1. SOZO EXCHANGE
WHERE ADULTS LEARN ENGLISH AND EXCHANGE IDEAS
Study Guide For Special Episode 1
1. Transcript
Hi, welcome to this special Sozo Exchange episode. My name is Erin Bodine and I am
your host. Today we are going to watch a television commercial for Salonpas which
aired [was broadcast] in the United States. In the commercial, we’ll hear applicable Eng-
lish expressions that are used in everyday life.
Let's first watch the commercial video. I would like you
to try to understand what the people in it are saying.
It moves quite quickly.
Are you ready? Okay, let's roll! [Let's go!]
[Salonpas TV spot: 30 sec.] [TV commercial]
It was fast, wasn't it? Hopefully, you got the idea that this is a commercial for a pain re-
lief patch. The word “relief” is the noun form of the verb “relieve.” The word “relieve”
means to ease or lessen something. So, a pain relief patch is a medical piece of mate-
rial placed over an area of your body in order to ease pain. In the commercial, there
were some acronyms that you might not be familiar with if
you live outside the United States. They said, “Salonpas is
the only FDA-approved OTC pain patch.” FDA is an acro-
nym for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Among
other things, the FDA is responsible for regulating the
safety and effectiveness of all drugs and medical devices
sold in the U.S.
OTC is an acronym for “over-the-counter.” Over-the-counter drugs are medicines that
you can buy at stores without a prescription. A prescription is a written direction from
your doctor regarding use of a medicine. You bring your prescription to a pharmacy for
the preparation of the medicine; you will not be able to purchase particular medications
unless you have a doctor’s prescription. The symbol of prescription is Rx. If you see a
drug with the Rx symbol on the label, you will know the drug is not sold over-the-
counter.
Also, there were some interesting expressions in the commercial that might be a little
confusing to non-native English speakers. I am talking about the phrases such as, the
“Ow, my aching back” patch, the “just one more time” patch, the “boy, do I feel better”
patch, and the “keeping up with Johnny” patch. These sentences in the quotation marks
act as adjectives modifying or describing the Salonpas patch. You remember the little
boy Johnny from the commercial, right? Well, his mother was running around, chasing
him. You can perhaps guess what they are implying is that she is sore [suffering from
pain] from chasing after her son all day. When she’s experiencing muscle pain, she
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2. needs the Salonpas patch to keep up with an active child like Johnny. To keep up with
someone means to move at the same rate as the person or to compete with someone.
“The Slang Segment”
It's time for our slang segment.
Today's slang is “keeping up with the Joneses.” This refers to the desire to be seen as
being as good as one's neighbors. Jones is a very common family name in America; so
when you say “the Joneses” in plural, it means people or neighbors in general. Imagine
that your neighbor just bought an expensive European car and you have a 10-year-old
truck. All of a sudden, you also want to buy a brand-new European car to compete with
your neighbor or to look as good as they do with their car. Now you are keeping up with
the Joneses.
“The Cultural Note Segment”
Next is the Cultural Note segment.
Since this Salonpas commercial is made for the U.S.
market, you can learn about American consumers
from it. They incorporate their commercial messages
into the video in a way that will reach the American
marketplace. For example, they used the catch
phrase, “Get the power of a pill in a patch.”
What this catch phrase suggests is that the Salonpas patch is a medicated patch. The
word “medicated” is an adjective which means containing medicines. So, why are they
saying this? Because the majority of American consumers use pills or tablets for all
kinds of aches, including muscle pain. Some Americans don't even know patch prod-
ucts like Salonpas have medicines in them. I know in many Asian countries, people use
pain relief patches all the time but not so much here in the United States.
Now let's review what we have learned so far by watching
the commercial one more time—this time with subtitles.
[Salonpas TV spot: 30 sec.]
I hope you were able to understand the content of the video
better than the first time. By the way, they said, “Also, try
Salonpas Arthritis Pain,” at the end of the video.
Here's a quick quiz for you. Do you know what the word “ar-
thritis” means? You can probably guess that it means some
kind of physical condition involving pain. Now, I will give you three definitions to choose
from, okay?
Number 1: Arthritis means a muscle pain;
Number 2: It means a swelling of the skin;
and Number 3: It means an inflammation of joints.
The answer is... number 3.
Arthritis means an inflammation of joints. The word “inflammation” is derived from its
Latin origin, “inflamatio” which means “to set on fire.” A joint is the location at which two
or more bones meet. Obviously, it can be very painful when you have a burning sensa-
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3. tion in your joints. Now, let's break down the word “arthritis” further. I would like you to
pay attention to the suffix or the tail part of the word “-itis”. This suffix means an inflam-
mation. There are a lot of words that end with “-itis” such as Hepatitis. Hepatitis is an
illness that can cause an inflammation of the liver.
“The Pronunciation Segment”
It's time for our pronunciation practice. Since the word “arthritis” is not an easy word to
pronounce, let's practice it together. I will demonstrate how to say it three times now.
Please pronounce the word after me.
Are you ready? Okay, let's do it.
[demonstration]
All right, that's it for today. Thank you for watching!
2. ShadowTalk Exercise Transcript
Title: “Aunt Debbie”
Regular Speed:01:24
Slow Speed: 03:42
Word Count: 232
The tone of the voice: Casual
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
My aunt, Debbie suffers from arthritis in her knees and takes a lot of pain killer pills for it.
She wants to get off the pain pills because they sometimes give her an upset stomach.
In the past, Aunt Debbie tried different remedies for her arthritis such as those old-
school ointments. She said, “Those ointment products make me smell like my grand-
mother.” I found her remark funny because Aunt Debbie is in her late 50s and already
has a grandson.
I guess everybody thinks they are still young these days. In fact, she is obsessed with
looking young and buys virtually any product with the phrase “anti-aging” in its name
such as anti-aging wrinkle cream, anti-aging vitamins, etc.
Many people say that she looks pretty good for her age; she works out at the gym and
plays tennis with her equally youth-obsessed friends. And Aunt Debbie is proud of her
physique. When it comes to looking good, she is very competitive too. Recently, Aunt
Debbie bought low-rise jeans because one of her tennis buddies, Angela got a pair of
those sexy jeans after losing 15 pounds on a special diet.
My mother thinks it's embarrassing to see her older sister dressed like a teenager, trying
to keep up with the Joneses. But I think it's great that Aunt Debbie is young at heart and
takes good care of her body.
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4. 3. Vocabulary from the ShadowTalk exercises
Get off the pain pills: stop taking the pain pills
Upset stomach: disorder of digestive function that can cause discomfort in the stomach,
heartburn or nausea.
In her late 50s: her age is somewhere between 57 and 59 years old.
Old-school: conventional or traditional
Buddy: slang term for “friend” (A “tennis buddy” is a friend with whom you play tennis.)
Low-rise jeans: jeans that are intended to sit low on the hips. The rise in a pair of pants
is the distance between the crotch of the pant and the waist.
Keep up with the Joneses: try not to be outdone by your neighbors in terms of material
possessions and social status.
Young at heart: feeling and thinking that you are still young and youthful despite your old
age.
4. ShadowTalk Exercise Score Sheet
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