When buying a new vehicle, consumers can easily become confused by the acronyms, new safety features, and technology terms. To honor December as "Learn a Foreign Language Month," the awesome PR folks at Suzuki sent us a list of decoded car terms found on Suzuki vehicles. While I was reviewing it, I realized that Suzuki's not the only car company who has an alphabet soup of technical automotive terms, so I threw in a few other terms from other manufacturers.

Acura's Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) uses a radar unit mounted inside vehicle's front grille to monitor vehicles ahead and detect potential rear-end collisions. The system will alert the driver when the likelihood of a collision increases with an audible chime and a flashing alert on the dashboard, and should a collision prove to be imminent, will help reduce the impact on front occupants by cinching up the front seatbelts and even applying the brakes.

Acura's CMBS system works alongside an Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which uses that same radar unit to set a defined distance between the car and the vehicle in front of it. The ACC system continually adjusts the vehicle's speed by automatically applying gas or brakes to maintain a safe and consistent following distance. This type of cruise control is becoming standard in many top-of-the-line vehicles, from Acura to Audi and from Mercedes to Volvo.

Acura's Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system has a lot of letters and a very technical explanation, but basically the system works to ensure that power goes to the wheels which have the most traction, and helps keep them from spinning so the car has more secure handling when roads are slippery.

Audi Multi Media Interface (MMI) is a complicated knob-and-button system utilized to perform such functions as changing the radio station or operating the navigation system. It's similar to BMW's iDrive joystick system, and both require a careful review of imposing technical manuals to perform what might be otherwise simple actions.

Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) is a type of automatic transmission that changes seamlessly through an infinite number of effective gear ratios between maximum and minimum values. This is different from other mechanical transmissions that only allow a few different distinct gear ratios to be selected. A CVT transmission can provide better fuel economy than other systems as it enables the engine to run at its most efficient revolutions per minute (RPM) for a range of vehicle speeds.

Electronic Stability Programs (ESP) usually work in combination with traction control to help ensure vehicle stability when cornering, accelerating, driving on slippery road conditions or conducting emergency maneuvers. The system can selectively apply individual brakes to control oversteer and understeer to help the driver maintain control during extreme - or emergency - maneuvers. Controlling any or all of the brakes on the vehicle provides the driver with maximum responsiveness, control and enhanced accident avoidance capabilities.

Ford's Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT) uses oil pressure to adjust valve opening and closing events for better fuel economy and emissions, along with optimized cold-start operation and improved off-the-line acceleration vs. conventional engines.

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a navigational system utilizing satellites and computers to determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver and provide exact location information and directions.

Suzuki's Intelligent All-Wheel Drive (i-AWD) assists with traction in inclement weather, delivers enhanced cornering capabilities, and provides power to the rear wheels with acceleration. This safety and performance-enhancing feature is more typically found among luxury sport sedan offerings.

Hopefully this primer to complicated automotive alphabet soup will help unlock a new language for you!