ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሰላም፡ እንቋዕ ናብዚ ሓቀኛ ዛንታት ቋንቋ እንግሊዝኛ ሰሚዕኩም ክትርድኡ ዝሕግዘኩም መደብ Listen Here ብደሓን መጻእኩም። ኣነ ተክለማርያም በኪት ኢየ።

Tom
And I'm Tom. Hi everyone! Today we're talking about teenagers, homework and the brain.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ትሕቲ ዕድመ እንከለኻ ዕዮ ገዛኻ ብግቡእ’ዶ ትሰርሕ ኔርካ?

Tom
Yeah I did, but, often at the last minute, which means as late as possible!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ንሎሚ፡ ብዙሓት ኮተቴ መንእሰያት ዕዮ ገዝኦም ቀልጢፎም ዘይምጅማሮም ንምርዳእ፡ ስነ ፍልጠት ሓንጎል ወዲ ሰብ ብፍላጥ ክሕግዘና ዝኽእል ክንርኢ ኢና።

Tom
And today’s guest is a neuroscientist, so get ready for some difficult vocabulary!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
A 'neuroscientist'ተመራማሪ ስነ-ሓንጎል ማለት’ዩ። ናይ ሎሚ ዝርርብ ካብ ራድዮ ቢቢሲ 4 The Life Scientific ዝተወስደ’ዩ። ተመራማሪት ስነ-ሓንጎል ሳራ-ጀይን ብላክሞር ብዛዕባ ሓንጎል ኮተቴ ትዛረብ ኣላ። ብዛዕባ ሓደ ‘pre-frontal cortex’ዝበሃል ክፋል ሓንጎል’ያ ትዛረብ ኣላ። እዚ ክፋል ሓንጎል’ዚ ኣበይ ኢና እንረኽቦ? እንታይ ዕማም ‘tasks’ እዩ’ኸ ዘለዎ?

Insert 1
The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the brain right at the front, just behind the forehead. And it's involved in a whole range of very high-level cognitive tasks such as decision-making and planning.

Tom
So, unsurprisingly, the pre-frontal cortex is at the front of the brain, just behind the forehead.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ግርም'Forehead' ማለት ግንባር ማለት’ዩ። ‘e’ ሓዊስና ‘fore’ ክንብል እንከለና፡ ከም ቅድመ-ቃል ማለት ‘መጀመርታ” ወይ ‘ኣብ ቅድሚት’ ንምባል ንጥቀመሉ። ‘Forehead’ ንናይ ቅድሚት ክፋል ርእስና ዝገልጽ’ዩ። ካልእ ኣብነት ድማ 'forethought'እዩ፡ እዚ ከኣ ንሓደ ነገር ኣቐዲምካ ምሕሳብ ዝተኣሳሰር’ዩ።

Tom
Yeah. If we 'give something some forethought', it means we think first, or plan.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሓደ ካብ ዕማማት ናይዚ ክፋል ሓንጎል’ዚ ውጥን ምውጻእ’ዩ። ከምኡ’ውን 'decision-making'ምውሳን። ነቶም ዕማማት ንምግላጽ ድሕሪ’ቲ ‘high-level’ ሓረግ፡ ኣየናይ ቅጽል’ያ ትጥቀም?

Insert
The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the brain right at the front, just behind the forehead. And it's involved in a whole range of very high-level cognitive tasks such as decision-making and planning.

Tom
She used the word 'cognitive'.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'Cognitive' ኣእምሮኣዊ ዘስመዕ ኮይኑ፡ ምስ ናይ ሓንጎልና ኣእምሮኣዊ ተግባራት ዝተሓሓዝ’ዩ። 'Cognitive tasks' ብሓንጎል ዝትግበሩ ዕማማት’ዮም።

Tom
And she also used the expression 'a whole range of' cognitive tasks.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'A whole range of' ዝብል፡ ስም ዝሓወሰ ኣገላልጻ፡ ንመጠንን ዓይነትን ዘጠቓለለ’ዩ።

Tom
Note that the presenter says 'tasks'. I say 'tasks', and this is because of our different British accents. Both are fine, so use whichever one's easiest for you.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
እታ ተመራማሪት ስነ-ሓንጎል፡ ብዛዕባ ምዕባለ ሓንጎል ኣብ ዓመታት ብጽሕና adolescent years ትዛረብ’ያ። ኣብ መንጎ 'expectations'ትጽቢትን'development'ምዕባለን ዝብሉ ቃላት ዘሎ ዝምድና እንታይ’ዩ።

Insert
We know that this region is undergoing very, very large amounts of development during the adolescent years. And so in of the expectations that we place on teenagers, to, for example, plan their homework, might be too much given that we know that the region of the brain that’s critically involved in planning is not developed yet.

Tom
Aha! So, in the last sentence she mentions that the area of the brain involved in planning isn’t developed yet!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ትጽቢትና ካብ ኮተቴ መንእሰያት ምሒር ዝለዓለ’ዩ ንዝብል ሓሳባ ዝድግፍ ሓቂ ንምቕራብ እንጥቀመሉ ኣገላልጻ ንርአ። ድሕሪ ‘might be too much’ ዘሎ ደጊምኩም ስምዑ።That’s right!

Insert
…the expectations that we place on teenagers, to, for example, plan their homework, might be too much, given that we know that the region of the brain that’s critically involved in planning is not developed yet.

Tom
Did you catch it? She said 'given that'.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'Given that' መግለጺ ኮይኑ “ንመርትዖታት ኣብ ግምት ምእታዉ ማለት’ዩ”።

Tom
So, given that we know that teenagers' brains are still developing, is it fair to expect them to be as good at planning as adults are? What do you think?

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Well, Tom, given that we're out of time, I don't think I can answer that question! ዘለኩም ርእይቶታት ኣካፍሉና። ምሳና ሓቢርኩም ብምጽናሕኩም ነመስግነኩም። ደሓን ኩኑ።

Tom
Thanks for ing us everyone! See you next time for more Listen Here! Goodbye!

Language features

fore

Fore can be used in many ways and relates to being at the front of something, or first.

The fastest horse was at the fore throughout the race!

It is more often used as a prefix to modify other words.

forehead – the front of your head.
forename – your first name

We often use the expression ‘give [something] some forethought’. This means to consider something happening in the future.

different accents

There are a lot of different accents in British English. In this episode different speakers pronounce the words ‘tasks’ differently.

When pronouncing words like ‘tasks’, ‘grass’ and ‘castle’, Tom uses/æ/. This is a short vowel sound.
The presenter in the audio clip uses /a:/ - this is a longer vowel sound. You can hear this sound in words like ‘car’ and ‘far’.

Both of these forms are fine to use. Differences in regional accents are widely tolerated within the UK.

cognition

Cognition is a noun which refers to thinking and mental processes. It is a word used in scientific or formal contexts.

Drinking alcohol can lead to impaired cognition.

Cognitive is the adjective form.

The ability to plan is a cognitive function. It comes from the human brain.

adolescence

Adolescence is the period of life during which one’s body changes from a child’s body to that of an adult.

Our son spent a lot of time in his room during his adolescence.

Adolescent is an adjective. It can also be used as a countable noun to refer to a young person.

The adolescent brain is always developing. (adjective).
I was a very difficult adolescent; I was very moody. (noun – person).

Language features

fore

different accents

cognition

adolescence

Why do teenagers leave their homework to the last minute?

ሓገዝ

Activity

ኣመት

ሓገዝ

Activity

ኣመት

ሓገዝ

Activity

ኣመት

Session Vocabulary

መራገፊ ማእከል

ብዛዕባ

ማሕበራዊ