Hello, lovely listener.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory and we're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
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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.
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Rory, did you know that we've got over 800,000 listens?
What?
Oh, that's amazing!
We're gonna be famous!
Yeah!
And why don't we talk about being famous and famous people and celebrities today, hmm?
Why not?
It's another coincidence after all.
Rory, let's talk about famous people.
Do you want to be a star?
I think everybody probably does, at least when they're younger.
I certainly used to.
Although as I've grown older now, I definitely appreciate the benefits of having a quieter life.
Have you ever met celebrities or pop stars in person?
Well, actually, I married one, but that is a story for another time.
That aside, I've met a few singers and comedians and a news presenter, actually.
They were all very engaging.
You could almost feel the charisma or the aura that they have or whatever it is.
So I could see where people get a bit starstruck when they meet celebrities in real life.
What pop stars do you like and do you like any foreign celebrities?
I suppose I like a range of musicians from Adam Levine or is it Levine?
I can't remember.
He's the speaker from Maroon 5.
And then we've got people like Kylie Minogue, although I suppose that's probably because she doesn't get involved in the drama of life like other divas do.
As for foreign media, I don't really listen to much foreign music, although I listen to some of Sophie Tucker's songs from time to time, and she's quite good.
I'm pretty sure she's Brazilian or Portuguese, so maybe that counts as foreign media.
Who's your favourite celebrity?
Oh, God, I'll probably be cancelled if I say who my favourite celebrity is.
But a close joint second is held by two women.
One's called Lauren Southern and the other one is called Candice Owens.
They're sort of journalists slash commentators in North America.
They have a really engaging manner of speaking that I quite like.
Who's your favourite movie star?
I think it's probably either Chris Pratt or Chris Hemsworth.
All the Chrises, frankly.
I think they've got a good sense of style and apparently they're really interesting, but respectful outside of their jobs.
For example, aside from playing Thor, Chris Hemsworth is an avid surfer.
At least I understand that's what he does, which is quite a cool sport to engage in, I suppose.
Are international movie stars famous in your country?
Oh, absolutely.
I think Western media is sort of dominated by figures like that, regardless of which country you live in.
And I think the same is true for Russia, although there's some homegrown entertainment figures, I guess here, and they seem equally popular.
Do you read news about celebrities?
Oh, God, no.
I can't think of anything more boring.
Not unless it pops up on my news feed or Instagram or Facebook or something like that.
Otherwise, I try and avoid petty drama like that.
How do celebrities influence their fans in your country?
Well, I suppose social media is the leading way and people consume whatever content they produce outside of that.
I think it's quite cool in a way, because you can actually speak to them directly, unlike before, when they were sort of more abstract figures on the silver screen, for example.
I think it makes people more real.
Rory, thank you very much for your answers.
Okay, so famous people, we can also say celebrities, right?
Or we can say celebs.
We can, but I don't know why people say celebs.
Why don't they just say celebrities?
Yeah, because our life is getting busier and busier and we can't be bothered by using long words.
And pretty much celebrities is a long word.
That's why we use celebs.
Well, I'll stick to the longer, proper version if you don't mind.
Good.
But in articles, you can actually come across this word celebs, celebrities.
We can say stars or pop icons, pop stars, famous people.
And Rory has used the word divas.
I knew that was coming.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So a diva is well a female singer usually who gets involved in a lot of drama and has a very dramatic life that people follow just as closely as the music they produce.
Yeah, I follow some divas on Instagram, for example, you can say that.
It's used as an insult as well, actually, if you call someone a diva.
Can I call a man a diva?
Oh, he's such a diva.
You can, yeah.
I frequently do.
Oh.
Rory, are you a diva?
I try not to be.
Whether that's successful or not is up to other people to decide.
Rory, are you a drama queen?
Again, I try not to be, but whether I'm successful is up to other people to say if it's successful or not.
No, Rory is not a drama queen.
He's a drama king.
Oh, for heaven's sake.
All right.
So when we talk about celebrities, we can talk about singers, musicians.
And Rory has mentioned these words comedians, stand-up comedians, I know, news presenters, so show presenters writers chefs actors bloggers influencers, no influencers.
Influencer?
No, influenza, no.
Well, influence, people who influence other people.
Oh my God, what do you call them?
Yes, influencers.
Oh gosh.
Podcasters and YouTubers.
Yes, you can talk about these people.
Also some athletes, so people, sports people.
And Rory, you, did you get married to a celebrity?
What?
We'll talk about that another time.
That's probably one for, that might be one for the part two, actually.
Rory, how old are you?
How old are you, Rory?
Oh, no, we're not doing that today.
No, no, no.
Rory, when were you born?
Give me your passport.
Here's a life hack.
You have life hacks.
I also have life hacks.
Here's a life hack.
Don't tell everyone everything interesting about yourself in one go, or you'll never have enough to talk about later on.
Oh, dear listener, he never tells me stuff, you know.
I don't even know how old he is.
Okay, right.
Celebrities are engaging and Rory has used a nice one.
Aura aura, aura.
What it looks like aura when you spell it, and i think it's that it's pronounced that way in russian, but in english it's aura, um.
An aura is like um.
Well, It's usually used to describe the light around someone.
It's like a supernatural light people have that's quite entrancing.
Usually, angels have an aura or spirits, but it can be used to describe the feeling that you have when you're around someone who's got lots of positive energy, for example, and some people use it to describe people's personalities as well, like a negative aura or a strange aura, for example.
Some celebrities have this aura and charisma.
Yeah, charisma is much better.
Charisma is like a personality trait where you can draw people towards you, And that's why some people get a bit star-stuck.
Almost.
Star-struck.
Oh, stuck.
Like struck by lightning.
I'm stuck with this celebrity business.
Okay, yeah.
Struck.
Struck like by a lightning.
Struck.
So to get starstruck, like to be obsessed with celebrities?
I think that's an outcome of it.
But starstruck is usually Well.
I think it describes how people behave when they're around celebrities.
They go a bit... mad or lose control of themselves or say ridiculous things.
But it can involve becoming obsessed with people, that's for sure.
Oh, I see.
So if kind of this fame gets into the head, right?
They have this stardom thing all over them and they become starstruck, right?
Yeah.
You use it to talk about people who are interacting with celebrities, not the celebrities themselves.
Okay.
Yeah, and we can follow celebrities on social media.
You can unfollow certain celebrities on Instagram, like I'm obsessed with certain people.
Are you?
Who?
No, no, no.
I'm not.
I'm not actually following any celebrities.
Are you not?
Oh my God.
No, no, no, no.
I don't browse.
Even I follow celebrities.
Like some, not all of them.
No, no, I have my life and it's quite engaging, so no.
But you can say, like, I usually browse posts of certain people.
And be ready to name the people.
So, Rory, you've named several people.
And actually, the girl that you think is Brazilian or Portuguese is actually German.
She's German.
She was born in Germany in Frankfurt in 1992.
How old are you, Rory? uh no i'm not really i thought she was because she sings in portuguese so i just assumed that she was from brazil or portugal no she's from germany and um her partner or whatever he is he's an american so and what's the name of the band sophie too cool what would you call this group well I just had her down as Sophie Tucker is that not how it's pronounced I've never heard it pronounced before Sophie Tucker okay Yes, so dear listener, be ready to name some celebrities, okay?
If you have no idea, then go check it out or just say the names that Rory has told us.
Oh, I used the word slash to describe things, the combination of things.
Tell us about it.
Tell us about it.
Yes.
So I mentioned that people were sort of journalists slash commentators.
This slash is a word, but it describes a piece of punctuation which is used like between two words to combine them together.
You can look this up on Twitter.
Well, on Google, just backslash or forward slash and you'll understand what I mean.
But you use this to combine words or to describe people who have multiple jobs.
So, for example, like I could say I'm a teacher slash podcaster slash author, this kind of thing.
I think. the way that a lot of people describe themselves now as slashies if you have multiple jobs.
Yes, dear listener, but be very careful because slash has also another meaning.
It does, yeah.
But we're not going to be talking about it on our podcast because Rory is going to say that it's unprofessional.
Oh, no, you can talk about slash meaning to, like, cut something or stab something.
No, no, I'm driving at something else.
Are you?
Oh, yeah, we're not going to talk about that.
That is unprofessional.
So if you check this word up in the dictionary or some urban dictionary, be careful.
Rory, you've mentioned when it pops up on my newsfeed.
Yeah, things can pop up on your newsfeed.
It's just like when things appear unexpectedly on your newsfeed.
So for me, on my newsfeed, I usually just follow my friends and my family.
But sometimes a piece of celebrity news comes up and it's unexpected.
And so it pops up.
Do I pop up on your newsfeed? occasionally when you post things.
I don't think you post that much, do you?
No, I don't.
Yeah, and some celebrities are involved in petty drama.
Petty drama.
Yeah, although frankly all drama is petty when you think about it.
Petty just means not worth much or pointless or frivolous.
Yeah, so these divas are getting involved in petty drama.
Oh, God, they do it.
Celebrities are in the spotlight, right?
So they're figures who are in the public eye or on the silver screen.
Well, I think the silver screen describes people who are in movies that are older.
At least that's what I use it to describe.
Although sometimes you can use it to describe modern film.
It's a very old expression, though.
So it usually describes films that were made in like the 40s or the 50s.
And when you talk about celebrities, don't forget to mention that I don't want to be famous because I don't want to get chased by paparazzi.
If you want a quieter life, then it's okay.
Yes, you guys and I really enjoy Lady Gaga's ideas about being famous, and she says that fame is not external, it's internal.
Does that mean so, dear listener?
It means that we are all famous, rory.
We are all famous because fame is internal, it's within us.
I don't think people should want to be famous though it's not very healthy But we are famous in our own ways.
Yes, but we're famous because we wanted to help people.
We're not famous because we wanted to be famous.
Like, that's ridiculous.
Yeah, we don't want to be famous, but we're getting famous because of our premium service.
Yay!
Amongst other things, yeah.
No, seriously.
If you want to say thank you and you want to support us, you now can support us and become our premium subscriber.
Dear listeners.
So if you enjoy what we are doing, you can share our podcast on your Instagram, on your Telegram, in your stories.
Just hashtag success with IELTS and let the world the whole world know that IELTS Speaking for Success podcast is useful and Rory is super cool and full of awesome.
And so are you.
I'm gorgeous.
Yeah, you just can call me gorgeous.
What did I just say?
I said that you are cool and full of awesome.
And you should say, and you're gorgeous, Maria.
But can they not mean the same thing?
No, let's be different.
You would like?
You would like me to say that you're gorgeous, wouldn't you?
Yes yes, I imagine that there are many other people who would like me to say that as well.
Shall we move on?
Thank you very much for listening.
Hopefully our answers will help make you famous.
And bring success to your life.
Bye.
Bye.
Rory, let's talk about famous people.
Do you want to be a star?
I think everybody probably does, at least when they're younger.
I certainly used to.
Although as I've grown older now, I definitely appreciate the benefits of having a quieter life.
Have you ever met celebrities or pop stars in person?
Well, actually, I married one, but that is a story for another time.
That aside, I've met a few singers and comedians and a news presenter, actually.
They were all very engaging.
You could almost feel the charisma or the aura that they have or whatever it is.
So I could see where people get a bit starstruck when they meet celebrities in real life.
What pop stars do you like and do you like any foreign celebrities?
I suppose I like a range of musicians from Adam Levine or is it Levine?
I can't remember.
He's the speaker from Maroon 5.
And then we've got people like Kylie Minogue, although I suppose that's probably because she doesn't get involved in the drama of life like other divas do.
