Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and 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 fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Good night, school.
Rory!
Rory!
Oh my god, you are so loud.
Why must you make so much noise?
Let's talk about noise!
Let's make some noise!
Let's make some noise, everybody!
Yes, let's talk about noise, shall we?
Do you live in a noisy area?
Well, not really.
I mean, we occasionally get trucks rumbling through the high street and the neighbor's dogs bark occasionally.
I think that's about the sum of it.
We used to have planes screaming over the house, but, well, that doesn't happen so much these days.
Does being in a noisy place bother you?
Well, not really, unless there's like music blaring, and I can't even hear myself think, let alone have a conversation.
I like to think I've got a pretty high tolerance for noise, actually.
What do you do to escape noisy places?
Leave?
I mean, sorry, honestly, I can't think of anything else.
It's not like you can carry soundproofing around with you, is it?
Are there any specific noises that annoy you?
I don't like screaming or any sort of persistent, high-pitched noise, but I don't think that's unique to me, to be honest with you.
What noise do we have in cities?
Well, I already mentioned air and ground traffic.
And I suppose you can hear people going about their business and chattering away.
And I imagine you can sometimes hear sirens in the distance because there'll be more emergencies.
I couldn't say anymore, really.
It's been a while since I've lived in a city.
What kind of noise do cars make?
Well, they make that sound when you turn the ignition.
I think it's called the sound of the engine turning over.
And then you can hear people's horns blaring and you can rev your car.
So that's like when you're gaining speed.
You can gun the engine and the engine can backfire, which some people think sounds like a gunshot.
And then, of course, there's the sound of the air like rushing over the car when you have the windows down.
So there's lots of noise that can be created by cars.
What natural sounds do you like?
Well, sounds that help you unwind or relax and decompress from a long day are quite nice.
So things like whale song and then, well, I suppose dolphin song by association.
And it's quite nice as well when you can see them as well, when you hear dogs barking and they're playing with each other.
That's quite relaxing when they work in conjunction with each other.
Oh, yeah.
And waking up in the morning to birdsong.
That's great.
We have a whole I think I guess it's a murder of crows that lives in the town where I live right now in the village.
And every morning at like sunrise, so roughly half past seven in the morning, you just hear all of these birds getting up and flying around and making all of this noise.
And you would think that it would be quite disturbing, but it's not actually.
It's quite a pleasant wake up call.
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This week Rory is describing an interesting older person and in speaking part 3 we're discussing older people in general.
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Hey, wow, Rory, so much noise.
Ooh la la.
It's ironic because I live in a very, well, quiet part of Scotland, I suppose.
In the middle of nowhere, it's called.
It's not the middle of nowhere.
I live in Aberlour.
It's a small village.
It's only a thousand people, but it's not the middle of nowhere.
It's kind of the middle of nowhere.
So first of all, noise.
We make noise or noise could be created by somebody or something.
So noise created by cars, for example.
Also, what adjectives can we use with noise?
We can say awful, horrible noise.
We can say loud or deafening noise.
Blaring.
Blaring.
What is it?
Blaring noise.
It's just like loud and extended sounds, like a horn, for example, or well, I think that's the best example, to be honest with you.
But you can also have collocations to describe it as well, like making a racket.
Ooh, a racket like a racket?
Ping-pong racket?
Well, you use a bat for ping-pong, don't you?
Oh, okay, squash racket.
Okay.
Well, the spelling is the same, I guess.
It's R-A-C-K-E-T, racket.
So racket is a kind of a noise.
Make a racket, make some noise, right?
Yes.
A horrible noise.
It's like all noises together, like a chaos of noise.
You said that truck's rumbling.
So, I hear the trucks rumbling.
I hear cats meowing.
I hear birds singing.
I hear trucks rumbling.
Rumble is this kind of like what?
Like a truck.
Imagine a truck, like a huge car, and it's like rumbles.
Also, planes, what do planes do?
Well, they scream or roar overhead, I suppose.
Planes scream, really, like people.
Well, yeah, like the scream of a plane engine.
Yeah, it's quite loud.
Wow.
Interesting.
Okay.
So I hear or I could hear planes screaming over the house.
So a plane over the house screaming, making this noise.
I would like to point out, not directly over the house, I just live near an airbase, so it's, you know, it's that kind of sound that you hear when planes go overhead high above.
When we talk about music, we can say that music is blaring, right?
And it's not quite good, right?
Well, no, it's not.
It's...
It's in your ears, you can feel it vibrating your whole body and, of course, if that's happening, then you can't really talk to people, can you?
And that's really annoying.
At least for me, it's annoying.
I like talking to people.
There's music blaring.
In this case, the music is really loud and it's like deafening.
You can't hear yourself even, right?
So I can't hear myself think, Rory said.
So I can't hear my thinking.
But Rory told us that I've got a pretty high tolerance for noise.
To have a high tolerance for noise.
So you take Rory, you put him in a room with blaring music everybody's talking screaming.
You know airplanes screaming as well.
And Rory is fine.
Rory's going to be like a Buddha.
Most of the time, yes.
But not if I'm trying to talk to somebody, then I'll get really annoyed.
So you can say that I've got a pretty high tolerance for noise or I can't stand loud noise.
Like I hate it.
I just can't tolerate it.
I can't stand it.
I find it difficult to put up with.
Oh, it's a phrasal verb.
And if you like phrasal verbs, check out our pod course.
Successwithliotscom forward slash pod courses.
It's not just phrasal verbs.
We're working on a new one.
Spoiler alert.
You can escape noisy places, and Rory just said, like, leave?
Well, you can leave, obviously, there is some noise, and you just, like, leave to escape.
What else do people do?
I guess they put in their earphones, but that doesn't really work, and you could talk about earplugs too.
Most people just go away from loud noises.
It's not a difficult problem to solve.
Yes, earplugs.
So earplugs are these little thingies, yeah, earplugs that you kind of stuff them into your ear.
Or you can invest in noise-canceling headphones or earphones.
Noise-canceling earphones.
But how would that work?
Like look when it's talking about what happens when there's loud noise.
I mean, if you're trying to work, then you have to work with people and you put these things in your ears.
How are you supposed to work with people if you can't hear them?
Like, just type?
That's a bit inhuman, isn't it?
No, no, but if you just have to work and there's some noise, so how you can escape from this noise?
You just, like, put on some noise-canceling headphones and... No, you throw a huff and you leave.
She's like, huh, you're too noisy.
That's how adults solve their problems.
Yeah, also you can say, dear listener, oh, I wish I could turn off my ears.
No, I wish I could.
I wish I could is a nice structure.
We're talking about an imaginary situation.
I wish I could turn off my ears.
Just like turn off your ears so your ears don't work anymore.
I wish I could turn off my ears.
Oh, I wish I could turn off my eyes.
Just like don't see this.
I don't want to look at you.
I'm just going to turn off my vision.
Certain noises are annoying.
Like, oh, it annoys me.
It drives me up the wall.
Like, up the wall.
Like, it's like, I'm just...
And Rory told us that high-pitched, high-pitched or high-pitch?
High-pitched.
High-pitched noises, persistent high-pitched noises annoy him.
So persistent is when it's like it's going and going like a mosquito.
You know, mosquito is like persistent.
It's like...
What other noises annoy you?
Dear listener, write in the comments.
And we need specific vocabulary, right?
Like super specific.
Which particular noises annoy you?
For example, construction noises, traffic noises.
Music blasting noises from clubs or bars.
City noises.
So, Rory, you told us ground and air traffic.
Like ground traffic noises, like the cars and the buses.
Lorries trucks transport, any transport that involves like wheels, I suppose, or rails, if you're A train, is a kind of ground transport.
Which phrasal verb did you use?
What phrasal verb did I use?
Chatter away.
Is that a phrasal verb?
It is.
Do you know what you should do if you like phrasal verbs?
Make it in the description.
So chatter away.
So we are chattering away.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Chatter away, like chat.
Yeah, chit-chat, like talk about it.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And sometimes you hear car sirens.
But also, dear listener, you can talk about traffic sounds.
You can talk about music, which comes from loud speakers.
Noise from construction sites.
Okay.
Or heavy machinery.
Yeah.
What's heavy machinery, Rory?
Heavy machinery would be things like what you use to dig up the roads.
So pneumatic drills, JCBs, forklifts, conveyor belts as well.
If you live near a factory.
Also, you can mention some loud domestic machinery.
Domestic, like people use certain devices at home.
Oh, you mean like their appliances, like washing machines and things.
Yeah, or lawnmowers.
If your washing machine is like really, really loud, then you should probably get a new washing machine.
For example, frequently passing trains could create a lot of noise.
So, frequently passing trains...
Or living close to a police station or to a hospital could also create a lot of noise and be quite annoying or frustrating.
Because you can hear the sirens.
Whee!
Whee!
Whee!
What's the siren sound?
Like, again, I would just say, like, blaring sirens.
Or wailing.
Wailing sirens.
Yes.
Like a whale?
No, like crying.
Oh.
Interestingly, though, Siren is... What would you say?
It's a creature from Greek mythology.
They've lured sailors to their deaths with their singing.
Beautiful.
The singing was beautiful.
I don't think the sirens were.
I think they were hideous, but the sailors didn't find that out until they jumped out of the ship to go and find these, what they thought were beautiful women.
When you turn the ignition...
Why don't we just have this sound included?
I mean, when you turn the ignition, why don't you put in an ignition turning sound?
Or we'll just stick a clip in here of an ignition being turned.
And then you hear the rev of the engine.
So this is the sound, the rev of the engine.
I think it means revolution.
Like things go around in the engine and you can hear that happening.
I think.
I don't know.
I know nothing about cars.
I just passed my driving test less than a month ago.
What do I know about driving?
Congratulations, Rory can drive.
Yes, I can drive.
There's a terrifying thought.
You can hear horns beeping.
Beep, beep.
And horns blaring.
So, how do horns blare?
I don't know.
Honk.
So, mind the structure.
I can hear horns beeping.
I can hear dogs barking.
Natural sounds.
Unfortunately, we do have to use special words for sounds.
Rory told us about whale songs.
Okay, do you know how whales do?
I can do the whale song.
Ooh.
Okay, dear listener, you can do the whale together with me, okay?
So you should come from within, from within you, okay?
From your kind of belly.
From your belly.
Collect your inner whale, your whale inside you.
Collecting the inner whale.
Do you listen to that?
Come on, come on, come on.
Yeah, either way, Alice.
From the depth, from the depth of somewhere.
This is great.
All these people like sitting listening to us on the metro to work or the bus.
They're just like sitting there going, I'm aware.
This is professional.
Sorry, sorry.
This is us being us.
So this is pretty much very natural for me.
I do whale noises.
I think all my friends heard my whale noises.
And now you have to.
So whale song, dog's bark.
We wake up to bird song.
So Rory is sleeping there peacefully.
La la la, Scotland freedom.
And then he just wakes up to bird song.
And it's a pleasant wake up call.
Wake up call.
Well, I feel like that is not a natural wake up call.
That's more like a march.
And Rory, what did you say about like something murder?
A murder of crows?
There's a murder.
That's what you call a group of crows.
A murder of crows.
Yeah.
There's a murder of crows that lives in the village.
And every morning they wake up and fly around and they have their birdsong.
I think they're crows.
Or we could just say, like, a flock of birds.
Fine, a flock of birds, but that's not Band 9.
A murder of crows is Band 9 vocabulary.
Dear listener, this is just crazy.
Like, really crazy.
A murder of crows.
Well, crows are associated with death, so it kind of makes sense.
Okay, nature sounds.
Dear listener, take a look.
So, I enjoy the buzz of a bee.
Or I enjoy bees buzzing.
So bees, what do they do?
They buzz.
Or for example, I like the roar of a tiger.
Or for example, I like the sound of a stream passing over the stones.
So river, stream.
The sound of water passing over the stones.
Or, for example, you like the sound of the fire when the wood burns.
Or the barking of a dog.
You see, so like the sound is the barking of a dog.
Or seagulls, you know, these white birds, seagulls.
The flapping of a seagull.
Or, for example, you enjoy the thunder of a storm, the thunder, or the mooing of a cow.
Moo.
Or the noise of the galloping horse.
Are we just going to run through every single sound that animals make?
Why are you annoyed, Rory?
Here I'm giving super vocabulary.
Maybe our listener can choose.
Because here we do need specific names.
So, you know.
It's useful, right?
Tell me in the comments it's useful.
Tell her in the comments it's not useful.
So Rory is annoyed now and now we have to finish.
Rory left the episode about five minutes ago and it's just been Maria making animal sounds.
Okay, what did you like?
You did like the mooing joke.
The moo.
To be honest with you, it was when we just started turning it into an episode about animal sounds was when I just lost the will to live.
Yeah, but that's the episode about noises.
Yes, but not animal noises.
What about pigeons?
We've already done this.
We've already done this.
Right, okay.
That's the end of the episode.
Come on, the pigeon sound.
That's the end of the episode.
Bye, everyone.
Have a nice time.
Bye.
Bye.
Do you live in a noisy area?
Well, not really.
I mean, we occasionally get trucks rumbling through the high street and the neighbor's dogs bark occasionally.
I think that's about the sum of it.
We used to have planes screaming over the house, but, well, that doesn't happen so much these days.
Does being in a noisy place bother you?
Well, not really, unless there's like music blaring, and I can't even hear myself think, let alone have a conversation.
I like to think I've got a pretty high tolerance for noise, actually.
What do you do to escape noisy places?
Leave?
I mean, sorry, honestly, I can't think of anything else.
It's not like you can carry soundproofing around with you, is it?
Are there any specific noises that annoy you?
I don't like screaming or any sort of persistent, high-pitched noise, but I don't think that's unique to me, to be honest with you.
What noise do we have in cities?
Well, I already mentioned air and ground traffic.
And I suppose you can hear people going about their business and chattering away.
And I imagine you can sometimes hear sirens in the distance because there'll be more emergencies.
I couldn't say anymore, really.
It's been a while since I've lived in a city.
What kind of noise do cars make?
Well, they make that sound when you turn the ignition.
I think it's called the sound of the engine turning over.
And then you can hear people's horns blaring.
And you can rev your car.
So that's like when you're gaining speed.
You can gun the engine and the engine can backfire, which some people think sounds like a gunshot.
And then, of course, there's the sound of the air like rushing over the car when you have the windows down.
So there's lots of noise that can be created by cars.
What natural sounds do you like?
Well, sounds that help you unwind or relax and decompress from a long day are quite nice.
So things like whale song and then, well, I suppose dolphin song by association.
Yeah.
And it's quite nice as well when you can see them as well, when you hear dogs barking and they're playing with each other.
That's quite relaxing when they work in conjunction with each other.
Oh, yeah.
And waking up in the morning to birdsong.
That's great.
We have a whole I think I guess it's a murder of crows that lives in the town where I live right now in the village.
And every morning at like sunrise, so roughly half past seven in the morning, you just hear all of these birds getting up and flying around and making all of this noise.
And you would think that it would be quite disturbing, but it's not actually.
It's quite a pleasant wake up call.
