers.
Kristen:
Our vocabulary today is actually the word precious, which means very valuable. And if you look on page 144, we have our power practice. So what Korean sentence do you want to give us today?
5. Precious; 소중한
Something that is precious is very valuable. This can include physical objects like jewelry, as well as intangible things like time and love.
A Far Cry From 완전히 다른, Mom-and-pop 작은, 영세한 (0820 폴란드 여행, 파워 잉글리쉬 스크립트) (enko.co.kr)