Hello and welcome to Real Easy English.
In this podcast, we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn.
I'm Beth. And I'm Neil.
And you can see a video version of this podcast on our website, where you will also find a worksheet to help you – bbclearningenglish .com Hello, Neil.
How are you today? I'm very well, Beth.
Thank you. I'm excited, actually.
We have balloons in the studio because we're having a bit of a celebration.
We are. It's a very special day.
It is the first birthday of Real Easy English.
So, I'm actually going blow up this last balloon, OK?
Yeah, go on, go on!
Big red balloon – that means we're ready for the party!
Yeah, give me one sec.
OK, let's go. So, to celebrate this week, we're going to talk about gifts.
Amazing. Let's get started.
Neil, do you like buying gifts?
Oh good question, yes and no. So I don't like the first part when I'm thinking about what to buy for someone but then sometimes when I get a good idea for a really good gift for someone I get excited and then I do like buying gifts.
Yeah I think that makes sense.
If it's something where a person you don't know what to buy for them, like you're going to end up with flowers or chocolates.
I don't think that's very exciting but if there's a person you know absolutely they are going to love this present, then I think buying is really exciting.
Now, receiving gifts is also good fun, isn't it?
Yeah. Do you like receiving gifts?
Yeah, I enjoy receiving gifts.
Of course, it depends on what the present is But then I'm always very thankful anyway that I've been given a gift, no matter what it is.
It's the thought that counts, isn't it?
It is! It's the thought that counts.
What does that mean?
It means that it's really nice that somebody has thought about you and that's more important than the actual gift that they have given you.
Yeah, there's quite a common expression when we're opening presents.
Do you like receiving gifts?
I love receiving gifts.
Who doesn't like getting presents?
I feel like you're expecting a gift now but I don't have one for you.
Sorry! What kind of gifts do you not like?
That's a good question.
I don't like receiving clothes.
Sometimes I've been given clothes as a present and they might be something that like I wouldn't choose.
But often they don't fit, like something that is way too big for me or way too small and then you end up having to return it, maybe exchange it for something else.
So I think clothes aren't the best idea unless the person buying really knows you and your style.
What about you? I have returned a gift. Have you?
Yeah. Usually something like clothes and if it's from a family member, I think you can be more open about not liking it.
Do you normally return and get the money, the cash, so you can buy anything you like or do you exchange?
I think I prefer to exchange because then at least you're getting something from the person it's in the same kind of area that they were thinking about when they bought the gift. They didn't quite get it right but it still, you know, feels good.
Neil, what do you think about gift cards?
Now, gift cards are like a voucher that you get to spend money in a specific shop.
Yeah, gift cards are easy, aren't they?
Because the person that you give it to can make the choice and that's the difficult thing.
I was given a gift card once for a jewelry shop that is quite expensive.
And I was given a 50 pound gift card, which is a lot of money.
But there wasn't really anything I wanted to buy from there.
So I think, with a gift card, it depends on the place.
Again, I couldn't really do anything with this gift card, to be honest. Yeah.
I was still grateful, though.
I'm sure, because it's the thought that counts.
Exactly. It's the thought that counts.
Let's recap the vocabulary we've heard in this podcast, starting with it's the thought that counts, which means that it's more important somebody thought about you than the actual gift itself.
And we had a gift card or gift voucher.
That's a card with a specific amount of money on that can be spent in a specific shop.
If you return a gift, it means you take it back to the place where somebody bought it from.
If you exchange a gift, then you return it to the shop, but you get something else from that shop instead.
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English.
Try the worksheet on our website and you can practise what you learned.
That's bbclearningenglish .com.
And we hope you're enjoying this podcast – send us what you think to our email address – learningenglish .co .uk And next time, we'll be talking about mistakes – see you then.
Bye! Useful new words and phrases, language to introduce yourself, directions and lots more.
Language is repeated to help you learn.
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