S05 - 7 Hometown

Native English speakers answer questions about hometowns from previous B2, C1, C2 and IELTS exam papers.

As usual we’ll take a look at all of the nice grammar and vocabulary, particularly language relating to towns and cities. We have a bunch of speakers from different countries so you can practice listening to their wonderfully different accents and viewpoints. 

For classes or transcripts go to https://realexamenglish.com/podcast/

Music: Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Thanks to all of the contributors, including Emma, Mike, Noel, Konner, Jen, Dan from the Roar and Score Trivia Podcast and the girls from the Butt Stuff Podcast

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Real Exam English podcast. This episode is about hometowns. As usual we’ll take a look at all of the nice grammar and vocabulary, particularly language relating to towns and cities. We have a bunch of speakers from different countries so you can practice listening to their wonderfully different accents and viewpoints. 

Remember if you would like to get the transcripts, the written words, of this podcast then you get those over on the Real Exam English website, realexamenglish.com. Included with the transcripts there are vocabulary and grammar exercises too, it’s a great way to improve and also it helps to keep this show going. 

Ok then, enough chat, time for the questions, first one: 

What would you do to improve your local town or city?

I live in a very small town, where the old part, which in my opinion is the nicest part of town, has been abandoned. It has been very neglected and so I would focus, uh, my efforts in improving that and saving the houses that are falling into ruin and into getting more people living there. And different types of people as well, because it's become sort of the rundown area, so it's not…as some streets aren't as safe, and there's a lot of dirt and just general neglect.  I think I would improve that and the shopping, it's atrocious. All the shops are closing down, but I think that's happening all around the world. Physical shops are closing down everywhere, not just in small towns. So, I think the Internet has won that one.

Do you think it might be exciting living in lots of different places?

I used to think so. I used to think that I wanted to be a citizen of the world and not be in one place for too long. And then I had children and settled down and your perspective changes, doesn't it? You decided other things are more important than just living in lots of different places, your family, your social life, your circle basically becomes more important than just living everywhere and anywhere. But I think it can be fun while you're young and then when you grow up a little bit, yeah, you sort of get bored of it I suppose.

So much good vocabulary in these answers. She said the old part of town, which is the nicest part, has been abandoned, and neglected, she also said it is falling into ruin and it is run down. So all of these are excellent negative ways to describe a town that has not been taken care of. Additionally, she said it isn’t safe and a lot of shops are closing down. As she said the situation is atrocious, which is a great way to say really bad. Like, that new TV series is atrocious, the hotel was atrocious. 

In the second answer she used this phrasal verb, to settle down. I had children and settled down. So, this means to stop moving around and leading a stable, routine life. Like, after touring the world for years with his rock band, Alan decided to settle down in Ireland and enjoy the quiet life.

If you could live anywhere in Australia, where would you live? 

Well, I do live in Australia and I live in Canberra and I love it in Canberra. Canberra is the perfect place. It's really close to all the….to the…all the other major cities on the east side as well, obviously not Perth, but yeah, really, really easy to drive up to Sydney if I want to go to like a massive event in Sydney. But Canberra’s just a really good size. It's still fun, like I wouldn't live in a small little shithole of a town. I just like the….I like a medium-sized city like Canberra. I'd also go to Newcastle. If I had to move, I'd go to Newcastle cause Newcastle is a bit like Canberra, a bit more cityish, has a really good music….music culture and scene and it's just a….it's just an awesome place, beaches as well. 

What problems does your area have? 

What problems does my area have? Look, I think most of the problems in Canberra in relation to the rest of the world are pretty minor. Like we don't have many homeless, we don't really have that big of a drugs problem and if we do you , you know, you don't really see too much of it and like let people do what they want to do. What is the biggest problem here? Yeah, I think, I think if anything, it's probably the lack of, of like funding the arts and funding nightlife and things like that. So the perception of Canberra is that it's a pretty boring place to live and if you know where to go, you know where to go and you'll find a fun time but if you're here visiting there’s shit all around, unless you know exactly where to look. So yeah, I would say the problem that springs to mind is that the government doesn't put money into, into culture and arts and all that jazz.

Sounds like a great place to live. He was kind of struggling to find a problem and he said if anything, it’s the lack of funding the arts. So, by using if anything he’s kind insinuating that there isn’t really a problem but just to say something I’ll say lack of funding the arts. That was the first problem that sprung to mind for him, we’ve had that expression before, the first thing that springs to mind, really handy expression. He said that government should put money into culture, meaning they should invest in it. Well, he said into culture and arts and all that jazz. Super expression this, and all that jazz. Meaning and all that kind of stuff. Another example would be: the restaurant has hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken wings and all that jazz. 

So, the reason they need to put money into culture is because there is shit all around, meaning there is nothing around. It’s more common to hear fuck all used in this way, like there are fuck all hotel rooms left in town this weekend because of the festival. Ok, so in Australia, it may be more common to hear shit all, and he also said I wouldn’t live in a small shithole. A shithole is a place that is really dirty and run down, kind of like the town that the first speaker described to be honest! You can use shithole for a town or city or for a venue like a bar, hotel, cinema or whatever. Like, don’t go to that restaurant, it’s a shithole! 

And of course, just to be clear shithole, shit all and fuck all are not appropriate to use in an exam situation, you have shit all reason to use them in those situations, but in real life, go for it!

What problems does your area have?

Well, immediately my area is a small village. There's not much problems here. I mean, you might think there's a Welsh language barrier, but most people are bilingual, so it's fine. Anglesey Welsh is a bit fast, so I don't really understand it if they talk too fast but I understand enough. But Bangor is a bit of a pit, so that's the main city, the university city across the Menai Straits and half of the shops have shut down. There's only really charity shops and sort of odd coffee shops and pubs left. There's no like real shops and people complain about it but the government doesn't seem to want to do anything about it or the Council and they put the rent too high, so they pushed everyone out of the town. So it's a bit of a shame on Bangor there, but where I live it, there's just a village shop and a pub, so that's fine.

Nice to hear about someone in a little village, in Wales, which is part of Britain in case you are wondering. As she said you might think there would be a Welsh language barrier, which is the communication barrier between speakers of different languages. In Wales about one in five people speak Welsh, something to bear in mind if you visit there. Although maybe don’t go to Bangor, which she described as a bit of a pit. Another negative word to describe an awful place, a shithole, right. It’s only charity shops and the odd coffee shop or pub. Charity shops are these stores that sell second hand clothes and other items, for a charitable cause. And when she says the odd coffee shop and pub, this means that there’s the occasional coffee shop or pub here and or there but not really many together. Another example of using the odd whatever is: these days I just go out the odd night, not as often as I used to. Or I go for the odd run every now and again.

Time for a language break. This time we are going to look at whether verbs are followed by a gerund, that is the ING form, going, or by the to infinitive form, to go.

So, I’ll give you a verb and you gotta say if it is followed by a gerund or to infinitive. To make it easier let’s always use the verb go for the answers, so the answers will be to go or going. For example, I’ll say would like and you say to go.  

Alright, 10 questions: 

Enjoy – going

Choose – to go

Threaten – to go

Finish – going

Worth - going

Hesitate – to go

Deserve – to go

Fancy - going

Afford – to go

Recommend – going

Alright, that´s all 10, super important to study your gerunds and infinitives, a lot of people make mistakes with those. Ok, back to the questions.

How has your hometown or city changed over the last few years?

Recent changes, I notice a lot of small businesses are changing hands all the time. One thing opens and it closes within a few months. New restaurants are mushrooming. There….I walked last…last night I walked down to the centre and I saw about 5 restaurants that I hadn't seen six months ago and I was like, it's not that long since I walked down this road and you also know it's like, ohh take a photo because that's going to be closed in two months and things like that.

Do you think it might be exciting living in lots of different places?

Ah, well, speaking from experience, it definitely….it is, uh…..it opens your mind. It makes you a much more rounded person to live in different places because you're open to new cultures and you analyse your….basically how your…how your mind was before and how you grew up, everything that you thought was the way to live and the way to think and everything. And you go to a new place and you say wow that's different. Some things for better, some things for worse, but seeing something new is it's….it's always a good thing to do. I think so. To stay in the same place, narrow minded.

Ok, a lot of small businesses are changing hands in his town. Changing hands means changing ownership, passing it to a new owner. This is usually just used for properties or businesses. Like, the local bar changes hands every few years. He also said that new restaurants were mushrooming, meaning they are popping up, like mushrooms, or more generally we use it to talk about something that grows or expands very quickly. Like, the number of vape shops mushroomed in the town or the use of AI in schools has mushroomed recently. 

One other thing to point out in the first answer is the use of I was like to tell us what he was thinking at the time. I was like, it’s not that long since I walked down this road. We talked about this in depth in the last episode but it’s another good example of it being used in real life.

In the second answer, he bought himself a little time with ah, well. Then he had a nice expression to give his opinion, speaking from experience, it definitely is. He then had some lovely vocabulary with it opens your mind and it makes you a more rounded person and on the contrary he said to stay in the same place was narrow-minded, which is when someone isn’t willing to accept ways of living that are different to their own. Top vocabulary. Nice.

How has your hometown or city changed over the last few years?

I've actually….I actually went there last year. I go relatively frequently, obviously with a bit of a hiatus with COVID, but I've been there a number of times, and…since being young and in my early 20s, I was living in Edinburgh and in Scotland and I went to Leicester numerous occasions. Certainly not, probably not enough has changed. You know that hometown thing where you think it's going to be different and you go back and not a whole lot has changed. The streets that I you know, my granddad lives on. I used to go to my grandad's house every Friday. It's basically identical. There's a few different facades and some of the buildings very very similar. And the football stadium was very different, of course, because when I was younger, that was one stadium, and now there's the King Power Stadium. Am….other than that, there's nothing that's even…even the same locations like the big bus station in the center of the city had a sort of refurbishment. It looks new and brighter, but it's the same location, the same shape, nothing huge is altered, I would say.

I love the variety in this answer. When talking about how often he visits his hometown he said I go relatively frequently, then I’ve been a number of times, and then I went there numerous times. Three totally different ways to say the same thing. 

Then, talking about changes he said probably not enough has changed, then not a whole lot has changed and lastly nothing huge is altered. Super variety again. I particularly like the not a whole lot one. Like hey did I miss anything important in the football match? No, not a whole lot happened while you were gone. Or you often hear this as a response to what’s up? Not a whole lot, yourself?

We had some top vocabulary with the use of hiatus, he had a bit of a hiatus during COVID. A hiatus is a pause or a break in the continuity of something. Like there was a brief hiatus in the construction work because of workers being on strike or I’m ready to start studying English again after a one-month hiatus. Love that. 

Also, he said that some of the buildings have different façades, meaning different fronts of the buildings. This word, façade, comes from French and even has that little hook symbol beneath the letter c, the cedilla. It’s a really good example of how English borrows words from other languages, and I guess any Spanish or Italian listeners will recognize similar words to façade in their own language too. 

Ok guys, that’s about all the language chat for today. Hopefully, you picked up the odd bit of new language today; between the adjectives, expressions, swear words and all that jazz your vocabulary will be mushrooming. 

Until next time guys, take care and thanks very much for listening today.

All the best,

Trevor