Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Mariam.
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 super gorgeous grammar in your IELTS speaking and in your English life.
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Rory, darling, did you know that your smile gives colour to my life?
Maybe we should give some colour to the podcast and talk about it.
Let's talk about colours.
What's your favorite color?
Oh, I love all things navy blue.
That's one of the darker shades of blue.
I think it's more original in eye-catching than black, since people have to look more closely at the person wearing it to understand exactly what colour it is.
And then on their further analysis.
That's where you can start a conversation with them, which is quite fun.
So definitely that one.
Do you prefer light or dark colours?
Definitely colours on the darker side of the spectrum, as evidenced by my wardrobe.
Although someone said recently that I stand out better in lighter colours, which is why I have this pastel purple t-shirt for special occasions.
But I think darker colors suit me better, since I have darker features, which is unusual for a Scottish person, but it is something that I can take advantage of.
Are there any colors you dislike?
Um, not really.
Maybe like really garish colors, if I'm pushed on the question especially on clothes or cars or houses.
It's like people are trying too hard to show off and get attention.
It's much better to be understated, in my opinion.
Although that could just be because I'm more interested in people's ideas than their appearances.
Did you use bright colors when you were a child?
Well, I didn't.
My parents did.
They used to make me wear all kinds of loud and lurid colours, which probably explains my attraction to darker colours now.
It's just me being reactionary as an adult.
Are colours important to you?
Yeah, it's not something that sticks out at the forefront of my mind, at least not very often.
I'd miss them if they weren't there.
People sort of take them for granted, I suppose.
But it's not like if you ask me to list everything that's important in my life, colour would not be in the top 10.
What's the color of your home?
Well, it's a bit of a mishmash right now, actually.
The hallway is rather conservative in terms of browns and beiges, and yet my room and the bathroom are much brighter.
For the former, it's lime green on the walls, and for the latter, it's sea blue.
I didn't make any of these decisions, of course, because I rent my apartment, but it's quite funny when I look at it now.
What colour would you like to paint your bedroom?
I think the walls would be dark with white on the ceiling.
I used to live with someone who had this colour scheme in their bedroom and I remember it being very relaxing, so I quite like that idea.
What colour do you think is good for rooms?
Depends on the purpose.
If it's a quieter space like a bedroom, then probably something much less vivid, maybe something darker.
Is colour very important to you when you are buying something?
Well, if we talk about clothes, it's probably almost as important as the fit.
Although this doesn't really add time to the time I spend shopping, because it's not exactly difficult to find clothes in dark colours, especially not in Russia.
For everything else it's not particularly relevant as long as whatever it is I'm buying works.
Though I'm unlikely to buy something bright pink, since it doesn't really match my personality and it's a bit girly probably.
What colours do people in your country like to wear?
I don't think they're really limited in that way.
My best guess would be it's a seasonal thing, so people wear darker colours in the winter and lighter ones in the summer.
But there's a whole load of colours to choose from if you don't fit the mould in that particular way.
Are there any colours that have a special meaning in your country?
I suppose blue and white are the national colours.
And then whatever colours are in the family tartan or football team colours those things are quite important.
I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head.
Rory, thank you so much for your colourful answers.
Let's color up your life, dear listener.
Yeah, I love colors.
Really, it's a great topic.
Yes, in speaking part one, they can ask you about colors.
Speaking part two, you can have a card with like describe a colorful event.
And also in speaking part three.
They can ask you something about colors and the influence of colors on people, like psychological effects of colors.
So let's talk about colors, um color.
The word color could be spelled in different ways color with a?
U and color like c-o-l-o-r, which is american english.
We go for British English, surely?
Dear listener, when you talk about colors, you should know the specific name for your favorite color.
So, go to Google or listen to Rory and you can repeat the names for colors that he has used.
For example, he has said navy blue.
Yeah, navy blue is like a very dark blue, almost black, but it's not sea blue, which is a lighter shade of blue, pastel purple, which is a difficult concept to explain.
It's kind of like a really light purple color, Like a mixture of white and purple.
We can also have royal purple, for example.
We can, but I've no idea what that looks like.
Lime green.
Yeah, so obviously it's the colour of the fruit, I guess.
And then you can have talk voice like the color of the sea.
You know, half green, half blue pink, different shades of pink, for example French rose pink, lemonade pink, flamingo pink.
So just Google and choose a very posh word to describe your favorite color.
Don't go like red, just white.
No, go like turquoise, lime green, navy blue, something like that, okay?
Roy, you've talked about different shades of blue.
Yes.
So if blue is the category, then shades are subcategories of colors.
So they range from dark to light, and you always have the medium where there's different colors as well.
We can have darker shades of blue and lighter shades of blue.
And 50 shades of grey.
Yeah, we can also say that, like, for example, browns and beiges.
Like, we can use the plural form.
Or, like, blues.
Blues?
Blues, jazz and blues.
Greens.
You can wear blue.
I enjoy wearing blue.
I enjoy wearing turquoise.
And also talking about your room, you can say, I have lime green on the walls.
So lime green on something.
Yes.
Roy, you've mentioned also different adjectives to describe color.
For example, colors are original, eye-catching colors.
Yes, so eye-catching is a way of getting attention.
Oh, sorry, it means it gets attention.
So if Rory shows up to us wearing yellow, that would be really eye-catching.
That would be a fashion disaster for me.
I can't wear bright colors.
I don't think it looks good.
Other people say it looks nice, but I just do not.
I look at myself in the mirror and I'm like, oh my God, what am I wearing?
Bright colors, right?
So they're like a yellow, orange.
Yeah.
But Rory prefers wearing colors on the darker side of the spectrum.
Whoa, this is so cool.
Color spectrum goes from white to black, basically.
So it's like one end to the other end.
This is the spectrum, and then all the other colors are mixed in between.
I think is the best way of describing it.
Yep, cool.
Or I prefer wearing colors on the lighter side of the spectrum.
Or you can also mention a color scheme.
So I prefer a brighter color scheme.
And I don't.
Yeah, Rory's on the dark side.
Yes, as a child, Rory's parents would put loud and lurid colors on.
Yeah, and vivid colors.
So this is just like colors which are oh, how best to describe, just like really bright colors.
They're shouting at you.
Yes, they are almost like in your face.
It's difficult to lose a child with that many bright colors on them.
Perhaps that was the intention.
So kind of like a vivid pink or like a lime yellow.
Well, I don't think there was any vivid pink, but there was definitely yellow involved, and I don't like that colour.
So there you go.
What's the word, the second L word?
Lurid?
Lurid, yeah.
Well, I guess that's just another way of describing colours that stand out essentially, or garish, yeah.
So garish and lurid are more about they're negative.
Garish is just colours so bright that your eyes can't really stand it, and lurid is again it's unpleasant to look at something that's lurid, So something like toxic yellow, like a scarish toxic, yeah.
It's the same as people that dye their hair those colors.
I often think like, is that supposed to be attractive?
Of course, it's not up for me to tell other people what they find attractive, but I just look at it and I'm like, oh no, that would not be a choice that I made for myself.
But that is my decision, not theirs.
Sorry, that's their decision, not mine.
Rory is saying that because when he was a child, basically he was wearing all those colors and now he hates them.
Yeah, Rory, you've used the phrasal verb to stand out.
So some people wear garish clothes.
Loud colors to stand out or to show off.
Yes.
So if you stand out, then you look different from other people and other people notice that.
And when you want to show off, it means you're proud of something and want people to notice it.
Some colors are quite girly.
Girly colors.
Pinky.
I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying that.
But it's true.
Some colors are more associated with women than men.
And I think bright pink is definitely one of them.
Combine that with the fact I don't really like bright colors anyway.
It's not something that I'm going to pick.
Dear listener, remember, pink isn't just the color, it's an attitude.
Yeah.
What does that mean?
It means that you know when you are wearing pink.
You are confident, you are good at decision-making, it's sexy, it's pinky, it's yay.
Actually, I used to hate pink.
I like, oh, no, pink, what?
No, now everything is pink. shoes dresses um so like i love pink now so i've really i've changed a lot you guys i dyed my hair blonde and now i'm wearing pink oh my god i am a new person i've been a new person for for more than a year now Okay, back to Rory.
When you talk about colors, you can say that darker colors suit me better.
Suit me.
Or darker colors match my personality.
Yes.
That's a genius answer, Rory.
Yes.
Like, yes.
Yes.
What color is your yes, Rory?
I don't... Wait, hold on a minute.
Was there a question there?
Because I'm pretty sure you just listed some vocabulary that you could use.
And I was like, what am I supposed to do?
Just agree?
Yes, yes.
You're supposed to agree.
Okay Rory, when you talked about the rooms and your bedroom, you've mentioned that certain colors complement the decor.
Could you comment on this one?
Yeah, it's just like a better way of saying that they match the decorations in the house, but of course, saying that they complement the decor is a higher level set of phrases and collocations than it is to say the other thing.
So like, for example, well, I've got quite a bright room.
It's well lit and the decorations are also quite bright in terms of their colors.
So it makes sense to have bright colors on the walls as well to match them.
It's my understanding of how interior design works, maybe I'm not so good at this subject.
Dear listener, if you didn't know, Rory is living in the Tretikov Picture Gallery because he has paintings on his walls.
For the moment.
I've just discovered that my apartment is about to be demolished and I have to move in the next two weeks.
Are you joking?
I'm not joking, but maybe I'll find somewhere that's... Demolished, like destroyed forever.
Yeah, yeah, they do that a lot in Moscow, especially with the older apartments.
Oh, gosh.
So the whole building or just your apartment?
No, the whole building.
They found out where Rory's living.
Now we're going to destroy his flat.
Oh, Rory, this is horrible.
It's okay.
I'll be fine.
We're going to find a new apartment.
It'll be okay.
Okay.
We have premium now, so Rory can get some money off the podcast, so he can rent a nice place.
I don't pay my own rent.
It's fine.
Everybody relax.
Everybody relax.
The company I work for pays my rent for me.
I'm not bothered about this in the slightest, so it's okay for me.
Rory, here I'm trying to advertise our premium.
Like, Rory has money off the podcast, he can rent a nice place, and you are ruining everything.
How dare I ruin that with facts and being calm?
Okay, we are just joking.
We are joking.
Okay, one of the greatest phrases Rory has used in this episode is a mishmash.
It's a bit of a mishmash.
This is such a great word, mishmash.
Rory, we need explanation.
It is a bit of a mishmash.
So if something is a bit of a mishmash, it just means that...
Well, it's a mixture of things together, not always complementary.
So, for example, my apartment's a bit of a mishmash in terms of colours, because none of the rooms match each other, at least as far as I'm aware.
So that's always interesting.
Dear listener, if you're feeling blue, try painting yourself a different color, okay?
And hopefully our colorful answers have brightened up your life.
And your IELTS band score.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye, bye, bye.
What's your favorite color?
I love all things navy blue.
That's one of the darker shades of blue.
I think it's more original in eye-catching than black, since people have to look more closely at the person wearing it to understand exactly what colour it is.
And then on their further analysis.
That's where you can start a conversation with them, which is quite fun.
So definitely that one.
Do you prefer light or dark colours?
Definitely colours on the darker side of the spectrum, as evidenced by my wardrobe.
Although someone said recently that I stand out better in lighter colours, which is why I have this pastel purple t-shirt for special occasions.
But I think darker colors suit me better, since I have darker features, which is unusual for a Scottish person, but it is something that I can take advantage of.
Are there any colors you dislike?
Um, not really.
Maybe like really garish colors, if I'm pushed on the question especially on clothes or cars or houses.
It's like people are trying too hard to show off and get attention.
It's much better to be understated, in my opinion, although that Could just be because I'm more interested in people's ideas than their appearances.
Did you use bright colors when you were a child?
Well, I didn't.
My parents did.
They used to make me wear all kinds of loud and lurid colours, which probably explains my attraction to darker colours now.
It's just me being reactionary as an adult.
Are colours important to you?
It's not something that sticks out at the forefront of my mind, at least not very often.
I'd miss them if they weren't there.
People sort of take them for granted, I suppose.
But it's not.
If you asked me to list everything that's important in my life, colour would not be in the top ten.
What's the colour of your home?
Well, it's a bit of a mishmash right now, actually.
The hallway is rather conservative in terms of browns and beiges, and yet my room and the bathroom are much brighter.
For the former it's like lime green on the walls and for the latter it's sea blue.
I didn't make any of these decisions, of course, because I rent my apartment, but it's quite funny when I look at it now.
What colour would you like to paint your bedroom?
I think the walls would be dark with white on the ceiling.
I used to live with someone who had this colour scheme in their bedroom and I remember it being very relaxing, so I quite like that idea.
What colour do you think is good for rooms? depends on the purpose.
If it's a quieter space like a bedroom, then probably something much less vivid, maybe something darker.
Is colour very important to you when you are buying something?
Well, if we talk about clothes, it's probably almost as important as the fit.
Although this doesn't really add time to the time I spend shopping, because it's not exactly difficult to find clothes in dark colours, especially not in Russia.
For everything else it's not particularly relevant as long as whatever it is I'm buying works.
Though I'm unlikely to buy something bright pink, since it doesn't really match my personality and it's a bit girly probably.
What colours do people in your country like to wear?
I don't think it's really limited in that way.
My best guess would be it's a seasonal thing, so people wear darker colours in the winter and lighter ones in the summer.
But there's a whole load of colours to choose from if you don't fit the mould in that particular way.
Are there any colours that have a special meaning in your country?
I suppose blue and white are the national colours.
And then whatever colours are in the family tartan or football team colours those things are quite important.
I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head.
