IELTS & TOEFL Vocabulary - Technology

Hi there! My name is Emma, and today's lesson is a very important one. It's on vocabulary

that has to do with technology. So in this lesson, we will be covering 13 new vocabulary

words that you probably don't know. We'll also talk a little bit about whether or not

to use "the" with technology.

This lesson is especially good if you are planning on taking the TOEFL or the IELTS,

or any other test like that, because they often have questions that have to do with

technology on those types of tests.

So you may get an essay question asking, "How has technology improved our lives?" or "Think

of a technology that you couldn't live without". For these tests vocabulary plays a very important

role in your mark. So you really want to score high on vocabulary. These words will help

you to do that, okay? So let's get started.

First of all, we have "technology" written here. As you can see, it's a noun, and in

general, it's uncountable. So I'll talk a little bit about that in a second. We also

have "technological", which is the adjective form of "technology", okay?

So what is "technology?" It's a very, very general term which encompasses many things.

So oftentimes, "technology" refers to tools, machines, information, which make tasks or

jobs easier, and which improve our lives -- so a very broad definition for technology.

Okay, so here I have a sentence: "The technology has made our lives better." You'll notice

this big red X. This is one of the most common mistakes I see ESL students make. They love

to put "the" with "technology", but this is incorrect. So this sentence should really

be, "Technology has made our lives better." And the reason is, because technology is uncountable

and this is a general technology. We're talking about technology generally, here. We're not

talking about a specific type of technology. We're talking very generally, so you don't

need "the", okay? So when you write your IELTS or TOEFL essay, don't write "the technology",

unless... our second sentence: "I saw a lecture on the technology of storytelling." So this

is actually a lecture I did see. It was a TED Talk I watched and it was called "The

Technology of Storytelling". In this case, we do have "the", "the technology". This is

okay, because we're talking about a specific technology. What type of technology is it?

"The technology of" -- this is usually a clue - storytelling. So if - let me write "specific"...

If you're just saying "technology" and the next thing is a verb, don't use "the". If

you are saying "technology of (something)", use "the", okay? So now let's look at some

of the words we're going to learn in this lesson.

Okay, we have three words here first of all, that have to do with people, okay? So, these

are our people words. We have our positive words, and you see the big smiley face meaning

this refers to positive things about people, and then we have negative words or a sad face.

So let's look at the positive words first. The first one we have is "technophile". Okay,

a "technophile". So what is a technophile? Well "-phile", anytime you see "phile", this

means love, okay? We have a lot of words... "cinephile" is someone who loves films, for

example. "-phile" is a key part of this word, and it means love. Can you guess what this

means: "technophile"? A "technophile" is a noun, so it's a person and it's someone who

loves technology, okay? Someone who loves technology is a technophile.

Now we have the opposite of a "technophile", a "technophobe". So, just like "phile" means

love, "phobe" adds a very important meaning to this word. "Phobe" is similar to "phobia",

and a "phobia" is a fear of something. So if you are a "technophobe", you have a fear

of technology. You're afraid of technology, so someone afraid of technology.

So for me, between being a "technophile" and a "technophobe", I'd probably consider myself

a "technophobe". I know I make these online videos, so it's a little bit... I guess ironic,

but I don't have an iPad. I don't have an iPhone. All these modern gadgets, they actually

make me feel stressed out and anxious.

So I'm a "technophobe". But presumably, if you're watching our videos online, maybe you're

a technophile, and this is very good if you want to learn English. If you like technology

there's a lot of technology to help you learn English better.

Okay, so our next word is "tech-savvy". Now this is an adjective that has to do with people

and someone who is tech-savvy is someone who knows a lot about computers or technology.

I put computers here, but it can be technology in general. So, those people who are extremely

good when they touch a computer. You know, it does the right thing automatically. Those

people are very tech-savvy.

They don't run into a lot of the same problems I do when I use a computer. So I am not tech-savvy.

But an example: "He is tech-savvy." Okay, so now let's look at some other words that

refer more to the actual technology.

The words to my side are words that can be used to describe different technology. Okay,

different types of technology. The first word we have, again we have positive words, so

these are what you want when you buy a piece of equipment or some form of technology. And

then we have negative words, so this is what you don't want, okay?

So first of all, the first word is "cutting-edge". So this can be either a noun or an adjective

and "cutting-edge" means it's the leader. It's at the forefront. It's in the lead of technology.

So for example, I hear in South Korea they have robotic teachers, so robotic ESL teachers

and teachers teaching classrooms. I don't know if this is true, but I've seen some news

clips about it, and so I would say that that is definitely cutting-edge technology, robotic

teachers, okay?

Now, "state-of-the-art" has a very similar meaning. It means the most recent and the

best. Okay, so state-of-the-art is the most recent and the best. It's also an adjective.

So an example is: at the time of this filming, I think the iPad 3 has come out, and I would

say this is "state-of-the-art" technology, the iPad 3.

Maybe in a few years there'll be an iPad 9 or 10 and things will be different, but right

now that's the state-of-the-art technology, okay? We can also use "the latest", when we

describe technology. This is an adjective and it just means "the newest". "Have you bought

the latest iPhone", for example.

Our next word is "obsolete". This is a negative word. This whole section is negative. "Obsolete"

is an adjective, and it means "no longer used". So what's an example of something that's "obsolete"?

I have a huge collection of VHS tapes at my house. My VCR doesn't work and now we use

DVDs, or Blu-Ray discs, so VHSs are "obsolete". They're no longer used.

Another word very similar to "obsolete" is "outdated". "Outdated" is an adjective, and

again, it means "very old", or it's also a synonym of "obsolete". So what is outdated?

Well, if you bought a computer from the 1980s today -- so you bought a 1980s personal computer

-- that would probably be considered "outdated," because we have all these newer models, which

work a lot better. So that's "outdated", okay?

Now we are just going to switch back to our positive side and we have the word "compact".

"Compact" is an adjective, and what does it mean? It means small, easy to carry. This

is my cellphone, very small. It's compact. It fits in my pocket. It's not clumsy. It's not bulky.

"Bulky" is the opposite of "compact". "Bulky" is an adjective, and it's when something is

very massive, and kind of a little bit clumsy. It's hard to... you can't put it in your pocket.

So, I don't know if you remember if you were born in the early 1990s, cellphones used to

look like walkie-talkies. You could say that they were bulky. You couldn't put them in

your pocket. They were big. Now they've gotten a lot smaller and they are more compact.

So now let's look at a couple of other words that have to do with technology.

These are our last three words. Sorry, our last two words. "User-friendly". This again, is

a very good thing. If something is user-friendly -- it's an adjective and it means it's easy

to use.

So for someone like a technophobe like me, I really want something that's "user-friendly".

So here is an example sentence, and some of you may disagree with this, but some people

would say, "Facebook is very user-friendly."

I don't know where I stand on that. With the latest Facebook edition, I don't know if it's

so user-friendly or not, but some people would say Facebook is very user-friendly, okay?

Now our final word for today is "glitch." "Glitch" is a noun and it means a defect,

problem, or error. Oftentimes, we talk about glitches when we're talking about computers,

okay?

And so plural, this is "glitches" with an "-es", okay? So here's our example sentence.

Some of you may have been on EngVid trying to do some of our quizzes the other day. "The

quizzes on EngVid had some glitches a couple of days ago." But they're fixed now, so I

invite you to come practice our vocabulary and try our quizzes at www.engvid.com. Until next time!

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