Hello, my dear friends! Welcome to Series English!
My name is Antonia Romaker and today we are going to
talk about the difference between two words,
which are very often confused - 'adopt' and 'adapt'.
So first of all let's start with the definition,
I found a proper definition in the dictionary,
let's take a look at it. So, 'adopt' means
to bring somebody into a specific relationship,
especially to take another's child as one's own child.
So 'to adopt a child', 'to adopt a dog'...
Mostly, these are all creatures you can adopt,
I mean creatures.
Also you can choose something and follow it,
For example, a plan, a technique, a method.
You can adopt a method, why not?
Also to take over an idea as if it were your own.
So to adopt somebody's idea, like
this person had been working for years
and then, unfortunately, something happened,
and he couldn't do it any more.
So you adopted it, it means that you took it over.
Also 'take on', so these are basic meaning.
Let's just remember, you can adopt a child,
you can adopt a dog, you can adopt a method, an idea.
And in all these situations you start working with it.
And usually this child, this dog, this idea
belonged to another person before,
but now it is yours, you adopted it,
or this child, or this dog.
Now 'adapt', what does 'adapt' mean?
Adapt means to adjust to different conditions
or a new environment and so on.
So here you can talk about somebody else,
you can talk about something
and you can talk about yourself too!
So you can adapt yourself, adjust yourself
to a new environment or to different conditions.
Also you can fit, change or modify
to suit a new or different purpose.
So actually it is the same,
it means that you change something
in yourself, in somebody else, in something
in order to suit a new environment,
different conditions, different purposes.
So that's adapt.
Basically 'adopt' means to take over
or to take on as your own.
And 'adapt' means to change something that already exists
in order to make it more suitable,
more profitable, more useful and so on.
So when you adapt you change,
when you adopt you just take it over, you take it on
but you do not change it.
No there's an interesting quote,
initially it's a motto of a club, the Round Table Club.
This is a club, which unites men from about 20 to 40
or something, maybe fifty,
businessmen, professional men,
who want to change the world or something.
So the quote is: 'Adopt. Adapt. Improve.'
The whole quotation is the following:
The young business and professional men
of this country must get together
round the table, adopt methods
that have proved so sound in the past,
adapt them to the changing needs of the times
and wherever possible, improve them.
So you need to adopt methods,
the methods, which already exit.
So you adopt them, you take them over
you take them on as your own.
Then you should adapt them to the changing times,
you should change them, modify them
so that they would suit our present,
our reality. And then you improve them.
This quote makes it a little bit easier
to understand the difference.
So first you adopt and then you adapt.
If you mix up 'adopt' and 'adapt',
you might also have some problems
with differentiating between some words
which are derived from these verbs.
For example, 'adoption', 'adaption' and 'adaptation'.
What is 'adoption'?
Adoption is the process of taking over a new method,
a new technique, a new product, service
and also the process of making
another person's child your own, legally.
And' adaption', which is basically the same as 'adaptation',
means the act of changing something,
in order to suit new conditions, new reality.
Also it might mean a work of art,
recast in a new form or medium.
So for example a lot of classical pieces, music pieces
have been adapted.
BTW 'adaption' is an older word,
So it is... it comes from the ancient history,
if I may put it like this.
And 'adaptation' is a more recent word.
However the second one, the latter, 'adaptation',
becomes more and more popular.
And maybe in future 'adaption' will just vanish,
this word will just not exist anymore.
There's also an 'adopter' and an 'adapter'.
So 'adopter' is a person or company
that starts to use a new product or service.
And 'adapter' is something, that is used
for connecting two or more pieces of electrical equipment
to an electrical supply. So different things, right?
And the same, the reason why they are different
is because 'adopt' and 'adapt' are different.
OK, so I hope that you learned something new today
and you found this class useful.
Now you see the difference between 'adopt' and 'adapt'
clearly, crystal clearly.
And I hope that you won't repeat such mistakes
ever again. So that's it, I hope to see you soon!
Happy English and Russian practice! Bye-bye!
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