Hello, lovely people of the world.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
The podcast aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills, along the way.
We started this podcast because we want you to use high-quality vocabulary and gorgeous grammar in some of the most common IELTS speaking questions And get a high score.
A band 9 score We have Instagram and Telegram.
Success with IELTS.
I have social media now.
Isn't that great?
Oh, yeah.
Super.
Which social media have you got?
I have Instagram, Twitter, VK, and Facebook.
Oh my god, dear listeners, Rory didn't used to have any of those, now he has everything.
Rory, what has changed in your life?
Oh, well, I just wanted to... have a platform so I could publicize my book a bit more effectively.
And then I got really into it and now I'm collecting people like stamps on Facebook.
It's really strange.
Yay!
So you can check out our Instagram and Telegram.
Success with IELTS for our updates, pictures and more information.
Oh, Rory, look at you.
All this hair and all this beard.
Yeah, it's great, isn't it?
No, it's not.
Oh, Maria, with friends like you, who needs enemies?
Dear listeners, we're going to be talking about friends today.
Roy, do you have many friends?
Yeah, I think so.
I like to think I'm quite amiable and inviting.
How long have you known your friends?
Well, my childhood friends I've known since childhood, obviously.
But I have friends that I'm quite close with in Moscow and I've known them for, oh gosh, five years now, maybe more than five years.
How often do you see your friends?
Well, I suppose now probably not often enough, given that we have a quarantine and everything.
But under normal circumstances, I see my friends in Scotland once or twice a year.
And then I see my other friends regularly on Zoom, for example.
Although I'm looking forward to seeing them in person again.
And until then, everything seems to be mediated by social media.
What do you and your friends do together?
Well, I think whenever we have a big gathering it's usually in a bar and all that entails.
If it's at someone else's house, then we usually play video games and share stories with each other.
What kind of people do you like to make friends with?
I don't have set criteria.
It's usually people I'm thrown into mad situations with and we make the best of it and bond through the shared experience.
And then after that we usually refer back to it a lot.
I also used to have a thing for making up songs and words with my friends, so probably I like people who are quite verbose and creative.
I also really like people who are friendly but politically incorrect.
So they push the envelope but they don't push it too far.
I hate lateness so probably people who are punctual are more likely to win me over.
Do you think you are a good friend to others?
I try to be.
I think I'm quite reliable and organized, and I'm usually quite fun to be around.
I hope at least I make people's lives interesting, so I think that's part of being a good friend too.
Do you keep in touch with your childhood friends?
Not as often as I'd like.
Until recently actually, I wasn't very good at keeping up with people, but I'm trying to get better at that now that we've got quarantine and we have the time to do that.
It's also quite fun to reminisce about past deeds, so that's something about staying in touch as well that I'm keen to cultivate when I get back in touch with people.
Rory, do you think friendship is important?
Absolutely.
I think I've seen quite a few articles about how loneliness harms your mental and physical health about as much as smoking and alcoholism does.
Maybe even more, actually.
It's probably not very good for you.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
No problem.
We'd like to announce speaking diagnostic test.
Yes, Rory?
Yeah.
So if you're interested in finding out what mistakes you make most often in English and how to correct them, And if you want to talk to someone about formulating goals and getting advice on how to improve your English, then we've started up this fun new service for you.
If you're interested, check out our social media.
The links are in the description.
I also have social media.
Well done.
I'm so proud of you.
Love me.
Yes, I love you so much.
Even more now.
Wow.
When we talk about friends, we should use different adjectives.
So, Rory, you've mentioned amiable.
Yes, I have.
Amiable is people.
Well, I describe someone who is approachable, someone that you can get along with well.
You can also describe your friends as reliable, right?
Yeah, so reliable.
People are always on time, they always do what they say they will.
Punctual, organized.
Rory is very punctual.
Punctual is more about keeping to time.
Reliable is more about doing what you say you will in general.
Punctual is about sticking to a time.
So if you say you're going to be somewhere at this time, then you're going to be there.
If you're a punctual person, on time, not late.
And then if you're organized, well, you have very good organizational skills.
Just like me.
Yay!
You can also throw in more adjectives.
Like, I don't like stingy people, for example.
Stingy.
Or mean people.
Mean yes, main people or tight-fisted all great ways of describing people who don't like to spend money, Absolutely.
An antonym would be generous.
I prefer generous people.
I prefer, like, fun people, bubbly people.
Yeah.
Are you bubbly, Larry?
No, no.
I'm more sarcastic, but at least I think people find that fun, so it's not so bad.
We talk to our friends on zoom well, under normal circumstances, in person, right?
So we say like on facebook, on zoom, on skype or via skype, but in person or face to face, right?
Yes Rory, you've mentioned a nice verb to mediate.
What is it?
To mediate?
Well, it's just like to do something with the help of someone or something.
So, for example, Sometimes all of my communications are mediated through the internet.
That means I need the internet in order to send them.
Sometimes if two countries have a conflict then they need another country to mediate for them.
That means to help them come to an agreement basically.
So if you think about it like this, it sounds like medium, so something in the middle.
Right.
You gather together with your friends or you hang out with your friends.
Or we have a gathering.
We have a gathering.
And Rory has his gatherings in a bar and all that entails...
In tails?
What?
In a tail?
What?
Quite.
E-N-T-A-I-L-S.
So, all that entails just means, well, if you're in a bar, usually people are drinking in bars.
But instead of saying we go to a bar and we have a drink, we say we go to a bar and all that entails.
And it's just like a nicer way of saying that you like to go out drinking with your friends.
Or if there's ever a situation where the consequences are obvious, then you can just say all that entails.
Now that is C2 Band 9 level...
Woohoo!
Rory doesn't have any set criteria, right?
So one criterion, lots of criteria, right?
And they're like a set, like fixed criteria.
It's like bacteria.
What else do we have from Latin in English?
Words.
Most of the words, to be honest with you.
So, criteria and criteria.
Rory, do you usually get thrown into mad situations with your friends?
Well, yes, actually.
That's how I meet all of them.
For example, you and I were thrown together in this podcast.
Mad podcast.
Mad heads-up podcast.
Yes, so the expression is to be thrown into mad situations.
You're thrown into a situation, or you're thrown into something and with a situation, you're usually thrown into it, or you get into a situation.
When you do talk about your friends or people in general, we can use phrasal verbs.
So, for example, Rory has used keep up with people, right?
So, keep up with people, like contact them, right?
Yeah, or to look forward to see them again.
Right.
Yeah, look forward to seeing them again.
Or you can say, I look forward to seeing them again.
Or I'm looking forward to seeing them again.
Yes.
A nice one would be.
If you want to say I have good relationship with my friends, you can say I get along well with my friends.
Or do you say just get along well or get along with?
Usually I just say get along with, but a lot of people can say get along well with, and the same idea is there.
If you want to say that you never argue with your friends, a nice phrasal verb would be fall out.
Yes, exactly.
But I never fall out with my friends.
Yeah, I never fall out with Rory.
Rory, do you fall out with me?
Only when you make fun of how hairy I am.
No, you are hairy.
You've got lots of hair.
Yeah, because there is no barber.
The barbers in Moscow are not open yet.
Although hopefully they will be by the time the podcast goes out.
Yeah, that's true, yeah.
We have to wait till the 14th of June or Rory is gonna turn into a fluffy unicorn.
Harry.
Chewbacca.
Harry, Chewbacca, yes.
Roy is going to turn into a Chewbacca.
Okay.
I am a very good friend, by the way.
Friends can bond, right?
So, to bond or a bond, right?
Yeah, so that's another way of talking about a relationship.
You bond with your friends or you start a relationship with them, or you have a bond, you have a relationship.
Yes, we do have a bond with Rory and now he's turning into a Chewbacca.
I find it very funny.
Not because of our friendship, just because of the quarantine.
So, punctual people would win Rory over.
Win somebody over.
Yes.
Another phrasal verb.
Could you give us another example?
It is.
It's impossible to win me over without being a decent person.
You've mentioned another nice verb, to reminisce.
Yeah, to reminisce is like to look back on past times.
And, well, you usually enjoy the memory when you reminisce.
And also past deeds.
A deed, that's a nice word.
Is it positive or negative?
It's...
Actually neutral, I think, because you can use it to describe anything that you've done or anything that you will do.
So it's another way of saying things people do, but instead of saying that, you say a deed.
We can also say it was a heroic deed.
You've also mentioned the verb cultivate.
Yeah.
Like cultivate plants, cultivate friendship.
Can we cultivate friendship?
You can cultivate a friendship.
In this case.
Well with me, I cultivate.
Well, I cultivate reminiscing about past deeds, and this just means it's something that I encourage people to do whenever they're talking to me, because it's fun to remember.
I really enjoy talking about things that have happened in the past.
Our dear listener.
Now you can listen to Roy's answers again and notice gorgeous grammar and super vocabulary he's using.
Roy, do you have many friends?
Yeah, I think so.
I like to think I'm quite amiable and inviting.
How long have you known your friends?
Well, my childhood friends I've known since childhood, obviously.
But I have friends that I'm quite close with in Moscow and I've known them for, oh gosh, five years now, maybe more than five years.
How often do you see your friends?
Well, I suppose now, probably not often enough, given that we have a quarantine and everything.
But under normal circumstances, I see my friends in Scotland once or twice a year.
And then I see my other friends regularly on Zoom, for example.
Although I'm looking forward to seeing them in person again.
And until then, everything seems to be mediated by social media.
What do you and your friends do together?
Well, I think whenever we have a big gathering, it's usually in a bar and all that entails.
If it's at someone else's house, then we usually play video games and share stories with each other.
What kind of people do you like to make friends with?
I don't have set criteria.
It's usually people I'm thrown into mad situations with and we make the best of it and bond through the shared experience.
And then after that, we usually refer back to it a lot.
I also used to have a thing for making up songs and words with my friends.
So probably I like people who are quite verbose and creative.
Oh, I also really like people who are friendly but politically incorrect.
So they push the envelope but they don't push it too far.
I hate lateness so probably people who are punctual are more likely to win me over.
Do you think you are a good friend to others?
I try to be.
I think I'm quite reliable and organized and I'm usually quite fun to be around.
I hope at least I make people's lives interesting, so I think that's part of being a good friend too.
Do you keep in touch with your childhood friends?
Not as often as I'd like.
Until recently actually, I wasn't very good at keeping up with people, but I'm trying to get better at that now that we've got quarantine and we have the time to do that.
It's also quite fun to reminisce about past deeds, so that's something about staying in touch as well that I'm keen to cultivate when I get back in touch with people.
Rory, do you think friendship is important?
Absolutely.
I think I've seen quite a few articles about how loneliness harms your mental and physical health about as much as smoking and alcoholism does.
Maybe even more, actually.
It's probably not very good for you.
Dear listeners, you can become our supporters on Patreon.
Yes, we have a Patreon account and our episodes about Rory's stories stories with Rory are gonna be exclusively on Patreon.
So if you're interested, Check it out, the links are in the description or on our social media.
Thank you very much for listening.
And remember, our friends are the sunshine of our life.
Diamonds in this universe.
So, Rory, you are my diamond and my sunshine.
Oh, Maria, thank you.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Bye.
Bye.
