Global Problems - Natural Disasters 1

This week in Perfect English with Danny Podcast, we will be talking about global problems. We will talk about natural disasters, the verbs we use with natural disasters, the people involved in disasters and finally the top ten global problems. 

In this episode, we will start talking about natural disasters, we will translate the keywords into many different languages. 

Table of Contents

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• Episode 136 – Global Problems – Natural Disasters 1
• Episode Transcript
• Translations into 62 Languages

Episode 136 – Global Problems – Natural Disasters 1

Check out episode 137 – Global Problems – Natural Disasters 2

Episode Transcript

Danny:

Welcome to a new week from Perfect English with Danny and anew theme we are going to talk about this week. This week, we will focus on globalproblems; we will talk about natural disasters, the verbs we use with naturaldisasters, the people involved in disasters and finally the top ten globalproblems.

Before we start, let me remind you that in order to makethings more understandable, we will translate the keywords into as manylanguages as possible in the show and in the link you will find in thedescription of the episode, you can find the translations into 62 languages.There are also the interactive and downloadable activities at the end of the week.These are very useful to retain the new words you learn and add them to youractive vocabulary bank.

So, are you ready to start this week’s journey with Ben and me?Let’s get to it.

Today, we will talk about natural disasters, and when we saynatural disasters, we mean a natural event which causes a lot of damage andkills a lot of people. Disasters are very bad accidents, especially ones inwhich a lot of people are killed. War or civil war are disasters, but these won’tbe our focus today     , today we aretalking about natural disasters, the ones that are not man-made.

Ben:

But you know, Danny, nowadays, even some natural disastersare kind of caused by us because of the way we are abusing the resources of ourplanet. I am not saying that we are causing earthquakes and hurricanes, but weare contributing in a way to the natural disasters that are happening aroundthe globe.

Danny:

I agree. We are not going to provide the scientific proof forthis, but it all makes sense as we have consumed more natural resources in thepast 100 years than the entire human history.

Ben:

Yeah, one can never say enough about this topic, right?

Danny:

That’s right. However, it is one of the least trendingtopics online. Cute cats and dogs, poses and duck faces are more popular in socialmedia.

Ben:

Tell me about it. I kind of feel that all this ispre-programmed, as if big corporations do not want us to think about these issues.

Danny:

You bet. Maybe, because they are the ones consuming most ofthe natural resources on the planet. Then they manufacture goods we mostly don’tneed and sell them to us. A mindless consumer is always easier to sell unnecessaryproducts to than a clever thinking consumer, but let’s not get political here.This is an English learning podcast after all.

So, our topic for today is natural disasters. Which naturaldisaster do you think is the most devastating, Ben?

Ben:

Well, it depends. An earthquake can be devastating if ithappens in a highly populated area, but it might be less tragic if it happens somewherein the middle of a desert, for example.

Danny:

I agree. All natural disasters vary in their tragic consequencesdepending on where they take place. Today, we will introduce our listeners to differenttypes of natural disasters, so let us make this into a little game between youand me. I will describe a natural disaster to you, and you will have to name it.You can ask questions to get more details if you like. Deal?

Ben:

Sure thing. That sounds like fun.

Danny:

So, let me start with the first one. It is a situation inwhich large numbers of people have little or no food and many of them diebecause of it.

Ben:

So, let me get that straight. The reason why people aredying in this situation is the shortage of food.

Danny:

That’s right.

Ben:

Do we find a lot of this happening in Africa?

Danny:

That’s right, unfortunately.

Ben:

So, we are talking about a famine here.

Danny:

Famine is the word, that’s right. F A M I N E, famine.

Ben:

You know it hurts to see many people throw away food theybarely touched when people in many parts of the world, especially in Africa, diebecause there is no food.

Danny:

People who have never been hungry don’t know what hunger orfamine means. They see it on TV as if were coming from an alien planet.

Ben:

I agree, but even worse are those who know what it means,but they still don’t care.

Danny:

Yeah, ain’t that the goddamn truth. So, our first naturaldisaster for today is famine.

Ben:

Yes, and famine is:

French: famine

Spanish: hambruna

Italian: carestia

German: Hungersnot

Portuguese: penúria

Arabic: مجاعة

Danny:

So now, let’s move to our next natural disaster. This one isa largeamount of earth and rocks falling down a cliff or the side of a mountain.

Ben:

This usually happens when there are not enough trees to holdthe earth on the side of cliffs and mountains, so when a lot of rain comes, it sweepsthe earth and rocks which are sitting loosely on the side of a mountain or acliff.  

Danny:

That’s right.

Ben:

This one is a landslide.

Danny:

That’s right! L A N D S L I D E, landslide. This is a goodexample when humans can contribute to a natural disaster. When we cut down treesand leave nothing to hold the earth together, especially on the side ofmountains and cliffs, we increase the danger of landslides.

Ben:

That’s right. So a landslide is:

French: glissement de terrain

Spanish: desprendimiento de tierras

Italian: franamento

Portuguese: deslizamento de terra

German: Erdrutsch

Arabic: انهيار أرضي

Danny:

That’s great! Now for our third natural disaster for today;It is a longperiod of time during which no rain falls.

Ben:

And that causes the earth to become dry and eventually thatleads to crops failing because there is not enough water. Right?

Danny:

That’s right.

Ben:

We are talking about a drought here.

Danny:

Excellent! D R O U G H T, drought.

Ben:

By the way, can we say that there is a drought in thedesert?

Danny:

Not really, because desert areas are always dry with very littlewater or rainfall, so it is not unusual or disastrous in the desert to havelittle rainfall; it is the norm there. We use drought when there is lessrainfall than usual, or when it lasts longer than usual, usually much longerthan usual, so it turns into a disaster.

Ben:

I see. So, let’s see what drought means in other languages:

French: sécheresse

Spanish: sequía

Italian: siccità

Portuguese: seca

German: Dürre

Arabic:  جفاف

Danny:

That’s great! So, let’s see what our fourth natural disasterfor today is. If there is this disaster of a particular disease somewhere, itaffects a very large number of people there and spreads quickly to other areas.

Ben:

So, technically we are talking about a disease or an illness,but it is not a regular thing like the common cold; we are talking somethingmore serious like Ebola, SARS, H1N1 and so on, and this disaster happens whenthese pathogens spread quickly among the population to a point when it becomesdifficult to contain or control the spread, right?

Danny:

Absolutely!

Ben:

So, we are talking about an epidemic.

Danny:

That’s right. E P I D E M I C, epidemic. How does thattranslate into other languages?

Ben:

Well, Epidemic is:

French: épidémie

Spanish: epidemia

Italian: epidemia

Portuguese: epidemia

German: Epidemie

Arabic: وباء

Danny: Thank you, Ben, for your helpful translations andfor helping me out today. Of course, there are more natural disasters we will betalking about, but that will be all for today. Tomorrow, we will continuetalking about our theme Global problems and we will continue talking aboutnatural disasters; we will talk about explosions, hurricanes, tornados, typhoonsand more, so stay tuned and don’t miss tomorrow’s episode from Perfect Englishwith Danny. This is your host Danny saying thank you very much for listening toour episode today. Ben and I will see you tomorrow to continue our conversationabout natural disasters. Don’t miss that. We will see you in the next episode.

Translations into 62 Languages

English	famine	landslide	drought	epidemic
French	famine	glissement de terrain	sécheresse	épidémie
Italian	carestia	franamento	siccità	epidemico
Spanish	hambruna	deslizamiento de tierra	sequía	epidemia
German	Hungersnot	Erdrutsch	Dürre	Epidemie
Portuguese	penúria	desmoronamento	seca	epidemia
Chinese	饥荒	滑坡	干旱	疫情
Japanese	飢饉	土砂崩れ	干ばつ	伝染病
Korean	기근	산사태	가뭄	전염병
Arabic	مجاعة	انهيار أرضي	جفاف	وباء
Afrikaans	hongersnood	grondverskuiwing	droogte	epidemie
albanian	uri	lumë votash	thatësirë	epidemi
Azerbaijani	aclıq	sürüşmə	quraqlıq	epidemiya
Basque	gosetea	luizi	lehorte	epidemia
Bengali	দুর্ভিক্ষ	ভূমিস্থলন	খরা	মহামারী
Belarusian	голад	апоўзень	засуха	эпідэмія
Bulgarian	глад	свлачище	суша	епидемия
Catalan	fam	corriment de terres	sequera	epidèmia
Croatian	glad	klizište	suša	epidemija
Czech	hladomor	sesuv půdy	sucho	epidemie
Danish	hungersnød	jordskred	tørke	epidemi
Dutch	hongersnood	aardverschuiving	droogte	epidemie
Esperanto	malsatego	terglito	sekeco	epidemio
Estonian	näljahäda	maalihe	põud	epideemia
Filipino	taggutom	guho	kawalan ng ulan	epidemya
Finnish	nälänhätä	maanvyörymä	kuivuus	epidemia
Galician	fame	desmoronamento	seca	epidemia
Georgian	შიმშილი	მეწყერი	გვალვა	ეპიდემია
Greek	πείνα	ολίσθηση έδαφους	ξηρασία	επιδημία
Gujarati	દુકાળ	ભૂસ્ખલન	દુકાળ	રોગચાળો
Haitian Creole	grangou	yon glisman tè	sechrès	epidemi
Hebrew	רָעָב	סוחף	בצורת	מגיפה
Hindi	सूखा	भूस्खलन	सूखा	महामारी
Hungarian	éhínség	földcsuszamlás	aszály	járvány
Icelandic	hallæri	skriðu	þurrka	faraldur
Indonesian	kelaparan	tanah longsor	kekeringan	wabah
Irish	gorta	sciorradh talún	triomach	eipidéim
Kannada	ಬರಗಾಲದ	ಭೂಕುಸಿತ	ಬರ	ಸಾಂಕ್ರಾಮಿಕ
Latin	venturae famis	LAPSUS TERRAE	siccitas	pestilentia
Latvian	bads	nogruvums	sausums	epidēmija
Lithuanian	badas	nuošliauža	sausra	epidemija
Macedonian	глад	лизгање на земјиштето	суша	епидемија
Malay	kelaparan	tanah runtuh	kemarau	wabak
Maltese	ġuħ	landslide	nixfa	epidemija
Norwegian	hungersnød	jordskred	tørke	epidemi
Persian	قحطی	رانش زمین	خشکی	بیماری همه گیر
Polish	głód	osuwisko	Okres suszy	epidemia
Romanian	foamete	alunecare de teren	secetă	epidemie
Russian	голод	оползень	засуха	эпидемия
Serbian	глад	клизиште	суша	епидемија
Slovak	hladomor	zosuv pôdy	sucho	epidémie
Slovenian	lakota	zemeljski plaz	suša	epidemija
Swahili	njaa	ushindi mkubwa	ukame	janga
Swedish	svält	jordskred	torka	epidemi
Tamil	பஞ்சம்	நிலச்சரிவு	வறட்சி	தொற்றுநோய்
Telugu	కరువు	కొద్దిలో	కరువు	అంటువ్యాధి
Thai	ความอดอยาก	แผ่นดินถล่ม	แล้ง	ที่ระบาด
Turkish	kıtlık	heyelan	kuraklık	salgın
Ukranian	голод	зсув	посуха	епідемія
Urdu	قحط	لینڈ سلائیڈنگ	خشک سالی	وبا
Vietnamese	nạn đói	sạt lở đất	hạn hán	dịch
Welsh	newyn	tirlithriad	sychder	epidemig
Yiddish	הונגער	לאַנסלייד	טריקעניש	עפּידעמיע