Hello, lovely, I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that 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-level words and gorgeous grammar in your IELTS speaking and in your English life.
Rory, I see that you're no longer living in that Tratic of Picture gallery.
Yeah, I've moved house, actually, to a new place.
Really?
Yeah.
It's a new Tratic of Picture gallery.
It is.
There are two pictures behind me, but they're not nearly as garish as the old ones.
But the good news is it is actually a coincidence this time, because we're going to talk about home.
Rory, can you describe the place where you live?
Oh, I can very vividly since I'm completely in love with this place.
So it's a three bedroom apartment and the rooms are very spacious.
There's a really well equipped kitchen, both a bathroom and a shower room separately.
And the hall, the main hall is massive.
It's not just like at the door and then there's the bedrooms.
There's like a the big sort of internal space as well.
I actually think it's the biggest apartment I've ever lived in.
I'm really pleased with it.
What can you see from the windows where you live?
Well, somewhat depressingly, it's just other apartments.
But on the other hand, at least the skyline looks nice when it's all lit up at night.
There's a small cluster of shops at the base of the building if you look straight down, which is convenient if you need something at very short notice.
And we have a McDonald's, which is less convenient for my waistline.
What do you like about living there?
Well, the apartment itself is so massive that I can finally have people around without feeling like I've got people packed into a can of sardines.
And the metro station is close by, so I can go anywhere I need to at a moment's notice.
It's the most convenient and probably luxurious apartment I've been in.
What do you dislike?
I think the one thing I probably dislike is that it's a little further from where I usually get the bus to work.
So I have to wake up about half an hour earlier than normal, about half past five in the morning.
But on the other hand, I find I get more done that way.
And it's a bit further from the gym as well and the place where I usually do my weekly shop.
So there's that.
But the situation is hardly desperate.
I mean, if I have serious problems, I'll just get a taxi.
It's not a big deal.
Would you change anything about your home?
Well, obviously I'd have it closer to the metro station or just the places that I usually frequent, but I think that's it.
Oh yeah, I'd probably change the decor too if I had the time and inclination but, as we both know, I'm not very good at interior design.
Do you prefer living in a house or a flat?
Well, for the moment, I'm happy with the flat that I'm living in, which is good because I live in a city and it's basically all apartments in Moscow.
I don't think there are many houses.
When I do have a family, though, I think I'll choose to live in a house by the sea.
I think that would be much better for them and me.
Which room does your family spend most time in?
Well, I don't have my own family now, but if we talk about in Scotland, then we're always in the kitchen.
It's where we have our back door, which ironically is the main door for getting into the house.
Our front door is called the front door because it faces the seafront.
And anyway, we receive all of our guests and packages there in the kitchen, and it's where all the food in the house is, so it makes sense to spend the most time there.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
No problem.
So Rory has moved house.
Rory, are we going to have a moving party?
A moving like house moving?
Absolutely.
We'll have a moving party and the pictures will be on Instagram.
Probably poorly advised.
But yeah, we're definitely having a moving party for sure as soon as I get my new bed delivered.
Not because the bed is essential for the party, but because it will look nicer when I'm not sleeping on a sofa bed, for sure.
Dear listener, Rory now has a TV and he used to have one huge painting on the wall.
That's why I said it was Tretyakov Picture Gallery.
But now he has two paintings on the wall.
They are smaller than the one he used to have, but it's still kind of like a small version of the Tretyakov Picture Gallery.
The TV is from the 1980s, so it's less of a gallery and more of a museum.
Ooh, and how old are you, Rory?
Okay, right, I know the answer.
Yeah, old.
Okay, moving on.
Waiting for those million subscribers and then we'll reveal my age.
Dear listener, in speaking part 1 they can ask you questions about accommodation and about your home.
We have an episode about accommodation with Joe, the American Joe.
So do check it out.
And now we are talking about home, which is practically the same.
So to get ready, you should listen to our episode about accommodation and this one.
Because Roy, did you know that in the exam, the examiner always chooses to ask you about accommodation, or to ask you about work or studies or hometown?
Yes, that's something that everybody knows and we should be prepared for this.
So we're preparing you.
You're welcome.
Yay!
So, Robby, you said that you are living in a three-room flat.
That's a nice expression.
Three-bedroom apartment.
There are more than three rooms, I think.
Let me just think.
Four, five, six, seven.
Yeah, we've got seven rooms.
Seven or eight.
What?
Are you joking?
You've got seven rooms?
Well, we have seven rooms, but three of them are bedrooms.
Wow.
Yeah.
How many people have you got there?
Three.
Just yourself?
No, no, three people.
I live with my apartment still.
Ah, okay, so you've got... Ah, okay, flatmates.
Ah, right.
Okay.
Yeah.
Or if, for example, you have like two rooms in your flat, you can say I live in a two-room flat.
The trick is that you don't say rooms, you say... a two-room flat.
Or a two-bedroom apartment.
Yeah.
A flat apartment doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter.
And Roy's apartment is spacious.
The rooms are very spacious.
Yes, it is.
That just means it's got lots of space.
But of course, saying spacious is much better.
Yeah, you can say, like, my rooms are big, but, well, it's not fun.
Spacious.
If they're not very big, though, you can say cozy.
Yes, cozy is another one.
My room is very cozy.
And you've mentioned that a can of sardines, sardines like fish.
A can of sardines is very small and everything is packed tightly together inside.
So much the same way.
If you live in a small apartment with lots of people, then you feel like a sardine in a can.
I think you have the same expression in Russian, actually.
So can I say like, my flat is like a can of sardines?
It's like very tiny.
It's tiny.
It's very small.
Yeah.
It's usually used to refer to having lots of people in one place.
But I think if you used it to talk about a very tiny place, then people would understand it.
You can also use the adjective tiny.
So my kitchen is tiny or my bedroom is tiny.
Even if it's not tiny, it's nice to use this word because tiny is a good word.
It means very small.
Can I use the word cramped?
You could, but I'm not because it's huge.
But yes, you could say it's tiny, cramped.
You couldn't swing a cat around in it.
You couldn't swing a cat.
Oh, I love that.
Swing a cat.
That's an idiom, just meaning something is really, really small.
I don't know why this expression exists, but it does.
And there we go.
No animals were harmed in the making of the podcast.
No cats were harmed.
Yeah, Rory, can I ask you the question?
And then you give the answer with swing a cat thing.
What would you like to change in your apartment?
Well, right now in my apartment you can't really swing a cat in here, so I'd like it to be much bigger.
Excellent.
Great.
Roy, you've said that something is well equipped.
Which room is well equipped?
The kitchen is well equipped.
We have a fridge with a functioning refrigerator.
Thank God.
Sorry, with a functioning freezer, I should say.
And we have a very modern electric kitchen cooker, which I haven't seen in quite some time in Moscow, so that's quite nice.
And a microwave.
We never had a microwave before.
That was nice.
None of these things I use.
I don't cook, so I don't know why I'm so happy about it.
But it is well equipped.
And he's happy with the microwave, the fridge, which is working.
Yay.
Yeah, it's not even the countryside we're talking about.
But we will talk about the countryside.
Oh, yes, absolutely.
Soon.
Anyway, moving on.
Yeah, some other adjectives you can use about your flat is like massive, so the hall is massive or my kitchen is massive.
Well actually, massive is a scientific word to describe something with great mass, but a lot of people just use it to mean something that is really big.
It's like awesome.
Awesome actually means something is really big, but it means, like a lot of people use it to mean it's cool.
Yeah, my flat is awesome.
My kitchen is awesome.
Rory, many students make mistakes with the words convenient and comfortable.
So, talking about my home, which one should I use?
Well, your home is comfortable, but the location is convenient.
So my home is comfortable.
I have a nice bed.
There's lots of space.
But the apartment is located in a convenient place because it's close to the metro station, for example yep, yeah.
Or you can say like, my flat is very comfy comfortable comfy yeah, but the location is convenient.
You've been talking about the skyline.
The skyline looks nice, It does.
So the skyline is just a way of describing the well, just the view of all of the buildings in the distance, on the horizon.
That's the skyline.
So here I can see skyscrapers, for example, and I can see a bridge that forms the skyline of the neighborhood that I'm in.
And I also enjoyed how you said about shops.
Like you said, there's also a small cluster of shops.
Wow, this is so cool.
Cluster.
Yeah, so a cluster is just like group of small bits and pieces, and they are.
It is quite um, i don't know, it's quite a mishmash of different shops.
There's like a health shop next to the craft beer shop.
So how's that for irony mishmash?
Yes, that's another good one.
We have, but we explained that in a previous episode, so we're not going to do it again.
If you're interested, then watch the rest of the episodes.
So you've got McDonald's.
Tragically, yes.
But it's less convenient for your waistline.
Your skyline and Rory's waistline.
It's a great way of paraphrasing that I'm just going to get fat at McDonald's, basically.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dangerous.
Dangerous, Rory.
When was the last time you went to McDonald's?
For breakfast, right?
Before recording this episode.
What did you have?
I can't remember, actually, the last time I went to McDonald's.
I think it was when we were coming back from the Burning Bridges festival about nine months ago.
So you aren't a McDonald's person then?
I try not to be.
I think that if I was a McDonald's person I'd be much bigger than I actually am.
When you talk about what you dislike or what you want to change about your home, you should use the second conditional.
So, like Rory, for example said, if I had serious problems, so if I had, but Rory doesn't have serious problems now I'd just get a taxi right.
So, for example, if I could, I'd move to a new house.
Or if I had more money, I'd change the kitchen.
Rory, what did you say about the decor?
Yeah, I'd probably change the decor if I had the time and inclination.
So that just means like... It's another conditional sentence, but which one?
I don't know.
But in this case it's like saying well great good, I'm so glad, I'm so glad someone knows what language I'm speaking.
So yes, it's like in the imaginary world where I am like good with interior design.
I would change this.
But because I'm not, and I don't have the time, then I'm not going to do it.
Also, the wallpaper isn't that bad.
Like, really.
You can also use the structure I'd like to have my flat redecorated.
Pretty advanced.
So if you want redecoration in your flats, this is the structure.
I'd like to have my flat redecorated.
Or I'd like to have my kitchen redecorated.
Or...
If I had more money, I'd have my kitchen redecorated.
If I had more money, I'd have my walls painted.
This is a very effective structure, which is pretty advanced.
Also, you can use some other adjectives to describe your apartment.
For example, my flat is sunny or it's spotless.
Rory, is your flat spotless?
Very clean?
Well it is, but bear in mind there are three men living here, so I'm sure the apartment will look like an absolute disaster area in the next to no time.
Yeah, you can say, sometimes it's quite messy.
Messy, not the football player.
Ha ha, ha ha ha ha.
But messy is like a mess.
Sometimes I make a mess.
You made a mess of that joke.
I did, didn't I?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
You can also say that my flat is peaceful, colorful, airy.
Airy, like there's a lot of air.
And we should use present perfect or present perfect continuous when you talk about your flat.
For example, Rory, how long have you been living in this flat?
Oh god, like a nanosecond?
I think I moved on... I moved on Saturday.
It's been less than a week.
I've been living here for less than a week.
Present perfect continuous.
Excellent.
Yeah.
So I've just moved there.
I've been living there for blah, blah, blah.
Rory, where did you used to live in the Tratic of Picture Gallery?
I used to live next to Kronstovskaya metro station, but now I live near Stroganov.
Although that's not saying much because Stroganov is a huge place, but it's nice.
Yep.
So you see, present perfect and used to.
Also, dear listener, if you live in a house, then you can say that I live in a two-story house, right?
If you live in a flat, I live on the third floor.
Rory, you are on the fourth, the first floor?
I'm on the ninth floor, which is why I have the two of the skyline.
Sweet.
Yeah, if you're a student, you can say that I'm living on campus in a hall of residence.
A hall of residence, that's where all students live when they're living on campus, usually.
So, Rory, now you are in luxury.
So pretty much you are living in luxury.
You've mentioned something like a luxurious apartment.
Yeah, it's so nice.
I don't know.
Luxury is a really relative thing, isn't it?
But like, I feel like, I feel like it's a pretty nice place.
So I would use the word luxurious to describe it.
Why not?
Oh, it's so beautiful.
For Rory, luxury is having a TV, a fridge that works, and a microwave oven.
And that's all.
Luxury.
Thank you very much for listening.
Home, sweet home.
Don't forget to listen to our episode about accommodation.
And hopefully some of our answers will make their home in your head and you can use them for your exam.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Rory, can you describe the place where you live?
Oh, I can very vividly since I'm completely in love with this place.
So it's a three bedroom apartment and the rooms are very spacious.
There's a really well equipped kitchen, Both a bathroom and a shower room separately.
And the hall, the main hall, is massive.
It's not just like at the door and then there's the bedrooms.
There's like a big sort of internal space as well.
I actually think it's the biggest apartment I've ever lived in.
I'm really pleased with it.
What can you see from the windows where you live?
Well, somewhat depressingly, it's just other apartments.
But on the other hand, at least the skyline looks nice when it's all lit up at night.
There's a small cluster of shops at the base of the building if you look straight down, which is convenient if you need something at very short notice.
And we have a McDonald's, which is less convenient for my waistline.
What do you like about living there?
Well, the apartment itself is so massive that I can finally have people around without feeling like I've got people packed into a can of sardines.
And the metro station is close by, so I can go anywhere I need to at a moment's notice.
It's the most convenient and probably luxurious apartment I've been in.
What do you dislike?
I think The one thing I probably dislike is that it's a little further from where I usually get the bus to work.
So I have to wake up about half an hour earlier than normal, about half past five in the morning.
But on the other hand, I find I get more done that way.
And it's a bit further from the gym as well and the place where I usually do my weekly shop.
So there's that.
But the situation is hardly desperate.
I mean, if I have serious problems, I'll just get a taxi.
It's not a big deal.
Would you change anything about your home?
Well, obviously I'd have it closer to the metro station or just the places that I usually frequent, but I think that's it.
Oh yeah, I'd probably change the decor too if I had the time and inclination but, as we both know, I'm not very good at interior design.
Do you prefer living in a house or a flat?
Well, for the moment, I'm happy with the flat I'm living in, which is good because I live in a city and it's basically all apartments in Moscow.
I don't think there are many houses.
When I do have a family, though, I think I'll choose to live in a house by the sea.
I think that would be much better for them and me.
Which room does your family spend most time in?
Well, I don't have my own family now, but if we talk about in Scotland, then we're always in the kitchen.
It's where we have our back door, which ironically is the main door for getting into the house.
Our front door is called the front door because it faces the seafront.
And anyway, we receive all of our guests and packages there in the kitchen, and it's where all the food in the house is, so it makes sense to spend the most time there.
