William: Hello there and welcome to Authentic Real English. My name is William Kremer.

Feifei: 大家好，我是冯菲菲。 Now today… [voice becomes distorted].

William: Feifei, what’s happening to your voice?

Feifei: You tell me, I don’t know what’s happening!

William: You’re just speaking gobbledegook.

Feifei: I know I am but it’s really difficult to… start speaking properly again. That’s better! What word did you use just now? Gobblede…

William: Gobbledegook. G.O.B.B.L.E.D.E.G.O.O.K. When someone speaks but they aren’t really speaking a language and you can’t understand what they’re saying, we can say they’re speaking gobbledegook.

Feifei: Gobbledegook 是一个名词，表示完全不属于任何一种语言、谁也听不懂的说话。那么在什么样的情况下我们可以用到这个词呢 William?

William: Well, let’s listen to two more examples now.

Examples

A: Have you phoned Claire yet?

B: I called her just now but something was wrong with the phone. All I could hear was gobbledegook.

C: You were talking in your sleep again last night.

D: Really? What was I saying?

C: I don’t know. It was all just gobbledegook and I couldn’t understand it.

Feifei: 在我们刚听到的第一个例子中，电话的干扰使说话人的讲话完全让对方听不明白，都是 gobbledegook. 而在第二个例子中，是一个人在睡觉的时候说梦话，他的妻子听到的就是这种含含糊糊、让人听不清楚的 gobbledegook. But you know it’s really odd that this microphone isn’t working. It’s a professional GH781 condenser microphone with a high-quality capacitor and phantom power…

William: Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, Feifei! You’re talking gobbledegook again.

Feifei: 我没有啊，我是在给你详细讲解咱们用的这个麦克风的性能和型号。

William: My friend, that is gobbledegook! If you say lots of technical words that no one can understand, we can call that gobbledegook too.

Feifei: Ok, 看来，如果一个人说的是大部分人都听不懂的那种技术性很强的专业用语，我们也可以管他说的这种话叫 gobbledegook.

William: We can also call it mumbo-jumbo.

Feifei: Mumbo-jumbo. 今天咱们学的这两个词听起来都够有个性的！不过发音也挺难掌握得 gobbledegook and mumbo-jumbo.

William: That’s right. Well, if you’re listening to this and you like what you hear and want more of the same, check out www.bbcukchina.com.

Feifei: [Distorted voice].