Beginners 3: Transport

Hello everyone, hola a todos and welcome to beginners podcast number three y bienvenidos a podcast tres de beginners, hoy estoy con Lis, today I’m with Lis. Hola Lis ?¿cómo estás?

También muy bien, gracias [Also very good thanks] and today what are we going to talk about?

yes! today we are going to talk about el transporte – transport and los medios de transporte, diferent types of transport, so it is medios and not métodos, medios de transporte. So we are going to talk about different types of transport, we are also going to talk about different problems related to transport and we’re also going to talk about what’s the most popular kind of transport, both in London where we are and in Colombia where it’s quite diferent as you’ll see. So then, Lis cuál es primer tipo de transporte, cuál es primer medio de transporte – what’s the first kind of transport?

Sí!! so you’ve got el carro

El carro and that’s in Colombia or South America, they said el carro but in Spain they don’t say el carro, what do they say in Spain?

El coche. Y ¿cuál es el segundo medio de transporte? What’s the second type of transport?

Yes, the second type es la bicicleta, which means bicycle, obviously, but you can also say la bici, you don’t have to say bicicleta you just can say bici and this is a feminine noun so la bicicleta. El carro  is masculine, la bici. Lis ¿cuál es el tercer medio de transporte?

Yes, so the third one is el autobús, which means the bus. ¿Cuál es el cuarto medio de transporte?

El tren, so this is really easy, exactly the same as English, el tren, the train. Lis, ¿En Colombia hay tren? [Are there trains in Colombia?]

¿Y cuál es el quinto metodo , I got it wrong! ¿Cuál es el quintomedio de transporte? What’s the fifth type of transport?

So in Medellin they have a metro , but it’s overground. ¿Cuál es el sexto medio de transporte? [What’s the sixth method of transport?]

Again, really easy, el taxi, exactly the same in English, taxi. And the next one, I think is special just to Colombia, or maybe South America. ¿Cuál es el séptimo medio de transporte? [What’s the seventh type of transport?]

So a mototaxi, which is something I think that is special just to Colombia, or South America, you certainly don’t get them in England, is a combination of a motorbike and a taxi, and it’s really fun, you just… It costs about a third the price of a normal taxi, you just jump on the back of someone’s motorbike and they take you wherever you want to go. I think we need them in London. And I think the next one, we definitely need more of in England. Lis, ¿cuál es el octavo medio de transporte? [What’s the eighth type of transport?]

El burro. And what’s el burro? ¿Qué significa? [What does it mean?]

So they use it quite a lot in the country to transport vegetables and things like that, but you don’t use donkeys in cities.

Unfortunately. Ok, so those are eight different types of transport, I’m sure there’s a few more we could talk about as well, but for now we’re going to move on to different problems with transport. And Lis, in Colombia are there lots of problems with transport?

Ok, so ¿cuál es el primer problema de transporte? [What’s the first transport problem?]

Ok, thank you, so el trancón, which means traffic jam, which as Lis said se presenta en las ciudades de Colombia, which is found in Colombia’s cities, and also definitely in London and lots of English cities as well. Do you think there are more traffic jams, ¿hay más trancónes en Colombia o en Londres? [Are there more traffic jams in Colombia or in London?]

Ok, the second one, not exactly a problem as such, but maybe a cause of some problems, los semáforos. And what does semáforo mean?

Lis has forgotten! So semáforo is traffic light.

In fact in English we used to have, or we still do for planes, you have people doing semaphore, which I believe are people who guide the planes in the airports and wave the signs around, I’m not sure about that but it might be a good way of remembering. Semaphore, semáforo. And finally, ¿cuál es el tercer problema con transporte? [What’s the third problem with transport?]

Thank you, so the third one is las vías en construcción. Las vías en construcción means roads under construction, which happens a lot in Colombia, and can happen quite a lot in England as well, and is another cause for trancónes, is another cause for traffic jams. So now we’ll move away from los problemas con transporte, and don’t forget that problema, even though it ends in “a”, is actually masculine, so you say el problema, but you don’t say la problema. Ok, and we have some more problems with transport, or maybe causes. So what’s the next cause of problems of transport?

So we’ve got two ways of saying the same thing here, one is informal, and one is formal. So what’s the informal way?

And the formal way?

So we’ve got los chupas and la ¿cómo es?, what is it?

La policia de transporte. So, in England we have, I suppose transport police, not really traffic wardens, so you can say los chupas which is the informal way, and la policia de transporte, which is the formal way.

Ok, and then one final question. Lis, ¿cuál es el medio de transporte más popular en Colombia? [What’s the most popular type of transport in Colombia?]

And the most popular type of transport in Bogotá is the Transmilenio, which is like a network of buses , similar to a metro, but instead of being underground, it’s overground, and instead of being trains, it’s a series of buses. It’s very useful. Y Lis, ¿cuál es el medio de transporte que a ti te gusta? [And Lis, what’s the means of transport that you like?]

Ok everyone, thank you very much for listening, you can find the notes for this podcast just another the episode. From me, hasta luego, and from Lis