Immigration – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this

month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation Immigration. So, as always, I have the text of the

conversation and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that you may have had

difficulty understanding. So I’ll be explaining those as they relate to this conversation. So let’s begin.

I always like to start by explaining three words that you hear in a lot of our conversations. The first

one is like. So like is, as you probably know, means to have positive feelings for someone or

something. But also it can be a filler word which means that it has no meaning, has no real meaning,

but you’ll hear it a lot and if you hear it and you don’t understand what it means or it doesn’t make

sense then it is probably just being used as a filler word.

The next word is yeah and yeah is simply a slang word for yes. And the next word is actually two

words put together and it looks like y’know or y’know. So sometimes when we’re speaking fast,

instead of saying you know we would say y’know. Alright so let’s begin.

And I first want to explain what immigration means. So immigration is the action of coming to live,

for a foreigner to come live in a country that is not their country where they were born, and to live

there permanently. So coming to live permanently in a foreign country. So, for example, in this

conversation that would be coming to the United States to live if you were not born here and you’re

from another country.

Alright, AJ then says in the beginning, “We’re not immigration lawyers.” So a lawyer is a

professional, well, in particular, an immigration lawyer is a professional who knows the laws for here

in this country, the United States, he or she knows the laws that deal with foreigners living in the

United States permanently.

And then AJ says, “I’m not an immigration expert.” So an immigration expert: this is a person who

has a lot of knowledge about a particular topic. So in this situation it would be immigration. It would

be someone who would know a lot about immigration.

And then AJ says, “That’s pretty tough because I think it’s a small number of people for most

countries.” So tough means difficult. That’s pretty tough. That’s pretty difficult.

Okay, then next I say, “They kind of dangle the possibility of becoming a citizen. They dangle that

like a carrot.” So I’m talking about my friend who’s from India and she’s still waiting to find out if

she’s going to be able to get a permanent visa here or not. So the idiom, dangle like a carrot, what

that means is imagine an animal, like a rabbit, that likes carrots. So if you want the rabbit to do

something for you, you Immigration – Vocabulary Lesson

might hold a carrot in front of him. Like maybe you want him to come to you so you hold the carrot

and you keep bringing the carrot closer and closer to you so the rabbit comes closer. That’s what I

mean by when I said dangling, they dangle it like a carrot. So they keep her here working, y’know,

with her hoping that she’s eventually going to get a visa to be able to permanently stay but she

doesn’t know when that will be. So there’s that hope that’s there, like a carrot. It keeps her here.

And then I say, “So she keeps on working as just a permanent resident.” Actually, I made a mistake.

So she doesn’t know when she’s going to be able to become a citizen, that’s what the carrot is there

for, the idiom that I used. So she is a permanent resident. And I want to explain what a permanent

resident is, what the difference is between that and a citizen. A permanent resident is not able to vote

here in the United States, where a citizen can vote. And a permanent resident, they have an actual

card. It’s what we call the green card, that they have to keep on them at all times. And they have to

renew this card every 10 years. It expires. So they have to go through a process to get it new again.

Every 10 years they have to do that, whereas a citizen doesn’t have to do that.

Okay, and then I say, “It’s so much bureaucracy.” So bureaucracy, what I mean here is it’s a lot of

paperwork or a lot of forms to complete.

And then I say, “Remember when we were living in Thailand and I was doing that for Wat.” So Wat

is the name of a Thai man, I actually used to date him. I met him in Thailand and we were dating and
then I wanted to move back to the United States and I wanted him to come with me and he wanted to

come here as well and so we actually got married in Thailand so that he could come here. And he

actually still lives here. He’s a good friend of mine and Joe’s now.

And then I say, “I thought I was going to pull my hair out.” So to pull my hair out: this is an idiom

meaning…it’s just an idiom showing extreme frustration or a lot of frustration.

And then I say, “There was a ton of paperwork, all these nit-picky things I had to go through.” So a

ton means a large amount. A ton of paperwork, a large amount of paperwork. And nit-picky things

means very detailed things.

And then I say, “We had to go and take pictures around our house to make it look like we were

actually really living together.” So when I say to make it look like, I just want to explain that we

were a couple.

We were living together. We were a couple. We were dating. So what I should have said is I had to

take…we had to have pictures taken around our house to show or to prove that we were really living

together, because we were.

And then AJ says, “Interview, too, right? Did you get the interview?” So an interview: this is when

you’re asked questions by someone. So in this situation, it was a person working at the American

embassy is what AJ was talking about.

And then AJ says, “Oh, well, you got luckier than I did. That’s weird.” So weird just means strange.

And then AJ says, “I would have thought that Thailand they would have been more strict.” So strict

means following the rules exactly.

And then AJ says, “We had our interview, Tomoe and I, it was Tokyo I think.” So Tomoe is AJ’s

wife and she’s Japanese. She’s from Japan. And Tokyo, if you don’t know, is the capital city of

Japan.
And then AJ says, “I mean they were…acted kind of suspicious.” So suspicious: this means not

trusting.

So they weren’t trusting that AJ and Tomoe were really a couple.

And then AJ says, “But the guy’s tone was kind of unfriendly.” So tone: this means the sound of his

voice.

And then AJ says, “And he started asking more specific questions.” So specific here means detailed.

And then I say, “Oh, gee. Well, quite honestly, that’s what I was expecting.” So when I say oh, gee,

I’m just showing surprise by what AJ has said.

And then I say, “And it really put both of us at ease actually.” So when I say it put both of us at ease,

what I’m saying is it helped us to relax.

And then AJ says, “It was like an interrogation.” So an interrogation: this is asking questions but in a

forceful way.

And then AJ says, “Yep.” So yep is slang for yes.

And then I say, “He actually hired an immigration attorney.” So an attorney: this is another word for

a lawyer.

And then I say, “It just really helped things tremendously.” So tremendously means a lot.

And then AJ says, “The government respects them more.” So when he says the government respects

them, he’s saying that the government likes them more because they’re professionals who know the

law in the area of immigration.

And then AJ says, “It’s a complicated topic.” So complicated means complex or involved, not simple

or easy.

And then AJ says, “What’s weird is it’s almost easier to come illegally.” So to come illegally, what

he means by this is to come into the country secretly, or not to come in…to come into the country,

yeah, to come in secretly so that it’s not known that…the government doesn’t know that someone is
coming in and their plan is to live. So, for example, there’s people from Mexico or South America

that we say sneak, they come in secretly. They come into our country without the government

knowing and then they stay and they live.

Okay, then AJ says, “American immigration is horrible.” So he’s saying it’s horrible in regards to

their attitudes. They’re not friendly.

And then AJ says, “But it is super, super difficult for an American to legally be a resident of Spain or

of any European country.” So when he says it’s super, super difficult, he’s just saying it’s really

difficult. It’s very difficult. And when he says for an American to legally be a resident of Spain,

legally means to follow the law to do what is needed to become a resident as opposed to someone

trying to come into a country, so for example, like Spain, to come in say, as a tourist and stay, not

leave when they’re supposed to.

That’s a little bit different than what I was talking about with people coming from Mexico or Central

or South America because for someone coming from America, obviously it might be a little more

difficult to sneak into a European country because we have to fly there.

And then AJ says, “Just do it legally, it’s much easier.” Or “Just do it illegally,” actually. It’s much

easier.

So illegally means not following the law.

And then AJ says, “They won’t throw you in jail.” So when he says they won’t throw you, he means

they won’t put you in jail. They won’t arrest you and take you to jail.

And then I say, “That’s worse than Thailand because you know Todd has to leave once a year.” So

Todd is the name of a friend of ours who lives in Thailand and he’s married to a Thai woman.

And then AJ says, “But right now we’re keeping our official residence in America.” So when he says

official residence, he’s talking about his and Tomoe’s recognized place of living.
And then AJ says, “For her green card, for our business and income taxes, all of that.” So income

taxes: this is a percent of money paid to the government from money that a person makes from a job

or their business here in the United States.

And then AJ says, “We’re residents of the United States and we visit Japan.” So residents: these are

people living in a particular place and saying that that place, that, for example, in this sentence that

country, the United States, that’s their home. That’s where they spend most of their time.

And then AJ says, “Their version of a green card.” So version means form, their form or their type of

green card.

Alright, this is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Immigration and I’ll be right

back with the commentary.