Hello, Sunshine.
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.
We started this podcast to give you joy gorgeous grammar and super-duper vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Bad night score.
Oh, Rory, you are in your Rory house.
Oh, it looks really modern, huh?
Well, looks can be deceiving.
It's actually quite an old building.
Hmm, shall we talk about old buildings?
It's another coincidence on this podcast.
So how horrible is this topic from 1 to 10?
This could be worse.
Sitting was the worst.
So that was like a 10.
This is more like a 6 or a 7.
Because we all see old buildings.
And also you can be subjective about what's old.
Like pretty much anything can be old.
Except for you, Maria.
Thank you, darling.
Have you ever seen some old buildings in the city?
Well, my hometown is hundreds of years old, so I see them almost every day.
We've got a gallery in town called the McManus, which has a kind of Gothic style to it.
And that was built in the 1800s.
There are also a few old jute mills, which were repurposed.
Sorry they've been repurposed, but they're kept in their original state because they're listed buildings.
Do you think we should preserve old buildings in cities?
Assuming they're kept up to code, then I don't see why not.
It's a good reminder of the past and a connection to culture that pretty much anyone can access.
I visited one of the first mosques in Africa, which was preserved as part of their local history in that area.
It really should have been a UN heritage site or something like that.
Do you prefer living in an old building or in a modern house?
I don't mind, really.
As long as the place is easy to keep and it's not falling apart.
I've lived in lots of places and it doesn't seem too difficult to accomplish.
But then maybe my standards are just really low.
Are there any old buildings you would like to see in the future?
I thought about that a lot.
I don't think there are places I want to see, but there are people I would like to visit and cultures I want to experience.
I don't think buildings mean much without the people around them.
That's who they're for, after all.
How do old buildings affect the appearance of a place?
I think that depends on their upkeep, really.
If it's in a state of disrepair, then clearly it will bring down the reputation of the area.
However, a well-maintained building can be a tourist attraction or a piece of cultural heritage that anchors the area in its history.
What aspects of culture do old buildings reflect?
I suppose the architectural styles and tastes are probably the most easily seen, but you can infer a lot about a culture and what influences it and what values and what it wants to preserve just by looking at the buildings.
It can tell you a lot about the big ideas and conflicts in a society.
Thank you, Roy, for your answers.
So, old buildings.
How can we paraphrase old buildings?
Can I say something like very old?
Or ancient buildings?
Or not new?
If you were being hyperbolic, then you could say ancient.
I don't see the problem with that.
But most buildings you could describe...
You just say they're old and how they're old.
So, for example, we could talk about the style or when they were built and that adds detail to it.
But there's not a great way of paraphrasing old buildings.
You could maybe say like it's a former something.
It's a former church, for example.
Yeah, and you can name the buildings.
So, churches, galleries.
You can talk about museums or ruins, castles.
So whatever buildings you have in your area.
And Rory said that my hometown is hundreds of years old, or my city is hundreds of years old hundreds, hundreds years old, hundreds of years old.
Hundreds of years.
Hundreds of.
Hundreds of years.
Yeah.
Or you can say my hometown is 100 years old.
Right.
How old is your hometown?
Moscow is 875 years old.
That's it.
Right.
Okay.
So it is actually older than 800 years old.
And you can say that, okay, there is an old gallery.
It was built back in the 80s.
And then it has been repurposed.
A very nice verb to repurpose something.
So the gallery was repurposed or has been repurposed.
So when the building has been repurposed, what happens to it?
It starts off with one function and then switches over to another.
For example, an old McDonald's has been repurposed... Into a farm.
Into a farm.
Moo, moo, old McDonald's had a farm.
Most commonly in my country, its old churches are repurposed into houses, for example, or restaurants.
Hmm.
Yeah.
We are talking about preserving old buildings.
So not like saving, preserve.
The verb is to preserve old buildings.
And Rory, you said that they are kept up to code.
Yeah.
I don't know if this idea exists in other cultures, but usually you have to maintain your building to a certain standard, and that's called keeping it up to code.
Yeah, so we should keep it up to code.
Maintain a building.
So old buildings should be maintained.
So you should keep them in good condition.
So Rory said that this place is easy to keep, so easy to maintain.
We maintain a building.
And also you said that a well-maintained building, right?
So yeah, there are many old buildings in my area.
Some of them are well-maintained and others are dilapidated.
I love that word.
Or in a state of disrepair, which just means it's not well maintained or kept up to date.
So some of the old buildings are in the state of what disrepair?
Disrepair.
Just they're not repaired often enough.
Yeah, or they are in poor condition, they are dilapidated.
Benign.
And then you talked about a UN heritage site, right?
So UN is United Nations.
Yeah, I think now.
I'm not really an expert in how the UN works, but I think they're called world heritage sites anyway.
So those are places that are of significant cultural importance. in an area and for the world.
So obviously, if Islam is a major world religion, one of the first mosques in Africa would be quite important.
I assume it wasn't treated that way.
So you can say, like, some of the old buildings are UN heritage sites.
Yeah.
I mean, you could talk about heritage more broadly.
Right.
And you talked about cultural heritage, right?
So a well-maintained building can be a tourist attraction, or it could be a piece of cultural heritage.
Yeah.
And then you said like that anchors the area in history.
Yeah, but that's just basically.
When we talk about cultural heritage, that's all about maintaining connections to the past and the ideas and values that you want to preserve in the society.
So if it's anchored in history, then it's doing its job properly if it's cultural heritage.
When we talk about dilapidated buildings, buildings in poor condition, you can also say that some buildings fall apart.
So, yeah, there are some buildings in my area and they are falling apart.
Rory, you said that you have low standards.
Really?
You have low standards?
I have incredibly low standards.
Look at the shirt I'm wearing.
It's like 10 years old.
I got this like 10 years ago for a charity thing that I did.
So do not come to me for fashion advice.
Rory and his low standards.
Also, Rory told us that I don't think buildings mean much without the people around them.
So cute and nice, so people mean more.
So buildings without people are nothing.
Is that not true?
Oh yeah, it's true.
Yeah people, it's just people.
Yeah, it's not where you go, it's who you go with or who you meet on the way.
Yes, it's not just an old building, it's like who you see in these old buildings, according to Rory.
Yeah.
Also, you said that it depends on the upkeep, really.
Upkeep.
But again, that's just another way of saying it depends on their maintenance or how well they're repaired and kept in a good condition.
Yeah, so maintenance.
We maintain buildings, you can maintain your car, your house, your flat, and also maintenance.
That's why in a company we have a maintenance department with people who maintain certain things.
And if it's in a state of disrepair not despair despair is for people disrepair then it will bring down the reputation of the area.
So old, dilapidated buildings, buildings in poor condition could bring down the reputation of the area.
And this is a phrasal verb, my friends.
Rory, go ahead, go ahead about our Phrase of Verbs course.
Oh, yes, successwithielts.com forward slash podcourses.
Did I get it right?
Yeah, also the link is somewhere in the description, so check out our Phrase of Verbs course.
And then Rory talked about architectural tastes.
But that's just another way of talking about fashion senses and fashion tastes and fashion styles and preferences.
There's nothing really new there.
You can have, I guess, architectural tastes.
And the difference there is that it's something that a lot of people have, whereas fashion tastes can vary between individuals.
And you said that you can infer a lot from that.
Infer?
Infer is like come to an understanding with indirect evidence.
So instead of like seeing the link between one thing and another, you just look for clues instead.
Yeah.
So, for example, when we read a book and you read and you need to deduce the meaning from context, you need to infer what the writer wanted to tell you.
Because the writer doesn't say, I want you to hate this person.
They'll make the person really unlikable.
Yeah, yeah, info.
And Rory, when you go to places, do you kind of walk around and do you look at old buildings or do you prefer modern ones?
Is it more pleasant for you to look at modern buildings out of glass and steel?
I don't know.
I've never really thought about it before.
Think about it now.
When you first went to Moscow, was it more pleasant for you to look at old buildings or modern buildings?
I don't.
I think both of them are fine because actually, to be honest with you, they're necessary in the first place because we don't live in the past, or at least we shouldn't.
So it's nice to see where a country has come from and also where it's going.
In general.
But there are some places, like in Gran Canaria, which is a Spanish island, for example, where everything is new, or it looks new at the very least.
And so that's also quite nice, because it fits with the modern aesthetic that they want people to promote in the island or on the island.
Yeah nice, nice word aesthetic, the aesthetic of the island like, just don't ask me what it means Aesthetic everything.
The looks.
The look.
Yeah, the atmosphere, the look.
Right.
And would you like to live in an old castle?
So we're thinking Scotland, freedom.
We're thinking castles and ghosts.
No, that would be like phenomenally expensive.
Do you know how expensive it is to live in a building that's hundreds of years old?
No, but this podcast is going to be super famous and popular and you're going to be a celebrity.
So you'll have money to maintain a castle with ghosts.
I don't want to live in a castle.
No?
Okay.
No castles for Rory.
Yeah.
Right, lovely.
Now, dear listener, you do have some vocabulary and grammar about old buildings, so make sure that you can make some examples of old buildings.
Maybe have your favorite old building.
Again, old is like, what is old?
Well, it's just not new, right?
So don't talk about skyscrapers, right?
Very tall buildings.
So think about something old.
Well, you could.
I mean, what?
The Empire State Building is almost 100 years old.
Really?
The Empire State Building is 100 years old?
I think the Empire State Building was built in 1934.
Let me just check.
Are you joking?
Okay, we are googling.
So construction started in March 1930 and it opened in the next year, 1931.
So that means it's 91 years old.
So almost 100 years old.
Pretty good.
So you could talk about old skyscrapers.
In Moscow, we have Soviet skyscrapers.
So, yeah.
Thank you very much for listening.
Bye.
I will see you next week.
Bye.
Have you ever seen some old buildings in the city?
Well, my hometown is hundreds of years old, so I see them almost every day.
We've got a gallery in town called the McManus, which has a kind of Gothic style to it.
And that was built in the 1800s.
There are also a few old jute mills, which were repurposed.
But they're kept in their original state because they're listed buildings.
Do you think we should preserve old buildings in cities?
Assuming they're kept up to code, then I don't see why not.
It's a good reminder of the past and a connection to culture that pretty much anyone can access.
I visited one of the first mosques in Africa, which was preserved as part of their local history in that area, though it really should have been a UN heritage site or something like that.
Do you prefer living in an old building or in a modern house?
I don't mind, really.
As long as the place is easy to keep and it's not falling apart.
I've lived in lots of places and it doesn't seem too difficult to accomplish.
But then maybe my standards are just really low.
Are there any old buildings you would like to see in the future?
I thought about that a lot.
I don't think there are places I want to see, but there are people I would like to visit and cultures I want to experience.
I don't think buildings mean much without the people around them.
That's who they're for, after all.
How do old buildings affect the appearance of a place?
I think that depends on their upkeep, really.
If it's in a state of disrepair, then clearly it will bring down the reputation of the area.
However, a well-maintained building can be a tourist attraction or a piece of cultural heritage that anchors the area in its history.
What aspects of culture do old buildings reflect?
I suppose the architectural styles and tastes are probably the most easily seen, but you can infer a lot about a culture and what influences it and what values and what it wants to preserve just by looking at the buildings.
It can tell you a lot about the big ideas and conflicts in a society.
