Hello, sweetheart.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
We're 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've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super-duper vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Bad 9 score.
Rory!
Rory, you're late again!
I know, I'm really sorry.
We had to get the car back and we got caught in a traffic jam, so we're a little bit late.
Sorry about that.
Cars.
Shall we talk about cars?
Why not?
We used to have the topic of car trips, and we do have an episode and audio episode about car trips, but now it's just cars.
Rory is super excited about cars because this is what he's into.
Right Rory, into cars?
No, I'm not.
I know nothing of cars.
This is going to be great.
A good example if you know nothing about this subject.
Romy, do you like cars?
Well, I like how they can get me where I need to be relatively quickly and efficiently compared to other forms of transport.
If you mean do I like them like I would a hobby, then no, I don't see that as a good use of my time.
What cars do you like?
Ones that work?
I don't really follow what the latest models are with their various accessories and add-ons.
Sorry.
Do you prefer to be a driver or a passenger?
Absolutely a passenger.
There's less responsibility for the safety of the car and navigation and the general upkeep of the thing.
All you need to do is sit there and not be too distracting.
It's a breeze.
What do you usually do in a traffic jam?
Well, assuming I've charged my phone, I'll just sit and read or listen to videos online.
There's precious little else to do until the problem fixes itself, and I'm not a mechanic.
If it's a very long, arduous process, then I might sit and complain online about it.
But that's just cursing at the wind, isn't it?
When do you travel by car?
All the time, really.
I get lifts to and from work and university and I take taxis home on work nights out and nights out in general.
And I learn to drive one day.
So that will also make up a big part of my day, I suppose, when I'm doing well, when I'm engaged in the learning process.
Do you prefer sitting in the front or at the back?
I used to prefer being in the front seat but, to be honest, I can sit just about anywhere now, as long as it's not the middle of the back well, the back row or the back seats.
It's a bit uncomfortable being sandwiched in there when you have legs the length of mine.
And then obviously if there's a crash, then you could be ejected through the windscreen.
So that's not a terribly nice thought either, is it?
Thank you, Rory, for your answers.
Hopefully they didn't drive you up the wall.
Hey, I got in my joke.
Today we're going to talk about cars.
However, that's just on the free version.
In our premium version, I'm also going to talk about parts two and three.
For part two, I'll describe a time that I helped a child.
And in part three, I'll talk about a time when I volunteered.
So it's helping all around.
You can check out the links for that in the description below.
Yay, our favorite idiom to drive somebody up the wall.
So, for example, I can say that, oh, your coincidences drive me up the wall.
It's like, they annoy me.
Well, that's unfortunate. or Maria's jokes drive me up the wall.
Right, as you've noticed, Rory's answers were really short.
Yes.
And that's fine, you know, your answers in speaking part one could be short.
Again, if it's not your topic, if it's not something you are into, that's okay.
But still, he kind of gave the answers.
He explained why, so we're happy with that, right?
So the examiner will just move to another topic and there you can give a bit longer answers, but in terms of the length so we were fine.
Actually, to be honest, these answers the length of them is probably about appropriate for part one answers.
Usually mine are a bit longer just so I can cram in some vocabulary.
So they're okay.
Yeah.
I think.
How much should I say in speaking part one?
Maximum two or three sentences.
Two or three, yeah.
But really just answer the question right.
If you give like two sentences and that's it, you can't give anything else, that's fine.
Two or three.
If you're giving more, the examiner will just stop you.
How much do i say?
As much as it takes, Kaz.
Rory uses Kaz to get him where he needs to be.
Right?
As opposed to, unlike most people who do not do...
Yeah, and you just compared other people who like them as a hobby, right?
So, do I like them like I would a hobby?
No.
So, cars are not a hobby for Rory.
It's just a form of transport.
Cars or vehicles...
Forms of transport.
Yeah.
And what cars do you like?
And Rory, you said that I don't really follow the latest models.
Models of cars, right?
So, if you know what, if you have a particular kind of car that you like, then you could talk about the model and that would be the type of car.
But if you're like me and you're totally ignorant, then you can drop the word model in there.
And there you go.
Some topic specific vocabulary for talking about cars and you don't even need to try that hard.
Yeah, and then you can say a couple of things about the brands.
So, Rory, okay, let's do this.
I'm going to give you the brand of a car, but I'm going to mispronounce it.
So, I'm going to say it in the wrong way.
Oh, God.
And you should give the correct pronunciation.
I should, but will this actually work?
Let's see.
Yeah, okay.
Ferrari.
Ferrari.
Ferrari?
Ferrari.
Ferrari.
I like Ferrari.
And do I say that I like a Ferrari, or I like Ferraris, or I just like Ferrari?
Uh...
Oh, God.
Sorry, excuse me.
I'm so bored of talking about cars already.
So, I like Ferrari the company, but I like Ferraris the cars.
I like Bugatti.
Is that Bugatti?
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, I like Bugattis.
Bugattis, right?
So many Bugattis.
I don't know what that is.
Bugatti is a luxurious brand, Italian.
It's really expensive, Bugatti cars.
What about the car that James Bond drives?
That's an Aston Martin.
Aston Martin, yeah.
What about the car which is similar to an animal, a nice animal?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that could be anything because you have Mustang, which is a kind of horse.
Okay.
What were you thinking of?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, Jaguar.
Yeah, that's a British brand.
Jaguar.
Yeah.
They don't make them anymore.
I think they went out of business.
Really?
Oh, wow.
I don't know.
I think they did.
Okay.
I'm not very sure about that, but definitely.
Oh, maybe that was Rover.
The British car industry is not what it used to be.
Pity.
Yeah, and Rover.
So Land Rover.
So I enjoy Land Rovers, Ferraris, Jaguars.
And what about Mercedes?
Mercedes.
Is that Mercedes?
Mercedes.
Okay.
I prefer Mercedes.
Mercedes.
Right.
What about three-letter car?
BMW.
Correct.
BMW.
And one of the poshest cars is...
The Porsche.
The Porsche.
Well, you know, it's funny because apparently in America they say Porsche, but in the UK I've always heard it pronounced Porsche.
So which is it?
Porsche.
I think more commonly they say Porsche.
For example, in France, Monica and we talked about it, Monica got a Porsche and they said Porsche or Porsche.
I thought they said Porsche, which I was just like.
That sounds too close to the name Porsche, which is a girl's name.
That doesn't sound right.
But then American pronunciation is different.
Yeah, D-Listener.
So you can just go ahead and name some of the brands.
And again, even if you don't have like a Jaguar or... a Rolls-Royce, you can say, I like them.
I'd like to have a Ferrari.
I like a James Bond's car.
So yeah, go ahead, throw in some brands of cars, Mercedes.
Right.
Then Rory prefers to be a passenger.
So have a driver and a passenger.
And Rory, you said that you prefer to sit where?
The front.
I prefer the front.
I used to prefer sitting in the front.
Now I don't care.
Actually it really does depend, because do you ever go in a taxi and sometimes you don't really want to talk to people, so you just sit in the back.
Oh, pretty much all the time.
Yeah, I used to be quite good at speaking to people in taxis, but now I'm usually working.
So it's like, I'm really sorry, I can't sit and chat.
I have to like write a message.
Oh, yeah.
So we say sit in the front or sit at the back or in the back?
Doesn't matter.
So in the back or at the back.
Also, can I say at the front?
To sit at the front.
Right.
Or to sit in the front seat.
Right. seat.
I prefer the front seat.
It's not front, it's front.
Front seat.
Yeah, I always sit at the back.
Whenever I take a taxi, always at the back.
Rory prefers to be a passenger because there is less responsibility for the safety of the car, also for the safety of other people around, for the safety of trees, and you know everything.
For the safety of anyone near a car that I'm in, I should be a passenger.
And navigation.
Navigation, you mean the... Navigating.
Finding your way around.
Yep.
Yeah, and by the way, this one is called the steering wheel.
I was going to say, is this the universal sign for navigating?
Yeah.
And then all you need to do is sit, relax.
And Rory said, it's a breeze.
But that just means it's easy.
IELTS, it's a breeze.
It is a breeze.
You just don't panic.
After this podcast, it's just, it's a breeze.
What did you mean by a very long adios, adios, adios, adio process? arduous and you usually feel tired after an arduous process because it's taxing and it makes you tired yeah and if you're stuck in a traffic jam so it's arduous can a journey be arduous yes what else can be arduous talking about cars for 20 minutes Yeah, yeah.
And then that's just cursing at the wind.
But that just means it's like complaining about something but it's useless because it just happens anyway.
Hmm.
Could you give us another example?
When can I use it?
Well, it's just another way of saying it's totally useless.
So, like if someone's complaining about the fact that it's raining outside, you just say like well, that's just cursing at the wind, isn't it?
Because there's nothing you can do.
You can't turn off the rain.
Oh, such a pity.
I always complain about the rain.
Just rain!
Stop it!
Just, just... Kepasa!
Just stop it here!
I always curse at the wind.
I talk to rain.
I often talk to snow and to wind.
When the wind is really strong, I just talk to wind out loud in the street.
Yeah, that's me.
Hello, I'm Maria.
I talk to the wind.
I'm Maria, cursing at the wind.
Right, so we can say that I get lifts to and from work.
So if you get a lift, somebody gives you a lift in their car.
They pick you up, which is another phrasal verb.
Yeah, and kind of like you pick something up or Rory gets picked up by somebody.
So you can say, I get lifts, lifts to and from work.
Or I give lifts to somebody, to my friends, mine.
I pick them up from school, I pick my children from school or, I don't know, from somewhere.
What could be sandwiched in there?
Sandwiched.
But that just means that you have people on either side of you and it's a bit cramped, so your shoulders are up around you and you're trying to fit in.
Well, if you have four people in the back of a car, then it's illegal.
You can only fit three people, can't you?
Yeah, yeah, but some people do that, right?
Do they?
Who?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Is it you?
No, no, I don't drive.
I have a driver's license, but I don't drive.
It's dangerous for the world.
Apparently, the streets of Moscow were only designed to hold 100000 cars, but there are like a million cars in Moscow.
So this explains why it's such a disaster for driving around in, which is something I have described in our premium podcast, when I think it was part two.
I had to talk about being in a traffic jam and I talked about that.
So there you go.
Check that out.
The links are in the description below.
Also some advertising.
Talked about that last time as well.
Yeah, Rory, if you had a car, what car would it be?
Rolls-Royce?
It would be a driverless car, so I didn't have to drive it.
Oh, so something like a Tesla?
Driveless?
Tesla without the driver?
Wow.
That'd be good.
What about you?
I would like to have a Jaguar or a Porsche.
Ferrari would be nice.
Yeah.
Red, red Ferrari.
Yeah.
Nice.
I would have like red shoes and... Anyway.
Thank you for listening.
Yes, it's important that your car matches your shoes.
Don't start me with shoes.
Oh, yeah, and with nail polish also.
See you next week.
Bye.
Thank you, dear listener.
We are not gonna go on this tangent, shoe tangent.
So thank you for listening.
Bye.
Rory, do you like cars?
Well, I like how they can get me where I need to be relatively quickly and efficiently compared to other forms of transport.
If you mean do I like them like I would a hobby, then no, I don't see that as a good use of my time.
What cars do you like?
Ones that work?
I don't really follow what the latest models are with their various accessories and add-ons.
Sorry.
Do you prefer to be a driver or a passenger?
Absolutely a passenger.
There is less responsibility for the safety of the car and navigation and the general upkeep of the thing.
All you need to do is sit there and not be too distracting.
It's a breeze.
What do you usually do in a traffic jam?
Well, assuming I've charged my phone, I'll just sit and read or listen to videos online.
There's precious little else to do until the problem fixes itself, and I'm not a mechanic.
If it's a very long, arduous process, then I might sit and complain online about it.
But that's just cursing at the wind, isn't it?
When do you travel by car?
All the time, really.
I get lifts to and from work and university and I take taxis home on work nights out and nights out in general.
And I learn to drive one day, so that will also make up a big part of my day, I suppose, when I'm engaged in the learning process.
Do you prefer sitting in the front or at the back?
I used to prefer being in the front seat but, to be honest, I can sit just about anywhere now, as long as it's not the middle of the back well, the back row or the back seats.
It's a bit uncomfortable being sandwiched in there when you have legs the length of mine.
And then obviously if there's a crash, then you could be ejected through the windscreen.
So that's not a terribly nice thought either, is it?
