Caalii
Yooyyaa! Gara English Together kan mata duree tibbanaa irratti mari’annuufi qooqa ittiin dubbachuuf si barbaachisu siif qoodnutti baga nagaan dhufte. Ani Caaliidha. Akkasumas Shaanii fi Toom na waliin jiru.

Sian
Hi, I’m Sian.

Tom
Hi, I’m Tom.

Caalii
Tom, are you OK?

Tom
Well, I’ve just had lunch with Sian.

Caalii
Oh nice! Where did you go?

Sian
We went for a Chinese, but Tom’s upset because of the bill. He’s being really stingy.

Caalii
‘Stingy’ jechuun ‘sassattu u’. Was the bill a lot?

Tom
You mean Sian’s bill. She ordered far more than me, and then insisted that we split the bill!

Caalii
Wanti sun ofeeggannoo cimaa kan fedhu fakkaata! Alaa nyaachuu wajjin wal qabatee gaafiin har’aa kunooti. Akka ‘Euromonitor International’ tti, biyyoota kanneen keessaa isa kamtu alaa nyaachuudhaan baasii maallaqaa olaanaa baasa?

a)    Jaappaan

b)    Ispeen

c)    Faransaay

Deebiisaa, sagantaa kana gara boodaarratti sitti himna.

Sian
I’d say France! They’re famous for their food. They must eat out a lot!

Tom
Well, maybe you should move there then, Sian. Why don’t you go to France? They probably won’t mind how much you order.

Sian
Oh, Tom, will you give it a rest!

Caalii
Halli baasiiwwan mana nyaataa ittiin qooddannu oduu gidduu kanaatiin xinxalameera. Odeessa har’aa BBC Radio 4’s The Psychology of Money irraa argame kana caqasi. Akkaataa itti kaffaalleefi nyaata qabatamaatti nyaanne ilaalchisee maal jedhuu?

Presenter
I think we need some expert advice here, and professor, Yuri Ganeesi is the man for the job.

Guest
If I’m thinking about taking about another glass of wine that will cost, say $15 and there are five people in the party, then if I pay for it myself, I think 'Oh, it’s $15, is it worth it?' But if I know that it's going to be divided by five, then I say 'Oh, my extra payment for this glass of wine is only $3, I might as well take it!' And that way, people end up consuming much more. The problem is, of course, that everyone is using this kind of thinking and, at the end, you end up with a much higher bill.

Tom
Hmm, interesting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that what the professor’s saying is that the more people go out for a meal, the more food they order?

Sian
That’s right! People assume that if the bill is being divided, they will end up paying less.

Tom
I still think it’s bad form, though.

Caalii
‘Bad form’ jechuun ‘yakka walhubbannoo hawaasummaarratti raawwatu’. Why do you think it’s bad form, Tom?

Tom
It’s bad form because you’re expecting people to pay for your own expensive choices! I think it’s just gluttony, plain and simple!

Caalii
‘Gluttony’, jechuun albaadhessummaa. I think gluttony might be too strong a word, Tom.

Sian
Yes, everybody makes mistakes! It doesn’t mean they’re gluttonous. Sometimes people might just round down the prices, or forget their side dishes.

Caalii
‘Round down’ jechuun gadi xiqqeessuudha. Perhaps they should try rounding their prices up, instead?

Tom
Exactly! So how do people share the bill where you are?

Caalii
I think it is all similar in a way. For us, friends hanging out together just share the total bill.

Sian
And whilst we’re talking about eating habits in different countries why don’t you tell us the answer to today’s quiz?

Caalii
Ah yes! Alaa nyaachuun, biyyi mata mataa namaanbaasii olaanaa baastu kam akka taate si gaafannee turre. Deebiinsaa C) Ispeeni. Namoonni nyaataaf waggaatti hanga $2184tti baasuu danda’u.

Sian
You see, Tom! I bet the Spanish don’t have scruples about ordering!

Caalii: ‘Scruples’ jechuun saalfii jechuudha.

Tom
Well, they probably split the bill fairly, Sian! You weren’t very scrupulous about ordering earlier, were you?

Sian
Honestly! I can’t believe this. I just like to splash out on a meal sometimes!

Caalii
‘Splash out’ jechuun sassachuu malee baasii guddaa gochuu. O.K. I have an idea, why don’t we all go out after recording and really splash out?!

Tom
Great! And this time, if I’m only paying a fraction of the bill, I’ll order everything on the menu, just like Sian did at lunchtime.

Sian
It was delicious!

Caalii
Ammaan kana Toom fayyida maallaqasaatiin gitu kan argachuuf jiru fakkaata. Atihoo? Wayita alaa nyaattu ‘stingy’ ni sassatta moo ‘splash out’ baasii irraa hafaa utuu hinsasatiin gochuu feeta? Akkasumas jechoota akka ‘gluttony’ albaadhessummaa fi ‘bad form’ yakka walhubbannoo hawaasummaarratti raawwatu’ ilaalleerra. Thanks for joining us and see you next time for more English Together! Bye!