Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And I'm 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 to give you a look at how a super native speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions, using gorgeous grammar and high-level vocabulary for you to enjoy.
Rory, I've been checking the numbers on our reviews, you know on Apple Podcasts, and someone gave us a one-star rating with no comment.
I'm gutted.
How very, very rude.
However, it's a coincidence, because today we're gonna talk about numbers.
Numbers.
Yes, in Speaking Part 1, the examiner can ask you questions about numbers.
Rory, do you have a favorite number?
Yes, I do.
I like the number three.
It seems to come up a lot, actually.
I'm sure it's not just me.
It's like a trope or a cliche.
You even have, like, in the media or in writing, you have, like, the rule of three.
So if you're going to give three examples of things...
Well, it's like you almost automatically give three examples of things as opposed to four or two.
It seems to make more sense this way.
It's a really strange concept actually.
Do any numbers have special importance in your country?
No.
I think they do in Russia sometimes.
I think it's.
If you give odd numbers or even numbers of flowers as presents, then it's meant to be a sign of death or something.
But in Scotland, no.
Maybe in the form of dates, but there's nothing particularly significant that comes to mind.
Are you good at memorizing numbers?
No, I'm not.
I'm actually awful.
I can't even remember my own phone number some days.
I just have a bad head for numbers, it seems.
Were you good at maths at school?
Well, no.
I was absolutely appalling at maths as well.
My maths teacher was just despairing all the time.
So, no, in line with what I said before, I just don't have it in me to deal with numbers.
Can you count?
I can count.
One plus two.
I can count.
I can do basic arithmetic.
But things like long division and logarithms and...
No coordinates I can do, but really complex maths I can't do.
A lot of people can, though, and it's always disappointed me.
What numbers do people often have to memorize?
Now, normal people, unlike me, have probably memorized their phone number.
They probably memorize their PIN as well for like their bank.
It's like their bank code to get into their bank account.
And their date of birth.
And I suppose like any security codes they might use at work.
And most people probably remember their bank balance as well.
So you say normal people, you think that you are abnormal?
Well, I'm abnormal because I can't remember my phone number.
I remember all of these other things.
Date of birth?
Yeah, I can remember my date of birth.
When's your birthday?
I'm not telling you that.
It's personal.
Oh, personal.
Do you often use numbers to do things?
I use them to calculate my hours at work.
I also work out how much food that I need per week using numbers, because I do a shop every week, so that's helpful.
Would you like to have a job that deals with numbers?
Oh god, no.
I think I'd sooner die, to be honest with you.
Anything outside of basic arithmetic is alien to me.
Would you like to be an accountant, Rory?
No, I'd hate to be an accountant or a mathematician.
That's like my idea of hell.
Are numbers important?
Well, despite the fact that I'm not good at them, I'd say they definitely are.
They govern the world in terms of financial transactions and the calculations your phone does to function.
So they are quite essential.
I'm just not very good with them.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
Thank you.
Rory, when you talked about numbers, you said that your favorite number is number three, right?
And you mentioned a cliche and some other nice word starting with T.
Oh, yeah.
I said it's a trope or cliche.
So a trope is a pattern that people recognize that comes up in the media or in society in general.
A trope is just a pattern.
But a cliche is a pattern that's repeated and used so often that it's kind of got this negative connection around it.
Could you use a trope in the sentence?
I can't because it's not something that's coming to my mind immediately.
But if you're interested in this idea of tropes, you can go to a website called TV Tropes.
It's like Wikipedia, but it looks at different patterns in different kinds of TV shows.
You'll probably find your own favorite movie or TV show there.
It's quite interesting, actually.
You can find out about actors and different information about your movies that you might never have heard about before.
Oh, yeah, but we're talking about numbers, right?
We are yeah, but you asked me for an example with tropes in it, and that's what I'm giving you.
So just hush now.
Alright, when we talk about numbers, we can say some numbers are odd.
Odd.
Yes.
Odd numbers, for example.
They're not even numbers is the best way to describe them, because you can only have like odd numbers and even numbers and then zero.
So odd numbers are like 1, 3, 5, and they go up in this kind of interval.
But odd numbers are 2, 4, 6, and this kind of thing.
Yeah.
We can also say that some numbers are meaningful, so they carry meaning, right?
So number seven, for example, is meaningful.
Is it?
Yeah.
Seven is a magical number.
It's this mystical number.
Seven is associated with power.
Yeah, okay, right.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I have just learned this for the first time in my life.
Yeah, but seven is an odd number, yeah?
And eight would be an even number.
But we can say that numbers are associated with something like symbolize something, carry meaning, right.
When we talk about numbers, we can say that I'm good with numbers or Rory is not good with numbers.
I'm terrible with numbers.
I don't have a head for it at all.
Yeah, head what.
You don't have a head for what is this?
Do you have an arm for this?
No, no.
If you don't have a head for something, it just means that you don't have this sort of natural ability, or even capability of understanding something.
So you can have a head for numbers or... That's the way it's used most often, but...
You can have a head for other skills as well.
A head for numbers, a head for words.
It's usually used to talk about numbers, though, at least in my experience.
But you said I have a bad head for numbers.
Yes, you can have a good head for numbers.
But you could also just say I have a head for numbers and that means that you're good at it.
You can also say I struggle with numbers, so it's difficult for me, or numbers could be a pain in the neck.
Yeah, numbers are a pain in the neck.
When we talk about maths, we should mention basic arithmetics, right, you said?
Yeah, I think the basic definition of arithmetic is just like calculations that you can do or calculations you can make in your head.
So simple addition like 1 plus 1, you can do that in your head.
You can complete the sum in your head.
But something like, what is 357 plus 291?
No, I could probably do that if I thought about it for long enough, but I don't care to.
Do you say arithmetics or arithmetic?
Arithmetic, no S. Yeah, basic arithmetic.
We can say complex maths, right?
There's like long divisions.
Right.
And algorithms?
Yeah.
Well, no, I think algorithms are computer programs.
Logarithms are... They're how you calculate... change in a graph over time.
I think someone's going to have to check that because I don't know a lot about the subject.
I just know the name of the things.
Right, yeah.
Oh, okay.
Shall we talk about cakes and desserts?
Go back to normal vocabulary now.
Who the hell talks about numbers in their free time?
We can also say that we calculate, we do some calculations, right?
And the numbers that people usually remember, that's like PIN for bank accounts.
What else did you say?
Security codes.
Yes, and then your bank balance.
Your balance is the number of digits you have in your account, I guess.
And digits are numbers, but they're also your fingers and thumbs as well. digits yes four digits about jobs you can say that i wouldn't like to be an accountant right or a mathematician yeah i don't know any other jobs that involve numbers probably like a lot of jobs involve them i just don't think about it that much because i don't like numbers oh financial this Yeah, accountant, financial advisor, probably people who calculate things at space centers, I guess.
They need to be good at numbers.
But it's also complicated.
I'm sorry, this is really bad.
I shouldn't say this, but I'm not good with it at all.
We can say that numbers govern the world.
So it just means that they well they're responsible for controlling a lot of the things that we do.
For example, like a lot of the international financial transactions that are made are well, they are numbers basically, aren't they?
You don't move money physically from one place to another.
If you were a number, which number would you be?
I would be three.
I like the number three.
Three?
Okay.
What number would you be?
I'd be seven.
Or eight.
Eight symbolizes eternity.
You need to be careful, though, because seven, eight, nine...
And?
What?
It's like, you know, that expression, seven, eight, nine.
No, I'm horrible.
What are you driving at?
Dear listeners, thank you very much for listening.
Now you can listen to Roy's answers again and notice all the gorgeous, useful vocabulary he's just used.
Bye!
Bye!
But make sure you do everything by the numbers.
Rory, do you have a favorite number?
Yes, I do.
I like the number three.
It seems to come up a lot, actually.
I'm sure it's not just me.
It's like a trope or a cliche.
You even have like in the media or in writing, you have like the rule of three.
So if you're going to give three examples of things...
Well, it's like you almost automatically give three examples of things as opposed to four or two.
It seems to make more sense this way.
It's a really strange concept, actually.
Do any numbers have special importance in your country?
No.
I think they do in Russia sometimes.
I think it's.
If you give odd numbers or even numbers of flowers as presents, then it's meant to be a sign of death or something.
But in Scotland, no.
Maybe in the form of dates, but there's nothing particularly significant that comes to mind.
Are you good at memorising numbers?
No, I'm not.
I'm actually awful.
I can't even remember my own phone number some days.
I just have a bad head for numbers, it seems.
Were you good at maths at school?
Well, no.
I was absolutely appalling at maths as well.
My maths teacher was just despairing all the time.
So no, in line with what I said before, I just don't have it in me to deal with numbers.
Can you count?
I can count.
One plus two.
I can count.
I can do like basic arithmetic, but like things like long division and logarithms and...
Oh, no coordinates I can do, but like really complex maths I can't do.
A lot of people can though, and it's always disappointed me.
What numbers do people often have to memorize?
Now, normal people, unlike me, have probably memorized their phone number.
They probably memorize their PIN as well for like their bank.
It's like their bank code to get into their bank account and their date of birth and I suppose, like any security codes they might use at work, and most people probably remember their bank balance as well.
So you say normal people.
You think that you are abnormal.
Well, I'm abnormal because I can't remember my phone number.
I remember all these other things Date of birth.
Yeah, I can remember my date of birth.
When's your birthday?
I'm not telling you that.
It's personal.
Oh, personal.
Do you often use numbers to do things?
I use them to calculate my hours at work.
I also work out how much food that I need per week using numbers, because I shop every week, so that's helpful.
Would you like to have a job that deals with numbers?
Oh God, no.
I think I'd sooner die, to be honest with you.
Anything outside of basic arithmetic is alien to me.
Would you like to be an accountant, Rory?
No, I'd hate to be an accountant or a mathematician.
That's like my idea of hell.
Are numbers important?
Well, despite the fact that I'm not good at them, I'd say they definitely are.
They govern the world in terms of financial transactions and the calculations your phone does to function.
So they are quite essential.
I'm just not very good with them.
