Hello, lovely people of the world.
Welcome back to the podcast.
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.
Rory, have you got some creative answers for us today?
Yeah, my head is crowded with ideas.
Wow, we're gonna be speaking about crowded places today.
Rory, which places in your city are crowded?
I suppose it depends which city you mean, because in Moscow there are usually throngs of people, but obviously not at the moment, because it's the quarantine and we have self-isolation.
But usually there are lots of us.
And in my hometown, in Dundee, there isn't usually a ton of people in open spaces like parks or at the beach, even when it's sunny.
Although I suppose in some clubs it can be a real rammy.
Why are those places so crowded?
In the case of Moscow, I imagine it's because it's a major world capital with literally millions of people.
I can't remember how many people there are that live here.
It's something like 15 million.
So that's a lot.
That...
It doesn't matter how widespread your city is, it's still going to be quite crowded.
By contrast, Dundee's a university town.
They've got two universities and they have a lot of students.
I imagine that's why the bars and clubs are always full of people, but probably why the libraries aren't as frequented as they are there.
At the same time it's got a big working class population, so the local neighbourhood pubs must be quite as packed.
Well, if people are having a drink after a long day, I suppose.
How do you feel in these crowded places?
Usually I don't mind them, as long as I can make my way through them.
But it's always a pain when there's a big crowd and you need the bathroom or you have to wait for a drink or something like that, and you have to wait for ages.
Have you ever felt comfortable in a very crowded place?
Like I say, it's not normally a problem for me, but if I had to choose, I wouldn't be in a place that's borderline overcrowded.
First of all, I like having my personal space respected and secondly, there's always an element of danger in these things.
If I were to ask you to describe a crowded place that you've been to, what would you say?
Oh, I'd probably... There's a club in my hometown.
I'm not sure if it's still open now, but it's almost completely underground.
And because of that, the space is quite limited.
So it gets full, it's filled up with people really quickly and that would be the image that comes to mind.
So everyone has their backs against the wall or they're sort of crushed in this crowd while they're waiting to dance or at the bar, but you can't really dance and you can't really get a drink.
I have no idea why it's so popular, Rory.
And last question.
So about like three months ago.
If we go back to like, let's say, January yeah, happy new year.
Could you imagine that the most crowded place would be like our home, our flat, our house?
Well, it's the closest thing to... So there would be no stadiums, no concerts, nothing.
Well, I suppose our houses are the closest thing we get to being in a crowded space now, although even for me now I only live with like one other person, so it's not so much of a crowd.
But no, I definitely couldn't have imagined that that would be the case now.
Rory, thank you very much for your answers.
Rory, shall we go over your super band 9 vocabulary and grammar?
For a high score.
So when we talk about crowded places, we can use different synonyms to say, well, crowded.
Rory, you've mentioned a nice one, throngs of people.
Throngs?
What?
Yeah, throngs of people is just another way of talking about large groups of people.
Of course we want to get a higher score, so we need to find different ways of talking about large groups of people.
And here, throngs of people is a good way of describing this.
How to spell it, though?
It's T-H-R-O-N-G-S, of people.
But could you give us a sentence?
Well, in major world capitals, there are usually throngs of people.
Right, it's like throngs, not thongs, right?
No, no, definitely not thongs.
What are thongs, Rory?
Could you tell the world?
Well, in Australia thongs are sandals, but in the UK and America they are a kind of underwear for women.
Yeah.
So, dear listeners, you can now Google songs, and you can Google throngs of people and make sure not to mix them up.
Or you can make the seminar laugh and you can mix them up.
Is Ivan having a nervous breakdown in the background?
We don't have any idea of what we're talking about.
So it's nice to see we're on the same page for once in our careers.
You also said full of people, right?
So a club full of people.
Yes, absolutely.
You could have a club full of people or a room full of people.
Lots of different things can be full of people.
Yeah, and also like a club could be filled up with people.
Yes.
We also can say packed.
So like streets are packed with people or a ton of people, right?
Yeah, a ton of people is probably more informal than the other ones.
Yeah, and ton we spell like T-O-N-N-E, but we say like a ton, ton of people.
I think it has a different spelling in different countries, but that's the most common one that I'm aware of, I think.
Can you say like, oh, this club was packed out?
Packed out.
I've never heard that expression before.
It's not something I would say, but you could say it and you would still have.
You could still say it and people would understand what it is you wanted to say.
Yeah, we also can say like it's crowded or it's overcrowded, right?
So the Moscow Metro is usually overcrowded.
Well, not these days, though.
No, not quite.
But is it overcrowded?
Like the rush hour, which is another good expression to have, which we didn't use.
The rush hour is like the time when people are going to work in big numbers and then coming back in big numbers.
Well, used to...
Used to.
Go to work.
Right?
Okay.
Can we say, like, this bar was completely jammed?
Like, a traffic jam jammed.
It was jammed.
You can, but you would probably want to show that you can use it in a phrase.
So, like, jammed with people would be better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But also there's a phrase to be packed like sardines.
Sardines?
Like, oh, sorry, sardine.
Is it sardine?
Yeah.
No, no.
Sardine.
Like sardines in a can.
So yeah, that's a common one.
And indeed, if you're talking about crowds, that will probably come up in the course of the conversation.
Yeah.
Could you make a sentence?
On the Metro, you can feel like sardines in a can during the rush hour.
Yep, yep, lovely.
You also said that's a nice one, like a real Remy.
It can be a real Remy.
Remy?
Yeah, it's important to point out that that's a very culturally sensitive one, because I think it's only used in certain parts of Scotland, where I'm from, to describe a situation where there's a mass of people jammed into one place.
So you could use it.
But if you don't want to use it for your exam, then expect to hear it.
Rory, you've also used a good one, a verb, to frequent.
Yes.
Yeah, what was it about?
About libraries?
So usually the word frequent is used as an adverb, but here I've used it as a verb to mean to go to a place often.
So...
Well, if you're a student, you should frequent a library, because you should be going there regularly.
But most students prefer to frequent bars and clubs because well, I suppose that's more fun than going to the library.
Yeah, like this bar is frequented by artists, for example.
Yeah, When you talked about a club in Dundee, right?
Yes.
You said, or just talking about any crowded place, you can say that to make my way through, it's difficult to make my way through, yeah.
So usually you make your way through a crowd um, and usually that is the collocation.
But you can also make your way through other things, like make your way through work, make your way through um well, make your way through cake if you're really hungry, and it's a very big cake.
Yeah, you have to wait for ages.
For ages, we say like not wait for ages, but for ages.
Yeah, it's usually really annoying if you have to wait for ages.
And again, the collocation usually is a wait for ages.
Yeah, you've used a nice structure, the second conditional, if I had to choose, I wouldn't be.
It's a nice structure to use in your answers, like if I had to choose or if I could, I wouldn't be or I'd be in a place like this, right.
And another one is I like having my personal space respected.
Wow, that's a super advanced structure, to be honest.
To have something respected or to have something done.
The same structure, like I say, I had my hair cut.
Or I'd like to have my car serviced maybe next year.
Could you explain what it means?
I like having my personal space respected.
Yeah, so the use of have here is when you make other people do something for you.
So I have my space respected by other people.
And of course you always respect space by not interfering with it, especially personal space.
How much space is personal space depends entirely on the culture that you're in.
For example, I think in Europe, personal space is usually about one meter around you.
But the further east you go, personal space gets smaller and smaller and people can stand closer to each other.
I'm generalizing.
I'm sure there are countries where that's not true and they have more space.
Right.
Yeah, but now personal space is one and a half meters, right?
Well indeed, unless you're me and you haven't left your apartment, then personal space is whatever.
However big my apartment is, it's great.
Oh, it's changed so much, gosh.
Yes, when you talk about crowded places, you can say oh, I feel anxious anxious, a bit nervous, right?
Yeah.
Or you can feel overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed?
It's a bit too much for me.
So you can feel anxious, overwhelmed.
You could say nervous, but it's not the first word you should go for.
Again, if you're looking for a high score.
Yep, crowded places are chaotic, like from chaos, right?
Yeah, or like this hectic atmosphere.
Yes, if you're feeling overwhelmed.
Or it could be intimidating for you, right?
So intimidating, like making you feel frightened or nervous if someone isn't respecting your personal space.
Dear listeners, thank you very much for listening.
Now you can listen to Rory's answers again, and this time notice all the Ben 9's super vocabulary and juicy grammar he's just used.
Which places in your city are crowded?
I suppose it depends which city you mean, because in Moscow there are usually throngs of people, but obviously not at the moment, because it's the quarantine and we have self-isolation, but usually there are lots of us.
And in my hometown, in Dundee, there isn't usually a ton of people in open spaces like parks or at the beach, even when it's sunny.
Although I suppose in some clubs it can be a real rammy.
Why are those places so crowded?
In the case of Moscow, I imagine it's because it's a major world capital with literally millions of people.
I can't remember how many people there are that live here.
It's something like 15 million.
So that's a lot.
It doesn't matter how widespread your city is, it's still going to be quite crowded.
By contrast, Dundee's a university town.
They've got two universities and they have a lot of students.
I imagine that's why the bars and clubs are always full of people, but probably why the libraries aren't as frequented as they are there.
At the same time it's got a big working class population, so the local neighbourhood pubs must be quite as packed.
Well, people are having a drink after a long day, I suppose.
How do you feel in these crowded places?
Usually I don't mind them, as long as I can make my way through them.
But it's always a pain when there's a big crowd and you need the bathroom or you have to wait for a drink or something like that, and you have to wait for ages.
Have you ever felt comfortable in a very crowded place?
Like I say, it's not normally a problem for me, but if I had to choose, I wouldn't be in a place that's borderline overcrowded.
First of all, I like having my personal space respected and secondly, there's always an element of danger in these things.
If I were to ask you to describe a crowded place that you've been to, what would you say?
Oh, I'd probably... There's a club in my hometown.
I'm not sure if it's still open now, but it's almost completely underground.
And because of that, the space is quite limited.
So it gets...
It's filled up with people really quickly.
And that would be the image that comes to mind.
So everyone has their backs against the wall, or they're sort of crushed in this crowd while they're waiting to dance or at the bar.
But you can't really dance and you can't really get a drink.
I have no idea why it's so popular.
Rory, and last question.
So about like three months ago.
If we go back to like, let's say, January yeah, Happy New Year.
Could you imagine that the most crowded place would be like our home, our flat, our house?
So there would be no stadiums, no concerts, nothing.
Well, I suppose our houses are the closest thing we get to being in a crowded space now.
Although even for me now, I only live with like one other person.
So it's not so much of a crowd.
But no, I definitely couldn't have imagined that that would be the case now.
